NVIDIA 3GB Computer Graphics/Video Cards

Expand the Abilities of Your Computer with NVIDIA 3 GB Graphics Cards

The graphics processing unit, also known as the GPU, is an important computer component that processes all of its graphical information. A high-quality graphics card is required for graphically intensive tasks such as gaming, 3D rendering, and visualization software, so you can feel like you're in an alternate world when playing your favorite fantasy games. These particular cards all have 3 GB of memory.

A dedicated video card will have its own pool of memory. This memory holds large graphical assets, thus freeing the main system RAM to handle general programs, gaming and data. The main type of graphics memory is known as GDDR, which stands for graphics double date rate. As the name implies, GDDR essentially doubles the data transfer rate. There are five different generations of GDDR technology, and each one increases the data transfer rate from that of the previous generation. Everything else being equal, a graphics card with GDDR5 memory will perform better than a card with GDDR3 or GDDR4 memory even if they hold the same 3 GB of data.

Graphics cards are grouped into different series, for example, the 700 series, the 900 series, and the 10 series. The specifications of the cards can vary widely, even within the same series, although they tend to share the same architecture. Many different video cards come with the option of 3 GB of memory. Examples include the GeForce GTX 660, GTX 780 TI, and GTX 1060. Apart from the total amount of memory, you should also consider the following factors:

• Clock speed: This measures the ability of the GPU to process data. The graphics memory has its own separate clock speed as well.
• Transistors: The transistor is the most important building block of electronic devices. More transistors can fit on a single chip as the size of the components shrinks.
• FLOPS: Floating-point operations per second are often used as a general proxy for performance. They are a way for the processor to handle real numbers.
• Fill rate: This denotes the number of pixels or texture maps the GPU can render at one time.
• Thermal design power: TDP for short, this measures the amount of heat that the GPU can safely deal with, though not necessarily the maximum amount of heat it can generate. It is measured in watts.
• API support: API stands for application programming interface. It is a protocol or set of tools to help developers build software. Examples include Shader Model and Microsoft Direct3D.

Most NVIDIA video cards connect to the motherboard through the high-speed PCI Express, also abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-E. There are four different generations of PCI Express. Each new generation is capable of higher data transfer rates, and it is compatible with the ones before it. PCI Express is also defined by the number of lanes, which increase data bandwidth further. The x4, x8, or x16 by the name signifies the number of lanes the card can use.