| Connects to |
Motherboard via one of: Display via one of: |
|---|---|
A video card, display card, graphics card, or graphics adapter is an expansion card which generates output images to a display. Most video cards offer various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors (multi-monitor). Other modern high performance video cards are used for more graphically demanding purposes, such as PC games.
Video hardware is often integrated into the motherboard, however all modern motherboards provide expansion ports to which a video card can be attached. In this configuration it is sometimes referred to as a video controller or graphics controller. Modern low-end to mid-range motherboards often include a graphics chipset manufactured by the developer of the northbridge (i.e. an nForce chipset with Nvidia graphics or an Intel chipset with Intel graphics) on the motherboard. This graphics chip usually has a small quantity of embedded memory and takes some of the system's main RAM, reducing the total RAM available. This is usually called integrated graphics or on-board graphics, and is low-performance and undesirable for those wishing to run 3D applications. A dedicated graphics card on the other hand has its own RAM and Processor specifically for processing video images, and thus offloads this work from the CPU and system RAM. Almost all of these motherboards allow the disabling of the integrated graphics chip in BIOS, and have an AGP, PCI, or PCI Express slot for adding a higher-performance graphics card in place of the integrated graphics.
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A modern video card consists of a printed circuit board on which the components are mounted. These include:
A GPU is a dedicated processor optimized for accelerating graphics. The processor is designed specifically to perform floating-point calculations, which are fundamental to 3D graphics rendering and 2D picture drawing. The main attributes of the GPU are the core clock frequency, which typically ranges from 250 MHz to 4 GHz and the number of pipelines (vertex and fragment shaders), which translate a 3D image characterized by vertices and lines into a 2D image formed by pixels.
Modern GPUs are massively parallel, and fully programmable. Their computing power in orders of magnitude are higher than that of CPUs. As consequence, they challenge CPUs in high performance computing, and push leading manufacturers on processors.
The video BIOS or firmware contains the basic program, which is usually hidden, that governs the video card's operations and provides the instructions that allow the computer and software to interact with the card. It may contain information on the memory timing, operating speeds and voltages of the graphics processor, RAM, and other information. It is sometimes possible to change the BIOS (e.g. to enable factory-locked settings for higher performance), although this is typically only done by video card overclockers and has the potential to irreversibly damage the card.
| Type | Memory clock rate (MHz) | Bandwidth (GB/s) |
|---|---|---|
| DDR | 166 - 950 | 1.2 - 30.4 |
| DDR2 | 533 - 1000 | 8.5 - 16 |
| GDDR3 | 700 - 2400 | 5.6 - 156.6 |
| GDDR4 | 2000 - 3600 | 128 - 200 |
| GDDR5 | 900 - 5600 | 130 - 230 |
The memory capacity of most modern video cards ranges from 128 MB to 8 GB.[1][2] Since video memory needs to be accessed by the GPU and the display circuitry, it often uses special high-speed or multi-port memory, such as VRAM, WRAM, SGRAM, etc. Around 2003, the video memory was typically based on DDR technology. During and after that year, manufacturers moved towards DDR2, GDDR3, GDDR4 and GDDR5. The effective memory clock rate in modern cards is generally between 400 MHz and 3.8 GHz.
Video memory may be used for storing other data as well as the screen image, such as the Z-buffer, which manages the depth coordinates in 3D graphics, textures, vertex buffers, and compiled shader programs.
The RAMDAC, or Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter, converts digital signals to analog signals for use by a computer display that uses analog inputs such as CRT displays. The RAMDAC is a kind of RAM chip that regulates the functioning of the graphics card. Depending on the number of bits used and the RAMDAC-data-transfer rate, the converter will be able to support different computer-display refresh rates. With CRT displays, it is best to work over 75 Hz and never under 60 Hz, in order to minimize flicker.[3] (With LCD displays, flicker is not a problem.) Due to the growing popularity of digital computer displays and the integration of the RAMDAC onto the GPU die, it has mostly disappeared as a discrete component. All current LCDs, plasma displays and TVs work in the digital domain and do not require a RAMDAC. There are few remaining legacy LCD and plasma displays that feature analog inputs (VGA, component, SCART etc.) only. These require a RAMDAC, but they reconvert the analog signal back to digital before they can display it, with the unavoidable loss of quality stemming from this digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion.
The most common connection systems between the video card and the computer display are:
Analog-based standard adopted in the late 1980s designed for CRT displays, also called VGA connector. Some problems of this standard are electrical noise, image distortion and sampling error evaluating pixels.
Digital-based standard designed for displays such as flat-panel displays (LCDs, plasma screens, wide high-definition television displays) and video projectors. In some rare cases high end CRT monitors also use DVI. It avoids image distortion and electrical noise, corresponding each pixel from the computer to a display pixel, using its native resolution. It is worth to note that most manufacturers include DVI-I connector, allowing(via simple adapter) standard RGB signal output to an old CRT or LCD monitor with VGA input.
Included to allow the connection with televisions, DVD players, video recorders and video game consoles. They often come in two 10-pin mini-DIN connector variations, and the VIVO splitter cable generally comes with either 4 connectors (S-Video in and out + composite video in and out), or 6 connectors (S-Video in and out + component PB out + component PR out + component Y out [also composite out] + composite in).
An advanced digital audio/video interconnect released in 2003 and is commonly used to connect game consoles and DVD players to a display. HDMI supports copy protection through HDCP.
An advanced license- and royalty-free digital audio/video interconnect released in 2007. DisplayPort intends to replace VGA and DVI for connecting a display to a computer.
| Composite video | Analog system with lower resolution; it uses the RCA connector. |
|---|---|
| Component video | It has three cables, each with RCA connector (YCBCR for digital component, or YPBPR for analog component); it is used in projectors, DVD players and some televisions. |
| DB13W3 | An analog standard once used by Sun Microsystems, SGI and IBM. |
| DMS-59 | A connector that provides two DVI or VGA outputs on a single connector. This is a DMS-59 port. |
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Chronologically, connection systems between video card and motherboard were, mainly:
In the attached table[4] is a comparison between a selection of the features of some of those interfaces.
| Bus | Width (bits) | Clock rate (MHz) | Bandwidth (MB/s) | Style |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISA XT | 8 | 4,77 | 8 | Parallel |
| ISA AT | 16 | 8,33 | 16 | Parallel |
| MCA | 32 | 10 | 20 | Parallel |
| NUBUS | 32 | 10 | 10-40 | Parallel |
| EISA | 32 | 8,33 | 32 | Parallel |
| VESA | 32 | 40 | 160 | Parallel |
| PCI | 32 - 64 | 33 - 100 | 132 - 800 | Parallel |
| AGP 1x | 32 | 66 | 264 | Parallel |
| AGP 2x | 32 | 66 | 528 | Parallel |
| AGP 4x | 32 | 66 | 1000 | Parallel |
| AGP 8x | 32 | 66 | 2000 | Parallel |
| PCIe x1 | 1 | 2500 / 5000 | 250 / 500 | Serial |
| PCIe x4 | 1 × 4 | 2500 / 5000 | 1000 / 2000 | Serial |
| PCIe x8 | 1 × 8 | 2500 / 5000 | 2000 / 4000 | Serial |
| PCIe x16 | 1 × 16 | 2500 / 5000 | 4000 / 8000 | Serial |
| PCIe x16 2.0 | 1 × 16 | 5000 / 10000 | 8000 / 16000 | Serial |
As the processing power of video cards has increased, so has their demand for electrical power. Current high-performance video cards tend to consume a great deal of power. While CPU and power supply makers have recently moved toward higher efficiency, power demands of GPUs have continued to rise, so the video card may be the biggest electricity user in a computer.[5][6] Although power supplies are increasing their power too, the bottleneck is due to the PCI-Express connection, which is limited to supplying 75 Watts.[7] Modern video cards with a power consumption over 75 Watts usually include a combination of six-pin (75W) or eight-pin (150W) sockets that connect directly to the power supply
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