Should i get a dedicated graphics card

The iMac range of desktops also has integrated graphics in what you might describe as the "entry-level" model. It's still over a thousand dollars. In desktop computers from other manufacturers, where you have much more freedom to configure and upgrade the machine, shared graphics is definitely the budget option. Adding a solid mid-range card like the Radeon RX will add an extra few hundred dollars to the price.

But this isn't to say that discrete graphics is expensive. There are some excellent budget graphics cards worth buying. If shared graphics is less powerful, does that mean you can't use it for gaming?

Not necessarily. The online gaming platform Steam releases a monthly survey showing the hardware used by its million customers. Dedicated graphics cards dominate the August list. But more than 10 percent of users are gaming with Intel's integrated graphics.

If you choose to go this route, you will need to make some compromises. Not every game will be available to you, and you'll have to tone down the detail settings. To help, Intel offers a guide on its website to choosing the right settings for various games.

In a straight integrated vs. You also need one for professional work with graphics software, including animation, CAD, and video editing. Programs like Photoshop and Lightroom have support for modern graphics cards.

These are essential for tasks like 3D work, and will help speed up RAW photo editing. Interestingly, a powerful dedicated GPU is also used for mining bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

For everyone else, integrated graphics is just fine. It can work for casual gaming. It's more than good enough for most Adobe programs. And as long as you've got a fairly modern processor, it will be able to handle 4K video. In fact, unless you have specific needs, the benefits of integrated graphicslike device size and better battery lifeare likely to outweigh the benefits of discrete graphics.

If you do need the extra power, check out our guide to the best graphics cards for all budgets to help you decide which is right for you. We hope you like the items we recommend and discuss! MUO has affiliate and sponsored partnerships, so we receive a share of the revenue from some of your purchases.

Trying to kill time but can't find anything that'll hold your attention? Here are some fun things to do online when bored. Andy is a former print journalist and magazine editor who has been writing about technology for 15 years. In that time he has contributed to countless publications and produced copywriting work for large tech companies.

The easiest way to ensure your computer has one of these graphics cards is to include it in the configuration at the time of purchase. With a desktop, though, you also have the option of installing a GPU on your own.

It's not necessarily hard—you basically open the case and slot in the card. As an indication of just how mainstream GPUs have become, Intel recently announced plans to release a graphics card of its own in Plenty of well-known editing software applications take advantage of the added oomph of a GPU, including Adobe Photoshop for serious photo editing , Lightroom for more lightweight photo editing as well as photo library management , and Premiere Pro for editing and rendering video.

On a computer with a powerful GPU, it takes significantly less time to apply complex filters to photos and special effects to videos. That means less time waiting, more time creating.

But the upside is not confined to content creation apps. Streaming video from YouTube and Netflix has to be compressed and decompressed before you actually see it. And, although you may want to think twice about investing in cryptocurrencies , so-called mining software can use your GPU to generate bitcoin, Ethereum, and others.

Even Windows itself benefits, according to Asedillo, with certain elements of the user interface, including transparency effects and animations, becoming smoother and faster. Although playing games may not be of significant interest to you, having a computer with a GPU can encourage your children to take a stab at programming.

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