3D Graphics Card

A three-dimensional (3D) graphics card is a piece of computer hardware that can either be an actual expansion card placed in a computer or an integrated microchip that is built into the motherboard of a computer or other electronic device. In either case, the purpose of a 3D graphics card is to provide extra processing power and sometimes memory that can be dedicated exclusively to rendering 3D graphics to a monitor or other display device. The different components on a 3D graphics card include the graphics processing unit (GPU), the graphical random access memory (RAM), sometimes a separate floating point math unit (FPU) and, if the card requires it, a fan or heat sink to dissipate the heat generated during operation. When a 3D graphics card is installed in a computer or other device, the gains in speed and efficiency are not always automatic, because software must specifically interface with the card to gain the benefits it provides, although some operating systems are designed to use a 3D graphics card by default if one is present.

There are many applications that use 3D graphics extensively, requiring a huge amount of calculations to be made in fractions of a second. By using a 3D graphics card, these calculations can be performed by the GPU in conjunction with the graphics RAM in ways that are optimized by the manufacturers to be as fast as possible. The graphics card is performing most of the math, so the central processing unit (CPU) on the main motherboard in the computer is free to concurrently process other information as required by the application.
Aside from an increase in the speed of 3D applications, a 3D graphics card also can increase the quality of images that are rendered through it. This is possible because a user can modify settings on the hardware through the graphics card’s basic input and output services (BIOS) to allow the card to override certain software instructions and perform image enhancements on its own. Most often, this can take the form of anti-aliasing that partially hides jagged pixels in an image, and advanced handling of scene geometry and lighting to provide better results than relying on the application’s instructions alone.
The physical aspect of a 3D graphics card is just one of many reasons that it is able to render 3D graphics so quickly. The GPU is on the same board as the graphics RAM, so the physical pathway between the memory and the processor is incredibly small and does not need to pass through any other components, as is the case with the primary system RAM and the CPU. This means information held in the graphics RAM can be accessed at very fast speeds, making calculations and memory copies remarkably fast and efficient.

External Graphics Card

An external graphics card is a device that can be connected to a computer, usually intended for use with laptop computers, to provide graphical output for that computer. There are two basic types of devices referred to as external graphics cards. The first provides a way to connect two or more monitors to a single computer. The other type is a device that can be connected to a computer, to which a graphics card can be connected or installed and provide graphics processing for that computer.
One of the most common types of external graphics card is a device that can be connected to a computer, which allows that computer to then be connected to multiple monitors or displays. These cards are used for a number of different reasons, often to create computer work stations in which someone can be using a program on one monitor, while viewing other information being displayed by the computer on another monitor. This type of external graphics card can also allow the user to have his or her computer connected to a monitor he or she is viewing, while also connecting to a larger display for others to see what he or she is doing for demonstration or seminar purposes.

The benefits of this type of external graphics card are that it is usually fairly inexpensive and can be helpful for users with a graphics card that does not innately support multiple displays. Due to the fact that this type of device is usually connected to a computer through a universal serial bus (USB) port or similar connection, however, there is typically some signal bottlenecking that occurs. This means that the data sent through this type of system is limited by the USB connection, so these devices are not truly used as external graphics rendering systems.
An external graphics card that is actually used to render and display graphics for a computer, however, is available from a few manufacturers. These devices are typically rarer than the other kind and are also quite a bit more expensive due to the functionality they provide. This type of external graphics card often serves as a container for a separate graphics card that can be installed into it.
The device is then connected to a computer, usually a laptop, and serves to process graphical data for that machine. A separate graphics card is usually needed with this type of external graphics card, which increases the expense of such a system. These devices usually connect to a laptop through a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe or PCI-E) connection, which eliminates the bottlenecking from USB connections and allows the graphics card to effectively render even highly detailed graphics.

Graphics Adapter

A graphics adapter is a video card that fits into the video slot or interface on a computer motherboard. Video interfaces have evolved over the years, most recently from Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) and all its flavors, to Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, or PCI Express (PCIe). The newer interface allows for faster rendering of images to meet standards that are becoming increasingly demanding.

Displaying graphics is a data-intensive process, as graphic images contain huge numbers of bits. The higher the resolution, the more bits and the greater the load on the graphics adapter. Graphics cards are rated by the highest resolution the card is capable of displaying, and as such should be matched to a display or monitor ensuring the ability of the card meets or exceeds the requirements of the display.

Many technological standards are implemented in modern gaming to render three-dimensional images through complex shading techniques. A graphics adapter that does not support these various standards will not be able to render the game as intended by the designer. If a video card doesn’t meet the minimum required standards for the game, rendering will be slow and might include artifacts, assuming the game will run at all. Therefore, it’s not just resolution that’s important when buying a new graphics adapter, but if you’re a gamer, support for current gaming and virtual reality standards is also recommended.

Ironically, it has been the steady progression of realistic video standards that have pushed gamers away from the PC and towards gaming counsels. To a dedicated gamer, constantly improving standards means replacing expensive graphics cards on a regular basis. A top-of-the-line video gaming card can be several hundred dollars. Gamers have found it’s less expensive over the long run to use a gaming counsel and television, while games for the PC have decreased in recent years, giving way to this trend.

Luckily, the average person does not require a graphics adapter that costs several hundred dollars, though it’s not advisable to go too far in the opposite direction and penny-pinch. The Web is rife with multimedia, movies and content that will display smoother, cleaner and faster with a decent graphics adapter.

Graphics adapters are priced according to many factors. Cards feature various types and amounts of dedicated on-board memory, from a paltry 256 Megabytes to one or more Gigabytes. If the video card has an on-board graphics processing unit (GPU), that’s a plus. The GPU handles data processing for the card, rather than having to use the computer processing unit (CPU), which not only saves system resources, but makes the card faster.

Other factors that affect price include the memory interface, which might be 64-bit, 128-bit or 448-bit, for example, with higher bits being faster and therefore more expensive, all else being equal. The core clock and memory clock of a graphics adapter are both measured in megahertz, also specifications to watch for when comparing similarly priced models. As mentioned earlier, another consideration is looking at which video standards the card supports.

Video cards require cooling and less expensive cards might have noisier fans, so check customer reviews if you'll be shopping for a deal on a low-end card. To eliminate any noise, some graphics cards are fanless, featuring a large cooling system of aluminum or other alloys instead.

Rear ports accommodate cabling to the main computer display and a secondary monitor, so be sure the card you choose not only fits your motherboard interface standard, but that it has the right type of port for your display. If you would like to stream games or movies out from the computer to HDTV, look for an HDTV-out port.

Graphics Drivers

In the realm of computers, graphics refers to the display system of a computer. A graphics card, also known as a display adapter, video card, or graphics controller, is a card that is plugged into a computer to create the signals that are displayed on a monitor. Graphics drivers are the software that runs the graphics cards, connecting them to the operating system. Graphics drivers are different for each graphics card and are most often provided by the manufacturer of the graphics card. It is important to keep graphics drivers updated in order to have the best computer performance.

The usual way to update graphics drivers is to go to the manufacturer’s download site. Here one will characteristically enter information such as product type, product series, product name, operating system, and language, and most of this information can be found in the system profiler on one’s computer if one doesn’t happen to know it offhand. This information will be processed and provide a list of driver updates for download. One may also be able to find archived drivers from older cards, as well as beta versions of drivers for testing. When one locates the drivers that are appropriate for one’s system, one downloads them, uninstalls the old drivers, and installs the new drivers.

NVIDIA, one of the most popular graphics card providers, provides an alternative method to obtain graphics drivers — a “Smart Scan“ service. The web-based service scans a user’s hardware and software to determine the appropriate graphics drivers for the computer’s particular configuration. The drivers are suggested based on information about the CPU and its speed, the operating system, the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory), the graphics and sound cards, etc. The system works with both Windows and Mac computers, and a variety of browsers.

One exception to the general rule that manufacturers supply the graphics drivers for each graphics card they make is Intel. Because Intel includes Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers (IEGD) in Embedded Intel Architecture-Based Chipsets, it provides updates for the drivers. They can be found either through the Intel website or the Embedded Design Center website.

What Is an Accelerated Graphics Port?

In the world of computers, one of the things the word port can refer to is a physical interface or point of access on the motherboard or system board. The port is in the form of a slot that an expansion board or graphics card pops down into in a motion often described as pushing toast down into a toaster. The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), made by Intel®, is one of the types of slots that may appear on the motherboard, along with PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slots, for example. The Accelerated Graphics Port was developed to make it possible for 3-D graphics to display both more quickly and more smoothly on a basic computer than had been previously possible, but most newer motherboards have PCI Express (PCI-E or PCIe) instead.

In 1996, when the Accelerated Graphics Port came out, the peak data transfer rate was one of the key differences. By 2003, the data transfer rate for PCI was up to 133 MBps. (megabytes per second). AGP provided data transfer rates of up to 533 MBps. With AGP 8x, the speed was increased to 2 GBps (gigabytes per second). AGP also differs from PCI in being a dedicated point-to-point connection connecting the graphics card to the CPU, rather than the bus connection used by PCI.

The Accelerated Graphics Port differs from PCI in several other ways, all of which tend to optimize the processing of graphics. First, it is a dedicated port, connecting exclusively to the graphics card. Second, graphics information from PCI is not pipelined, while that from AGP is: with non-pipelined processing, information is transmitted sequentially, with each detail waiting until the previous one has finished processing; in pipelined processing, a single request can contain multiple packets of data. Third, the technique of sideband addressing changed the way that address information was conveyed on data packets, speeding processing and reducing bandwidth requirements. Another Accelerated Graphics Port advance was to allow the OS (operating system) to designate RAM to be set aside for use by the graphics card. This reduces the load on the graphics card’s memory and involves more RAM in the graphics processing

Computer Graphics

Computer graphics refers to a fairly wide field of digital creation that primarily regards the use of computers and software programs to create visual media. Sometimes simply referred to as CG, computer graphics can include still two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) images, animated pieces of work, interactive media like video games, and just about anything else that is visually engaging and created through the use of computer. These types of graphics are often found in special effects for film and television programs and for personal computer (PC) and video games.

In a large sense, just about all images created and used in all forms of media are likely to be computer graphics. While hand drawn artwork is still used for some purposes, most finalized art created by graphic designers for use in websites, corporate logos, and advertising is created with a computer. The advantages of digital media, such as easy transportation, printing, and editing, has made other forms of visual creation less appealing to many professional artists. Even formats such as comic books are often created by scanning hand drawn images into a computer and using illustration programs to ink, color, and finish the finalized page.

A great deal of work with computer graphics is done for film and television special effects. These sorts of graphics are often created in an effort to make lifelike or photorealistic creations that blend seamlessly into a scene that has been filmed or taped. This can include explosions, giant robots, alien creatures, and fully digital sequences of action in which nothing was actually filmed and the entire scene was created in a computer. Often created by teams of dozens of people, these computer graphics typically set the high-water mark for other companies and forms of visual media. While the use of computer graphics has been decried by some critics, many filmmakers consider the digital imagery to be just another creative tool at their disposal.

PC games and video games are almost entirely composed of computer graphics. With the introduction of compact disc (CD) formats to store video games in the 1990s, there were some games that used video footage of live people mixed together with the digital images. These were fairly unsuccessful, however, and the industry standard has traditionally been to use computer graphics to create characters, environments, and action. Though the sophistication and complexity of the images created by the video game industry have advanced a great deal since the earliest games, the principals and designs behind the games have remained fairly consistent.

Graphics Card Test

A graphics card test is a test run on a computer system, usually through a particular software program, that analyzes how well the graphics card on that system is working. There is a great deal of information that can be displayed from this type of test, though common results may indicate the temperature the card is running at, the frames per second (fps) being displayed by the card, and the memory and clock speed of the card. A graphics card test is usually performed to assess how effective a graphics card is for running games and other graphics-intensive programs.
Also referred to as benchmarking, a graphics card test typically uses software specially designed to test graphics cards. Some businesses also use actual computer games for testing graphics, though this is often done in addition to testing using specific testing software. This provides not only a general sense of the performance capabilities of a particular graphics card, but also information regarding how it runs various games available in the market. The results of a graphics card test are often referred to as the “benchmarks” for a particular card, and they can be displayed and compared in many different ways.

Software that is run during a graphics card test will typically use a scene or area, usually using three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics, and then evaluate how well the card is able to render that scene. The fps for a card is one of the most important indicators of how well a card can handle different graphical needs. Many computer gamers prefer a card that can render about 45 to 60 fps while playing a game, and anything less than 30 fps can create noticeable slowdown for a player. A graphics card test can also evaluate the card for any problems, such as overheating and the clock speed of the card. This can be especially important for a card that has been overclocked, or made to run faster than intended.

There are a number of software programs that can be used for a graphics card test, and it is typically best to use a single program to test and compare different cards. Numerous websites have been established for testing and comparing graphics cards, usually accompanied by benchmark numbers that indicate fps for a card for certain games, and provide numerical comparisons between card qualities. Many companies that perform a graphics card test on a card will use the most sophisticated computer games on the market, as this will typically ensure that the card can also handle older games.

What Is Switchable Graphics?

Switchable graphics refers to mobile computers equipped with both a low-power imbedded graphics chip, and a high-power discreet graphics card, with the ability to switch between them. The imbedded chip does a fine job with everyday applications and video while reserving power, allowing longer battery-driven work periods. The discreet graphics adapter is capable of robust 3D rendering required for gaming, sacrificing power for performance.

A common imbedded graphics chip in many mobile computers is the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA), also referred to as an integrated graphics processor (IGP). The chip is ideal for everyday use and will save juice when 3D rendering is not required.

A complimentary, discreet graphics card, often a Raedon or Nvidia flavor, makes use of an internal PCI bus and comes with its own on-board memory, drivers and software interface. Such a card is referred to as a graphics processing unit (GPU) and does not overburden the computer processing unit (CPU) with tasks or overhead, or steal system resources like an integrated graphics chip. Instead it carries processing power and RAM on its back, delivering outstanding performance, but requiring more power.

In the past, one had to choose between buying a mobile computer with an imbedded chip or choosing an upgrade to a discreet card, sacrificing either performance or power. This unsatisfactory choice led to the development of switchable graphics with the ability to use the right graphics device for the right job.

The Sony® Vaio™ SZ-110B was the first switchable graphics hybrid to hit the market, featuring both a GMA 950 IGP and nVidia GeForce Go 7400 discrete GPU. While a welcomed option, changing from one graphics device to the other requires toggling a hardware switch located above the keyboard, followed by a reboot.

Second generation switchable graphics are handled at the software layer, forgoing the need for a physical switch or reboot. A momentary pause is required, however, while graphic duties migrate from one processor to the other. The handoff is accompanied by some screen flicker, and if an open application is tying up the current processor, it might require closing.

Third generation switchable graphics is transparent, automatic, and virtually instant. Nvidia’s Optimus, for example, uses kernel-imbedded processes to seamlessly switch between available graphics devices for optimal performance. The kernel-level library maintains an index of objects and classes along with associations to a particular graphics device. The routing layer manages all open applications, feeding workloads to the IGP or GPU based on the application’s demands. The Optimus index is regularly updated, but users can optionally override this behavior and create custom profiles, assigning certain games or applications to the IGP or GPU as desired.

Another example is AMD switchable graphics technology. Computers with this integrated design automatically employ the low-power IGP when the machine is running on battery power, switching to the discrete Radeon GPU when the machine is plugged into an AC outlet. According to AMD this behavior can be overridden per user preference, and like the former technology, the switch is seamless and virtually instant.

Switchable graphics is an evolving technology with the trend towards automatic handling that does not require user-intervention, designed to avoid the power-hungry or performance-poor trade-off of yesterday. The technology is available in slimline as well as full sized mobile computers.

What Is a Graphics Chipset?

A graphics chipset refers to the build of the circuit board that powers a graphics card. A graphics card is the device inside a computer that interprets graphics signals from the motherboard and sends them to the monitor, which is plugged into the graphics card. On a graphics card, the chipset is the flat circuitry-board part that is attached to the graphics connectors, which send visuals to the computer monitor.

The build of chipset is usually identified by its model number and manufacturer. Graphics chipset designs can be made to accommodate many demands for quality and input plug options. Some graphics cards can output different pictures to multiple connected monitors, while others are designed to handle three-dimensional (3D) graphics for movies and gaming. Manufacturers of graphics chipset builds for graphic cards include Intel, nVidia and Advanced Micro Devices(AMD).

In systems designed for handling high-performance graphics, a graphics card can be elaborate, with a large chipset build completed with its own cooling fan to move hot air away from the graphics card. Both internal and external graphics cards need a graphics chipset to function. An external graphics card often connects via universal serial bus (USB) or Bluetooth, but may have a tendency to respond more slowly than a built-in graphics cards. External graphics chipset designs usually require less cooling because they are not placed in the case with other hot hardware. Both internal and external graphics cards require a driver built for the right graphics chipset to run the device.

The more advanced a graphic card is, the more system resources it needs to function. To keep the resource needs of a graphics card from overpowering the system, some graphics cards are build with their own random access memory (RAM) cards to give the computer's graphic functions a speed and quality boost. On computer systems with limited upgradable RAM, a graphics chipset with built-in RAM can open up options for higher-quality graphics cards, even on an older system.

Some basic computer setups include the graphics chipset as part of the motherboard. The motherboard is the main processing chip that handles computer commands. It is generally the largest chipset within a computer, and contains the main computer processing unit (CPU) that handles the commands that go through the computer motherboard. Systems with graphics cards built into the motherboard often also have the computer's audio functions included as a part of the motherboard as well. Onboard motherboard-bound graphics cards cannot be removed when they are replaced, but they can be disabled to install a new graphics card.

What Are the Different Types of Web Graphics?

Web graphics include both static images and animated web graphics. These graphics can consist of web buttons used on menus, background images on websites, web slideshows and single images displayed on a page. Some common formats for web graphics include Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) files, portable network graphic (PNG) files, tagged image file format (TIFF) files, bitmap picture (BMP) files and graphics interchange format (GIF) files. The type of graphic format used is determined by the intended use of the specific graphic.

One of the most popular static formats for web graphics is JPEG. This format supports compression that helps make graphics load faster on a slower Internet connection. Th JPEG format does have a drawback, though, because images lose some of their quality during the compression process. JPEG files, however, can also use a smaller amount of compression if a higher image quality is desired.

Another format that supports compression is PNG. This file format allows images to have transparent backgrounds, but some browsers might not support the PNG file type. PNG does have benefits in that these images are sharper and have more color depth than some of the other image formats. On the other hand, some web designers are still reluctant to use PNGs very much because of the possible compatibility issues with older browsers.

If an animated web graphic is desired, the GIF format is a good choice. Animated GIFs use several variations of a static image to create a motion effect. GIF images, however, do not have to be animated, and they can be used for compact static web graphics because of the smaller file size. Common uses of static GIF images includes web buttons and website backgrounds, although the JPEG and PNG formats are commonly used as well. One disadvantage of GIFs is that they are limited to 256 possible colors, which can be a problem if an image needs to have excellent color depth.

TIFF images are a higher-quality image format that is usually used for graphics that are printed. They are not used often on the web because of their large file size and limited capabilities for compression. Common uses of TIFF images includes images that are captured from a picture or document scanner and are used for printing a newsletter, poster or a magazine layout.

BMP images are more common than TIFF images but also have issues with file size. They are uncompressed images that suffer no loss in quality. As a result, BMPs are useful when a web designer wants to put high-quality images on a site but does not want the long download times associated with TIFF files.

What Is a Full Screen Effect?

A full screen effect is a way in which a variety of computer graphics applications can have different special effects added to a scene. Rather than actually rendering a scene with these effects applied to the objects and geometry within it, they are essentially applied after the render. This means that the graphics program creates an image that the user sees, and then applies an effect over this in a way that is seamless. A full screen effect can be used to accomplish a number of different tasks, including the addition of motion blur, bloom lighting, and color filtering.
In order for someone to understand the way in which computer graphics applications can use a full screen effect, it is often easiest to first realize how a scene appears. Programs that use Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), such as video games, often render scenes to a display in real time. This means that as a player navigates through a virtual environment, the various objects in a scene that have been created by the developers of that game appear in relation to the player’s position. When the player walks into a room with a box, the game software renders the walls, floor and ceiling, and the box in the room as a series of frames or images about 30 times every second.

A full screen effect can then be added to these individual rendered images to create various results. Motion blur, for example, is a phenomenon that can be seen in the real world or on film; objects often appear distorted and blurry as someone moves quickly past them. While this effect can be applied to objects in a virtual scene, it is often easier and less resource-intensive for it to be done as a full screen effect. Multiple partial renders of the objects in a game are created and overlapped so that a blurred image appears that conveys a greater sense of speed and movement for a player.
Bloom lighting can also be created as a full screen effect. This is often done to make lights in a game appear heavier, to make them stand out, or for a stylized aesthetic. After the different light sources are rendered, the game engine then creates additional renders of increased intensity for the lights and overlaps them. A player in a game can then see these lights as brighter, with a stronger glow.
Color filtering can be applied to a scene in much the same way. If a game developer wants someone to see a room in black and white part of the time, without creating multiple textures for objects within it, then this can be achieved through a full screen effect. While the actual textures in a scene are rendered properly, a filtered layer is placed over each frame to change the colors of objects for a player