Build PC Gaming configuration – Choose graphics card (VGA)

For those of you who want to learn more and have searched on Google, you probably won’t be stunned by the complex knowledge of video cards. Therefore, this article was born to simplify as much as possible the knowledge related to graphics cards, helping you to look in a few minutes and conclude: Is this graphics card suitable for you?

Overview of graphics cards

The graphics card is the part responsible for handling graphics-related tasks including images and videos for display on the screen.

We have a list of components that are often replaced/upgraded in previous articles: RAM>Hard drive>Graphics card>Case>Power>CPU>Mainboard.

Because it is an easy-to-upgrade component, if your budget is not much, you can choose to buy a card strong enough to play your favorite games at low configuration first, then upgrade later if you have the conditions.

Important parameters of VGA

Name of the graphics card

It’s true that in the technical specifications section there are clock speeds, multipliers, etc. just like CPUs, but explaining them all will only confuse you even more among thousands of products. So the simplest thing is, please notice that the name of the card always has the name of the GPU – image processing in it.

For example, in the image above, the name of the card can be very long but always contains phrases like RX, RTX, GTX, which is what you need to find. Cards containing RX use GPUs from AMD (also a CPU manufacturer) while cards with RTX and GTX use GPUs from NVIDIA.

Everything else is quite simple, graphics cards using GPUs from the same company, the larger the number, the more powerful it will be. Cards with the same number, the card with the ending XT, Ti, Super will be stronger than the cards without that ending. Still confused? We have the following list of graphics cards from weak to strong:

Recommended power supply capacity (PSU).

Because the graphics card is the component that consumes the most power in a gaming computer, when choosing VGA, make sure you choose a source with real power strong enough to provide enough power for it. If you use a power source that is too weak, you will lose performance and not be able to turn on the device. In more severe cases, the components may burn out.

This parameter is also very easy to find, located in the technical specifications or detailed description of the card. To easily estimate the power capacity needed for your system, Biareview has the following summary table for reference:

Don’t buy more than 1 graphics card to play games

This is a fairly common mistake for those who are new to building a PC, thinking that now they will buy a VGA to play games (eg GTX1650), then buy a similar one, 2 GTX1650s costing $160. Each of them combined will be as powerful as or more powerful than the GTX1660 Ti card, which costs about $320. That thinking is completely incorrect, and sadly, many times installing 2 video cards together still produces weaker performance than 1 card, the reason I cannot explain within the scope of this article because I will do everything. Unnecessarily complicated stuff. You just need to note that if you want to upgrade your graphics card, you should sell the old card and buy a new, more powerful one.

Summary

In short, the graphics card greatly determines gaming performance, a card with a large number will be stronger than a card with a small number (eg: 2060 is stronger than 1650), you need to pay attention to the power capacity when buying or upgrading the graphics card. As an easy component and often upgraded, you should pay attention to selling the old card and spending money to buy a new, stronger card instead of installing 2 weak cards.