10 Best Graphics Cards For Gaming in 2022

Table of Contents

Today’s market is full of many graphics cards to choose from, a situation that can confuse many users when purchasing a new card, so we have prepared this article where we will talk about some of the best options to choose from. by price range. To which we answer the typical questions: which is the best of the moment? Do I have 200 euros as a budget? Nvidia or AMD?

So we’ve broken down the options available into three ranges: high-end, mid-range, and low-end. Here we go!

The high range corresponds to the most powerful cards which ensure excellent performance by playing at high or maximum graphic detail levels with aggressive filters to improve image quality like MSAA, this will also allow us to play at high resolutions such as 2Kor 4K, although in the latter case, it will be necessary to reduce the graphic detail and especially the filters such as antialiasing. Either way, we’ll get a much better gaming experience than the current generation Xbox One X and PS4 Pro consoles.

Nvidia does a great job with its Turing graphics architecture and has become the undisputed queen of high-end graphics cards. Its new GPUs have shown a level of performance and energy efficiency that is hard to beat for rival AMD, which has focused on the mid-range in its new generation of graphics cards. But AMD has redesigned its graphics architecture and released new models that at least match or closely follow Nvidia’s high-end GPUs.

1. Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

What about this device designed only for extreme games. It is the most powerful graphics card for today’s games, without any other that eclipses it except the other custom models of this same RTX category. We opted for this model instead of the Asus because the results were a bit better and so was the price. Of course, we look forward to the Asus ROG Matrix which will surely be positioned as the best.

We have nothing to say about the performance in games and benchmarks, if the game is optimized the performance will be at the maximum available and if it is done badly it will already make sure to get the most out of it. The consumption at maximum load is 342 W with 48 W at rest, so recommend a power supply of 750 W at least. For its part, the temperatures supported reached 71 degrees, and 33 in standby mode, so the Gigabyte radiator does an excellent job.

Features

Video outputs: 3 DisplayPort 1.4, 1 HDMI 2.0b, 1 USB Type-C
Measures: 286x114x50 mm
Occupied pitches: 3 pitches
Software: Gigabyte

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11 GB GDDR6 dedicated.
Rear protection plate.
Windforce 3x cooling system with alternating rotation.

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It is an Nvidia Turing graphics core that mounts 4,352 CUDA cores, 544 Tensor cores and 68 RT with no less than 11 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 14 Gbps. To calm this bug, the brand opted for a WINDFORCE 3X heat sink with many copper heat pipes which are responsible for collecting all the heat and distributing it through a colossal finned exchanger accompanied by three fans. Its length is 290 mm for an approximate weight of 1 Kg.

2. MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio

The Nvidia RTX of the Super range is a reality, of which we already know the RTX 2060 Supermodels and this, the RTX 2070 Super which essentially replaces the RTX 2080, which will be discontinued, as you hear it. Only the RTX 2080 Super would be left for later. These cards are essentially a brand update to increase the perks a bit more and jump up a notch in each model.

We have already tested the MSI model on our benchmark, a variant with a custom TRI FROZR three-fan heatsink with TORX FAN 3.0 and ZERO FROZR technology that works wonders. The VRM has also been increased to 8 + 2 phases, compared to the benchmark 7 + 2 models to allow for better overclocking.

Features

Video outputs: 3 DisplayPort 1.4, 1 HDMI 2.0b
Measures: 327x140x55.6 mm
Occupied pitches: 3 pitches
Software: Dragon Center

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TORX FAN 3.0 – Award winning fan design combining two types of blades for cooling and quiet.
TRI-FROZR THERMAL DESIGN – Using three of the award-winning TORX FAN 3.0 fans, Tri-Frozr is the ultimate in air cooling.
ZERO FROZR – Eliminates fan noise by turning them off in low load situations so you can focus on your game.
RGB MYSTIC LIGHT – Customize LED colors and effects with MSI software and synchronize appearance with other components.
AERODYNAMIC MASTERY – Using aerodynamic techniques, the radiator is optimized for efficient heat dissipation.

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This card mounts a variant of the TU104 core, made up of 2560 CUDA, 320 Tensor, and 40 RT cores, for a total of 64 ROPs and 184 TMUs, in short, performance almost identical to the previous RTX 2080. All running at 215W TDP only. The results we got in our review put it above the benchmark model and the RTX 2080, with frame rates above 100 FPS at 1080p and 2K and nearly 60 FPS at 4K.

3. Asus ROG Strix RTX 2060 Super OC

The second GPU that we find in this renewed range is the RTX 2060 Super, more precisely the Asus version gives us very good feelings both for its aggressive overclocking and for its large ROG Strix triple fan radiator with AURA RGB lighting.

Asus gave this RTX 2060 Super a good grip over the benchmark model of no less than 180 MHz to put it at 1830 MHz in OC mode. In fact, on its PCB we have a button to switch between basic mode and OC mode quickly and easily. Very important is having an additional 6 pin power connector, in addition to the 8 which has the reference configuration.

Features

Video outputs: 2 DisplayPort 1.4, 2 HDMI 2.0b, 1 USB Type-C
Measures: 301x131x49 mm
Occupied pitches: 2.5 pitches
Software: Asus AURA

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RT Hearts: Ray tracing hardware produces a more realistic real-time representation of objects and environments, with shadows, reflections, refractions, and more accurate and natural overall lighting.
Simultaneous Processing of Floating Numbers and Integers: Turing GPUs handle today’s heavy gaming workloads more efficiently.
High-Speed GDDR6: Enjoy fast-paced, high-resolution action games with memory bandwidth of up to 496 GB / s.
Axial-Tech fans feature longer blades and a locking ring that increases downward air pressure.
0dB technology lets you enjoy light games virtually in silence.

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Inside we have a variant of the TU106 chipset from the RTX 2070 that will make it virtually identical to this one, despite having a few fewer cores inside, specifically 2,176 CUDA, 272 Tensor, and 34 RT cores. It emerges as a perfect option to play in 1080p and 2K with graphics in ultra and high, with FPS rates above 70 and 80 in 2K, almost nothing.

4. MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Evoke OC

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is basically designed to compete with the Nvidia RTX 2060 Super, and therefore with the previous RTX 2070. In them, AMD implemented a new architecture called RDNA with which it improved the speed per Watt consumed by 50 % and the CPI of its cores made in 7nm by 25%. In addition, MSI offers us a GPU with a factory overclock that reaches up to 1945 MHz in turbo mode, being one of the highest for this card. Along with that, we have a custom dual-fan heatsink that will perform infinitely better than the fan on the benchmark models.

In terms of performance and goals, well you can’t say it did wrong, because at least it’s on par with the RTX 2060 Super, although still a bit far in some IPs from the RTX 2070 Super. Also, the price of this card is a bit cheaper than its rivals, but it has two drawbacks, the first is that they don’t have RT or DLSS, and the second is that it is hot enough if the ventilator RPM is not manually increased from adrenaline.

Features

Video outputs: 3 DisplayPort 1.4, 1 HDMI 2.0b
Measures: 275x98x40 mm
Occupied pitches: 2.5 pitches
Software: AMD Adrenalin

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Torx 3.0 Fan: Award winning fan design combining two types of blades for cooling and quiet.
Oc performance: MSI graphics cards come with higher clock speeds for increased performance.
Rdna Architecture: Designed from the ground up with superior performance and power efficiency, rdna is the architecture that powers AMD’s 7nm gaming GPU, delivering 1.25-per-clock performance compared to previous 14nm processors .
Msi Afterburner: the overclocking software with advanced control and real-time monitoring.
Solid backplate: increase the hardness of the board to prevent damage from bending, while complementing the design.

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With it, we can play in 1080p and 2K resolutions with high FPS rates without a problem, but the overclocking is quite limited.

5. Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming OC

One of the always cheaper options is Gigabyte GPUs, a clear example is this 5700 XT. We also offer the version with the WINDFORCE 3X heatsink as one of the ones that offer the best features for this excellent card.

Gigabyte offers us a factory overclocking in turbo mode of 1905 MHz, a little lower than the previous one, but with a good improvement compared to temperatures.

Features

Video outputs: 3 DisplayPort 1.4, 1 HDMI 2.0b
Measures: 280x114x50 mm
Occupied pitches: 2.5 pitches
Software: AMD Adrenalin
Advantages

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Integrated with 8 GB GDDR6 256 bit memory interface.
Windforce 3x cooling system with rotating reciprocating fans.
RGB Fusion 2.0: synchronization with other Aorus devices.
Metal back plate.

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These are two of the most attractive models for this AMD card, which is why they are on the list.

6. EVGA GTX 1080Ti FTW3

We have also placed this EVGA GTX 1080Ti FTW3 Gaming because of its excellent price, it is one of the very few high-performance GTX 1080 Ti under 1000 euros. The previous generation’s best gaming card still has a lot to say compared to the very expensive RTX 2080, as it is currently very much on par in terms of performance and FPS and at a slightly lower cost.

The heat sink of this Evga is built in aluminum and copper heat pipes with iCX technology with three fans that collect heat from both the GPU and all power phases to achieve a truly temperature-controlled set. In addition, it has a temperature monitoring system for each phase and a safety fuse to protect it against overvoltages.

Features

Video outputs: 3 DisplayPort 1.4, 1 HDMI 2.0b, 1 USB Type-C
Measures: 300x143x50 mm
Occupied pitches: 2.5 pitches
Software: EVGA

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Real base clock: 1569 MHz / Real boost clock: 1683 MHz; Memory Detail: 11264MB GDDR5X.
EVGA iCX Technology – 9 additional temperature sensors to monitor memory and VRM.
GPU / Memory / RGB PWM LED thermal status indicator.
New design of ventilated radiator fins and pin fins for optimized airflow.
Safety fuse to protect components from damage due to improper installation or other component failure.

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In terms of performance, what interests us is on par with the RTX 2080, so we will have TOP performance at a price below 950 euros. Its 3,584 CUDA cores and 11 GB of 11 Gbps GDDR5X memory, support resolutions up to 8K with a memory bandwidth of 484 GB / s only exceeded by 2080 Ti.

7. Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER OC Dual

With the arrival of the Super versions in the mid-range, Nvidia wishes to recover and maintain the benchmark position to which it corresponds. Thanks to the exceptional Radeon RX, Nvidia sees the throne in peril and has put more fuel on the fire with this modified 1660 which increases its performance to be on par with the 1660 Ti and also at a better price.

What really changes is not its GPU, which will remain the 1408-core CUDA TU116, but its VRAM memory. In this case, the level has been upped with 6 GB of GDDR6 type memory running at 14 Gbps, like the rest of the higher GPUs.

Features

Video outputs: 1 DisplayPort 1.4, 1 HDMI 2.0b and 1 DVI
Measures: 240 x 120 x 53 mm
Occupied pitches: 3 pitches
Software: Nvidia Drivers

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OC Edition: Boost frequency 1860 MHz (OC mode) / 1830 MHz (game mode).
Axial-tech fans have longer blades and a locking ring that increases air pressure.
0dB technology lets you enjoy light games virtually in silence.
Auto-Extreme technology improves reliability by automating the manufacturing process.
The 2.7 slot design increases the dissipation area to get the most out of Axial-tech fans.

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The overclocking capabilities it demonstrated in our benchmark puts it very close to the RTX 2060, an impressive job from Nvidia.

Best Graphics Cards Buying Guide

If you are new to a PC graphics card, you will probably be wrong on your first purchase … But with the criteria listed below, you will easily be able to find the best one for PC!

What is a GPU and an APU?

We often talk about “GPU” and “APU” when we talk about graphics cards. But what do these terms really mean and what do they refer to?

A GPU or graphics processing unit is basically a graphics processor. Just as a processor is the central processing unit of our computer, in this case we are dealing with the graphics processing unit of the computer. A GPU is NOT a graphics card, but rather the chip that is responsible for performing the graphics processing, floating-point, and 3D calculations that form the greatest weight in a game or graphics rendering program.

The GPU can be located on an expansion card, which we acquire independently from our own team, or it can be integrated into the motherboard. In any case, this processing is specially designed for graphics processing, thus freeing our main processor from such complex and heavy calculations.

Now we will see the meaning of an APU or accelerated processor. This term was coined by AMD to define processors with a GPU integrated inside the package. This means that in a normal processor or CPU, we will also have in a specific place, another circuit that will be in charge of the 3D processing of the graphics of our computer. Many current processors have this type of core embedded in the same silicon, even with an external graphics card. Of course, the graphics processing capacity of an APU is much less than that of a dedicated graphics card.

What must be deduced from this is that having a processor with integrated graphics does not mean that we cannot have a dedicated graphics card, in fact, it is the most normal today, and surely you have an APU yourself. on your PC. Game consoles are the living example of an APU, they contain a processor that will act as both CPU and GPU.

In these paragraphs, the term dedicated card has been mentioned on several occasions. Let’s see what it is.

We start with integrated graphics cards. We have already seen that a processor can have a graphics processor in itself to form an APU. Well, that precisely means having an internal graphics card. In this type of computer, there won’t be a card connected to the PCI slots, but we will have a DisplayPort or HDMI connector coming straight out of our motherboard.

This is very common on laptops, where space is very limited and manufacturers have to achieve maximum integration into the components to make everything fit. We will quickly notice that our laptops have an integrated graphics card if we don’t see an Nvidia or Radeon sticker anywhere, or we go into device manager and find in the graphics section something similar to “Intel HDxxxx Graphics” or “AMD Embedded”.

Currently, the processors have powerful integrated GPUs, with which we can reproduce the content in 4K, and even play many games, but they will NEVER reach the level of a dedicated graphics card. Also, an integrated graphics card will take some of the RAM for its own use, so we will have less available for normal PC use.

Dedicated graphics card

These are the ones that interest us, the ones that are purchased independently and connect to a PCI Express slot. We will notice our computers have one when we see an Nvidia sticker on the outside or a Radeon sticker in some cases. These types of cards have their own high-performance GPUs and are exclusively designed to handle 3D graphics and floating-point operations. Moreover, they install their own RAM memory, called VRAM or GDDR RAM, and it is also much faster than normal RAM.

Most powerful ultrabooks or gaming laptops will almost all have a dedicated graphics card. This does not mean that we can extract it and modify it, because it, even dedicated, will be installed via a chip on the same motherboard as the processor. We will notice it because it will have its own radiator.

What are the pros and cons of having a dedicated graphics card?
Well, for a player it will be practically mandatory to have one. Let’s see what they bring us and what negative aspects they have:

They are much more powerful than an integrated GPU.
They can be bought and traded whenever we want for a better one.
It has its own GPU and its own memory.
We can play any games we want and enable advanced and better filters without our team slowing down.
They have their own integrated cooling system.
If it’s good, we will be able to play the latest titles in the market, even if our team is old.
There are many models, from the more powerful to the more ordinary, and almost all of them will perform better than a built-in card.
Disadvantages
The investment of money in a voucher is quite large, almost always more than 300 euros.
They consume a lot of energy and we need power supplies over 500 W.
They put more heat in our box.
Either way, the pros are more than the cons, and if you want to play the last one, you’re bound to need it, and that’s why you’re here.
Graphics specifications: GPU and architecture
Well, there are several things to consider when purchasing a graphics card. Each of these has a lot of characteristics and numbers to determine which is better or worse, let’s start with your GPU or GPU. We will try to explain it from the technologies currently on the market.
Graphics processors have an infinite number of performance parameters and are also built under different architectures and manufacturers. In this list, we will only be able to use the latest technologies from each manufacturer, as well as the characteristics to be taken into account for each of them.

Turing Architecture (Nvidia)

Its market name will be under the term “RTX”. Any graphics card with RTX in its name will be Turing technology, and it’s the latest technology from the brand that gives us the best performing graphics cards today.

If we want to play the latest, in the best quality, at the highest resolution and with virtual reality, we will need it. Turing’s architecture manufactures processors with 12nm transistors and optimized for Ray Tracing, or Real-Time Ray Tracing, Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence. We are interested in the first two. Real-time ray tracing means that in next-gen games and the latest titles we’re going to get higher graphics quality than anything we’ve seen before. Greater realism in shadows, reflections in water and soil, dynamic adaptation of the density of particles, to provide the most realistic final result possible. The same can be applied to virtual reality.

In the characteristics of Nvidia RTX processors, we can identify CUDA cores, Tensor cores and RT cores, as well as the clock frequency of the processor. The higher the number of these cores and the higher the frequency, the higher the performance of the graphics card.

Architecture of the Radeon NAVI 10

This is the latest technology from AMD, the big news AMD is bringing to these graphics cards is their architecture, one in which it claims to have completely redesigned the way to handle instructions and the processing of these. by graphic hearts. .

Its name is RDNA (remember the previous one was called GCN) and there are two key features for the user: the first, an improvement in GPU (operations per cycle) IPC (operations per cycle) of up to 25% compared to the previous generation, and second, an increase in overall performance per watt of up to 50%. On paper, an RDNA GPU should offer up to 44% better performance than an identical GPU, but a weak GCN. This opens many doors for AMD to create more powerful and efficient cards.

But we also have big absences, like real-time ray tracing or deep learning technology like DLSS on Nvidia. Obviously, it will be part of the next generation of games, so this is still a pending topic from AMD.

Pascal Architecture (Nvidia)

Pascal is the architecture of the previous generation of Nvidia graphics cards. Even today these are very good graphics cards and located in the low, mid and high range at the same time. Usually they have a lower cost than the new ones, and if we get a good deal, they will be great value as well.

We will be able to identify them easily if the word “GTX” appears in the model and the numbers 1000, for example 1050, 1060, 1070 and 1080. They also work with all kinds of games at 1080p, 2K, and 4K resolutions.

Polaris RX Architecture (AMD)

These are the previous generation of AMD graphics cards, although they are currently widely used as midrange and low-end components. These are graphics cards with good performance at 1080p and 2K resolutions at a really low price. In fact, they are even a better option than the Radeon Vega, with the manufacturing process of the transistor being 14nm

We will quickly distinguish them by the distinctive “RX” in their name, and we will always have to watch out for manufacturers with custom models like Asus, as the series models are quite poor and with poor cooling.

Intel HD Graphics

We mention it as a simple anecdote. This Intel HD technology is used by the manufacturer to name the graphics cores that make up its processors. In other words, they are integrated graphics cards and can be distinguished by the name “Intel HDxxxx” in the device manager.

It doesn’t have dedicated graphics cards, they are aimed at mid-range laptops with low usage for gaming and therefore do not deliver performance to match an optimal gaming experience.

Specifications of a graph: memory, quantity, and bus width

Another fundamental aspect of a graphics card is the memory available to it and of course, the width of the bus, the ability to store the game’s graphics data, the rendered environments and the transfer capacity will depend on it.

Currently, the different architectures that we have seen mainly use three types of graphics memories, which will need to be known and known to evaluate their properties.

GDDR6 memory

It is the fastest memory that exists today, but also the most expensive to produce. It is implemented by Nvidia’s Turing architecture graphics cards, and this is one of the main reasons the products have become more expensive compared to the previous generation.

This GDDR6 memory is capable of achieving a speed of no less than 14 Gbps. In almost all occasions, we usually find this nomenclature instead of the traditional GHz to define the speed of the memories.

HBM2 memory

This memory is the main novelty of AMD’s Vega architecture, and while it doesn’t have speeds as high as GDDR, it has a much larger bus or interfaces width, reaching up to 2048. bits. Its speed is around 1.9 Gbps.

Let’s say they provide raw speed for the bus width and transfer capacity. For convenience, they have a bandwidth similar to GDDR6 memories.

GDDR5 and GDDR5X memory

GDDR5X memory is an evolution of the classic GDDR5 which is only implemented by Nvidia’s high-end GTX models of the previous architecture, namely the GTX 1080 and 1080 Ti. The speed of this memory reaches up to 10 Gbps.

GDDR5 memory is present in both Pascal generation cards and AMD Polaris RX cards, and we can find it with speeds ranging from 6 Gbps to 8 Gbps, of course, the more the better. is.

Amount of memory

Regardless of the type of memory, we have the amount installed in the graphics card. 2 GB is not the same as 8, far from it. The more memory we have installed on a graphics card, the more graphics data we can store on it. In operation it is exactly the same as in RAM, if it is small and fills up we will have a slower game and as we walk around the world we will notice an inconsistency in the objects around us, appearing suddenly or disappearing.

Viewing distance also influences, especially in open-world games, the more memory there is, the more distance will be represented in the world and the farther objects we will see.

For good graphics to work properly in all games, you will need at least 4 GB of installed memory.

Memory bus width and bandwidth

The width of the memory bus represents the number of bits that can be transmitted and is measured in bits. This is called a word, the instruction that is sent from memory to the processor, the longer the word we can send, the larger the bus will be, and therefore the greater the processing capacity of the instructions we will have will be great. Currently, graphics cards have a bus width of between 192 bits and 2048 bits that we have seen in HBM2 memories. The larger the width of the bus, the better, but always taking into account the bandwidth that we will ultimately get.

Memory bandwidth is the amount of information that can be transferred per unit of time and is measured in GB / s. The greater the width of the bus and the greater the frequency of the memory, the more bandwidth we will have. And that is why HBM2 memory has an end bandwidth similar to GDDR6.

While the HBM2 runs at 1.9 Gbps and 2048-bit bus width on the RX Vega 64, you get a total bandwidth of 483.8 Gbps.
The second has a bus width of up to 352 bits and 14 Gbps on the RTX 2080 Ti and achieves a bandwidth of 616 Gb / s
This means that the width of the bus is as important as the speed of the memory.

Power connectors

The connectivity of a graphics card is very important, and of course the power connector it has, because the higher the TDP (Thermal Design Power) or the amount of Watts it consumes, the more connectors we will need. .

Power cable

We will start with the power connector that our graphics card will have. In general, one can find several types or, rather, quantities of connectors. Fortunately, all graphics cards will operate at the same input voltage, so in that sense, we won’t have any issues with the connectors on our power supply. Types we can find:

6 Pin Connector: This is the basic connector and every mid / high-end graphics card will have at least one. It is simply a cable with two rows of 3 pins. All sources have at least one.
6 + 2 pins: in addition to the above 6, there will be two more, forming two rows of 4 connectors. Likewise, any power supply worthy of the name will unite these two pins with the 6 others in a removable manner.
8 + 6: we now turn to cards that have a TDP greater than 160W. In addition to the 8 pin connector (6 + 2), we will find another one, with another 6 pins.
8 + 8: Finally the cards with the highest consumption and more than 200W will provide the complete set, which will be made up of two 8-pin connectors. Power sources over 500W should have two of these connectors, preferably separately on separate cables.
8 + 8 + 8: These are already just special configurations with integrated liquid cooling or a ridiculously exclusive board like the MSI Carbon
Very small graphics cards will not have connectors, and power from the PCie slot will suffice.

Graphics card media connection ports

We now turn to connectivity in terms of multimedia ports, which is becoming increasingly important for high-resolution monitors and virtual reality glasses. Next, we’ll go over which connectors we can find on a board and which ones we’ll need depending on the monitor we have.

HDMI connector

High Definition Multimedia Interface is a communication standard for multimedia devices with uncompressed sound and picture. It is an elongated connector with two grimaces at the ends. We have different sizes, HDMI, Mini HDMI, and Micro HDMI. We are interested in an HDMI connector and much more in the HDMI version it brings.

The HDMI version will influence the image capacity that we can get from the graphics card. The latest version is HDMI 2.1, which will allow us to connect monitors with resolutions up to 10K and reproduce 4K at 120Hz and 8K at 60Hz.

Most cards come with HDMI 2.0b, which allows us to connect 4K monitors at 60Hz and dynamic sync. A self-respecting graphics card must bring at least one if we have a monitor with this type of interface.

Display Port connector

It’s a very similar HDMI connector, but with only a scowl on one side. As before, the version of this port will be very important, and we will need it at least 1.4 since this version supports playback of content in 8K at 60Hz and in 4K at 120Hz.

If we have a high-performance monitor it will surely have such a connector, and you will need the graphics to have that as well to get the most out of our equipment.

DVI connector

This interface is unlikely to be found on current monitors, although graphics such as the RTX 2060 still have one. There are different versions of the DVI connector, although the most common today is DVI-D. It has a 24-pin connector and a flat horizontal plate that serves as ground. It supports resolutions up to 4K, but it is not recommended if we have any of the previous connectors.

USB Type C connector

It is one of the new additions to the connectivity of next-generation graphics cards. This connector is going to be very important from now on, especially for laptops and virtual reality devices.

This USB stick has the DisplayPort alternate mode, which is nothing more than the functionality of DisplayPort 1.3, with support for displaying images at 4K resolution at 60 Hz. This port will therefore be very interesting for ultra-thin laptops that don’t have one DisplayPort connector and we want to get an external monitor with that interface.

But it doesn’t end there, another of the great uses of this port is to provide a connection for virtual reality glasses, as these normally provide this type of connectivity today. Especially those from Nvidia with VirtualLink. So if we want to use the graphics card for VR, it will be better to have this port.

Size of a graph: length and locations it occupies

Another section that we need to consider is graphics card measurements, as there are chassis that certain card configurations do not fit. So we always have to look at the width, length, and height of the card, and compare it with the specs of our chassis, or take a meter straight and measure it ourselves.

Almost every graphics card will have its own measurements, and it is very difficult to categorize them into standard measurements. If we do, we’ll basically have three types:

Extended or ATX Size : These cards are the longest configuration of the three, and will almost always be over 220mm in length and can go up to 300mm or even longer. We will have to pay particular attention to these measurements and those of our frames. They will be easy to identify as they almost always have three fans.
Normal Size: These are cards that will measure a maximum of 220mm in length and will fit virtually any chassis. These are almost always dual fan or turbine cards.
Compact size or ITX: these are the smallest of all, although they are no less powerful for that. It is normal to find one of these versions in each model, with a little less power than the long configuration. Their measurements will be approximately 120mm wide by 150mm long or less, and are intended for small ITX towers.

Another very important factor is the height of the cards, as the current trend is to make them bigger and bigger, with bigger heatsinks and taking up more space. This space can be measured by slots or expansion slots. We all know what it is. The higher it is, the more unused slots there will be on our motherboard.

1 location: almost forgetting, for a graph to occupy only one location, it should only be 2 cm high and it is very rare to find one that works for something.
2 slots: equivalent to a height of 4 cm or 40 mm, and yes we can find many of them limited to this height.
3 Slots: This makes a height of over 40mm, reaching as high as 54 in some models, and more than we’ll see soon.

Types of heatsinks and which is the best

One very important item that many gamers overlook is the graphics card heat sink. Graphics cards are components with processors that require a large amount of energy for the enormous mass of information that they are capable of processing, and this of course generates a lot of heat inside. This is why having a good radiator is very important, even more than that of a CPU. There are different types of GPU heat sinks:

Custom or vertical heat sink

These heatsinks are by far the most efficient. They are composed of a copper base that is in contact with the GPU and the power phases. Certain heat pipes integrated into this base are responsible for capturing all the heat from it and distributing it between a finned heat exchanger which is installed over the entire extension of the PCB of the card, or even exceeding this measurement and extending to the -of the. These heat pipes can use a vapor chamber to optimize the distribution and speed of thermal transmission. This block will be constructed of aluminum or copper and will be bathed by a vertical airflow generated by one, two, or up to three fans installed in a cover above this block.

The end result will be a cage that completely covers the PCB of the board to facilitate heat dissipation of the components. In addition, in the upper area of the plate one can also have a backplate that also covers this whole area.

Blower type heat sink

The design of these heatsinks is older and rare to see on current models because the airflow is poorer and the dissipation much less optimal. These heat sinks have a copper core that comes in contact with the GPU and VRM to pick up heat and distribute it to the top area where a finned block will be located. This block can also contain a steam chamber so that the heat transfer will be of better quality.

Well, this block will be bathed by an axial flow of air coming from a centrifugal fan (it captures the air vertically and expels it horizontally). This will all be covered with an outer cover to prevent airflow from dispersing before passing through the fins.

Liquid refrigeration

In some cases, we also have liquid cooling settings for custom graphics cards. The operation is the same as in the case of CPUs, a block is installed in the GPU where a liquid will circulate in a closed circuit. This will reach an exchanger with fans to transfer the heat from the liquid to the finned block where it will ultimately be transferred to the air.

Passive heat sink

Well, it’s basically an aluminum or copper fin block that is installed on the GPU and dissipates heat without a fan. Of course, this is the worst, and only low-end or entry-level graphics cards install it.

Final words on the best boxes on the market

Without a doubt, the field of graphics cards is one of the most complex in terms of choosing the right models. There are a lot of them and it’s hard to find the best of them, and it’s also one of the most sought after by gamers. We believe this model list covers most of the needs of low, mid and high end gamers well. In general, these are great graphics cards with great features that will allow us to play pretty much anything today. Of course, keeping in mind the limitations of the low range, but it is precisely for this reason that it is called low range.

Would you like to put another model on this list that has caught your attention?

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