Graphics card buying guide

We have taken you through a brief look at some non-performance and non-cost factors to consider when buying a graphics card. At the end of the day its really quite simple to see which card performs the best and which cards cost what but its harder to consider the other factors we have looked at that were:

• The power supply requirements
• The number of screens you will use and at what resolution
• The performance of the rest of your system, the CPU in particular
• The amount of space in your case

As we mentioned when considering power supply requirements it is important to look at the total Wattage, the number of Amps, the required connectors and overall level efficiency of the power supply you intend to be using. When considering the number of screens you will be using and at what resolution this helps decide the amount of VRAM or graphics memory you will need and whether the card you picks has support for AMD Eyefinity and Nvidia Surround technology.

We looked at how the performance of the rest of your system is vital. The CPU is the main limiting factor graphics cards face and consequently we think that your CPU should cost at least 65-70% of the value of your graphics card you will be buying (based on new average RRP prices for the models) to avoid bottlenecking. The final issue is one of paramount importance, Space. You need to make sure your case has enough vertical and horizontal space to support both the length and height of your chosen graphics card.

We hope you found this guide useful and if you have any questions please post them in the comments box below and we will endeavor to answer them as quickly as possible.