Unit 2 - Hardware

Graphics Cards

Why do we need graphics cards?

● The processor executes commands for many different purposes.

● Graphics processing is one of the most computationally expensive demands on the computer. Extra resources are set aside exclusively for optimizing this process.

● Old computers processed graphics using the processor, but as our photo/video demands increased, it was obvious that more resources were required. We needed a dedicated graphics processor.

Evolution of Graphics - Games

On-board Graphics Processing

● One common approach is build an integrated video adaptor. This is a video processor built on to the motherboard and used exclusively for graphics processing.

● Integrated video adaptors are common in laptops and pre-built desktop PCs.

● Benefits: Very cheap to build.

● Drawback: Not the fastest solution! Still not sufficient for heavy graphics processing.

On-board Graphics Processing

Larger View: On-board Adaptors

Graphics Cards

● Best Option: Graphics Card

● Graphics cards have their own:● GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) – similar to a CPU, for graphics only● Extra Memory – including cache memory● Cooling System – the graphics card is busy and gets hot

Graphics Cards - Diagram

Common Variations:Bus Type

● Bus Type:

● Each has its own slot architecture on the motherboard

● Modern types include:● AGP (Advanced Graphics Port )● PCI-e (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express)● PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)

Common Variations:Bus Type

Common Variations:Connections

● Connection Types:

● Displays (monitors, TVs, etc.) have changed over the years and so have their plugs!

● Buy the card first and then find a compatible monitor.

● In the worst case, you can usually buy an adaptor to make two connections compatible (look on the back of your school computer right now!).

Common Variations:Connections

Summary

● The CPU is the slowest for graphics processing.

● On-board GPU is better since it frees CPU for other processing.

● Video cards are ideal as the GPU is usually higher quality than on-board and it will include its own high-speed RAM