How to evaluate a GPU nowadays

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kpagcha

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Jun 3, 2014
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I am trying to get a new computer, but it's been years since I paid some attention to the GPU market so I no longer know how to tell a good GPU from a bad one.

I would like to know which are the key features I should evaluate in a graphic card to know how good it is.

And also I would like to know how does the "naming" works now for nVidia and ATI in order to tell how good or bad a product is just looking at its name. Back then I could say that a GeForce 8800 GTX was way better than a GeForce 8500 GS, and the same for ATI. How does it work now and which are most common cards now so I can use them as a guide about what's new and what's old?
 
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manofchalk
Look at reviews, thats pretty much what it comes down too in gaming performance.

ATi isnt ATi anymore, its AMD since they were acquired.

Nvidia
GTX = gaming series, Quadro and Tesla are workstation.
First number = Generation
2nd Number = Its position in the lineup. A 90 indicates a dual GPU card.
3rd number = Means nothing
Ti prefix = Means its the same card but slightly better in some way.

eg: a GTX660Ti. Gaming card, 6th generation (Kepler Architecture in particular), mid-range card thats in between the 660 and 670.

The Titan's are gaming cards but outside the above branding scheme, you pretty much just need to know the difference between them. They arent really worth buying though unless you need workstation capabilities as well...
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manofchalk

manofchalk

Glorious
May 11, 2012
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Look at reviews, thats pretty much what it comes down too in gaming performance.

ATi isnt ATi anymore, its AMD since they were acquired.

Nvidia
GTX = gaming series, Quadro and Tesla are workstation.
First number = Generation
2nd Number = Its position in the lineup. A 90 indicates a dual GPU card.
3rd number = Means nothing
Ti prefix = Means its the same card but slightly better in some way.

eg: a GTX660Ti. Gaming card, 6th generation (Kepler Architecture in particular), mid-range card thats in between the 660 and 670.

The Titan's are gaming cards but outside the above branding scheme, you pretty much just need to know the difference between them. They arent really worth buying though unless you need workstation capabilities as well as gaming from the one card.


AMD
Radeon = Gaming series, Firepro is workstation.
R7 and R9 = Which tier its in (Budget or Performance)
From there its basically the same as Nvidia's branding. An X prefix means its better than the non-X version.
The 295x2 is the exception, and as implied is a dual GPU card (dual 290X GPU's and memory infrastructure).

Basically you want a 700 series Nvidia or an R7/9 branded AMD card, these are the newest lineups to come out of both.
 
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