Graphics card and operating principles

Have you ever wondered, what graphics card works on any principle, what is the 'on bo' card different from the discrete card? The following article will show: Although the work of the graphics card is quite complex, but its principle and structure is simple and easy to understand.

General principles

The images that we see on the computer screen are made up of lots of pixels called pixels. In most settings for resolution, the screen usually displays more than 1 million pixels. Computers will decide what to do in order for each pixel to create an image. To be able to do this, it uses a converter, retrieves binary data from the CPU and converts them into images displayed on the screen.

When the CPU receives a request to view an image from the user, it passes the request to the graphics card to determine which pixels to display the image. It will then send the information to the display via the cable.

The process of creating images that are not binary data often requires much more complex processing. To be able to draw a 3D image, the graphics card must create an electromagnetic frame, then scan the image and add light and color. For games with many 3D images, the computer must repeat this process about 60 times per second. If there is no graphics card that supports performing the necessary calculations, the CPU will not be able to handle it promptly, leading to an image that will be jerky and broken.

The graphics card must require the support of the motherboard, processor, memory and monitor to be able to handle the images. They need to be connected to the main board to receive data and power, use the processor to decide everything, use memory as a temporary storage of pixel information before they are displayed and last The same screen is where we will get the results of the process.

Processor and RAM

Like the mainboard, the graphics card also has an electronic circuit board, which contains the processor and RAM. It has a BIOS chip where the card's settings will be stored. Graphics Processor (GPU) Graphic Processor Unit is similar to the computer processor (CPU - Center Processor Unit), but is specially designed to perform complex geometric calculations for the process visual representation. Some of the fastest GPUs can have more transistors than a medium-sized CPU and they often have to be attached to cooling fans to release the heat generated during processing. To support this process, the GPU uses a special program that helps it analyze and process data. Two major GPU manufacturers, ATI and nVIDIA, have also developed their own expansion for their GPU product line.

During image creation, the GPU needs to store complete information and images before sending it to the screen in its RAM. This is where the pixel information is stored, such as the color, position displayed on the screen, etc. A portion of the RAM is used as a cache to store the image before it is displayed.

It is directly connected to Digital to Analog Converter (Digital to Analog Converter). This converter, also known as RAMDAC, is responsible for converting images into analog signals so that the screen can be displayed. Some graphics cards have more than one RAMDAC, thus increasing processing speed and supporting multiple monitors.

Therefore, 'on bo' cards (on board, meaning integrated into the mainboard) often cannot function as removable cards. All types of discrete cards are connected to the computer via the mainboard according to 3 standards: PCI (Peripheral component interconnect), AGP (Advance Graphics Port) and PCI Express.

PCI Express is the latest standard, achieving the fastest data exchange rate with the mainboard. This standard also supports the use of 2 graphics cards on the same computer.

Most video cards have 2 monitor connectors. One DVI port is used for LCD screens and the other VGA port for CRT monitors. Some cards even have 2 DVI ports. However, CRT monitors can still connect to DVI ports via an adapter.

Most computers use only one of the two ports. If you want to use both ports, you can order a card capable of splitting the signal to display two different monitors.

Factors that increase the efficiency and speed of graphics cards

DirectX and OpenGL are two application programming interfaces, enabling hardware and software to communicate more effectively by providing instructions for complex tasks such as drawing and creating 3-D images. Therefore, games with 3-D images often require users to upgrade the latest DirectX and OpenGL versions so that the game can run well.

APIs are completely different from driver drivers. Drivers are programs that allow hardware to communicate with the operating system. However, it is similar to APIs in that it needs to be updated with the latest driver. This will make hardware devices work more accurately.

What is a good graphics card? The first thing is that it must be easily plugged into PCI, AGP or PCI Express slots. In addition, it needs a large memory capacity and fast processing speed. However, powerful graphics cards offer more benefits than users expect. For those who only use their computer to read e-mail, surf the Web, type text, the graphics card integrated on the mainboard has met their needs.

Another factor that determines the quality of the graphics card is the frame rate displayed per second (FPS - Frame Per Second). Our eyes can handle 25 FPS while action games require a display speed of up to 60 FPS to achieve smooth and sharp images.

Bao Trung