VIDEO CARD/VIDEO MEMORY

Fernando Garcia-Granados

What is a Video Card

What does it do?

Manages Images to Display

Calculates 3D environment

Performance

FPS (Frame rate Per Second)

Calculates Physics

Shading

GPU

Graphics Processing Unit

Takes load of CPU and RAM

High Resolution

Where is it located?

Different for Desktop and Laptop In Desktop it is normally interchangeable

In Laptop it normally comes integrated into the motherboard

Video Memory

VRAM

Stores image data for computer display in order to speed processing and display of video and graphics

Why?

Most programs today demand high graphics to provide a rich and realistic environment for work and play

What it does

Acts as a buffer between microprocessor and the display

How

Images sent to display

Read by processor from RAM

Written to video memory

Converted to signals sent to display

Types of Video Memory

256 MB

512 MB

1GB

1.2GB

1.5 GB

Video BIOS

Program that governs operations and provides instructions that allow the computer and software to interact with the card

RAMDAC

Converts digital signals to analog signals for the computer display

Power Consumption

Consumes a lot of electricity

Sometimes connected directly to PSU

Types of Video Cards

Intel or motherboard integrated

Major Brand

ATI vs. Nvidia

FeaturesATI Nvidia

Crossfire

Have best single card at the moment

AMD

SLI

Have best performance for money

Supports 3D

Intel

Retail

ATI and Nvidia sell chip technology

PNY, EVGA, Sapphire, ASUS

Credits Information

Emerge with ComputersMedia College

http://www.mediacollege.com/computer/hardware/video-card.html

PicturesMaxishine Xtreme Gaming

http://www.maxishine.com.au/DreamBytes

http://www.dreambytes.co.uk/pc_upgrades.htmAMD

http://www.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDHomePage.aspx