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Purchasing a new laptop or desktop computer can be confusing if you are unsure about all of the terminology and technical details. Generally when looking at the performance of a computer you will need to assess what sort of processor will be sufficient for your requirements and how much memory (RAM) and hard drive storage will be adequate. Following this you will want to assess the visual quality dictated by the graphics card. Some desktop computers come with a basic graphics card but if you like to use creative software for video editing and design or if you are a keen gamer then you will probably want to invest in something a little better. The first thing to understand about graphics cards is that the quality of your graphics card should match the quality of the screen that will display it. There is little point in having a high-end graphics card that is displayed on a small budget-end screen and similarly a budget graphics card will not do a high-quality screen justice. As a general rule of thumb you should spend around the same amount of money on your screen and graphics card to ensure a similar quality on both parts. The terminology for graphics cards or GPU (graphics processing unit) can be confusing. GDDR (graphics double data rate) refers to the memory and ROPs (render output unit) refers to the final rendering process, the more you have the better. CUDA (computer unified device architecture) allows parallel computing on the Nvidia range that speeds up processing applications. Crossfire and SLI are multi-GPU configurations used by both AMD and Nvidia that enable multiple graphics cards to be connected and hence increase the performance. Tesselation is a new Microsoft term that comes from their DirectX API (application programming interface). This uses displacement maps to communicate with the GPU and adds geometry to objects in a game without affecting the performance. The budget you decide to allocate to your graphics card will depend on how important graphics are to you. Generally you get what you pay for but at the same time there is little point in spending hundreds of pounds on a graphics card that is not being utilised to its full potential. It is best to search online to compare products and check other customer reviews to see what sort of card will be appropriate for your needs. A budget graphics card can be purchased for around £50 but at the other end of the scale a high-end design can cost upwards of £700. Search online to find the best graphics card for your desktop PC as well as Sony laptop deals.
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