GRAPHIC CARDS

WHAT IS A GRAPHIC CARD?

A graphics card is a type of display adapter or video card installed within most computing devices to display graphical data with high clarity, color, definition and overall appearance. A graphics card provides high-quality visual display by processing and executing graphical data using advanced graphical techniques, features and functions.

A graphics card is primarily designed to remove the graphical processing tasks from the processor or RAM. It includes a dedicated graphical processing unit (GPU) and a dedicated RAM that help it to process graphical data quickly. Like most processors, a graphics card also has a dedicated heat sink to keep the heat out of the GPU. A graphics card enables the display of 3-D images, image rasterization, higher pixel ration, a broader range of colors and more. Moreover, a graphics card includes various expansion ports such as AGP, HDMI, TV and multiple monitor connectivity. A graphics card can be integrated within the motherboard or be added on as an extension card.

TYPES OF GRAPHIC CARDS

Integrated 
Graphics built into the motherboard where no add-in card is used. You’ll find these built into most laptops and computers, they are a cost-effective model but cannot be easily upgraded. Most people using a modern computer for standard tasks like surfing the internet, creating documents or watching movies will be fine using the integrated graphics.

Discrete 
An add-in graphics card that is installed on to the motherboard as an extra component. Ideal for those wanting to modify their system by upgrading the graphics cards. For users branching out into gaming or video editing, a discrete graphics card is usually needed to speed up the image processing time. Without this, the user may find their game lagging or jittering at crucial points.

VIDEO HOW DO GRAPHIC CARD WORK?

COMPONENTS

GPU

GPU stands for Graphics Processing Unit. It’s the brain of the graphics card and is what creates the visuals you see on the screen.  How powerful those GPU’s are will vary on the model you select.                                                                                                                                                                   The GPU works as a translator, it takes data coming from the CPU and transforms it into imagery. More complex visuals, like you find in high-definition games require more complex and quicker GPUs to accommodate the stream of data.

Expansion slots

You can expand your PC internally by adding additional cards. Over the years graphics expansion slots have changed significantly from PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) to the latest PCI-E (Gen1/2/3) (PCI-Express) which offer the best bandwidth.

Some motherboards have expansion slots allowing users to add more than one graphics card, this is called SLI (NVIDIA) or CrossfireX (AMD) allowing users to get improved performance from their system. Users will need an SLI or Crossfire ready motherboard to use these technologies. The intention being to link two of the same graphics cards together.

RAM

Current graphics cards also contain RAM memory, this is dedicated graphics memory, so it’s separate from your PC’s RAM. The capacity for most modern graphics cards will range from 512MB to 8GB with the most popular formats being DDR3 and GDDR5 SDRAM.

Memory is important on a graphics card as it allows users to play games at higher resolutions- Ideal for those using games like Skyrim, which contains very large texture packs.

A minimum of 1GB memory is recommended for gamers, but this needs to be balanced out with other aspects of the card and the resolution you play a game at.

Monitor support

Graphics cards can support multiple monitors, however the number is determined by the GPU and the number of outputs available. Check with the individual graphics card to find out how many monitors it supports.

Output support

Graphics cards can be connected to a monitor via a number of output options. You’ll need to buy a video card that matches a port on your monitor. Many video cards will have at least two or three ports with some supporting four or more.                                                                                                                                                                                                   VGA (Video Graphics Array): 15pin analogue connection also known as D-Sub. This is the earliest video connector and so is the least efficient.  VGA ports work well enough but other ports provide a better video quality.                                                                                                                               DVI (Digital Visual Interface): DVI-I (carries analogue and digital signals) and DVI-D (Carries Digital signals only). DVI tends to be found on most flat panel monitors, so is a useful link between card and screen.                                                                                                                                          HDMI is one of the more popular connections due to its speed and versatility.  HDMI will carry both video and audio signal.                                                                                                                                      DisplayPort: The connection is becoming much more popular, and will be been seen in the new generation of monitors. It can carry video, audio and other forms of data.

MANUFACTURERS

There are two main manufacturers of discrete graphics cards, AMD and Nvidia.

VIDEO BEST GRAPHIC CARDS