The importance of buying a graphics card

Graphics cards are powerful, necessary and help your computer perform better, at the same time; these components can be confusing to the average man/woman on the street. Now you can live, work and play without a graphics card sure, but the visual and performance boost your computer gains will be well worth the purchase. So let’s starts with the most obvious questions normally asked by many regarding this issue...Which graphics card do I choose and how much will it cost?

Today we are looking at the best mid-range ATi Radeon graphics cards on the market, giving you a balance between great performance and value for money. From the end of 2010 (Nov-Dec) to recent months, the following Radeon graphics cards have been out selling the competition thus far.

Lets take a look at a few popular Radeon graphics cards and their estimated price brackets.(Prices are estimations; please check local retails for correct pricing).

Entry-level -         HD5700/5800 Series     R900 –R1500
Mid-high range -  HD6800 Series              R1600-R2500
High-end  -           HD6900 Series              R3000+

What does this all mean? Well, I’ve have come across two types of computer owners;

• Casual and hardcore PC gamers
• Home and office computer enthusiasts.

Most people want a universal solution, a fast responsive computer capable of high-quality movies, games and faster working applications; Your standard computer at home works fine but installing a powerful graphics card holds the key to improving your computer's basic features and optimize its overall performance.

For the purpose of this guide, I am using the Radeon HD 6800 series graphics card as a reference.

I want to play high-quality games!

I know you do. The video gaming industry has become more than just a nerdy past time and your stock standard VGA (video graphics array) on your motherboard many not be enough to give you the best gaming experience. Radeon graphics cards like the HD6800 series specialize in visual splendour, giving you beautiful definition with virtually any PC game on the market. DirectX 11 for amazing graphics, hardware tessellation, improved shading and AMD Eyefinity for gaming on multiple displays simultaneously. This is just one example of a graphics cards posibilities, for PC gamers, It remains very difficult to quit a gaming session when almost all the visual effects look twice as good as before.

Average graphics card specification for mid range gaming. 
Video memory - 1GB - 2GB
Core clock        800 - 900+ MHz
Memory clock -  4000+  Mhz
DDR5 technology,
256bit rate,
DirectX 11,

I want to watch high-definition movies

Every reason to stay at home. Graphics cards improves almost every pixel on your computer’s display. Older CRT monitors are becoming obsolete as many people are opting for LCD monitors, so with the addition of a graphics card; PC gaming, video's and photo quality improves greatly. Larger LCD monitors, eg. 23 inches or higher,  support resolutions from 1600 x 900 to 1920 x 1080 (roughly the size of a small billboard or a movie poster), this means installing a graphics card can complement those display resolutions to give you pristine visuals with any media or office content. With S-Video, HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPorts your graphics card can now connect from your computer to a LCD TV or video projector for continued viewing almost anywhere.

I want to improved graphics at work

They say visual stimulation increases productivity output. Today’s small to medium enterprises or even self-employed entrepreneurs use some sort of Microsoft Office, Adobe documentation or other graphic-intense programs. I have experienced that graphics cards from either ATi Radeon or Nvidia Geforce can drastically improve performance on visually rich applications.

In addition, graphics designers and home engineers often draft up projects using 2D or 3D models, a modern more digital canvas if you will. Most programs like AutoCAD, Photoshop CS5, CorelDRAW and many others relies on the power of a graphics card to accurately and creativly express ideas onto a digital device, such as a graphics tablet. 

PC gamers and computer experts all agree about the importance of owning a graphics card, many popular manufacturers like MSI, Sapphire, ASUS, etc develop cutting-edge graphics cards specially catered to your individual preferance. Onboard graphics may have been sufficient at first but investing in a graphics card will unleash your computer’s full potential.