The video card (or graphics card) is nothing more than a classic piece of hardware of the PC that has the task of generating and sending to monitor a video signal. In business, however, you can find various types of video cards:

• Those external, used usually to enhance the graphics of laptops;
• Those directly integrated, for example, of a CPU or on a motherboard;
• And those dedicated to normally perform best.

But apart from the type chosen, on any video card you can always find a so-called  graphics processor, called GPU  (from  Graphics Processing Unit), and a certain amount of video memory (which can be dedicated, that is installed directly on video card, or shared , that is subtracted from the main system memory).

Contrary to what occurs with motherboards, video cards, however, do not have a standard with regard to physical dimensions. Each video card, however, is equipped with a standard with regard to attack this under the video card itself (which, in a nutshell, allows it to be mounted on the appropriate slot located on the motherboard):

How and What Video Card To Choose?

When you are about to buy a particular video card, the specifications on which informed are truly many. Here, therefore, a simple list of what you will need to take more account of:

• Amount of video memory, that the latest graphics cards can reach, if not exceed, even the 4GB (keep in mind that having more video memory does not mean absolutelyhave a better video card);
• Speed video memory, which is expressed in GHZor gigabits per second (Gbps) and can be GDDR3, GDDR5 or, even better, HBM;
• Interface of the video memory, which is commonly expressed in bits(of course, the higher this value, the better);
• Speed (or  clock) of the GPU ,  which is expressed in MHz (but, sometimes, also in GHz ) and which represents the most important factor, together with the speed and at the interface of the video memory, which determines the actual performance of a specific Video Card;
• Type of attack, that on all the latest video cards is the PCI Express 3.0;
• Support for the latest video standard, as the DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.5;
• Type and / or number of video outputs available, which normally can be: VGA (now obsolete), DVI, S-Video…

… HDMI / mini HDMI or DisplayPort (the latter particularly used to connect monitors 4K):

When you’re buying a particular video card, another very important factor to consider, in addition to those mentioned above, the power supply is located inside the computer. If, in fact, have mounted a 300-watt power supply and go to buy a video card that requires  at least a 400 watt power supply, most likely, by mounting that particular video card, you will have the annoying problems of supply (such as, for example, the sudden system shutdown). So, before buying any video card, is well informed on the power of your power supply, both on the power required by the video card you’re going to buy (usually this information is printed on the packaging and / or directly to the manufacturer’s website video card) and, if necessary, buy a new power supply.

Finally, we have to consider also the physical size of the video card, because of the excessive length and / or width of particular models, may even keep you from installing it inside the houses (so, before you buy a particular video card, try to inform you also on the latter).