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Graphics hardware is computer hardware that generates
computer graphics
Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...
and allows them to be shown on a display, usually using a graphics card (
video card
A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...
) in combination with a
device driver
In computing, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and ot ...
to create the images on the screen.
Types
Graphics cards
The most important piece of graphics hardware is the
graphics card
A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...
, which is the piece of equipment that renders out all images and sends them to a display. There are two types of graphics cards: integrated and dedicated.
An integrated graphics card, usually by
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
to use in their computers, is bound to the motherboard and shares
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
(Random Access Memory) with the
CPU, reducing the total amount of RAM available. This is undesirable for running programs and applications that use a large amount of video memory.
A dedicated graphics card has its own RAM and Processor for generating its images, and does not slow down the computer. Dedicated graphics cards also have higher performance than integrated graphics cards. It is possible to have both dedicated and integrated graphics, however once a dedicated graphics card is installed, the integrated card will no longer function until the dedicated card is removed.
Parts of a graphics card
The
GPU
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...
, or graphics processing unit, is the unit that allows the graphics card to function. It performs a large amount of the work given to the card. The majority of video playback on a computer is controlled by the GPU. Once again, a GPU can be either integrated or dedicated.
Video Memory is built-in RAM on the graphics card, which provides it with its own memory, allowing it to run smoothly without taking resources intended for general use by the rest of the computer. The term "Video" here is an informal designation and is not intended in a narrow sense. In particular, it does not imply exclusively video data. The data in this form of memory comprises all manner of graphical data including those for still images, icons, fonts, and generally anything that is displayed on the screen. In Integrated graphics cards, which lack this built-in memory, the main memory available for general computation is used instead, which means less memory for other functions of the system.
Display drivers
A
display driver
In electronics/computer hardware, a display driver is usually a semiconductor integrated circuit (but may alternatively comprise a state machine made of discrete logic and other components) which provides an interface function between a micropr ...
is a piece of software which allows your graphics hardware to communicate with your
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
. Drivers in general allow your computer to utilize parts of itself, and without them, the machine would not function. This is because usually a graphics device communicates in its own language, which is more sophisticated, and a computer communicates in its own language, which largely deals with general commands. Therefore, a driver is required to translate between the two, and convert general commands into specific commands, and vice versa, so that each of the devices can understand the instructions and results.
Installation
Dedicated graphics cards are not bound to the
motherboard
A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
, and therefore most are removable, replaceable, or upgradable. They are installed in an expansion slot and connected to the motherboard.
On the other hand, an integrated graphics card cannot be changed without buying a new motherboard with a better chip, as they are bound to the motherboard.
Also, if an integrated graphics card gets damaged or ceases to function, a new motherboard must be purchased to replace it, as it is bound to the motherboard and cannot be removed or replaced. On the other hand, if there is a problem with a dedicated graphics card, it can be replaced by installing another.
Drivers for the hardware are installed through software downloaded or provided by the manufacturer. Each brand of graphics hardware has its own drivers that are required for the hardware to run appropriately.
Brands
The major competing brands in graphics hardware are
NVidia
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
and
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufactur ...
. NVidia is known largely in the computer graphics department due to its
GeForce
GeForce is a brand of graphics processing units (GPUs) designed by Nvidia. As of the GeForce 40 series, there have been eighteen iterations of the design. The first GeForce products were discrete GPUs designed for add-on graphics boards, inten ...
brand, whereas AMD is known due to its
Radeon
Radeon () is a brand of computer products, including graphics processing units, random-access memory, RAM disk software, and solid-state drives, produced by Radeon Technologies Group, a division of AMD. The brand was launched in 2000 by ATI Tech ...
brand. These two brands account for largely 100 percent of the graphics hardware market, with NVidia making 4 billion dollars in revenue and AMD generating 6.5 billion in revenue (through all sales, not specifically graphics cards).
Costs
The Prices of different pieces of graphics hardware vary due to the power and speed of the piece. Most high end gaming pieces of hardware are dedicated graphics cards, and cost over $200, and can go as high as the price of a new computer, depending on the quality desired. In the graphics cards department, using integrated chips is much cheaper than buying a dedicated card, however the performance conforms to the price.
Also, computer graphics hardware usually generates a larger amount of heat, especially high end gaming pieces, and requires additional cooling systems to prevent overheating.
This may further raise the cost, although some dedicated graphics cards come with built-in fans.
See also
*
Graphics hardware and FOSS
A free and open-source graphics device driver is a software stack which controls computer-graphics hardware and supports graphics-rendering application programming interfaces (APIs) and is released under a free and open-source software licens ...
References
External links
*{{Commons category-inline