A Deep Dive into What an Ideal GPU Looks Like? - Reedablez

• MemoonaAmeer
• Aug. 11, 2023
• 2 Comment

The potential end-users of Graphics Card could be categorized into either gamers or industrial professionals. For each of these end-user domains, the idea of a good GPU is different. Although the two key indices of GPU performance which are the Display Port and Random Access Memory (RAM) are exactly the same in both domains; apart from these two key indices, there are various other parameters as well that define your overall experience with the GPU as they provide some additional features which are specific to your preference, i.e., gaming or professional working.

So, there would be two blogs under this very title; one is an ideal GPU for Gaming and the other is an ideal GPU for the professional workload. This blog would be about an ideal GPU for Gaming.

What does an Ideal Gaming GPU look like?

Let us try to estimate an Ideal Gaming GPU, from the GPUs being offered by AMD. Currently, AMD is offering 188 GPU models. It would be hard to manually see the specifications of all of them and then shortlist the best Gaming GPU by AMD. To help you people out, AMD has created an online interactive tool with user-friendly filters embedded right in its official website. Click here to jump there. But there is one thing worth mentioning there are just too many filters and there is a high probability that you would easily feel lost in them. This is scary especially when you don’t even need to use all these filters.

To help you, we have explained only those filters that are important for an immersive gaming experience along with the estimated best options. Generally, these filters are related to the physical dimensions, display, memory, power usage, and the additional peripheral devices that could be added.

Important Filters for Gaming GPU:

1. Length and Slot Size/ GPU dimensions: The actual physical dimensions of the Graphics Card are determined by its length and slot size, independently. Length is given in millimeters (mm). Slot size is the number of slots that Graphics Cards will occupy when connected to the motherboard within a PC case. Slot size could be a whole number like a single slot, dual slot, or triple slot, or a fraction like 2.5. On the other hand, GPU dimensions are an umbrella term incorporating both the length and slot size. GPUs having small dimensions would take up less space and, thus indirectly it also contributes to cooling. Their GPUs are called low-profile GPUs which are an ideal option.
2. Video Graphics Array (VGA) Port: It is a physical connection on a Graphic Card that connects to the analog displays only. It might be possible that your PC monitor is analog and thus, in that case, this VGA port on a Graphics Card would be mandatory. On the other hand, if your PC monitor is not analog but rather digital, you might not need a Video Graphics Array (VGA) Port on the Graphics Card.
3. HDMI: It is also a physical port that controls the visual quality. Different graphic cards have different HDMI port versions; therefore, some graphic cards could offer more visual feature support than others.For example, 4k60 support, 4k120/ 8k60 support Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Fixed Rate Link (FLR) are the additional perks of HDMI. Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) prevents the screen tearing effect while Fixed Rate Link (FLR) lets you have full resolutions without any compression.
4. Dual Link DVI:It is also a physical port that controls the visual quality of the analog PC monitors just like Video Graphics Array (VGA) Port.
5. Display Port Type:It is also a physical port that controls the visual quality. For gaming GPUs, usually, it is HRD 1.4.
6. Encoders and Decoders/ Codec:Encoders and Decoders perform compression and decompression of the visuals during their transmission. There are several standards are available for encoders and recorders including AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) which is a good option if you prefer online games and your internet connection is weak, High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC)/ H.265, and Advanced Video Coding (AVC)/ H.264 both support 8k Ultra High Definition but HEVC/ H.265 delivers better performance than AVC/ H.264.
7. Bandwidth and Effective Bandwidth:As you already know bandwidth is the total data being transferred at a moment. But in a real-world scenario, the whole bandwidth is not used for data transfer all the time. Sometimes it decreases and sometimes it increases, but it stays at a particular value for most of the time. That value is called effective bandwidth. So, effective bandwidth is important especially when discussing GPU performance in real-world applications. For gaming GPUs, AMD has an effective bandwidth between the range of 477 – 1065 GB/ s.  Talking about Effective Bandwidth, the higher the better.
8. Memory Type:Graphics Double Data Rate 6 (GDDR 6) is the single best option when it comes to the RAM of the graphics card. After this, GDDR 5, DDR3, HBM2, and HBM are the options with gradually decreasing performance, respectively.
9. Memory Size: For the gaming GPUs, AMD offers memory size between the range of 1-24 Gb. Talking about Memory Size, the higher the better.
10. Memory Speed:One definition of Memory Speed is that it is the maximum theoretical bandwidth. For gaming GPUs, AMD offers memory speed between the range of 1.6-20 Gbps. As it is something related to bandwidth; thus, the higher the better.
11. Cache: For the gaming GPUs, AMD offers cache between the range of 8-128 Mb. Talking about Cache, the higher the better.
12. Typical Board Power: For gaming GPUs, AMD offers Typical Board Power between the range of 30-550 W. Talking about Typical Board Power, the lower the better.
13. Max. Display Support/ Display Configuration: This is the number of displays that a Graphic Card can support. In this feature, the actual scene is broken down into different frame sizes and displayed across several displays. This feature gives 360⁰ views that are split into several displays. It would be determined by your preference how many PC monitors you want to connect to.
14. USB TYPE-C port: USB TYPE-C port is a physical point of connection on the Graphics Card. The availability of a USB TYPE-C port lets you connect virtually any hardware piece that has USB connectivity like Virtual Reality Headsets, Headphone, and other displays provided appropriate hardware setup, to your Graphic Card. The presence of the USB TYPE-C port on a Graphic Card could be used as an indication that this Graphic Card is going to support Virtual Reality which is often preferred by most enthusiast gamers.

Other filters also exist including Compute Units, ROP, transistor count, texture processors, stream processors, Peak Half Precision (FP16) Performance, Peak Single Precision (FP32) Performance, Peak Double Precision (FP64) Performance, Base Frequency, Boost Frequency, Game Frequency, Ray Accelerators, AI Accelerators, Peak Frequency, Peak Pixel Fill-Rate, Peak Texture Fill-Rate, Max Performance are just the metrics derived from these core specifications; so, you could easily ignore them.

Conclusion:

An ideal GPU looks different for gamers and industrial professionals. We have explained the most important filters along with some hints to help you to idealize a good gaming GPU currently being offered by AMD. The next blog will be the second part of this series, dedicated to an ideal GPU for professional workloads, under the same title, so stay tuned!