How to grade a graphics card?

[ravagedman]

I don't care if this is the stupidest question to the human race hahah. My question is how to rate graphics cards. like what it depends on ex. bus, clock speeds, etc. and other factors.
thanks!

 

[ACTechy]

It depends on real-world (gaming, rendering, etc) performance. Sure clocks and memory bandwidth matter, but that all gets sorted out in real-world benchmarking anyway, and that tells you how those specs really stack up.

 

[dreamerz]

budget, needs, specs? in that order for me anyway.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Look at a hierarchy chart....

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

 

[ravagedman]

It depends on real-world (gaming, rendering, etc) performance. Sure clocks and memory bandwidth matter, but that all gets sorted out in real-world benchmarking anyway, and that tells you how those specs really stack up.

ok well I need to know more still. biggest factor?
lets just say im a gamer, which I am.
what's the biggest factor? and the higher the better, right?
Im going to get into building to make it all cheaper.
also asking because theres a 7870 and a 7950 I'm trying to decide beetween. Its about a good $50 difference

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The biggest factor is how they perform......that is best shown by benchmarks..... 300 HP is more powerful than 240 HP but all that matters is what one reaches finish line 1st.....numerous properties interact in different ways to produce different results .....does it matter if one has higher frequency, more bandwidth, higher OCs if it tests slower than the next one ?

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4440/nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-review-incl-3-way-sli-and-frametimes

 

[ACTechy]

ok well I need to know more still. biggest factor?
lets just say im a gamer, which I am.
what's the biggest factor? and the higher the better, right?
Im going to get into building to make it all cheaper.
also asking because theres a 7870 and a 7950 I'm trying to decide beetween. Its about a good $50 difference

In my mind, biggest factor is the rest of your machine. Sure, you want the biggest and baddest, but you have to get something that's going to work well with your system. For instance: does your mobo support PCI-E 3.0? Will there be any bottlenecks between the rest of your components, etc etc. Like I said, I would look at the performance benchmarks between the two cards to help determine which is better for you and your rig. Google is your friend on that kind of a thing. Obviously, higher core/mem clocks are better, but even that varies between generations, the processor, etc.

Hope that helps!