Introduction
A video card is also called a video adapter, graphics accelerator card or graphics card. It is an expansion card with the function of generating 3D images for display on the screen of the PC. Many video cards have additional functions. They render 3D scenes and 2D graphics, video capture, TV-tuner adapter, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, FireWire, light pen, TV output, or multi-monitor connections.
Installing a graphic card
Installing a graphics card is very easy. You install the video card by plugging an interface into a port or slot inside the computer on the motherboard.
Parts of a video card
It is primarily a printed circuit board with mounted components. These components include:
• Video Memory
The maximum capacity of memory of modern video cards ranges from 128 MB to 4 GB. Video memory uses VRAM, WRAM and SG RAM. Video memory may be used to store other data as well as the screen image.
•RAMDAC
The Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter is used to convert digital signals to analog signals. It is a kind of memory chip that helps the graphics card to function more efficiently.
•A GPU or Graphics Processing Unit
A GPU is a processor used for producing 3D graphical images. The processor is designed to render 3D graphics using floating point calculations. The main specs to look for in a GPU are clock frequency, pipelines which render 3D images into 2d pixels. GPUs are programmable and are as good as CPUs in terms of high performance computing and integrating videos.
•Video BIOS
It is a basic program used for the video card’s operations. The video BIOS is basically about data on the memory timing, speeds and voltages of the RAM, the graphics processor etc.
•Outputs
The main components that connect a video card and computer display are a video graphics array, a digital video interface, a high definition multimedia interface, and a display port.
Additional features of video cards
A video card has to have a lot of memory so that consumers can play games on the PC.
These are specs you should take a look at while buying a video card.
•The type of the GPU which is responsible for all the 3D images.
•The GPU’s clock speed and the pixel pipeline are two factors essential to evaluate the performance of the video card.
•Some expensive and technologically enhanced, high end video cards also boast of TV tuners, hardware DVD players, vidcap features, audio capacities and specialized video systems.
Fast facts
•Video cards generally come with a fan to reduce the heat produced by graphic cards, as graphic cards work very hard.
•There are also high performance fanless video cards in the market. A fanless video card produces no noise but is expensive and uses a wider footprint that can take up two slots inside the computer.
•High-end video cards work on a lot of high power.
•Video cards and monitor resolutions have to compatible for PCs to work.
•Video cards have both analog and digital connectors.
The Asus Ge Force GTX580, Asus EAH6850 Direct CU, MSI N480GTX Lightning, Asus ENGTS450 TOP Direct CU are some examples of good performance video cards.
