VIDEO CARD
A video card, (also referred to as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, graphics card, and numerous other terms), is an item of personal computer hardware whose function is to generate and output images to a display. Graphics processing unit (GPU)
A GPU is a dedicated graphics microprocessor. Its aim is to lighten the working charge of the CPU, because of that, it is optimized for floating point computing, which is very common in 3D functions. The majority of the information provided in a video card specification is referred to the GPU attributes, which shows its importance among the components of the video card. The main attributes of the GPU are the core clock rate, which in 2006 oscillated between 250 MHz and 650 MHz, and the number of pipelines (vertex and fragment shaders), whose aim is to translate a 3D image formed by vertexes and lines into a 2D image formed by pixels. Video BIOS
The video BIOS or firmware chip is a chip that contains the basic program that governs the video card’s operations and provides the instructions that allow the computer and software to interface with the card. It contains information on the memory timing, operating speeds and voltages of the processor and ram and other information. It is possible to re-flash a BIOS (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. RAMDAC
Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter. RAMDAC takes responsibility for turning the digital signals produced by the computer processor into an analogical signal which can be understood by the computer display. 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 minimise flicker. (With LCD displays, flicker is not a problem.) Due to the growing popularity of digital computer displays and the migration of some of its functions to the motherboard, the RAMDAC is slowly disappearing. Outputs
Figure 8. SVGA, S-Video and DVI outputs
The most common connection systems between the video card and the computer display are:
Other connection systems are:
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