What Is Graphic Card?
A Graphics Card Is a type of display adapter or video card installed within most computing devices to display graphical data with high clarity, color, definition and overall appearance.
A graphics card is primarily designed to remove the graphical processing tasks from the processor or RAM. It includes a dedicated graphical processing unit (GPU) and a dedicated RAM that help it to process graphical data quickly. Like most processors, a graphics card also has a dedicated heat sink to keep the heat out of the GPU. A graphics card enables the display of 3-D images, image rasterization, higher pixel ration, a broader range of colors and more. Moreover, a graphics card includes various expansion ports such as AGP, HDMI, TV and multiple monitor connectivity. A graphics card can be integrated within the motherboard or be added on as an extension card.
What Is Graphic Card Used For?
The purpose of a graphics cards is to render graphics. Without a graphics card, your computer can not display any information, let alone function how you need it. To simplify it, the GPU takes data from the processor and works with software to determine where the graphics card places pixels on the screen.
Types Of Graphics Cards
Different computers have vastly different needs. For that reason, there are many types of graphics cards. Here’s what you need to know about integrated, dedicated, and workstation graphics cards:
Integrated Graphics Cards
For machines that only need to run basic tasks like word processing or web surfing, some processors feature integrated graphics cards. When using integrated graphics, the monitor will plug directly into the motherboard. Integrated GPUs have a fraction of the power of their dedicated counterparts. However, they can save you a significant amount of money.
Dedicated Graphics Cards
Dedicated graphics cards are the massive multiple-fan containing beasts that you see featured in gaming and workstation PCs. Dedicated cards house powerful components that are designed to get the absolute top performance out of your machine. Modern PC gaming has moved past the viability of integrated cards. These days, a dedicated GPU is a must for gaming.
Workstation Graphics Cards
Using graphic intensive programs like video and photo editors or 3D rendering software can require even more performance than gaming. For that reason, workstation graphics cards exist. Workstation GPUs are dedicated graphics cards that are designed internally with software rather than gaming in mind.
How Graphics Cards Work:
The images you see on your computer monitor are made of tiny dots called pixels. At most common resolution settings, a screen displays more than 2 million pixels, and the computer has to decide what to do with each one in order to create an image. To do this, it needs a translator something to take binary data from the CPU and turn it into a picture you can see. This translator is known as a graphics processor, or GPU.
Most entry-level consumer laptops and desktops now come with a secondary GPU built into their main processor, known as integrated graphics. Pro-level or custom machines, however, will often also have space for a dedicated graphics card. The advantage of a graphics card is that it can typically render more complex visuals much faster than an integrated chip.
A graphics card’s job is complex, but its principles and components are easy to understand. In this article, we will look at the basic parts of a video card and what they do. We’ll also examine the factors that work together to make a fast, efficient graphics card.
Think of a computer as a company with its own art department. When people in the company want a piece of artwork, they send a request to the art department. The art department decides how to create the image and then puts it on paper. The end result is that someone’s idea becomes an actual, viewable picture.
A graphics card works along the same principles. The CPU, working in conjunction with software applications, sends information about the image to the graphics card. The graphics card decides how to use the pixels on the screen to create the image. It then sends that information to the monitor through a cable.
Creating an image out of binary data is a demanding process. To make a 3-D image, the graphics card first creates a wire frame out of straight lines. Then, it rasterizes the image (fills in the remaining pixels). It also adds lighting, texture and color. For fast-paced games, the computer has to go through this process about 60 to 120 times per second. Without a graphics card to perform the necessary calculations, the workload would be too much for the computer to handle.
The graphics card accomplishes this task using four main components:
- A motherboard connection for data and power
- A graphics processor (GPU) to decide what to do with each pixel on the screen
- Video memory (VRAM) to hold information about each pixel and to temporarily store completed pictures
- A monitor connection so you can see the final result
Is Graphic Card Necessary?
All conventional computers need a GPU to output display to a monitor, but not all of them need a Graphics Card. Entry level or mid level computers that aren’t used for very resource heavy tasks often make use of a processor with integrated graphics.
Graphic Card Prices In Ghana:
Afox Geforce Gt610 2048mb Ddr3 – Graphics Card GH₵ 900.00
MSI Radeon RX 570 Gaming X Graphic Card GH₵ 1,600.00
NVIDIA GTX 1070 8gb Graphics Card GH₵ 2,600.00
EVGA RTX 2060 Super XC Ultra 8GB Graphic Card GH₵ 4,200.00
RTX 3070s + 3060 Ti Graphic Card GH₵ 5,000.00
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6GB Graphic Card GH₵ 3,500.00
Asus ROG RTX 3070 Ti Gaming 8GB GGDR6X Graphic Card GH₵ 8,000.00
NVIDIA RTX 3090 24GB Founders’ Edition Graphic Card GH₵ 12,500.00