Sometimes on the Web you can come across the question "what is a video card." Although it seems commonplace, nevertheless, the person who decided to figure it out deserves respect, as he seeks to figure out the computer device.
Everyone knows that the work of all computing devices is based on a binary representation of information. Anyone who has ever seen a sequence of zeros and ones displayed on paper or a monitor screen knows that it’s almost impossible to understand there. This is easily explained, because all these numbers are peculiar microcommands for transistors. What is the connection between the above and the question of what a video card is? Direct! What we see on the monitor screen is the internal computer streams of digital data, converted into human-recognizable characters. The task of such a conversion is precisely assigned to the video card.
Let us define the concept of "what is a video card." A video adapter (video card) is a device designed to display graphic information on a monitor screen (similar to how a printer prints to paper). Moreover, not any digital data, but in a certain way prepared. For example, if you try to display the digital stream of hard drive commands using a video card, then nothing will work. All internal data is pre-prepared by the central processor for each target device: the necessary addresses are set on them, the bus is indicated, etc.
But all of the above applies only to the software component, therefore, considering so one-sidedly, it is impossible to answer the question "what is a video card" in detail. Physically, it is an expansion card that is inserted into the corresponding connector (slot) of the motherboard (mainboard). Almost all modern video adapters are designed for the PCI Express bus.
The board contains the following components: graphics processor, controller, video card memory (RAM and ROM), bus connector and output connectors, DAC, cooling system, related elements. In some models, the list may be expanded with additional components.
The parameters of the video card are largely determined by the installed graphics processor. Currently, two companies are engaged in their production - AMD (ATI) and NVidia. The share of others is small, although the well-known Intel is also trying to claim its part of the market.
A graphics card processor (GPU) creates images from data provided by applications. The number of transistors in it exceeds this figure for central processors, which allows us to talk about its unprecedented performance. By the way, that is why it is increasingly common to find specialized programs that perform calculations on GPU capacities. Yes, and gaming applications through the provided features (PhysX, DirectCompute) have long learned to use its resources for mathematical calculations that are not related to image formation.
The controller is tasked with interacting with memory, as well as external and internal buses. The bit depth of the internal bus is the second most important performance indicator after the GPU. Now common models with 64, 128, 256 and more bits. Acquiring less than 128 is not recommended.
The memory on the video card is needed for storing and processing images created by the GPU, before being directly displayed on the screen. It is characterized by the type of installed chips (DDR - GDDR5) and volume. The fastest solutions come with GDDR5. Modern games require at least 512 MB of volume (depending on settings).
Each card, as already indicated, is calculated for a particular bus. PCI Express 16 is now widely used. PCI is sometimes found, but their cost is higher. A few years ago, the AGP bus reigned in computers, but Intel, as always, abolished it over time.
The output connector defines the interface through which the signal can be transmitted to the monitor. There are several of them: the outdated D-SUB, digital DVI, modern HDMI, Display Port, etc.
Sometimes the video card is part of the central processor, in this case it uses system memory, and the output connector is wired to the motherboard. The performance of such solutions is inferior to external counterparts.