For a computer to use a display for monitoring it will need some form of video
card into which a display can be plugged. The majority of home and office
computers, which predominatly use 2D graphics for office applications and web
surfing can use an 'onboard' or integrated graphic processor which will be included
on most low to mid range motherboards. For gaming, or 3D modelling,
a good quality graphics card will be needed.
Currently, two companies dominate the 3D graphics accelerator market;
nVIDIA and ATI. nVIDIA and ATI build their own graphics products, and
license their technologies to other companies. Both companies make a complete
line of cards with entries at every price/performance level, and each brand has
its own supporters. Video cards have their own RAM, and many of the same
rules that dominate the motherboard RAM field apply here: to a point, the more
RAM, and the faster it is, the better the performance will be. Most applications
require at least 32MB of video RAM, although 256MB is rapidly becoming the
new standard. On the other end, 512MB video cards top the consumer end of
the video card market. As a rule of thumb, if you want a high end video card,
you need a minimum of 128MB of video memory – preferably 256MB. Don’t
be fooled, though; memory is only part of the card and the actual video processor
is more important than the memory. It is important to understand that
an integrated graphics card uses the system’s RAM, and relies heavily on your
system’s CPU. This will mean slow performance for graphic-intensive software,
such as games.
It is generally better to choose your video card based on your own research,
as everyone has slightly different needs. Many video card and chip makers are
known to measure their products’ performances in ways that you may not find
practical. A good video card is often much more than a robust 3D renderer; be
sure to examine what you want and need your card to do, such as digital (DVI)
output, TV output, multiple-monitor support, built-in TV tuners and video
input. Another reason you need to carefully research is that manufacturers will
often use confusing model numbers designed to make a card sound better than
it is to sell it better. For example, the Geforce 4 MX series of cards claim to be
a “Geforce 4,” however, the actual processor is closer to a Geforce 2, only more
powerful, meaning that these cards actually lack many features available even
to the Geforce 3 series. However, when these cards were first produced, they
were considerably cheaper than a real Geforce 4 (the TI series) making them
an ideal choice if you were more interested in working on a spreadsheet than
in playing games. For this sort of reason, you have to carefully pick your card
depending on your needs. TV outputs can easily be adapted to your computer
by using a DVI—Component Video cable.
Newer technologies such as SLI and Crossfire allow the use of two video
cards to render the same video scene, similar to using two CPUs or a dual-core
CPU. These systems tend to be expensive, as only some video cards offer this
option, and you’ll need two of them. However, it can be a useful upgrade path
to consider. A SLI-capable motherboard is usually not much more expensive
than the regular model, and will work fine with a single video card. You can use
it with one card now, and buy another one in the future (which will probably be
much cheaper by then), which means you will take advantage of your old video
card too.