Do You Need A Good Graphics Card For Music Production?

If you’ve spent enough time using a computer. A graphics card is something you’ve heard of.

Seeing that music production requires a lot of specific hardware to compensate for various processes and operations. It is natural to wonder if you need a good graphics card for music production.

This post will take you through the purposes of Graphics cards and whether or not you need one that is good or at-least above the norm for music production.

In Music production, all you need is a basic stock graphics card because an advanced one won’t make any difference in the overall audio and music production. The integrated graphics card that comes with your laptop or PC will work just fine, you don’t need a high tech one because it will be of very little use in music production.

Yes you do need it to process and delay visual information, but making music relies on a good processor and other good hardware. A graphics is only important for images NOT production of music itself.

What is a graphics card?

A graphics card is simply the hardware that is responsible for producing images that you’re able to see on your computer. The graphics card plays the role of rendering an image to your monitor and this is done by converting data into a signal that can be understood by your monitor.

The better your graphics card, the better and smoother the image that will be produced.

Types of Graphics Cards

There are basically two types of graphics cards namely, Integrated and Discrete.

Integrated graphics cards are built onto the motherboard where no add in cards are used. These are usually the ones that are pre-loaded in most computers and will be the ones you find when you purchase your computer. These are basically fixed and cannot be easily upgraded.

Discrete graphics cards are graphics cards that are installed on motherboards as an extra component. These are pretty common for those that do work that requires a lot of imagery processing. They are also used by those that are heavy into gaming because it requires a good graphics cards that can properly process data easily.

Most people that are using their computers for browsing the internet, watching movies or running software like music software, will be fine only relying on the integrated graphics card that comes pre-installed in a PC or Laptop.

Why you don’t need a good or high tech graphics card for music production

Music production is not graphics driven

Music production utilizes software that is driven by how well powered your system is. For this you need a good CPU and the right RAM because music software relies heavily on the specifications of these two things.

A graphics card on the other hand will help your computer render and display imagery. For this, an integrated one will work just fine if you intend to use the computer for work like music production.

Graphics cards are more relevant to other work

There’s a of work that heavily depends on the graphics card.

For example, video production requires a good processor that can work in line with software. A good graphics card can help you render imagery with much ease, therefore you’ll need one. Furthermore, heavy image processing also depends on the quality of your overall system with a high dependence on the quality of your graphics card.

With the examples above, you can tell that the application of a high quality graphics card is certainly necessary in most work, but is of little importance in music production.

They are expensive

Furthermore, high quality graphics cards are pretty much expensive which is why I would hold off on getting a highly advanced one if I’m only looking to do music production with the computer.

My advice would be to leave your integrated graphics card as it is (in your system). I’d focus the funds on buying a high quality good computer with the right specifications.

Another option you have is to build a good computer with the right specs. This can be a great advantage for a music producer because it can help you tailor make your system to fit your specific needs.

Final Thoughts

A graphics card is definitely important because it will be required for your computer to be able to process and display imagery. Without it, you’d not be able to see any images or the visual display of your music production software. However, an advanced graphics card is not essential or necessary to music production. The integrated stock graphics card will work just fine.