A graphics card spec sheet is ordered by commercial impact, not usefulness. It is worth knowing what to read first.
Memory capacity is a threshold, not a scale
Memory capacity behaves like a gate. Below what your workload needs, performance collapses; above it, adding more does nothing. It is not a scale where more is always better, which is why comparing two cards on gigabytes alone leads to wrong conclusions so often.
Bandwidth: the number almost nobody checks
Memory bandwidth describes how fast the card moves data. In AI workloads it is very nearly the determining factor in generation speed. In games it matters more as resolution climbs. It usually sits further down the sheet than memory size, and predicts considerably more.
Clock speeds compare only within an architecture
Comparing megahertz across generations or between different manufacturers means nothing. How much work the card does per cycle changes with the architecture, so a lower figure on a newer design can perform substantially better.
Power draw is a constraint, not a flaw
Stated power draw governs your supply and your cooling, and it is a figure to carry into the buying decision from the start rather than discover afterwards. It is worth checking against what your current supply can deliver — the calculator settles it in a minute — because it is the constraint that most often turns a one-part purchase into a two-part one.
What the sheet does not say
Nothing about noise under load, nothing about the thermal behaviour of the specific manufacturer's design, and nothing about the state of the software. Those three affect daily use more than several of the printed figures.
