That's because macOS only supports AMD cards, and AMD's current RX 6x00-series graphics card range is only supported by macOS Big Sur 11.4 and newer. If you're editing on a Mac, it'll need to be a 2019 Mac Pro, and you'll need a graphics card made by AMD, not Nvidia. However, in this guide we're only covering internal graphics card upgrades for desktop computers. An eGPU is basically a conventional internal graphics card, stuck in a special enclosure that allows it to be powered direct from a mains outlet and connected to your computer via Thunderbolt. It is possible to increase the graphics card performance in a laptop by adding an external graphics card (eGPU), attached via Thunderbolt. Firstly, you can only upgrade the graphics card in a desktop computer, not a laptop. Providing your editing software supports hardware video acceleration (pretty much all popular editing packages do, with apps like DaVinci Resolve being heavily reliant on graphics card hardware) upgrading your computer's graphics card can give you a worthwhile performance boost when video editing.Ĭhoosing the right video card for you obviously depends on your budget, as well as the kind of computer you'll be upgrading. Even a lower-mid-range card will give your editing rig a serious speed boost, with pricier video cards only yielding marginally superior performance. What's more, while spending top dollar on the very best graphics card will get you extra encoding performance, you really don't have to. It's actually rather more technical than that, but the upshot is a graphics card can export video a whole lot faster than even a top-end CPU. But even with 4, 6, 8, or even more cores, a CPU simply can't match the incredible power of a graphics card, which can contain thousands of processing cores. It used to be that video editing software relied solely on your computer's central processor (CPU) to process and export video. Be sure to regularly check the latest prices below from our respected affiliate retailers to ensure you get the best possible deal. Nvidia's RTX 30-series cards are rare, and those that are available may well be selling for hugely over-inflated prices.

Update - Q1 2022: right now, due to production shortages and hugely increased demand from gamers and crypto currency miners, almost all makes and models of graphics cards are in very short supply.

Best 4k graphics card for lightroom