They are hundreds of Graphic cards out there on the market. They come with a hundred different features, and hence the confusion levels are high as well. This article is catered towards helping you decide which graphic card is best for your system.

Step 1: Find the Compatible Graphics Card According to the Video Slot of Your Motherboard.

It is highly possible that your computer comes with one of the two types of video slots. That is either a PCI Express or an AGP type. Over the past five years, a majority of the computers are equipped with the PCI-Express 16x slot. Hence, its highly possible that your computer has this slot too. PCI-Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express): They form part of almost every personal computer in circulation since the start of the new millennium and still continue to dominate the industry even today. These slots come in multiple varieties of sizes. Since most computers, today, require a large slot size, namely the 16X. Majority of the latest computers are equipped with the 16X sized video slot. AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port): A host of computers from the nineties carried along with them AGP video slots. Its characteristic color was chocolate brown. Despite a large number of revisions, the AGP port would accept cards that are either 4X or 8X sized. Such cards are still in circulation today and could be found on any of the e-commerce platforms out there. Note: You can’t connect an AGP Card to PCI-E Slot or Vice Versa.   Finding the compatible graphics card is not that kind of hard task to do, you’ll just to find which Video Card Slot you have on your desktop’s motherboard and then eliminate your card selection according to the slot compatibility. To find this slot, you need to open your computer’s case and look for the same slot, just like mentioned in the above-given picture. You can also go visit the Manufacture’s Website of your motherboard, in case if you didn’t want to open your PC’s Cabinet. After finding the Slot, now PCI-E motherboard users you’ll need to check, that which version of PCI x16 Slot you have on your motherboard. Normally there are four different types of PCIe x16 Slot generations out there in the motherboard’s market. The first one is V1.0 which is the first generation and continued to the latest V4.0 which is fourth generation PCI-E Slot with having the performance bandwidth speed limit of 31.51 GB/s (in ×16 Slot). Every generation Slot looks same but contains double of bandwidth as compared to the previous version and the great thing is that you can run v4.0 Card on any old PCI-E Slot (which do limit the performance). Running a PCIe x16 v2.0 Card on v1.0 Slot can decrease the half performance of your Graphics card only if the higher generation card needs more bandwidth to work with, or otherwise it will work perfectly. Suggested Link: What’s The Difference Between In PCI Express Gen 1 vs. Gen 2 vs. Gen 3? So, If you wanted to play the high-end game on your computer then make sure your motherboard at least has 3.0 Supported Video Card Slot and The Card too, in order to perform the best. Here’s a pic of two graphics card specifications, to show you how to check the Video Slot compatibility.

Check your motherboard’s specification on the internet by its Model No. and can able to easily find the type of PCIe x16 you have on your motherboard. If the specification shows you, just ‘PCI Express x16’ without any description that it means that you having a PCIe x16 2.0 (because v1.0 is discontinued) or otherwise it was listed the name of Slot Generation. Here a specification of both PCI 2.0 and 3.0 Motherboard to show you how it looks like.

Step 2: Finding A Compatible Video Port for Your Personal Computer

This step requires a user to buy a video card which has at least one port which matches with the ports on your computer monitor. Following are the various types of ports which could be part of your computer monitor assembly:

VGA (Video Graphics Array) or D-SUB: It’s like this port has been a part of every computer system since the beginning of time. It is a highly reliable port, but it should never be treated as the first choice. Other ports such as HDMI port provide the user with better video quality along with high compatibility as well. DVI (Digital Visual Interface): DVI ports can be found on a number of modern-day personal computer systems. The main principle of operation is simple. It sends a series of numbers to the personal computer screen. These numbers are then converted to pictures which appear to the user. HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface): An interesting fact about the above video ports is that they carry with only visual capabilities. An HDMI port carries both audio and visual functions in it. It is a very useful port if you wish to watch your video content on a very high-quality TV set. It is slowly replacing the traditional VGA port technology and this is evident, as latest computers come equipped with HDMI ports only. DisplayPort: A relatively new addition to the video port family, DisplayPort technology is something which could replace all of the above-mentioned video ports in the future. This technology is capable of sending the HDMI port back to where it came from, on DVD players only.

Or otherwise, you can use cross connectors in different varies of cables.

Step 3: Deciding Which Video Card Features Best Fit Your Budget.

Before deciding to buy a video card for your system, it is always important in mind to keep two things; A fixed budget in mind along with the basic technical requirements for your graphics card. Below are a few technical features which influence the pricing of a video card. “And that’s all for now, thanks for sticking with the article, and you know it will always good to let me know about the article, in the comments down below.” 🙂

want to know whats the Highest Graphics Card i can use, Thank You, and your Blog is very helpful, but i am just beginning to understand, all the PC Gaming, Jarg Talk. What is the best graphics card i can get ? And how many gb do you recommend ? Thank you. my processor is – AMD A10-6800K APU WITH RADEON(tm) HD GRAPHICS 4.10GHz PC Graphic card 01:- Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS (256MB) Single Head PCIe x16, ATI Radeon HD 2400XT (256MB DH) PCIe x16 Graphic card 02 Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS (256MB) Single Head PCIe x16, ATI Radeon HD 2400XT (256MB DH) PCIe x16 Graphic subsystem name:- Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 Graphic subsystem video card features 01 3D/2D Controller: Microsoft DirectX® 9 based with support for Pixel Shader 2.0, 4:1 anisotropic filtering, Gaussian texture filtering, shadow maps, volumetric textures, doublesided stencil buffers, and 4 pixel pipes; Integrated VGA Controller; Integrated 400 MHz RAMDAC; Overlay Planes: Single overlay support with 5×3 filtering; Maximum Color Depth: 32 bits/pixel; Multidisplay Support: 2 displays can be supported via the motherboard’s VGA connectors and DVI/ADD2 optional Video adapterfeatures:- 3D/2D Controller: Microsoft DirectX® 9 based with support for Pixel Shader 2.0, 4:1 anisotropic filtering, Gaussian texture filtering,shadow maps, volumetric textures, doublesided stencil buffers, and 4 pixel pipes; Integrated VGA Controller; Integrated 400 MHz RAMDAC; Overlay Planes: Single overlay support with 5×3 filtering; Maximum Color Depth: 32 bits/pixel; MultidisplaySupport: 2 displays can be supported via the motherboard’s VGA connectors andDVI/ADD2 optional Graphic subsystemvideo card memory:- Graphics memory is shared with systemmemory. Graphics memory usage can varyfrom 8 to 256 MB depending on the amount ofsystem memory installed and system loadGraphic subsystemvideo card resolutionMaximum Vertical Refresh Rate: 85 Hz at upto 1920×1440, 85 Hz at 2048×1536 Video adapter, bus PCI Express™ x16 Gigabyte Radeon Rx 460 Windforce OC 2GB GDDR5 For the following Motherboard: CPU • Socket LGA 1155 Chipset • Intel H67 Video • Intel HD Graphics 2000 Memory • 4x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Dual Channel 1333/1066 MHz non-ECC, unbuffered (16GB Max) Expansion Slots • 1x PCIe x16 (2.0) • 1x PCIe mini • 3x PCIe x1 Audio • Realtek ALC887 – High Definition Ethernet • Broadcom BCM577xx (Gigabit Rear Panel • 1x VGA Port • 1x HDMI port • 4x USB 2.0 Ports • 1x RJ45 LAN Port • 1x eSATA – Connector • 1x S/PDIF – Connector • 1x Audio I/O – Line in/out, Microphone Form Factor • Micro-ATX SKU: T6G004335 Thanks I want to buy a graphic card for gaming purposes. I would like to get the best recommendations according to my PC profile. My Budget: £100 – £150 Online Game: Counter Strike: Global Offensive Case: Dell Optiplex 380 Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7500 @ 2.93 GHz (up to 2933 MHz) 32bit In CPU Socket @ 1.2V Installed Memory (RAM): 2.00 GB Mainboard: Dell 0HN7XN Video Card: Intel(R) G41 Express Chipset Power Supply: Max 255W Preference Graphic Card: Nvidia or Radeon (1GB – 2GB) Thanks My pc configuration is: Mercury PI945GCM mother board with intel core 2 duo processor 2GHz, 1 GB ram. Which graphic card will suit the best. I use the system for engineering application such as AutoCAD, Staad.Pro, etc Very nice and helpful article. I have a year old Desktop with the following configuration: Intel Core i5 6400 @ 2.70GHz Gigabyte H110M-S2-CF (U3E1) Motherboard NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 – 2 GB Kingston 8.00GB @ 1066MHz I have tried but could not play latest games including (GoW, Battlefield or GTA5 etc.) due to minimum Graphic Card requirement not meeting with these games. Most of these games require minimum GTX 660 or above to run and recommended at least GTX 1050 or above. I have two questions where i would need your guidance. a) In case i want to upgrade my Graphic card, which card will be compatible. Can i go for GTX 1050 on this mother board. b) Is there any way that my current system can run the games that require GTX 660, without changing my Graphic Card. Thanks Ravi I bought a new GPU cause my old one died. i have a HP ENVY Phoenix h9z 1100 AMD FX-8100 eight-core processor [2.8GHz, 8MB L2/8MB L3 Cache] 10gb ram and 2tb hard drive. mother board number: M3970AM and I bought a new GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 but it doesnt seem to be working, i was wondering why? Is the GPU compatible with the computer? When the GPU says its 2gb, what does that mean? Thanks Jay Can you tell me for the below mention Board which Graphic Card is compatible whats the max you can go upto Hp Pavilion Series MCP73M01H1 (Napa) Motherboard Socket type: LGA 775 Intel Core2 Duo CPU. E4700 @ 2.60GHz Micro-ATX: 24.4 cm (9.6 inches) x 24.4 cm (9.6 inches) Regards, Mac Also, my comp is a hpe 575uk, I did upgrade to a AMD R9 290 card and that worked fine, but bought a R9390x, it seems to boot up, but there is nothing on the screen, tried everything, upgraded the PS to 850w, but still nothing, the fans on the card go, and the comp seems to boot up, but nothing on the screen at all ??? OR WHAT OTHER CARDS COULD I UPGRADE TOO, THAT WILL PLAY GAMES ON MY COMP LIKE FORZA & IN 4K AS SMOOTH AS A BABYS BOTTOM ??? Wayne How did you know please ??? What do I look for in my motherboard and the graphic card ??? And whats the fastest card I could use in my comp ??? Wayne i was wanting to upgrade to a ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Dual-Fan OC Edition Graphics Card (DUAL-GTX1060-O3G) and add 16 gb of ram to it as well Kingston HyperX FURY 16GB Kit (2x8GB) 1866MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM – Black (HX318C10FBK2/16) would that be possible to do? AMD Phenom II prepossesr , DDR 3 Ram of 4GB, (2). i planning to buy. ZOTAC GeForce® GT 710 2GB DDR5 ZONE Edition Graphics Card Does this support my PC?? WIndows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Motherboard specs: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-G41M-Combo-rev-20#sp 3.0 Ghz 6GB RAM i want to buy a graphics card ( 2gb) . my mother board specs:- https://ark.intel.com/products/71617/Intel-Desktop-Board-DH61BF Processor: i5 3rd gen ram: 12 GB. Please suggest. thanks.. can i install GT 1030 or GTX 1050, 1050 Ti? or will this be a bottleneck? I want to upgrade the gpu on my dell precision 690. It has a 1000w psu, pci e x16, 2 x 6 pin power inputs and 2 quad core xeon 2.33 ghz processors with 32gb of ram. Running Bios and SSD. I think it can update to the evga gtx970. But I’m not sure! What do I do? I don’t want to purchase a card for €300 and have it not work… I am no good at computers and i was wondering if i can update my graphics card from a Radeon rx 580 to a GTX 1070. I have a Ryzen 5 1400 processor but im unsure what my motherboard is but i dont know if this will help HP Model 8309 (AM4) is what i get when i search my settings. i have looked on other websites and couldn’t find anything about if it will work and was wondering if you could help me out because i don`t want to waste over $300 on a graphics card if it doesn’t. Thanks. Should i purchase a new high end system for latest games or replace my graphic card with Nvidia 1080Ti for 4K gaming or (3 Monitor Setup) & Will my current motherboard support 1080Ti?? Model : GIGABYTE GA-H61-S2PV(rev 2.1) / Micro ATX 2 / PCIex16 v3.0 / socket 1155 BIOS version: 02/25/2013 04.06.05 Ram : 2 slots DDR3 max 16GB (at present I use 8 GB ram of 2 slots) Processor : Intel Pentium CPU G630 [sandy bridge] CPU clock : 2.73Ghz Power supplier: 450W GPU (at present) : nVIDIA geforce GT610 (2GB DDR3) can i use any nVIDIA GTX version graphics cards with my specifications ? My desktop runs with Intel® Desktop Board DH61WW. I am planning to buy ZOTAC GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti Mini 4 GB Graphic Card. Can you please assist if the graphic card will be compatible with the mother board. Can you please say if COLORFUL I GAME GeForce GTX 1050 TI is good to buy. I see the price of this graphic card is Rs 3500 only in wish.com. Is Colorful I GAME a good brand to go for. Can you tell me if my computer can run Nvidia GTX 750 Ti here is my computer System Model Aspire M5800/M3800 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz, 2333 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s) Intel(R) G45/G43 Express Chipset Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB SMBIOS Version 2.6 Let me know please because my computer can barely run games now, thanks! Would be great if you could suggest me a a good Mother Board, Processor and a Graphic Card. My budget being 30 k to 32 K (around 450 – 475 $) for these three components alone. My expectation is to play GTA 6, Witcher 4 kind of games with out lag. And for now i wanna upgrade my gpu to gtx750 zotac with pcie gen3 compatible. I read alot from other forum before and alot ppl say lga775 mobo mostly support until pcie 2nd gen. So i need to upgrade my mobo too isnt it ? Can i ask for ur suggestion which mobo are compatible with my specs. I currently planning to use gtx750 and ddr3 ram and stick with xeon e5450 mod. About psu i can upgrade it later. Which GPU can I run if possible a few options? MSI G41M-P26. Can Zotac Geforce GT 710 1 GB DDR3 Fit in it? Motherboard: odense 2b47 ,PCIe x16 Intel Core i7-6700 12 gb ram power supply: 300W Thank you very much! Kevin Can i ask if i GTX 750 ti will fit in my pc? and or it will work? because im planning to install Dota 2 games and Render 3D in SketchUp. by the way im planning to upgrade my ram to 8gb any suggestion? I have a PC with the following configuration Mother Board: GA-EP45-UD3L RAM: 6GB DDR2 RAM (3 slots used out of 4 slots) SATA: 2 drives ( 500 gb Seagate, 1tb WD) PSU: 500 w cooler master Graphics card: ATI Radeon 4350 (having two DVI-D slots) OS: windows 10 x64 I am planning to replace the existing graphics card with a basic card ASUS Geforce 710 1gb ddr3 (includes HDMI) I have the following 2 quries 1) Is the new graphics card compatible? 2) I used to get Video TDR failure error some times with the existing card. Will that Video TDR failure issue get resolved with the new suggested card? Thanks in advance Can you recommend a high end graphic card for the following spec motherboard, Thanks in advance. wmic baseboard get product,Manufacturer,version,serialnumber Manufacturer Product SerialNumber Version Dell Inc. 07KY25 /7R3MLN2/CNWS20081T02KN/ A01 OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home Single Language Version 10.0.17134 Build 17134 Other OS Description Not Available OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation System Name DESKTOP-UNCL8F6 System Manufacturer Dell Inc. System Model Inspiron 3668 System Type x64-based PC System SKU 0763 Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7400 CPU @ 3.00GHz, 3000 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s) BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. 1.4.0, 19/7/2017 SMBIOS Version 3.0 Embedded Controller Version 255.255 BIOS Mode UEFI BaseBoard Manufacturer Dell Inc. BaseBoard Model Not Available BaseBoard Name Base Board Platform Role Desktop Secure Boot State On PCR7 Configuration Elevation Required to View Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32 Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1 Locale United States Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = “10.0.17134.1” User Name DESKTOP-UNCL8F6\kunalan Time Zone Malay Peninsula Standard Time Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB Total Physical Memory 7.91 GB Available Physical Memory 4.04 GB Total Virtual Memory 10.0 GB Available Virtual Memory 4.87 GB Page File Space 2.09 GB Page File C:\pagefile.sys Kernel DMA Protection Off Virtualization-based security Not enabled Device Encryption Support Elevation Required to View Hyper-V – VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes Hyper-V – Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes Hyper-V – Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes Hyper-V – Data Execution Protection Yes I have Dell OptiPlex 990 desktop machine with the standard built in specifications: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @3.40GH, 12 GB RAM, with Widows 10, 64-Bit, BIOS A23. I have Purchased new GPUs, Radeon Nitro RX 580 with PSU, Corsair HX 1200i. System is detecting only 1 card and mining properly with 30mh/s and the moment I plug another card through riser, monitor won’t show anything while CPU & GPUs fans start spinning. Need your advice that what could be the possible reason and solution? Appreciated your early response. Thanks. 500W power supply 1 x PCIe x16 1 x PCIe x1 2 x PCI Which graphic card i should buy for my pc please give lowest rate to highest rate Graphic card names please reply ASAP ….But my mainboard did’t recognize this video card – 1 long beep, 3 short beeps ! Trying this steps: – BIOS Update to last version – Loading default and optimise configuration – Cleaning of slot pins, card pins – System (battery) reset of mainboard – Check that speed of PCIe 16 slot default is 100 mHz, but support clock to 250 MHz, but don’t clocking Can You give me some advice how too resolve this problem ? THANKS in advance !… Milen G. I’m currently using a desktop of Configuration:- Motherboard – Mercury G31 Chipset and LGA 775 Socket Processor – Intel Pentium (R) Dual Core E5200 GHz RAM – 3GB (1+2 in Slots) DDR2 I need clarification that; can I use Zotac GT 710 2GB DDR3 or DDR5 Graphics Card on above mentioned motherboard (i.e. Mercury G31 Chipset and LGA 775 Socket) Kindly support me in this regard. Thank you. Thank you for your help GTX960 4GB GDDR5 128Bit PCI-Express Video Graphics Card Parts for NVIDIA GeForce Thank you very much sir. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I want to ask you for some advice. I bought Alienware X51 R3 with : – Intel® Core™ i7-6700 (8MB Cache, up to 4.0GHz with Turbo Boost Technology) Includes Hyper-Threading – Mini-ITX Motherboard – RAM 8GB I am thinking of upgrading my graphic card to nvidia 1000 series. My current graphic card is NVIDIA GTX 960. In your opinion what is the highest graphic card I can use without overloading my PC? Your advise is appreciate System Config. Operating system : window 7 ultimate 64-bit system manuf. : Dell Inc. Ststem Model : Optiplex 380 BIOS : Pheonix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A01 Processor : Intel (R) Core (TM) 2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.9GHz Memory : 6144MB RAM Page File : 2182MB used, 9902MB Available DeirectX Version : DirectX 11 Display Name : Intel (R) G41 Express Chipset (Mircosoft) Manufacturer : Intel Corporation Chip Type : Intel (R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family Approx. Total Memory : 1695MB Currunt Display Mode : 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz) I was needing some feedback. I have an Asus CM6870 series pc and would need to know what type of GPU’s are compatible and which would you recommend. Also would the PSU need upgrading as well with the new GPU… For the exception of the primary hard drive which was updated to a Samsung SSD 500GB, everything in the systems hardware is its original pre-packaged. What can I say, the system is awesome back then and it still is. So the current GPU on board is the NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 by Asus which is dated unfortunately, not ready for primetime in today’s gaming standards. Also I believe the 16GB onboard pc memory is rated only at 800MHz. Nor really sure how all that falls into place. There are so many questions when it comes to updating/upgrading components, isn’t there any software program or and a website that can just scan the internals to let you know what you have & what you can upgrade to. This would be most practical solution on this subject. Here we are in the 21st century with state of the art tech both hardware & software and we’re still asking the same questions as if it was 1999 which reminds, do you recall the yellow and black books that came out known as ” PC for Dummies”, lol. Any suggestions would be very welcomed. Thank you in advance. PS. If only I could add attachment(s) so I would able to provide a screenshot of the CPU-Z for you. Besides it’s fun doing hardware upgrades, lol. Any manufactured brand is great for me, I’m looking at the best product performance for this model. As above stated ‘types of SLOTS’ by you, I have PCIe as well as PCI? please help me out with it? i7 2700k 3.5ghz [email protected] 4.7ghz 1.3v—–water cooler , Mastercooler rgb120l asus Z77-a M.B. lga 1155 32gb Ballistix sport ddr3 1600mhz EVGA nvidia gtx 1060 3gb s.c. evga 600w psu xfury ssd 500gb – windows 10 samsung ssd860 evo 500gb I went and bought a evga gtx 1070 8gb, my gaming theoretical bench went from a 66 percent gamer to a 92 percent and in school that like a D to an A lol System Manufacturer: ASUS System Model: All Series System Type: x64-based PC System SKU: All Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G3250 @ 3.20GHz, 3200 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s) BIOS Version: American Megatrends Inc. 2401 BIOS Mode: Legacy BaseBoard Product : H81M-C Installed Physical Memory (RAM): 4.00 GB [HERE I WILL USE 8.00 GB] Total Physical Memory: 3.87 GB Available Physical Memory: 1.09 GB Total Virtual Memory: 6.12 GB Available Virtual Memory: 1.79 GB Is it supported in my computer? if not suggest any good graphic card for my computer (BDT 10000 to 30000) below this card work best for video editing 4k Gigabyte GV-RX560OC-4GD REV2.0 Radeon RX 560 OC 4GB Computer Graphics Cards Operating System Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1 CPU AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 45nm Technolology RAM 6.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 333MHz (5-5-5-15) Motherboard ECS A785GM-M5 (CPU 1) Graphics 2219 (1680×[email protected]) 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4650 (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1) (GeCube/InfoTek) Storage 149GB SAMSUNG HD161GJ ATA Device (SATA ) Regards! I am unsure what pin connector my current Mobo and PS have to use for the GPU. Most newer and better GPUs seem to use an 8 pin connector. Does this have that? AKA can I use a GPU that needs an 8 pin plug for a new GPu with my current set up? Stats: Gigabyte H110 m-a i7-770k quad core rx 560 (current GPU) 16 GB RAM (8 x 2) 500W Thermaltake PS Thanks so much! Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.