How to choose a video card for a PC
Separate video card or integrated graphics?
The first question is whether to use a separate video card or to use the graphics integrated into the CPU. Integrated graphics are a substantially cheaper option, given the additional cost of a separate video card. For most users whose graphics needs include playing casual video games, watching DVDs and streaming videos good integrated graphics will be fine and save you money. If serious 3D gaming or workloads involving parallel processing is necessary you really don't have a choice, you need the graphics power of a separate video card.
Integrated graphics for most
The graphics processors integrated with current CPUs are breakthroughs in integrated graphics performance. These will do an excellent graphics job for the majority of PC users who are not serious 3D gamers.
Low end video cards
Intense competition exists between the two video card designers, AMD and NVIDIA, at most performance levels of video cards. At the low end video card offerings from either of them we don't really recommend either of their cards. It's better to save with integrated graphics in the CPU which have now become really good if you're not a serious gamer or better to get a higher class of video card if you are. However some CPUs don't have integrated graphics, that's when you would have to look at a low end video card.
Recommendations - mainstream video cards
Take a look at the video card in our Dream PC model. This is a video card we would recommend for the majority of gamers who use 20 inch to 24 inch LCD monitors, gaming at 1920 x 1080p resolution.
Recommendations - high performance video cards
Take a look at the video card in our Speed WS 2 model, for crunching through moderate workloads requiring parallel processing.
Recommendations - high end video cards
Take a look at the video card in our Dream BIG PC, for gaming at resolutions higher than 1080p including 4K at low settings, or crunching through heavy workloads requiring parallel processing.
Recommendations - ultra video cards
In this category we would consider the current consumer flagship NVIDIA or AMD video card. There are also 'pro' video cards for even more intense workloads requiring parallel processing for workstations and servers from both NVIDIA and AMD. These GPU cards are typically significantly more expensive.
SLI and Crossfire configurations
You can also get increased graphics performance by combining two video cards in the same PC. NVIDIA calls it SLI and AMD calls it Crossfire. This requires a motherboard that supports dual video card configurations increasing the motherboard cost, in addition to the extra cost of two video cards. These days you can get very powerful single video cards so these dual video card configurations are overkill and over expensive for most, but hey it can be fun to do! For extreme parallel processing workloads this is an option to consider.