video card - a single device the computer, whose main task is to calculate the formation and display images on the monitor screen.Video cards are integrated and discrete.Discrete video card - is a separate fee to its graphics processor, memory and a set of interface ports for connecting monitors.About how to choose a graphics card for your computer, see below.
In order not to make a mistake in choosing this card for your PC, you need to familiarize yourself with all its features and capabilities.That internal parameters determine how much card.Because no need to hurry.
graphics processors (GPUs)
integrated graphics - a GPU chip is soldered directly to the motherboard.When using it for video storage allocated part of the RAM.At the same time, the integrated video chip performance is much inferior to the easiest and cheapest discrete graphics card.Graphics processor calculates the image data processing and the construction of the finished picture.Performance graphics card depends on the characteristics of the GPU as the clock frequency and the number of blocks (pixel, texture, and rasterization).
video memory to store the information required for visual computing, and imaging, on-board graphics cards are their own video memory chips.It stores image information at different levels of readiness - ready images and intermediate results of calculations.
video performance is highly dependent on what type of video memory chips are used.Memory standard DDR2 - the slowest and has long been obsolete, used in the most low-priced devices for low-power office computers.DDR3 memory chips are now widely used in the devices of primary and middle price segment.Play the video card equipped with the chips the fastest graphics memory standard GDDR5, working with an effective rate of about 5 GHz - it is a must to consider before you choose a graphics card for your computer.
memory bus
two-way exchange of information between GPU and graphics memory performed on a set of wires, called a memory bus, its main characteristic is the bandwidth (bus width) - the number of bits of information transmitted on the bus in one clock cycle.The optimum width of the memory bus of modern graphics cards is considered to be 256 bits.
Other criteria for selecting video
Things to consider before you choose a graphics card for your computer?If you are going to get a card just for gaming, then pay attention to the number of pixel pipelines.It is desirable that the number was 64, and there were 32 units texture sampling.Less productive, but still acceptable solution would be a device with 32 pixel pipelines and 16 blocks of texture sampling.
Before you choose a graphics card for your computer, it is required to take into account the power consumption.It should not exceed the capacity of the power supply, as in this case, the computer can not even turn on.Another solution - a powerful card to buy the appropriate power supply.To avoid mistakes, before you buy a graphics card for your computer poring over its characteristics.