Introduction to How Graphics Cards Work Computer Hardware Image Gallery

Graphics cards take data from the CPU and turn it into pictures. See more computer hardware pictures. The images you see on your monitor are made of tiny dots called pixels. At most common resolution settings, a screen displays over a million pixels, and the computer has to decide what to do with every one in order to create an image. To do this, it needs a translator -- something to take binary data from the CPU and turn it into a picture you can see. Unless a computer has graphics capability built into the motherboard, that translation takes place on the graphics card. A graphics card's job is complex, but its principles and components are easy to understand. In this article, we will look at the basic parts of a video card and what they do. We'll also examine the factors that work together to make a fast, efficient graphics card. Think of a computer as a company with its own art department. When people in the company want a piece of artwork, they send a request to the art department. The art department decides how to create the image and then puts it on paper. The end result is that someone's idea becomes an actual, viewable picture. A graphics card works along the same principles. The CPU, working in conjunction with software applications, sends information about the image to the graphics card. The graphics card decides how to use the pixels on the screen to create the image. It then sends that information to the monitor through a cable. Creating an image out of binary data is a demanding process. To make a 3-D image, the graphics card first creates a wire frame out of straight lines. Then, it rasterizes the image (fills in the remaining pixels). It also adds lighting, texture and color. For fast-paced games, the computer has to go through this process about sixty times per second. Without a graphics card to perform the necessary calculations, the workload would be too much for the computer to handle.

The graphics card accomplishes this task using four main components: A motherboard connection for data and power A processor to decide what to do with each pixel on the screen Memory to hold information about each pixel and to temporarily store completed pictures A monitor connection so you can see the final result Next, we'll look at the processor and memory in more detail.

The GPU

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Graphics cards take data from the CPU and turn it into pictures. Find out the parts of a graphics card and read expert reviews of graphics cards. Like a motherboard, a graphics card is a printed circuit board that houses a processorand RAM. It also has an input/output system (BIOS) chip, which stores the card's settings and performs diagnostics on the memory, input and output at startup. A graphics card's processor, called a graphics processing unit (GPU), is similar to a computer's CPU. A GPU, however, is designed specifically for performing the complex mathematical and geometric calculations that are necessary for graphics rendering. Some of the fastest GPUs have more transistors than the average CPU. A GPU produces a lot of heat, so it is usually located under a heat sink or a fan. In addition to its processing power, a GPU uses special programming to help it analyze and use data. ATI and nVidia produce the vast majority of GPUs on the market, and both companies have developed their own enhancements for GPU performance. To improve image quality, the processors use: Full scene anti aliasing (FSAA), which smoothes the edges of 3-D objects Anisotropic filtering (AF), which makes images look crisper Each company has also developed specific techniques to help the GPU apply colors, shading, textures and patterns.

The Evolution of Graphics Cards

Graphics cards have come a long way since IBM introduced the first one in 1981. Called

aMonochrome Display Adapter (MDA), the card provided text-only displays of green or white text on a black screen. Now, the minimum standard for new video cards isVideo Graphics Array (VGA), which allows 256 colors. With highperformance standards like Quantum Extended Graphics Array(QXGA), video cards can display millions of colors at resolutions of up to 2040 x 1536 pixels. As the GPU creates images, it needs somewhere to hold information and completed pictures. It uses the card's RAM for this purpose, storing data about each pixel, its color and its location on the screen. Part of the RAM can also act as a frame buffer, meaning that it holds completed images until it is time to display them. Typically, video RAM operates at very high speeds and is dual ported, meaning that the system can read from it and write to it at the same time. The RAM connects directly to the digital-to-analog converter, called the DAC. This converter, also called the RAMDAC, translates the image into an analog signal that the monitor can use. Some cards have multiple RAMDACs, which can improve performance and support more than one monitor. You can learn more about this process in How Analog and Digital Recording Works. The RAMDAC sends the final picture to the monitor through a cable. We'll look at this connection and other interfaces in the next section. PCI Connection

Photo courtesy of HowStuffWorks Shopper This Radeon X800XL graphics card has DVI, VGA and ViVo connections. Graphics cards connect to the computer through the motherboard. The motherboardsupplies power to the card and lets it communicate with the CPU. Newer graphics cards often require more power than the motherboard can provide, so they also have a direct connection to the computer's power supply. Connections to the motherboard are usually through one of three interfaces: Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) Advanced graphics port(AGP)

 PCI Express (PCIe) PCI Express is the newest of the three and provides the fastest transfer rates between the graphics card and the motherboard. PCIe also supports the use of two graphics cards in the same computer.

DirectX and Open GL

DirectX and Open GL are application programming interfaces, or APIs. An API helps hardware and software communicate more efficiently by providing instructions for complex tasks, like 3-D rendering. Developers optimize graphics-intensive games for specific APIs. This is why the newest games often require updated versions of DirectX or Open GL to work correctly. APIs are different from drivers, which are programs that allow hardware to communicate with a computer's operating system. But as with updated APIs, updated device drivers can help programs run correctly. Most graphics cards have two monitor connections. Often, one is a DVI connector, which supports LCDscreens, and the other is a VGA connector, which supports CRT screens. Some graphics cards have two DVI connectors instead. But that doesn't rule out using a CRT screen; CRT screens can connect to DVI ports through an adapter. At one time, Apple made monitors that used the proprietary Apple Display Connector (ADC). Although these monitors are still in use, new Apple monitors use a DVI connection. Most people use only one of their two monitor connections. People who need to use two monitors can purchase a graphics card with dual head capability, which splits the display between the two screens. A computer with two dual head, PCIe-enabled video cards could theoretically support four monitors. In addition to connections for the motherboard and monitor, some graphics cards have connections for: TV display: TV-out or S-video Analog video cameras: ViVo or video in/video out Digital cameras: FireWire or USB Some cards also incorporate TV tuners. Next, we'll look at how to choose a good graphics card. Choosing a Good Graphics Card

Integrated Graphics
Many motherboards have integrated graphics capabilities and function without a separate graphics card. These motherboards handle 2-D images easily, so they are ideal for productivity and Internet applications. Plugging a separate graphics card into one of these motherboards overrides the onboard graphics functions. A top-of-the-line graphics card is easy to spot. It has lots of memory and a fast processor. Often, it's also more visually appealing than anything else that's intended to go inside a computer's case. Lots of highperformance video cards are illustrated or have decorative fans or heat sinks. But a high-end card provides more power than most people really need. People who use their computers primarily for e-mail, word processing or Web surfing can find all the necessary graphics support on a motherboard with integrated graphics. A mid-range card is sufficient for most casual gamers. People

who need the power of a high-end card include gaming enthusiasts and people who do lots of 3-D graphic work.

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Some cards, like the ATI All-in-Wonder, include connections for televisions and video as well as a TV tuner. A good overall measurement of a card's performance is its frame rate, measured in frames per second (FPS). The frame rate describes how many complete images the card can display per second. The human eye can process about 25 frames every second, but fast-action games require a frame rate of at least 60 FPS to provide smooth animation and scrolling. Components of the frame rate are: Triangles or vertices per second: 3-D images are made of triangles, or polygons. This measurement describes how quickly the GPU can calculate the whole polygon or the vertices that define it. In general, it describes how quickly the card builds a wire frame image. Pixel fill rate: This measurement describes how many pixels the GPU can process in a second, which translates to how quickly it can rasterize the image.

Overclocking
Some people choose to improve their graphics card's performance by manually setting their clock speed to a higher rate, known asoverclockings. People usually overclock theirmemory, since overclocking the GPU can lead to overheating. While overclocking can lead to better performance, it also voids the manufacturer's warranty. The graphics card's hardware directly affects its speed. These are the hardware specifications that most affect the card's speed and the units in which they are measured: GPU clock speed (MHz) Size of the memory bus (bits) Amount of available memory (MB) Memory clock rate (MHz)

 Memory bandwidth (GB/s) RAMDAC speed (MHz) The computer's CPU and motherboard also play a part, since a very fast graphics card can't compensate for a motherboard's inability to deliver data quickly. Similarly, the card's connection to the motherboard and the speed at which it can get instructions from the CPU affect its performance.

Video hardware can be integrated on the motherboard, often occurring with early machines. In this configuration it is sometimes referred to as a video controller or graphics controller. Modern low-end to mid-range motherboards often include a graphics chipset developed by the developer of the northbridge(i.e. an nForce chipset with nVidia graphics or an Intel chipset with Intel graphics) on the motherboard. This graphics chip usually has a small quantity of embedded memory and takes some of the system's main RAM, reducing the total RAM available. This is usually called integrated graphics or on-board graphics, and is low-performance and undesirable for those wishing to run 3D applications. A dedicated Graphics Card on the other hand has its own RAM and Processor specifically for processing video images, and thus offloads this work from the CPU and system RAM. Almost all of these motherboards allow the disabling of the integrated graphics chip in BIOS, and have an AGP, PCI, or PCI Express slot for adding a higher-performance graphics card in place of the integrated graphics. Despite the performance limitations, around 95% of new computers are sold with integrated graphics processors, leaving it for the individual user to decide whether to install a dedicated Graphics card.

Past and present HISTORY The first video card was the Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA). Introduced in 1981 by IBM. It had 4 kilobytes of video memory. Present can support 4 monitors Much faster and a lot of space Geforce GTX 275 has 1.7Gb (1792Mb) of video memory. Why do we use it! (Function) Takes in data from CPU and creates a picture Made by millions of pixels on screen Need to turn binary data in to a picture Decides how to place pixels on the screen Video Card Components Terminology Motherboard Connections: ring in data from the hard drive and electricity from the power supply. Memory Chips : Hold the data during processing. Graphics Processor Chips : Turn digital data into pixel information. Monitor Connections: Send pixels to the monitor. What's a GPU? Graphics processing Unit designed for performing mathematical and geometric calculations (graphic card rendering) graphics cards CPU. It Processes the data On-board video card small quantity of embedded memory Uses system's main RAM, reducing the total RAM available. low-performance and undesirable for those wishing to run 3D applications Separate video card

own RAM and Processor specifically for processing video images Faster processing and better have an AGP, PCI, or PCI Express slot for adding them Video Card Connection PCI PCI The oldest of the three types Uses a shared bus to allow communication among different devices on the bus. It has a bandwidth of up to 133 Mbps to 512 Mbps AGP(still old) Designed for use with 3d Graphics used a point to point channel for direct access to the main memory It has a bandwidth of 266 Mbps to 1.07 Gbps. To use this video card your motherboard needs to have a slot to support it PCI-E doubles the data transfer rates of a standard PCI card two way serial connection, avoiding the slowdown of sharing a bus. Aid from other devices to get greater output. How The Video Card Makes A Picture data is transferred from the CPU to the chipset(processes the data) data transferred to the Video Memory(stores video image) transferred to the digital analog converter - converts the image from digital data to analog data transferred to the monitor through cable it is using How is it connected Video Graphics Adapter : VGA connects to analog monitors. Digital Visual Interface : DVI connects to digital display devices, LCD monitors and digital projectors. S-Video : used to connect a PC video card to a television, only capable of 480i or 576i resolution. High Definition Multimedia Interface : HDMI connects a computer to your HDTV set. Who Makes GPUs Choose according to the need desktop applications, an integrated chip or a low-end graphics card. multimedia applications, a graphics card that can play the desired video format 3D video games, a more powerful graphics card FPS (frames per second) fast-action games require a frame rate of at least 60 FPS to provide smooth transition Triangles or vertices per second: 3-D images are made of triangles, or polygons. it describes how quickly the card builds a wire frame image. Pixel fill rate: This measurement describes how many pixels the GPU can process in a second how quickly it can rasterize the image. Price differs because GPU clock speed (MHz) Size of the memory bus (bits) Amount of available memory (MB) Memory clock rate (MHz)

Memory bandwidth (GB/s) RAMDAC speed (MHz) Additional tips Size: A lot of RAM is useless if the GPU is not powerful: Type: various types of memory are sometimes offered for the same GPU: G-DDR2, G-DDR3 memory and sometimes the G-DDR5. For example for the GT 240, some have the 1700MHz DDR5 (recommended), but others have the 900Mhz G-DDR3.