What to look for in Graphics cards?

boagz57

Posts: 61   +1
I was just wondering what specifications you should pay attention to when comparing graphics cards. I was just looking at base clock and boost clock speeds on a couple different cards and noticed, for example, that the GTX 770 actually has higher base and boost clocks than the GTX titan. This leads me to believe that there is a lot more to it than base and boost clock speeds since obviously the GTX titan is better than the 770.
 
They are different video cards, the GTX 770 is essentially an overclocked GTX 680 with a higher memory bandwidth so its a different GPU than the GTX titan and 780 and a different amount of cuda cores. Because of this, it can do higher clocks to keep up performance while the other cards have more Cuda cores but will consume much more power and heat to do the same clocks which is why they don't do it. Its all about that balance!
 
I see! But the Titan and the 780 both perform better in terms of games right? At least that's what all the benchmarks say and would explain their higher price ranges.

If its all about balance, what makes these cards perform better?
 
The amount of Cuda Cores, the GTX 770 Contains 1536 Cuda Cores (Basically these are the Graphics Processing units in a light sense) while the 780 contains 2304 and the Titan Contains 2688. Besides just that, the on board memory plays a key role in the performance in games, memory bandwidth, and the Clock speeds of the GPUs. You can overclock a 780 to perform on par with a GTX titan pretty easily because the bump in clock speed is enough for the Core to keep up.

The balance is the mix of Power, performance, and heat to make the card fit into a certain bracket and be easily useable for the general user. All the Graphics cards come ready for any person to essentially use right out of the box without much worry.
 
I see! But the Titan and the 780 both perform better in terms of games right? At least that's what all the benchmarks say and would explain their higher price ranges.

If its all about balance, what makes these cards perform better?

If you are gaming at 1080P, a GTX 760 is enough. The GTX 770, 780, and Titan are luxury cards. The GTX Titan is basically a overpriced 780. The GTX 780 is not worth $650 IMO if you are playing at 1080P.
 
For the same generation of cards it's pretty much down to the number of CUDA cores, kind of in the same way that a quad core CPU is quicker than a dual core one.

Across different generations and between AMD and Nvidia it's not always comparable though.
 
If you are gaming at 1080P, a GTX 760 is enough. The GTX 770, 780, and Titan are luxury cards. The GTX Titan is basically a overpriced 780. The GTX 780 is not worth $650 IMO if you are playing at 1080P.
I like the way you said, that, the Titan is an overpriced 780 and a 780 is overpriced, just sounded funny (Mostly because its true).

I think the 770 is the best Bang for Buck Card right now from Nvidia if your gaming at 1080p personally. Otherwise, AMD is the way to go for Higher resolutions because you can grab 2 AMD cards for still less than one 780.
 
I like the way you said, that, the Titan is an overpriced 780 and a 780 is overpriced, just sounded funny (Mostly because its true).

I think the 770 is the best Bang for Buck Card right now from Nvidia if your gaming at 1080p personally. Otherwise, AMD is the way to go for Higher resolutions because you can grab 2 AMD cards for still less than one 780.

The GTX 760 is good also. The 770 is the perfect 1080P card though.
 
Okay great. thanks guys! just wanna make sure I have a good card for those next gen graphics on 1080p. Guess we'll find out for sure though in a month or two
 
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