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Graphics Cards

The most important part when building a gaming PC. Always go for the best card you can afford, it will define they way you see your graphics and how well a game runs. When choosing a graphics card there are two main factors, the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and the Memory.

The GPU Speed is mainly defined by the amount of stream processors it has - the more the better! Core clock speed also is important but no where near as important as the amount of stream processors.

Memory (aka VRAM) is defined by the amount of it, and again, the more the better. The more memory available the more textures can be displayed and the higher resolutions that can be ran. For most games 4-6GB is plenty which most cards are today so has much less of a performance impact than the number of stream Processors and clock speed. For multi monitor setups and 4K/2K(1440P) resolutions you will need the extra memory so opt for a card of at least 8GB, ideally 10GB or more.

All our graphics cards are of the following brands; NVIDIA, AMD, Palit, Zotac, ASUS, Inno3D, MSI, Gigabyte, Sapphire, XFX, PowerColour, KFA2 and PNY. Traditionally Nvidia and AMD never made the cards themselves - they sold the chips on them to partners who then manufactured the bulk of the card such as the cooler and PCB and then marketed, sold and supported them. However, in the last few years Nvidia and AMD now do make their own version which of course includes their own PCB and cooler, when they started they were inferior to the 3rd party versions and an AMD or Nvidia "founders edition" was most certainly not desireable, now they have caught up and are just as good as an offering from say Palit or Asus although tend to cost more (and not actually offer anything more) and be less available.

Whilst the specification of each of these cards remain the same the brand may vary depending on stock and availability. The quoted specifications are the minimum you will receive, we often supply machines with slightly faster factory overclocked cards with better coolers. If for any reason are concerned about a certain brand, feel free to ask what brand of particular card we currently have stocked and we can tell you (we only use the good ones hence our reputation) or for an additional cost we can source and supply specific brands and models. Given the vast variation with graphics cards, images here are most certainly for illustrative purposes only.

It is also bearing in mind, there is no such thing as a "bad" graphics card, only badly priced ones! So if you cant find a specific graphics card in our range, its either out of date or badly priced! All of our graphics cards are capable of "HD" resolutions and more and will connect to almost any modern monitor or TV. If you plan on using a monitor with a specific port which your new graphics card may not have then you can simply use an adaptor which are available for around £2, however if you order a monitor from us it will come with all the appropriate cables/adaptors for connecting the two up. Please also be aware it is common for Nvidia, AMD and AIB brands to change the specification or standard of the display outputs without notice, any listing of display outputs by UK Gaming Computers is done purely so as a loose guide and may or may not be accurate. If you are looking for a specific output without wanting to use a specific adaptor or cable then please contact us.

Finally, to give you a rough idea on how one graphics card compares to another take a look at: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html. It offers a up to date list of how the latest graphics cards perform in a piece of software known as "passmark" which is used to simply benchmark a graphics card.

FAQ:

Do i need to pair a AMD graphics card with an AMD CPU and a Nvidia Graphics card with a Intel CPU or vice versa? - No. You can mix and match any AMD or Nvidia graphics card with any Intel or AMD CPU. There is no worthwhile advantage or disadvantage with a certain combination.

I see Intel have enetered the graphics card market - can I have one? Ultimately, if you ask, we will get you anything you desire however due to the immaturity of Intels GPU drivers they have some way to go as yet meaning an Nvidia or AMD offering remains the best option currently.