Understanding how GPU's work

[Skeletor]

Hey all I am a newb to PC gaming and am looking at buying a new GPU.
The only problem is I don't understand the specs:
- Core Clock
- Memory
- Memory Clock
- Memory Interface
- V ram
Could someone help me get my head around this or at least tell me what I sould be looking for?
I'm currently running:
intel i5 ivybridge at 4.5
8gig of hyper x ram at 1600
650 watt power supply
1tb seagate barracuda
Thanks

 

[Orangey]

Core clock is what the actual GPU core runs at. For AMD cards, 1000MHz (1GHz) is considered desirable as a baseline for overclockers. I don't know about Nvidia.
Memory aka VRAM (video RAM) mean the same thing. 2GB and up is recommended as far as amount goes. If gaming at higher resolutions than 1080p, 3GB+ is recommended.
Memory clock is how fast the memory operates, it is a frequency per second measured in Hertz (Hz) just like CPU and GPU core.
Memory interface presumably refers to the amount of bits that can flow through at once. AKA bus width. 256 is acceptable with higher memory clocks and 384 is better. 384 with faster memory is great. This cannot be summed up very easily, you will need to read up some: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_bandwidth#Bandwidth_computation_and_nomenclature

Just remember any time you see "clock" that refers to the time it takes for a system, such as the integrated circuits that make up a CPU, RAM chips, GPUs etc to go through one cycle of operation x amount of times per second. That means taking input and processing it then spitting out output, to another system.

 

[tribz]

The resolution that you intend to game at is probably a good starting point as to how much money you'd need to spend.

Keep in mind that you cant really tell a lot from just the clock speed or amount of memory when comparing cards. How many cuda engines/texture units/stream processors etc is more important. 4GB of GDDR3 is not as good as 2GB of GDDR5 for example.

 

[Skeletor]

Brilliant, thanks for the info
Will read up on it a bit more but at least I have some idea of what I'm looking for and buying

 

[Skeletor]

I'm running one monitor at 1920/1080
And am looking at spending £200

 

[Devrij]

I suggest a 7950. Very overclockable (the HIS IceQ clocks well and runs quite cool and quiet), good performance, and very cheap now. Also good for xfire if you ever go that route with dual cards later on (as I will be!). At 1080p you'll be able to max most games, maybe tweaking your AA settings down a bit for more demanding titles.