0 Always Check Your Power Supply First

I can not stress this enough. Regardless of your next graphics card's price point you need to make sure that your Power Supply Unit (PSU) can handle the new card. Cards under $100 usually do not need a high wattage power supply. The rule of thumb is always check your wattage and specs of your current PSU. If you are not sure of your current specs do a search of your particular computer's model (Ex. HP Pavillion Model No.) and find the specifications. If you built your own computer you will have to open the case and get the model number from the unit itself.

Make sure that your current power supply can handle your new graphics card. You need enough power to run it properly or you will run into issues. Power supplies are not overly expensive in most cases, so add the extra $80 just to be safe, especially if you are overclocking (mentioned later). Make sure you get the best quality PSU brand you can afford as a low quality PSU can destroy your entire system!

To prevent that from happening go to a PSU calcualator linked at the bottom of this hub to check what kind you need, and also read the manufacturer's minimum requirement for power and aim at least 100w above that just in case. So if the company says "Minimum PSU Wattage: 500w" buy a 600w or more to be safe. Don't go cheap or low quality brand though as said before.


IMPORTANT NOTE: Always aim ABOVE what the minimum requirement of the graphics card company says. If the company says it requires a minimum of a 500w power supply get at least a 600w power supply. This is for safety sake and you also have to factor in that other components draw power from your PSU along with your graphics card. Also never go with low end or low rated companies for your PSU. The last thing you want to have happen is a cheap power supply destroy your whole computer! So go with brands like Antec, Seasonic, Thermaltake, or Corsair.

AGP or PCI Express Slot

This is mostly irrelevant by today's standards, but if your PC is over 10 years old check your computer's specifications to make sure you have a PCI Express slot on your motherboard. PCI Express 3.0 is compatible with earlier PCI Express versions but not AGP. So keep that in mind! AGP does not work in PCI Express and vice versa.


To keep it simple SLI (Nvidia) and Crossfire (ATI/AMD) are systems in which you run multiple video cards in one system simultaneously.Both systems let you run up to 4 graphics cards simultaneously.They both are very similar in that you need identical cards to run them as one card.

The advantage is you get double the performance, but it draws double the power from your power supply. Most cards today are compatible with SLI and Crossfire but keep in mind an Nvidia card can not be combined with an ATI card and vice versa. This is a great option for power users but it also brings a new set of problems (which are too vast for one hub).

My advice here is to get ONE CARD with the budget you would have for two and buy ONE CARD with that maximum budget. Reason being is that two $75 cards may or may not equal the same performance level of a single $150 card.

Overview of Price Points

Now that we have the basics out of the way its time for an explanation of different price points.In this section I will highlight the different price points of graphics cards and what you can expect out of each price point.

Remember that you do "Get what you pay for", but the build quality of a $25 low price card should be equally reliable to that of a $300 enthusiast card.