Any owner of a personal computer or laptop sooner or later asks which video card is on the computer. This knowledge is not needed, except, perhaps, to someone who is not at all keen to understand which computer he is working on. Understanding how to identify a video card is also necessary for the timely updating of drivers and, if necessary, for upgrading hardware components (upgrade).
A video card is an integral part of any computing system that provides for displaying an image on a screen. Structurally, it can be either a separate device (board) or built-in. In the first case, we are talking about discrete solutions, and in the second, about integrated ones. This moment does not affect how to determine the video card at all - the procedure is completely identical. The main thing is to carry out recommendations consistently.
There are several ways to identify a video card. All of them are quite effective and give 100% result. Fair question: why not use just one? The thing is that people are different, and which is more convenient for one, for the other it will seem like a "dark forest". Understanding this, we will give several options at once on how to identify a video card. It remains only to read and choose the most convenient for yourself. First, consider the procedure for individual devices.
One of the easiest is to take an instruction book from a
discrete video card, a box or a warranty sheet and find the model name there.
Its opposite is the most difficult way. It involves removing the side cover of the system unit, finding the video card there and reading the exact name on its sticker. Sometimes decoding of alphanumeric characters may be required.
A compromise option is to use the appropriate software. If drivers are already installed on the card in the operating system, you can proceed as follows. In any free area of the desktop, press the right mouse button and select “Screen Resolution”. Next, follow the “Advanced Settings” and open the “Adapter” tab (all of the above is true for Vista - Win 8 systems). BIOS and GPU data are displayed here.
You can determine the model of the video card using the built -in Windows tools and others
way. To do this, call the properties of the "Computer" shortcut and go to the "Device Manager" (you can also get here from the control panel). In the list of connected components we find and open the "Video Adapters". The name of the card is displayed here, including the manufacturer.
This data is quite enough to search for the necessary driver and orientation in the capabilities of the computer video subsystem.
Specialized programs give much more detailed results. For example, by downloading, installing and running the GPU-Z application, you can determine the detailed characteristics of the GPU. Also worth mentioning is the diagnostic AIDA64. After starting, go to the list item "Display".
For integrated solutions, the order is slightly changed. Since there is no separate box for the card, you should look for the data on the website of the developer of the used motherboard (in case of unsoldering the video core on the board) or read the specification of the central processor (if the video card is integrated into this chip). It is also not always possible to determine the type of integrated card when disassembling the system unit case. Software methods are fully applicable.