When you go to buy a new computer, the features you look first are the type and power of the CPU, how much RAM memory and the amount of disk space and, in some cases, even the video card. The video card, or GPU, is the image and graphics processing unit, which can be integrated into the CPU or have a dedicated chip .
A video card integrated in the CPU uses the power of the central processor and a part of the RAM memory, while a dedicated GPU has its own processing center and more memory.
Since buying a PC with an integrated video card costs much less, it is worth finding out what a difference there is in terms of performance with an integrated video card .
Integrated graphics card
Since integrated graphics are built into the CPU, it goes without saying that they can never be as powerful as dedicated graphics cards, but they cost much less.
Computers with an integrated video card allow you to use the operating system for all basic operations, including watching movies and videos and watching websites even with animations.
What you can't do with an integrated video card PC (usually Intel HD) is playing the latest generation of video games and using video editing or 3D graphics processing programs.
If you are sure that you are not working with this type of program and that you are not playing a PC, then there is no reason to buy a PC with a dedicated video card.
Being sure of this is very important especially on portable PCs, because if fixed desktop PCs can still be equipped with a dedicated video card at a later time, laptops cannot be improved in this sense, unless you go to buy an external video card.
The integrated cards use as memory a part of the PC RAM that is fixed by the manufacturer and that can be increased by the advanced settings of the Bios.
The dedicated graphics card
Dedicated graphics are produced by AMD and Nvidia, which are the leading video card companies.
The dedicated card is a chip with an autonomous cooling system and additional RAM memory which is used for graphics.
It is just one more piece of the computer, with a cost that can be low on the 50 Euros or even very high.
The more powerful video cards can cost even more than one processor, even reaching 1000 Euros for the higher level models.
A medium-level dedicated video card is good enough for those who have to work with 3D graphics programs such as Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Autocad and also to play the latest generation video games, contenting themselves with a medium-low level of graphic detail.
Only if you want to play the most beautiful video games like GTA 5 or Resident Evil 7 with the highest possible graphic level, then you should spend more than 100 or 200 Euros for a dedicated video card.
The external video card
On laptops where the internal video card cannot be changed, it is theoretically possible to buy an external video card.
At the moment, however, the eGPU costs a lot and requires a Thunderbolt 2 or 3 socket, which is an evolution of the USB socket on MacBooks and absent in most portable PCs.
A bit like external hard drives, an eGPU is a casing to be connected to the PC via a Thunderbolt cable, inside which a compatible video card can be mounted.
READ ALSO: Which video card (graphics card) to buy for the computer
