Understanding The Workings Of Graphics Cards

By Milrika Ekilski

Every computer will have some sort of graphics cards as this is necessary to view any kind of image on a screen. Every image is comprised of millions or pixels or different colored dots and the ordered combination for these pixels produces a pixel. Your screens resolution provides information about the number of pixels that are used on the screen. Your computers graphic card will create the image as well as providing directions for your computer to produce the image.

IBM created the monochrome display adapter in 1981 which was the first graphics card created. This card had a black background in which green or white text could be displayed.

A graphics card will have four different sections, memory which will temporarily store complete pictures as well as containing information about each pixel, a motherboard to connect the power with the data, a processor to tell the computer what to do with each pixel and a monitor connection so you can view the image on your screen.

There are several different things that make up the graphics car as each card will contain a motherboard that carries the power needed to run the car, memory for temporary image storage, a graphics processor and a connection to the monitor or screen. All of these items are necessary for the card to do their job.

There are several components for the software and hardware of such a card as it will actually look like a circuit board. The circuit board will have a BIOS chip, RAM and processor. The processor for a graphic card is even faster than the CPU as a GPU will have more transistors. These extra transistors can create a lot of heat so the card tends to be located near a fan or other type of heat sink.

The RAM on the card is needed to hold the completed image which includes the location of a specific color pixel on the screen in order to produce the image. The RAM also may hold the completed image until the time is right to put them on the screen. Generally this type of RAM is extremely fast and requires a dual port connection.

The RAM or memory on the card has several different functions as it will tell the location of each color pixel in order to display an image as well as temporarily holding onto some completed images. This storage is used until the image needs to be displayed. The RAM on the graphics card tends to be a lot faster than other memory on your computer and may even require a dual port connection. - 31403

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