How To Choose The Best Graphics Card For You

Picking the best graphics card for your needs doesn’t have to be super complicated. Just follow these simple steps and you’ll find one that you need in no time.

Set Your Budget

Setting up your budget is the first thing you should do. Just don’t let your upper price point be set in stone because a great deal can often be just 10-15 percent over your budget. And it’s better to wait a bit and save up more money than to get an inferior product.

Set A List Of Desired Specs And Features

Come up with a set of features your next card has to fulfill. You might want to game at 60fps in AAA titles with max details while running esports titles over 120fps. Or you’re fine with running AAA games with 30-40 fps at your desired resolution.

Maybe you need USB C port for your VR headset. Or three DisplayPort connectors if you’re running a multimonitor setup. If you have an AIO water cooling system you can look for a card with a pre-built liquid cooling block.

Check The Length Of The Card Before Buying It

Firstly, measure how much space you have in your case. Next, double-check it. Then, check the listed length of the card. Finally, check the length from multiple sources since sometimes, these measures can be wrong.

Check Video Ports Available

While most cards come with the usual suite of 3 DisplayPort and one HDMI port, make sure the card has enough video connectors you need. Some low-profile cards (such as the EVGA RTX 2060 SC featured in this article) and many budget cards come with one DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one DVI.

Do You Want A Futureproof Card Or Just Something That Will Work Great Right Now?

If you’re planning on getting a new monitor with a higher resolution in the foreseeable future put that into the equation. Get a card that can push games at your new monitor resolution.

Next, take into account future games you want to get. Maybe a GTX 1660 Super is great right now but it probably won’t be enough to run Cyberpunk 2077 in max details. Remember that.

Read User Reviews And Check About Potential Issues

Always read user reviews before getting a new card. They can be really helpful and point issues not found in official reviews. Also, always check on Google to see whether your next card has driver issues or such. RX 5700 and 5700 XT are great cards but a plethora of driver issues (which are now fixed) caused headaches to many owners.

Make Sure Your CPU Won’t Bottleneck The New Card

Don’t go overboard when getting a new graphics card. Get one that won’t make your CPU a bottleneck. For instance, if you run a Core i5 6600K everything above RTX 2060 or RX 5600 XT will make the CPU bottleneck the video card. So, do a simple Google search for the most powerful card to go with your CPU before making any purchase.

Make Sure Your PSU Can Deliver Enough Power To The New Card

A new graphics card usually means more power needed for the system. Before getting a new GPU check how many watts of power it requires and whether your PSU can deliver that.