Most of us try to choose the most optimal video card model, based on the limits of our budget and the set of games for which it is intended. But, despite the mass of reviews on the web, no one is immune from buying a video card that will become outdated and become the worst choice on the market within a year and a half after purchase. Or, on the contrary, you can choose a great model that will cope with new games for five or more years.
As an example of an excellent choice, the Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon HD 7950 in 2012 were competing with the GeForce GTX 670 and GeForce GTX 660 Ti. These famous models from AMD had a decent amount of video memory of 3 GB, and in some models even 6 GB, and an excellent architecture for its time. You could easily pass Radeon HD 7950 demanding hits that came out a few years later-The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Fallout 4, Dying Light, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Assassin’s Creed: Origins and Far Cry 4.
But as an unsuccessful purchase, let’s recall the video card, which was associated with several scandals, and which showed that Nvidia will not stop even before an obvious lie for its loyal fans, for which it was punished in court and lost a considerable part of its reputation.
Buy an outdated model right before the next generation is released
I think many people have already realized that we are talking about the GeForce GTX 970, released at the end of 2014, and which allegedly had 4 GB of video memory. As it turned out later, it had only 3.5 GB of fast video memory, and games that went beyond this volume read and wrote data in 500 MB of slow video memory, which was accompanied by strong friezes. Against this background, such a small thing that the actual power consumption of the GeForce GTX 970 easily goes beyond the specified 148 watts and reaches 181 watts or more, did not surprise anyone.
But the main mistake was made by those gamers who bought the GeForce GTX 970 video card in 2016, almost before the release of the successful GeForce GTX 1060, which was good in all respects. It was faster than the GeForce GTX 970 (yes, yes, in the old days, video cards with the index ” 6 “could overtake “7”), consumed only 120 watts and had a sufficient amount of video memory in the version with 6 GB. Imagine how insulting it was for those who bought a GeForce GTX 970 for almost the same amount, without waiting for the GeForce GTX 1060 for just a few months.
Overpayment for a model overclocked from the factory
I think all of you have seen the letters ” OC “in the name of the video card, which means Overclocked or “Overclocked”. Usually, video cards with this icon get a tiny increase in the chip frequency, which is elementary to do yourself using MSI Afterburner. The only practical benefit of overclocked graphics cards is a slightly extended Power Limit parameter, sometimes by only 10 watts, which, of course,will give very little. After all, the overclocking potential primarily depends on the quality of the chip.
Overpayment for a video card with too powerful cooling system

Often there are very economical versions of video cards, for example, GeForce RTX 4060 with its meager power consumption of 115 watts, equipped with monstrous cooling systems. For example, Colorful iGame GeForce RTX 4060 Ultra W OC 8GB-V. It is clear that such a cooling system for such an economical video card is completely redundant and you will simply overpay for it in vain.
Evaluation of the cooling system based on the number of fans only
But you can not evaluate the cooling system only by the number of fans, and often a single-fan model with three heat pipes and a high-quality radiator with soldered fins will show better temperatures than a huge “board” in which there are three fans and one or two thin heat pipes. Manufacturers often produce such models in order for an inexperienced gamer to fall for the size, thinking that he is taking a top model.
Excessive savings on the video card cooling system
But excessive savings on the video card cooling system, especially if it is completely without heat pipes, will not lead to anything good. Even on budget graphics cards with such a cooler, noise and high heat are waiting for you, especially at the hottest point of the chip — Hot Spot. Even on models of video cards with a heat dissipation of 60 watts, such an aluminum radiator, as in the photo, is enough end-to-end and they will not be quiet. And what can I say, if such a radiator cools a video card with a TDP of 120 watts — during its operation, you will regret a hundred times that you saved one or two thousand rubles.
The video card is too long
It is not uncommon for a gamer to bring home a brand-new video card, try to install it in the case with trembling hands and realize that it does not fit. After that, there are three ways left — to take the video card back to the store because it didn’t fit, to change the PC case, or to farm, cutting off some of the interfering metal. Therefore, do not forget to measure the space in your case before choosing a video card or look at its characteristics.
GeForce RTX 4000 and cable routing issues


Buying a brand new GeForce RTX 4070, GeForce RTX 4080 or GeForce RTX 4090 with a capricious and problematic 12VHPWR power connector, some users are faced with the fact that after connecting power to the video card, they can not close the side cover of the case. The power cable adapter sticks out too much to the side, and it is absolutely impossible to bend it too much. Here you need either a special ” L ” – shaped adapter, or a new, more spacious case.
Buying a too powerful graphics card in a weak PC
I remember very well how my GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card was paired with a Core i5-3570 processor — in some games, it was the main brake on the system and did not allow it to show everything it was capable of. Even in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the processor was often loaded at 100%, and the video card was underloaded, but the most unpleasant thing is the ragged frametime with friezes on such a PC, which cannot be defeated by reducing the quality of graphics in the game. I got similar problems when I set the GeForce RTX 3060 to work in tandem with the Ryzen 5 1600 processor, which also became the weakest point in the PC. And its upgrade to the Ryzen 5 5600X allowed the GeForce RTX 3060 to start working at full capacity, producing maximum and stable FPS. So don’t be too lazy to check out the reviews to find out which video card makes sense to buy in your PC, for example, the excellent budget Ryzen 5 5500 processor will be clearly too weak for the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.
Buying a model that is too hot and gluttonous in a cramped case with poor ventilation
Modern video cards have long passed the threshold of power consumption of 300 watts or more, which previously seemed unthinkable. The GeForce RTX 4080 eats 320 watts and this is not surprising to anyone, and the usual GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER eats 225 watts, and in the performance of some vendors even more. This heat must be quickly removed from the case, because it will heat up all the components around, including the processor and SSD drive, and if you put such a video card in a case that costs a couple of “hundred-twaddles” for blowing and one such fan for blowing, you are guaranteed to get high temperatures.
For such video cards, you need a spacious case, preferably with the ability to install fans with a diameter of 140 mm, and the more of them — the better. At least three such fans for injection and three more for blowing. But nothing should prevent air from passing through the case, so preference should be given to models with a mesh front panel, and beautiful cases with blind glass panels should be left for budget builds.
Buying a video card with 8 or even 4 PCI Express lines in an old PC
After the release of the Radeon RX 6500 XT graphics card with just four PCI Express 4.0 lanes for connectivity, gamers were furious, because if you install it in a PC with a PCI Express 3.0 bus, it will be inferior in terms of games even to the GeForce GTX 1650. But, as it turned out later, 16 PCIe lines for connecting mid-level video cards have become a luxury that only Intel indulges gamers with, for example, in the Intel Arc A580. And all other models, including the GeForce RTX 4060, GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, Radeon RX 6600, Radeon RX 6600 XT, Radeon RX 7600 and Radeon RX 7600 XT, cost only eight PCI Express lines. And if there is a lack of video memory, when textures are pumped through the PCI Express bus by the third version, such video cards can lose a decent share of performance.
Results
Readers will probably think — all these tips are good in theory, but which video card to choose right now, in 2024, when the GeForce RTX 5000 video cards are less than six months away? Given how the ruble exchange rate behaves and how electronics prices are rising, I would not wait for the GeForce RTX 5000 if you need a video card right now, especially at the mid-range or budget level. First, because Nvidia will launch the top-end models first, and only a few months later, when the cream is taken off the rich gamers, it will release the GeForce RTX 5060 that most of us are waiting for.