PC WORKSHOP

[AJIexander]

Publication №4: Choosing a GPU​

Today we will talk about video cards, since they are what most affect our framerate in games. To understand which model to choose for an upgrade, you need to focus on the CPU. This is because the work of the video card and the processor are very interrelated, due to the phenomenon called bottlenecking.

Bottlenecking​

Sometimes, due to unbalanced assembly, your components do not work at full capacity. For example, in our PC there is a “monster” GTX 1080ti, and a core i3 8100 CPU. The CPU cannot prepare the required number of frames for a video card, since it lacks performance for this. In the meantime, the video card is just idle and does not work at full capacity. The same can be the other way around when you have a core i7 8700k and a budget video card like a GTX 1060.

Video card upgrades​

Let's try to choose a video card for the upgrade. For greater clarity, let's go to https://gamegpu.com/ and see some tests in games from 2018-2019 . We find the graph “TEST GPU”, if there are settings for the graphics of the game, set the highest (avoid DlSS and RTX) and choose your processor.

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After studying the graphs in detail, you can come to the conclusion that for an Intel Core i5-4670, video cards with maximum performance without a bottleneck effect depending on the project will be:

Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia - GTX 1060 6gb
Metro Exodus - RTX 2080 TI
Battlefield V - GTX 1070 TI
Assassin´s Creed: Odyssey - GTX 1070 TI
Resident Evil 2 - RTX 2080

As you see, some games are more dependent on the processor and others on the video card. I can not say with 100% accuracy, but most likely, Mount&Blade II: Bannerlord will be more dependent on the processor, like Total War: Saga, because of the large number of units on the battlefield.

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But, that's not all, after we have a few candidates we go back to the “TEST GPU”. We select the most powerful processor, write down the minimum FPS values and compare the results of the chart with those that we found when the processor installed in your PC was selected. If there is no difference or it is insignificant, go to the site of the store where you will purchase the video card.

I hope the prices in your stores will be similar to those in https://www.computeruniverse.ru/ , since prices in my country for all components can be up to 30% higher than recommended, and ordering parts from Computeruniverse is unprofitable because per law for the maximum order amount without tax of $ 150 and expensive delivery. So, do not consider this advertising . If you know international stores with better prices, write about it below.

In order not to become a victim of marketing, we take the price of a video card from one of the vendors of each line and divide by the amount of the minimum FPS that we recorded earlier. At the end, we get the price per FPS. I recommend focusing on the test Resident Evil 2 or any other in which the difference between the performance of video cards is clear. For example, from NVIDIA I took GIGABYTE, and from AMD SAPPHIRE.

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Green - is the best choice.
Orange - not available

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When you are confident in your choice of video card, go to the manufacturer's website and look at the recommended power supply capacity. If the power of your PSU coincides with the specified number or is higher than necessary, that is good, but beyond that it should be of high quality. For more about this, and about which vendor to choose a video card from--and with which cooling system--we'll talk in other releases.

Friends, we really need help with the correct translation! If it's not difficult for you, please suggest corrections.