Updating your Armada PC in 2024: When and How to Change your Video Card?

In this new edition of the article to update components of yourarmed PC, we tell you what the keys are to know if you should change your video card now or later, and if so, how to do it.

But first things first:

Signs that your Video Card Needs an Update

To have excellent performance in video games and video editing, it is very important to have a good video card. If you've noticed lately that your favorite games no longer run as well as they used to or that your editing programs take a long time to render, it may be that your video card needs a change.

Some signs that this may be happening are: the appearance of faulty graphics, unexpected restarts of your PC, and the inability to play new titles in acceptable quality. Updating it will not only improve the performance of your computer in the short term, but you will be able to be prepared for the next advances in software in the future, since sometimes updating is expensive and it is better to do it right once and not year after year.

Poor performance

When you notice that the performance offered by your current video card has declined considerably on your built PC and can no longer move current games at the native resolution of your monitor in medium graphic quality while maintaining a stable 30 FPS, it is a clear sign that you need an upgrade. Insufficient performance results in slow and interrupted gaming experiences.

Limited Graphics API Support

If your video card is not compatible with modern graphics APIs such as DirectX 12 and Vulkan, or if it is but you lose a lot of performance when working with them, you should consider a change. The NVIDIA GTX 600 and 700 series boards are examples of boards that have aged due to their poor support of these APIs.

Changing Monitor and Resolution

If you plan to upgrade your monitor and play at a higher resolution, such as going from 1440p to 2160p (4K), you will most likely need a new, more powerful video card. The demands for higher resolutions are enormous, and few boards designed for 1440p can handle them optimally.

New Technologies and Connectors

The arrival of new graphics technologies such as G-Sync, high refresh rate monitors and ray tracing in games can also justify a video card upgrade. You will need a board compatible with the new connectors and capable of taking advantage of these technologies.

Stability and Bug Issues

If your video card shows stability problems, erratic performance or misconfigured graphics, it is a sign that it may be failing you. Before replacing it, rule out possible less expensive solutions, but if problems persist, a new board may be necessary.

A little history about video cards and their continuous improvement

One of the components that have advanced the most in the last 10 years were the video cards in thearmed PCs, which have undergone constant evolution since their origins in the 1960s. Back then, it was unthinkable for a computer to be without a dedicated video card. The first was developed by IBM in 1981, known as MDA (Monochrome Display Adapter), capable of representing 25 lines of 80 characters in text mode with a video RAM of only 4 Kb.

First Advances

In that same year, the first colors and graphics arrived with IBM's CGA (Color Graphics Adapter), which worked in both text and graphic modes, with a resolution of 320x200 points and 4 colors. The CGA had 16 Kb of memory, four times more than the MDA, and could be connected to RGB monitors.

In 1982, Van Suwannukul, founder of Hercules Computer Technology, developed the HGC (Hercules Graphics Card). Although it couldn't display color, its 720x348 dot resolution and ability to handle two graphic pages made it an attractive option.

Significant Advances

In 1985, IBM introduced the EGA (Enhancing Graphics Adapter), compatible with MDA and CGA, with a resolution of 640x350 dots and 16 colors from a palette of 64. Video memory increased to 256 KB to render several graphic pages.

Later, in 1990, IBM developed the VGA (Video Graphics Array), which had massive acceptance and forced companies such as ATI, Cirrus Logic and S3 Graphics to work on improving the resolution and the number of colors, giving rise to the SVGA (Super Video Graphics Array) standard. This standard reached 2 MB of video memory and resolutions of up to 1024x768 points with 256 colors from a palette of 262.

Unified Shaders Architecture

An important milestone was the arrival of the unified shader architecture in 2008 with the GeForce 8000 series from NVIDIA and HD 2000 from ATI. This architecture eliminated the division between pixel and vertex shaders, laying the foundations for today's architecture. In addition, it introduced configurations with 1 GB of graphics memory and NVIDIA's "hot shaders", which allowed the shaders to run at a much higher speed than the rest of the GPU.

Recent Evolution

In the following years, theNVIDIA video cardand AMD (formerly ATI) maintained the unified shader base, and performance improvements were mainly due to an increase in the total number of shaders and bandwidth. This was evident in models such as the GeForce GTX 285 from NVIDIA, with 240 shaders and a bandwidth of 159 GB/s, and the Radeon HD 4890 from AMD, with 800 shaders and a bandwidth of 124.8 GB/s.

Later generations, such as the Radeon HD 5000 and GeForce GTX 400, were the first to feature DirectX 11 support, while the Radeon HD 6000 and GeForce GTX 500 series boosted shader counts and graphics memory even further, reaching 3GB in limited editions of the GeForce GTX 580.

Compatibility and Requirements to upgrade a video card

The main thing you should keep in mind when updating your video card is to make sure it is compatible with your PC to avoid costly mistakes. We mention the main requirements to take into account:

PCIe slot

Most modern graphics cards use the PCIe x16 slot to connect to the motherboard. Verify that your Motherboard has a free PCIe x16 slot compatible with the version of your new GPU. For example, if your GPU is PCIe 4.0, you will need a motherboard that supports at least that version. In general, starting with PCIe Gen3 x16 or PCIe Gen4 x8 there will be no bottlenecks.

Physical Space

Make sure your case has enough space to accommodate the new graphics card. Some high-end boards are quite large and can take up several expansion slots. Don't forget to calculate that the air flow is adequate and have the GPU at an optimal temperature.

Power Supply

1. Check the power requirements of the new GPU and compare them to the capacity of your power supply. A good rule of thumb is that the GPU should not consume more than half of the source's maximum power.
2. Some GPUs require additional 6- or 8-pin power connectors. Make sure your power supply has the necessary connectors.

Operating System Compatibility

Antes de comprar, confirma que haya controladores disponibles para tu sistema operativo y versión. Aunque generalmente no tendrás problemas de este tipo, no está de más revisar las características técnicas, de lo contrario, la GPU no funcionará correctamente.

Possible Bottlenecks

Si el resto de los componentes de tu PC son un poco más antiguos, pueden llegar a limitar el rendimiento de una GPU de última generación. No pases por alto este detalle ya que quizás estés invirtiendo en un componente que ha salido en el último mes pero todos los demás quedaron un poco obsoletos para correr en simultáneo con la placa de video. Esto no solo aplica para las tarjetas gráficas sino para todo componente que quieras actualizar.

Configuration and Optimization when installing your new video card

Si finalmente te decidiste por cambiar tu placa de video, entonces, luego de instalarla, es importante configurarla y optimizarla correctamente para aprovechar al máximo su potencial. Algunos tips importantes a tener en cuenta:

Clean Driver Installation

1. Antes de instalar los nuevos controladores, utiliza Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) para desinstalar completamente los controladores antiguos. Esto evitará conflictos y problemas de compatibilidad.
2. Reinicia tu PC en modo seguro y ejecuta DDU. Selecciona tu fabricante de GPU y elige la opción «Limpiar y apagar» para una desinstalación completa.

Install Updated Drivers

3. Descarga e instala los controladores más recientes directamente desde la página web oficial de tu fabricante de GPU (NVIDIA o AMD).
4. Para NVIDIA, utiliza la aplicación GeForce Experience. Selecciona los controladores «Game Ready» si tu GPU es para juegos o «Studio» si es para trabajo profesional.
5. Para unaplaca de video AMD, usa la aplicación Radeon Software. En la pestaña «Home» podrás instalar los últimos controladores si no están actualizados.

Performance Optimization

6. Ejecuta benchmarks y prueba juegos para verificar el rendimiento de tu nueva GPU. Esto te permitirá identificar posibles cuellos de botella o configuraciones a ajustar.
7. Considera realizar overclocking moderado en tu GPU para obtener un mayor rendimiento, pero ten cuidado de no exceder los límites seguros de temperatura y voltaje.
8. Ajusta la configuración de los juegos según tus preferencias de calidad gráfica, resolución y tasa de refresco para lograr un equilibrio óptimo entre rendimiento y calidad visual.

Al seguir estos pasos, tu nueva placa de video estará configurada y optimizada para ofrecer el mejor rendimiento y experiencia en tus juegos y aplicaciones.