Home > Graphics Cards

Graphics Cards

A video card is needed by a personal computer to display graphics on a monitor. Video cards process information from software applications so that the monitor can understand what to display. A basic video card will only process 2D data but with the advances in video card technology many cards are now 2D/3D combo cards. To play the latest computer games properly you need a 3D graphics card. In the past many serious gamers buy top of the line 2D cards and 3D cards to process 2D and 3D data separately (usually increases speed). But during the past few years most graphics are combi cards that can handle both 2D and 3D graphics.

On most budget PC's the graphics processing is done by a built in graphics card on the motherboard. These built-in cards are usually not capable of playing the most recent graphics intensive games such as Half Life 2 and Quake 4. Therefore you will need a recent graphics card to assist in delivering powerful and high-resolution output. The latest cards do require high system requirements, so make sure your computer meets the specifications. The manufacturers website should also list the compatibility's and specifications.

Currently prices vary from as little as £10.00 to over £200.00. You should be looking to spend around £100 if you want the card to handle games released for at least a year.

Articles

• SLI Users Guide - 07/12/05
  So what SLI?, well it stands for 'Scalable Link Interface' and takes advantage of the WHQL ForceWare ...