by Adam Rogers

Created on: August 25, 2008

The chances are, if you are looking to buy a graphics card in this day and age, you have a need greater than the average user, because most motherboards nowadays come with a basic graphic card built in. Since you have a special need for this card for your computer, there are a few things you must ask yourself before you even start to look at the cards.

- What do I need the card for? Are you gaming? Using a High Definition screen for your computer? Are you editing Videos? These are a few reasons why you might need a new card. Chances are if you can't think of an answer to this question, other than it's better than what I have, or it's expensive so it must be good, then you don't need a new graphics card.

- What motherboard slots are open for my system? Can I use an AGP or a PCI slot? Or is there another way to connect the card to my system? No mater how it is connected you will need to know what ways your motherboard has available to use. It will be just a big waist of time and money if you get your new card home and find that you can't install it.

- Do I need graphics acceleration? Most likely if you are buying a stand alone graphics card, the answer is yes. There are very few high end uses of graphic cards that do not require graphics acceleration. So when you are looking at the cards, the higher the number beside this statistic listed on the box, the better the graphics quality will be.

- What connection type will I need? Are you using a normal screen connection, are you using a High Definition computer screen, or are you hooking your computer up to a big screen, High Definition, LCD Television set that you are wanting to use as a computer screen. Depending on what you are attaching it too will depend on what connection the screen will need.

- How much onboard memory do I need? The more memory on the card , the better it will work for high resource tasks. What the onboard memory does is it pools the needed data in the memory, and then feeds it off to the screen as seamlessly as it can. The faster the data is pulled to the screen, the more memory it will need in order to give you a seamless image display. So again, the more the better. But if you don't need it to be a lot of memory on the card, then you can save yourself some money, by going for a cheaper card.

After getting all this information together, unless you are really sure about your own knowledge with computer, Take the information you have collected to a professional computer technician, and they will help you find the right card for you and your system. Be sure to always check with more than one professional before you buy the card, and be sure you get price quotes and card specs in writing, so you can better compare what each place has to offer.

Hopefully, the information I have provided here is helpful, and will help you make an educated decision when picking a new card for your computer. Thank you for taking the time to read my article. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I know I enjoyed writing it.

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