Version 1.2, 29.02.2008

• Introduction
• Why a graphics card is important for a gaming PC
• Expansion slots: AGP and PCI Express
• Key features of a graphics card
• Output connectors
• Price ranges
• Video memory size
• GPUs, models, and vendors
• Implicit peculiarities of choice
• Practical guidelines on choosing a graphics card

Implicit peculiarities of choice

When you choose a graphics card, you should take into account some other peculiarities, which we are going to review now. These include various features of power supply, heat emission and cooling, as well as physical dimensions.

Power supply

As a rule, PCI Express slot does not supply enough power for most modern High-End video cards. Therefore such solutions are equipped with special 6-pin connectors at PCB edge (on the photo). If your PSU is new, it might offer the same connectors, so you can do without any adapters. If not, you would naturally need an adapter to plug a card to any 4-pin Molex connector.

Cooling systems and physical dimensions

The second important issue is a cooling system. As graphics cards consume much power, they dissipate much heat, which must be driven away by coolers. If there's no cooler or it's inefficient, a GPU will overheat and fail. Relatively slow graphics cards can be cooled passively with heat sinks. But most products still have active cooling systems with heat sink(s) and fan(s).

The larger heat sink surface is, the more efficient it is (if everything else is identical). It's often hard or even impossible to install a heat sink of necessary size to cool efficiently. Besides, chips are not that large anyway. Because of this vendors use heat-pipe solutions, which improve heat transfer and allow to use larger coolers on smaller chips.

A typical active cooler features a heat sink and a fan that drives air through the former. Such coolers may occupy a slot or even two. In the former case you will be able to install an expansion card into a neighbouring slot. But coolers on High-End graphics cards are often too large to fit into a single slot and will prevent you from using the next one. These solutions are usually made as turbines driving hot air outside through the rear panel. This approach improves overall cooling and reduces air temperature inside a system unit.

Noiseless cooling systems

Another important issue for many users is noise. Some coolers on graphics cards are equipped with small high-speed fans. They are very noisy, especially when GPU temperature goes up. We can only advise you to read reviews, including ours, to choose a card that you like, because various products may differ much, unless they copy the reference design. If you want to assemble a noiseless system, you should find a fanless passively cooled product. However, these are rarely used in high-performing cards - mostly in Mid-End products.

Next: Practical guidelines on choosing a graphics card