A graphic card also known as a Video card is used to give out 2D and 3D images and videos and various other image enhancement options related to graphics. There are add on as well as integrated graphics cards. It also has RAM called VRAM and a processor. Graphics cards are very useful when you use programs like Adobe premiere pro or video editing or even Photoshop or say CorelDRAW. A graphic card accelerates the process and completes the task in much lesser time as compared to onboard graphics. Engineering requires complex calculations which need a good mid-range graphic card that can handle the Designing, and calculations that are very complex. Also, Engineers need to do designing and many more 3D things which require a very good graphic card. An Intel Hd Graphic Card cannot handle the work smoothly so probably you need a Good Graphics Card coupled With a Good CPU and a minimum 8GB ram. Although 16GB is recommended. For electrical engineering students, it will be helpful, Firstly it will save time in making and compiling 3d projects, designs, and various other things as it will complete the given task in much less time. Let’s see-> Do engineering students need a GPU?
A must for modern-day applications
A graphic card is necessary for a computer engineering student. Modern-day applications such as multimedia, scientific, mathematical, and general-purpose apps are getting more and more parallel. The core i7 processor with a graphic accelerator supports parallel applications to some extent. But, having an exclusive graphic card will have a tangible difference in performance. Also, Comp Engineering students can learn a lot about parallel programming by working on CUDA and OpenCL toolkits which are supported by GPU cards in general.
Absolutely yes, if you want to deal with the latest stuff.
There are multiple advantages of having a dedicated GPU which are listed as follows:
- With a better GPU, you can go with Machine Learning (AI) which needs CUDA (Nvidia GPU). Machine Learning has a great scope ahead in the future.
- With a better GPU, you can transfer your matrix workload on GPU which is around 10K faster than the CPU
- You can deal with Image and Video processing libraries like OpenCV which are GPU hungry.
- You can also go into 3D simulation fields like VR and AR which uses GPU extensively.
- You can work in fields of Geometry (3D), networks, and graphs that use GPU cores.
- If you want to be an Android Developer, you need a good GPU so that Android Virtual Device works like a charm on your device.
- Better GPU always maximizes virtual Box performance.
Not required if you have a dedicated PC
No, you don’t need to spend money for a dedicated GPU unit if you buy the 8th generation or later Intel i5, i7, or i9 processors. The 7th generation allowed for HEVC (h.265) functionality and the 8th generation optimized the streaming h.265 and like formats. Once you have 8th generation or newer, you need to look at how the internet is delivered to your pc If you have an old modem or WiFi router with a few devices you may want to upgrade that so that your streaming is optimized.
Conclusion
The requirement of a dedicated GPU depends on the project that an engineering student is associated with. There is nothing specific for ECE students. Most typical routine tasks even for ECE students are the same as for any other branch and for that Intel Accelerator or a low-end PCI-Express-based GPU for Desktop PCs or the GPU you will get in the laptop by default should suffice. If you think of a typical off-the-shelf spice solver like LTSpice or PSpice then the typical Desktop/laptop is sufficient. Same for most Matlab codes across the curriculum. The requirement of a high-end GPU as stated earlier depends on the project you are undertaking, e.g. thing which involves heavy rendering or very heavy computation. GPU is not needed for mechanical engineers. For them, a 2 GB graphics card with 4GB ram is more than sufficient as far as mechanical software is concerned
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Computer Science Engineering students need a dedicated GPU?
Dedicated Graphics cards are not at all important for programming purposes and hence it is not useful for computer science engineering students. Instead, they can invest in a CPU with integrated graphics or invest in an SSD for better performance of their machine.
Is a dedicated GPU needed for python programming?
It is very unlikely that you need a GPU for python programming as you will not require to do 3d rendering unless you are using graphics-hungry software like Unity3d or Unreal Engine 4.
Which GPU is suitable for an engineering student?
Below is a list of some good GPUs that can handle almost every task effectively.
- Quadro RTX 4000 graphics card from Nvidia.
- The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is a powerful graphics card.
- Radeon Pro WX8200 from AMD.
- The AMD Radeon RX 5700 is a powerful graphics card.
- The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is a powerful graphics card.
- The Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 is a powerful graphics card.
- Aorus GeForce RTX 3080 from Gigabyte.
