Why does a more expensive graphics card perform better than a cheaper one?

[Daniel_533]

I have been trying to find an answer on the internet, but haven't been able too. What inside a graphics card makes in stronger than another one. Sometimes they have the same vram like the GTX 750Ti 4gb and the GTX 970, but as we all know the 970 outperforms the 750ti by allot. I just wanna learn more about graphics cards, how they work, what makes them more powerful than another one, etc. Sorry if my post is confusing. I am confused myself a little too haha.

 

[Oliver_Pedlar]

Graphics cards are like a second processor except instead of processing information it processes one type of data, CPU's have cores and so do graphics cards the more cores the more money has to be put into the production. some graphics cards use only 2 cores where as a high end card might have something closer to eight cores. more cores more money more cores more heat so they have to build it out of materials that wont have problems with heat. they also require lots of testing so they charge you for the work they have to do to ensure the best possible graphics card

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

Key features of a graphics card makes the price go up so like if you have higher

GPU clock rate. ...
Fill rate. ...
The number of pixel shaders (or pixel processors) ...
The number of vertex shader units (vertex processors) ...
The number of unified shader units (unified processors) ...
Texture Mapping Units (TMU) ...
Raster OPeration units (ROP) ...
Video memory size.

 

[J_E_D_70]

This is a bit simplified, but...

GPUs are produced in big sheets made up of wafers. Due to inconsistencies in the process, some will have various parts (cores or the like) that don't work. So, the more perfect the part, the higher up the food chain it will get placed. Again this is generalization... but a perfect part becomes a xx80, one with some jacked up cores becomes an xx70, even lower becomes xx60, etc. The better the part the higher the price.

What complicates this is that due to price points and volume, they need fewer xx80's and more xx60's (since more people are willing to spend that amount for a mainstream card) so they artificially disable cores to make a card that could have higher the level they need to meet demand.

Some will clock higher than others as well so 3rd party board makers test chips and then bin them to be stock, overclocked, way overclocked, etc within a level of chip like xx80.

So, you get marketing stratification up and down a product line as well as within a specific one.

Then, each year or two they shrink the dies, adding cores, or tweak the archtiecture to make them faster, thus 670, then 770, then 970.

Does that help?

 

[Oliver_Pedlar]

Key features of a graphics card makes the price go up so like if you have higher

GPU clock rate. ...
Fill rate. ...
The number of pixel shaders (or pixel processors) ...
The number of vertex shader units (vertex processors) ...
The number of unified shader units (unified processors) ...
Texture Mapping Units (TMU) ...
Raster OPeration units (ROP) ...
Video memory size.

Well Said

 

[dontlistentome]

Vram, memory, is just the work space. Imagine you are an auto mechanic. The garage is where you work. The larger the garage, the more cars you can have in there, the more space for your tools, the more space for parts. However, if you are a slow worker then having a large garage doesn't impact how much work you get done.

So it is with videocards. Don't put too much importance on the amount of memory. A lot of memory on a slow card won't make it faster.

 

[NDDU Julius BSIT]

Vram, memory, is just the work space. Imagine you are an auto mechanic. The garage is where you work. The larger the garage, the more cars you can have in there, the more space for your tools, the more space for parts. However, if you are a slow worker then having a large garage doesn't impact how much work you get done.

So it is with videocards. Don't put too much importance on the amount of memory. A lot of memory on a slow card won't make it faster.

Yes he is right... Even if you have 12GB of VRAM and your graphics card doesn't have the horsepower to maximize all those textures loaded onto the memory, its pretty much useless... You'll have to find the right balance between price and specs... the 750Ti is a good mid-range gaming entry level graphics card it can still run many modern games at Medium to High presets and it is cheaper than the GTX 970

 

[smorizio]

in the real world think of video cards and cars...start with the old ford pinto for oem and bottle of the line gpu. if you try and game on them your not going to get anywhere. then think of the mid cards 1050/1060 and amd cards of the same level as mom and dad 4 door cars. there all around ok cards can game but your not going to get high frame rates and the cost of these gpu are in most people budgets. the 1070/1080 are your mustang and corvetts. the higher end gpu are the lambo of the car worlds.