The most powerful video card. Overview of video cards

One of the most important components of any PC is a video card. It is she who performs the work of processing the image and then displaying it on the screen. Gamers pay special attention to the choice of discrete graphics adapters and spend a lot of time studying their characteristics and test results in order to purchase the most productive equipment. It's not surprising, because the game industry produces a huge number of video games, which require the launch of the most powerful systems. In addition, modern monitors with support for 3D and 4K-format even more stress the video accelerator. Let's try to figure out which most powerful video cards exist at the moment, consider their main characteristics and differences from each other.

Which is better: Radeon or GeForce?

As you know, there are only two companies specializing in the production of video cards. The first is ATi / AMD, which produces products under the brand Radeon, and the second - nVidia and their video accelerators GeForce. Each of these companies is trying to market products that will be better and more productive than the competitor. It remains to find out which of them has made great strides in this direction.

ATi / AMD products are in great demand among buyers. It's understandable, because its graphics adapters show very good results in testing. In terms of price-quality, their products often outperform their competitors' products. But the most productive video card produces nVidia. More precisely, its devices literally one step ahead of their "rivals", and sometimes even lose in this fight. But this only benefits the users themselves, because, thanks to this competition, companies are forced to reduce prices for their products or produce more productive equipment.

The most powerful video card for laptops

These graphics adapters are more compact in size and have less performance, unlike their "colleagues", which are equipped with desktop systems. And all because the laptop can not be equipped with a standard video game card (because of its large size). But, even losing in productivity, these devices at a proper level cope with all modern games. Evaluating all existing models, the experts made the best ones, which included the most powerful video cards for laptops:

• AMD Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire. It's not even one, but two video accelerators connected in one device, which alternately process the frames and output the image to the screen. The video card is based on a graphic chip from HD 7870.
  
• AMD Radeon R 9 M 2590 X Crossfire. Just like the previous model, it consists of two graphic adapters, united into a single whole. Has support for DirectX 11, as well as OpenGL.
• GeForce GTX 780 M. The third place deservedly belongs to the representative of nVidia. Graphics processors of the video card are built on the technology Kepler. It is equipped with GDDR5 memory with a 256-bit bus width.
• GeForce GTX 880 M. Another representative of the Kepler family. Unlike the previous model, this video accelerator has a higher frequency of the graphics processor, which is 957 MHz, which increases the performance, compared to the GeForce GTX 780 M, by about 10%.
• GeForce GTX 980M. This is the most powerful video card for a laptop as of 2015. The processor is based on the new Maxwell technology of the second generation, thanks to which the video accelerator was able to compete with the top models for the PC.

The most powerful gaming video cards for home computers

From compact graphics adapters to portable devices, let's move on to their more productive "brethren". It's these devices that attract the huge interest of gamers, who follow all the novelties in order to equip their systems with them. Discrete video accelerators are quite large in size, mainly due to the cooling system. Thanks to the ability to effectively remove heat, their graphics processors show incredible performance. To identify the winner, let's conduct a more detailed review of the video cards available today. The main characteristics of video accelerators, build quality and results after testing in games and benchmarks were taken into account. After viewing all models, a rating was compiled, including the five most productive devices. Based on its results, we will find out which is the most powerful video card in the world.

AMD Radeon R9 280 X

Opens the list of ATI / AMD products. The graphic chip of the video card is based on AMD Tahiti technology. The GPU includes 2048 stream processors and operates at a frequency of 1000 MHz. Equipped with a graphics adapter 3 GB of video memory GDDR5, whose frequency is 6000 MHz, and the bit width is 384 bits. It is possible to connect 4 monitors, thanks to the availability of all modern video outputs, except for the already outdated VGA port. Like other gaming graphics cards, it supports DirectX 11.2 and OpenGL 4.X. Its characteristics are very impressive, even though the performance of the video accelerator can be further improved by overclocking. In addition, the quality of the assembly and the cooling system are pleasing, which copes with its tasks with dignity.

AMD Radeon R9 290X

The next in the rating is another model from AMD. This powerful video card for the computer is equipped with 2816 stream processors. GPU operates at a clock frequency of 1000 MHz, but after the overclocking this figure was increased to 1180 MHz, which was pleasantly surprising, because this is one of the few video accelerators that easily overcame the mark of 1100 MHz. Completed Radeon R9 290X 4 GB high-speed GDDR5-memory, the frequency of which is 5000 MHz. But when overclocking it was possible to increase this value to 6000 MHz. All manufacturers of this video card are equipped with its air cooling system. But this is quite enough, because the test results showed that the temperature of the device, even at maximum load, kept at a level of 70-77 ^o C.

GeForce GTX 970

The top three opens up the creation from the developers of nVidia. The powerful video card GeForce GTX 970 operates on the basis of a graphics processor created on the new Maxwell architecture, which replaced the Kepler. This model is developed on the basis of the GM204 chip, whose operating frequency is 1088 MHz with the possibility of overclocking up to 1284 MHz. The device is powered by 4 GB of new generation video memory GDDR5, whose clock frequency is 7010 MHz, and in the overclocked form this result reached 7416 MHz. Compared with other competitors, the memory bus bandwidth of the video accelerator is only 256 bits, but this is quite enough to draw at maximum settings any modern game, even in 4K format. To remove heat from the processor, a radiator and air cooling are provided.

GeForce GTX 980 TI

Initially, it was assumed that this position will have to be occupied by the GTX 980, but just recently its improved version was released. As in the other most powerful graphics cards of the 9th GTX series, it uses a graphics chip based on Maxwell. The GPU clock frequency is 1000 MHz. This model is equipped with 6 GB of video memory with a bus width of 384 bits. According to the developers, this graphics adapter can easily cope with 4K-resolution. As a result of testing games such as Battlefield 4 and GTA V on a 4K monitor, it consistently produced 30 frames per second at the maximum graphics settings, which is very decent, given the complexity of image processing for this format. But the video accelerator consumes a considerable amount of electricity, so for its operation it is necessary to have a power supply unit with a power of at least 600 W.

GeForce GTX Titan X

As expected, nVidia is again the winner of the confrontation between the two companies. The most powerful video card in the world has the name GeForce GTX Titan X. The incredible performance of this device is provided by a graphics chip GM-200, equipped with 3072 stream processors. The GPU operates at a frequency of 1000 MHz, and with the GPU Boost mode the indicator rises to the level of 1075 MHz. Surprisingly, there is as much as 12 GB of video memory, the frequency of which even in the standard mode is 1750 MHz. Thanks to the presence of a memory bus of 384 bits, the graphics processor can easily cope with any difficult task. Video accelerator will require additional power, so it is equipped with 6-pin and 8-pin connectors. For stable operation of the device it is necessary to acquire a power supply unit for 600 W.

As you can see, even with factory settings without additional overclocking, this model has a huge performance margin. In addition, the relatively small size of the video card, which is 27 cm in length, is pleased. This means that it will easily enter any enclosure of the system unit. And the availability of all modern video outputs will enable you to connect up to 4 monitors to the video card.

conclusions

Our article is a brief overview of video cards. Based on the tests, the rating of devices was compiled, which are considered to be the most productive for the current period (2015). The first place was taken by the graphics adapter GeForce GTX Titan X. Despite the competition, AMD products could not even enter the top three video accelerators, and the victory deservedly went to nVidia. But is it worth it to purchase video card data for home use? The fact is that the cost of some goods from the list is more than 1000 dollars, which is quite expensive, because for such money you can buy the entire computer assembly, which will cope with all modern games. Here everything depends on the personal preferences of the buyer. If there are no restrictions in the budget, then you can buy this equipment quietly, but if you need to save money, it is better to purchase a graphics adapter for 200-300 dollars, which will completely pull any video game. Of course, the most powerful graphics cards have high performance, but they are too expensive.