Video Card
From Extreme Overclocking
A video card is, simply put, an adaptor that takes the information that the computer needs to display, and outputs it in a form the monitor can understand. Another job is to render scenes passed to it from games and the like. It is for this reason that a new, nicer video card, can increase gaming performance dramatically. Grpahic cards consist of a GPU (Graphics Pressising Unit), RAM, and interface connectors. The two biggest makers of consumer add-on video adaptors are ATI and Nvidia. However Intel dominates the integrated market with its Intel Xtreme Graphics Integrated Video Adaptors. Also known as a graphics card.
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Interfaces
Motherboard Interfaces There are multiple types of interfaces used by graphics cards. The most common are PCI-E, AGP, and PCI. Other types of interfaces are integrated and USB. Integrated graphic cards are build directly onto the motherboard. USB graphic cards are rare, but normally used on laptops to add the use of a second monitor giving the user more desktop to use.
PCI-E comes in a few different speeds. 16x is the most sought after for high end gaming computers, 8x is commonly found in major brand computers, and 1x can be found in addition to ether the 8x or 16x slots on most motherboards. PCI-E 1x cards are very rare but useful when running an SLI configuration and wanting to add a second monitor.
Monitor/Video Out Interfaces
Graphic Card Configurations
Graphic cards can be configured and a few diffrent ways. Some of the more common configuration incluse Single, Dual (Multiple), SLI, and Crossfire.
Most computers come in a single graphics card configuration. And, for most people that is more then enough. With the power of current GPU technology, even the most advanced games can run very well on a single graphics card computer. Even people who chose to use a Dual Monitor setup can get away with using a single graphics card (this didn't always used to be the case.)
