Compare Products

The memory stores information necessary for graphic calculations. A higher number in the end indicates newer technology. Today's standard is the GDDR6/GDDR7.

The number of video outputs refers to the number of physical video connectors (HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, VGA, USB-C Alt-Mode...) present on the graphics card. The parameter refers to hardware ports only and does not say anything about how many monitors can be run simultaneously; the two quantities may differ (e.g. a card with two DisplayPorts and one HDMI can support up to four monitors thanks to the MST hub).

Indicates how many separate monitors can be connected to the card at the same time. The limit is determined by the chip's internal display units and the data throughput of the outputs. Some DisplayPort connectors with MST or select USB-C connectors can fork the signal to serve more panels than there are physical ports. Conversely, a demanding configuration - like 4K at 144Hz - will use up almost all available capacity, so the card will only activate two monitors instead of the claimed three, for example.

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a multi-platform graphics API - a set of specifications that form a common "language" between applications (games, 3D programs) and the graphics card (GPU). Its main advantage is multi-platform: the same code can run on Windows, macOS and Linux. Although it is increasingly being replaced in modern games by newer APIs such as Vulkan - a low-level, cross-platform interface developed by the Khronos Group consortium that gives developers much more direct and efficient access to hardware - or the proprietary Direct3D 12 (Windows) or Metal (macOS/iOS), OpenGL remains crucial in many professional applications (CAD, DCC, scientific visualization).

Unlike transmission interfaces (HDMI, DisplayPort) that just send the finished image, OpenGL describes how the GPU creates the image - from geometry to shading to final rasterization - i.e. the complete graphics pipeline, the sequence of steps through which the data passes: First vertices are prepared (vertex processing), then visible polygons are determined (clipping), then they are turned into pixels during rasterization, and finally fragment shaders and post-processing are applied before the final signal is ever sent down the cable to the monitor.

Since version 4.4 (2013), OpenGL has focused on big data matching - introducing sparse textures that can stream giant details without taking up all the memory, and "immutable" buffers that reduce allocation overhead. Version 4.5 (2014) adds Direct State Access so you can set objects directly without constantly switching context, making multi-threaded rendering much easier. The latest 4.6 (2017) converges with Vulkan: it supports the universal SPIR-V binary shader format, allows you to optionally disable error checks for even lower latency, and offers more detailed pipeline traversal statistics.

DirectX is Microsoft's comprehensive ecosystem of multimedia interfaces. Although its best-known component is Direct3D for 3D graphics, it also includes specialized components such as Direct2D (2D vector graphics), DirectWrite (typography), XAudio2 (surround sound), and XInput (gamepad control). This ecosystem, which was created in the Windows 95 era to unify access to hardware on PCs, later became the cornerstone for Xbox game consoles.

The golden age of "high-level" versions is symbolized by the legendary DirectX 9 (dominant on Windows XP), the groundbreaking DirectX 10 with the new WDDM driver model in Windows Vista, and DirectX 11, which became the de facto graphics standard for the entire past decade. The advent of "low-level" DirectX 12 put memory management, synchronization, and command queuing directly into the hands of developers, allowing them to scale better on multi-core processors and minimize driver overhead.

The pinnacle of the current lineup is represented by the DirectX 12 Ultimate brand, which brings together the most advanced hardware features - Ray Tracing 1.1 for realistic lighting effects, Mesh Shaders for flexible geometry processing, Variable Rate Shading for smart performance savings, and Sampler Feedback for optimized texture streaming.