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Video/Graphics Cards : ISA - PCI - AGP - PCI Express Adapter Cards - Page 1

Last updated on 14 November 2009

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The images above show the kind of video/graphics cards that are used in desktop PCs.

The image on the left above shows an ATI Radeon X1300 PCI Express video/graphics card with its built-in heatsink and fan unit. The image on the right shows an ATI Radeon HD 2400 PCI Express video/graphics card with a passive cooling unit, which has no fan, just radiators.
The chip(s) that power a graphics card are called a graphics processing unit (GPU). Currently, graphics cards with two GPUs are available. It is similar to having two processor cores in a dual-core processor.

Click here! to go to Page 2 of this article

The video/graphics cards (also known as graphics accelerator cards) used in desktop PCs and laptop/notebook PCs contain the electronics that deliver the picture/display to the computer's monitor.

In a desktop PC, they are installed in an ISA, PCI, PCI-X (64-bit extended PCI), AGP, or PCI Express/PCI Express 2 (PCIe or PCI-E) slot on the computer's motherboard. The latest graphics standard is PCI Express 2.0. PCI Express 3.0 is expected to arrive in 2010.

PCI Express - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

Most desktop and laptop PCs have one video/graphics card, or a graphics chip integrated on the PC's motherboard, but it is possible to have four graphics cards installed on a desktop PC if the motherboard has four PCI Express x16 slots or even two PCI express x16 and two x8 PCI Express slots. Some graphics cards come with two graphics chips, so two such cards installed on the motherboard make four graphics chips. The MSI X58 Pro motherboard (Socket LGA 1366 for Intel Core i7 quad-core processors) has three PCI Express x16 slots for graphics card, so it is possible to run three compatible ATI Radeon graphics cards in a CrossFireX configuration on it.

In a laptop PC, the graphics chip is most commonly integrated into its motherboard and uses system RAM memory, but, increasingly, high-end laptop PCs have video/graphics cards with their own graphics memory that can be upgraded. If the graphics is integrated, it cannot be upgraded unless there is an adapter slot inside the computer specifically for a graphics card upgrade, which most lpatops do not currently provide.

All video/graphics cards have their own graphics RAM memory, which, on high-end cards has reached a massive 2GB. The PowerColor PCS HD4850 was the first graphics card with 2GB of memory, which is way over the top. The following article sheds some light on how much graphics memory is really required. The comments left by readers are worth reading.

How much graphics memory do you really need? -

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14230

Visit the Laptop/notebook PCs section of this site for more information on them.

Note well that you must fit an expansion card in its correct type of motherboard slot. Installing an expansion card in the wrong type of slot could make the expansion card or even the computer itself unusable unless the card or the motherboard is replaced.

PC motherboards that incorporate features that are usually added by adapter cards fitted into their PCI, PCI-X/AGP/PCI Express slots, such as video, sound, and network cards, are becoming more desirable, because, as techlology advances, integrated electronics can compete ever-more effectively with adapter cards.

Note that some motherboards have a PCI-X slot. PCI-X is the extended PCI standard, both of which have been replaced by the PCI Express standard. The 64-bit PCI-X bus slot has double the maximum throughput of PCI, at a maximum speed of 3Gbps. Most PCI-X cards are backwards compatible with PCI bus slots, which means that you can install a PCI-X card in a PCI slot provided that it has the correct voltage keying for the slot and that the area directly behind a PCI slot must have available space to accommodate the additional length of PCI-X cards.

However, if you want to play the latest PC games or use graphic-intensive applications, such as video-editing and computer-aided design (CAD) applications, you would always choose a desktop PC or laptop PC that has its own dedicated video/graphics card instead of integrated graphics. This is because integrated graphics are still currently inadequate for such tasks.

Can Integrated Graphics Cut It For Gaming Or HTPC [Home Theatre PC]? -

"According to market data, integrated chipsets outnumber the number of discrete graphics cards sold each quarter. The obvious reason behind this phenomenon is that systems with graphics integrated into the chipset are less expensive than a separate graphics card. While these integrated platforms may help keep money in your wallet, these systems are generally underpowered compared to ones that have a dedicated graphics card..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/integrated-graphics-gaming,review-29643.html

NForce 780a SLI Debuts Hybrid SLI -

"NVidia is challenging the notion that integrated graphics solutions have no place in performance systems, with new technology to make mainstream ..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/nvidia-hybrid-sli,review-30789.html

The image below shows the slot arrangement on a typical motherboard.

A recent motherboard would have either an AGP slot or a x16 PCI Express slot, not both for a graphics card. The AGP graphics standard is no longer used on most new motherboards, having been replaced by the PCI Express and PCI Express 2 standards. Some motherboards can have four PCI Express slots for graphics cards (x16 and x8 slots). The MSI X48 Platinum motherboard has four PCI Express x16 slots that can accommodate four graphics cards. PCI Express x1 slots are used for devices, such as some graphics cards, sound cards, and Ethernet network cards.

The following diagram shows the PCI Express x16 and x1 slots, and the two standard PCI slots on a Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H motherboard.

The AGP graphics standard is outgoing technology that is no longer found in new PCs. However, at the time of writing (March, 2008), it was possible to buy an AGP graphics card that supports DirectX 10, which the the latest version that initially only worked with Windows Vista.

Note that you can now also obtain DirectX 10 for Windows XP, which wasn't the case until recently; DirectX 10 could only be used with Windows Vista. Download pages can be found by using a search term such as windows xp directx 10 in the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled.) Here is a download page I found using it:

Download DirectX 10 for Windows XP from Alky Project -

http://www.technospot.net/blogs/...

An example of an affordable AGP card that supports DirectX 10 that can play the latest PC games is the Sapphire HD3850 graphics card that has 512MB of GDDR3 memory. Visit http://www.sapphiretech.com/uk/ to view the range of AGP cards - if they are still available. You can make use of the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled) to find local vendors.

PCI Express 1.x/PCI Express 2.0 are the current graphics standards. PCI Express 2.0 motherboard slots are backwards-compatible with PCIExpress 1.x. PCI Express 2.0 graphics cards are compatible with PCI Express 1.1 motherboards, which means that they will run on them using the available bandwidth of PCI Express 1.1. Therefore, you should also be able to run a PCI Express 1.x graphics card on a PCI Express 2.0 motherboard.

Some motherboards have two PCI Express x16 slots for two graphics cards. Some motherboards have four PCI Express x16 slots for four graphics cards. Other motherboards have two x16 and two x8 slots. The x8 slots can accommodate graphics cards as well, making a total of four graphics cards.

The image below is of the MSI K9A2 Platinum (AMD Socket AM2+) motherboard, which has four PCI Express x16 slots for four graphics cards. They are the four long vertical light and darker blue slots. When the appropriate slot cover is removed from the back of the PC's case, a graphics card is inserted in the selected slot and screwed to the case so that its ports panel containing its connectors appears at the back of the case. The two shorter white slots are standard PCI-X slots.

This motherboard supports the current PCI Express 2.0 standard, which is fully backwards compatible with PCI Express 1.0 graphics cards (a PCI Express 1.0 graphics card can be installed in a PCI Express 2.0 slot). It supports QuadFire (four-way CrossFire) and SAS (serial attached SCSI hard disk drives).

Note that all new motherboards no longer have any ISA slots, because ISA cards of any kind are no longer being made, but you can still buy them second-hand. If you buy an ISA video card and your computer's motherboard doesn't have an ISA slot, you won't be able to use it. Also note that motherboards are coming out now that use their own colour schemes for the slots instead of the standard black (ISA), white (PCI), and brown (AGP) colours. The slots can be any colour the manufacturer wants them to be.

The graphics-rendering power required by a computer that is delivered by one or more video/graphics cards depends on how graphics-intensive the software it runs is. For the best rendition (display) of graphics, the latest PC games require as much graphics processing power as can be provided. The graphics cards used by professional graphics software developers and computer-aided designers can be purchased costing many thousands of pounds, but a high-end graphics card used in a PC typically costs between £250 and £400. PC games such as Doom 3 and Call of Duty 4 can be played with a graphics card costing around £100 or less, but only by lowering the screen resolution and the amount of graphical detail that is displayed.

Visit the PC Gaming pages on this site for more information on PC games and gaming computers.

Visit the Desktop PCs section of this site for information on how to buy, build, repair, fix, and protect the various types of desktop PCs.

The order of the evolution of video/graphics cards is ISA => PCI => AGP => PCI Express. The ISA and PCI standards are no longer used for graphics cards. AGP video cards are still available, but the standard is being replaced by the latest PCI Express standard. PCI Express 2.0 will soon be available.

The Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide -

"These days, there are so many graphics card models that it has become quite impossible to keep up with the different configurations. Therefore, we decided to compile this guide to provide an easy reference for those who are interested in comparing the specifications of the various desktop GPUs in the market as well as those already obsolescent or obsolete." - http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&pgno=0

Visit the following pages of the same guide to view tables of all of the PCI, PCI-X, AGP, and PCI Express video/graphics cards made by ATI and nVidia, the two major manufacturers of graphics chips (that other graphics-card manufacturers use) and their own graphics cards. The lists go from the earliest to the latest graphics chips.

If you see a description of or come across a graphics card that has a X2 in its model name, it means that the card has two graphics processing units (GPUs), in effect making it two graphics cards in one. An example is the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2.

Note that the chips made by AMD/ATI an nVidia are used in graphics cards made by other manufacturers. For example, ATI made its own dual-GPU cards using the Radeon HD 4870 X2 chips, but other manufacturers, such as Sapphire, make graphics cards using the chips. In this case, the card is called the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2.

Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide - nVidia cards -

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&pgno=3

Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide - ATI cards -

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&pgno=1

Desktop VGA Charts -

"Periodically, we review all the current graphics cards that are available and run them through numerous benchmarks. Here is the archive of present and past roundups." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/graphics-cards/...

Dual & Quad VGA Charts 2008 -

"In these charts we test the best configurations of AMD's CrossFire and Nvidia's SLI [in dual-card and quad-card configurations]. We wanted to take all the guesswork out of who is best in what game. This is the ultimate graphics resource tool for hardcore gamers and power users." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/dual-quad-vga-charts-q1-2008/...

Since most graphics cards use graphics chips made by nVidia or ATI, Wikipedia lists their specifications and the versions of DirectX and OpenGL that they support on these two pages:

Comparison of ATI Graphics Processing Units -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_Graphics_Processing_Units

Comparison of NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_Graphics_Processing_Units

Does Chipset-to-GPU Matching Matter? - Should A Graphics Card Match The Chipset? -

"The benchmarks consistently show inconsistency between graphics and chipset performance, so brand matching of graphics cards to chipsets doesn't seem to matter at all. If you're not concerned about SLI or Crossfire [which, respectively, require specific nVidia or ATI motherboard chipsets] your card selection is as simple as picking the best card available for the money, while you can rest easy in the knowledge that mixing these imparts no performance penalty. This is great news for anyone who upgrades one part at a time..." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-2132.html

The most important consideration with regard to a video card of any standard is that it must be supported by the motherboard on which it is to be installed. The motherboard must have the correct slot for a particular video/graphics card.

The next most important consideration is that the PC's power supply must be up to powering a particular video card, or dual-card setup. Many video/graphics cards require an additional six-pin power connector to be connected to them from the power supply. Dual-card setups can easily require at least a 600W power supply that has a pair of auxiliary six-pin connectors. You can check http://ati.amd.com/ (ATI CrossFire) and http://www.slizone.com/ (nVidia SLI) for certified components.

High-end ATI and nVidia graphics cards, especially dual-card setups, require plenty of power. Power consumption at or over 200 Watts are not unusual. In dual-card configurations built around SLI or Crossfire technologies, the graphics processing can add 500 watts or more to a system’s total power consumption. Not many standard, non-gaming PC's have a power supply unit (PSU) that is up to those kind of power demands, therefore always take the power supply into careful consideration if you plan to convert a standard PC into a gaming machine.

The performance boost that is provided by SLI or Crossfire setups varies from one game to the next. Support for these technologies has not been perfected, which still makes it possible to obtain better performance from a single high-end graphics card setup.

PSUs: More Important than You Think -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/psu-power-supply,review-2385.html

In August 2008, the AMD/ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 and the nVidia GeForce GTX 280 were the fastest graphics cards from AMD/ATI and nVidia respectively. Both cards are 270mm long, which is unusually long, so they may not fit in your PC's case. They also require one 8-pin and one 6-pin power connector from the power supply unit. If your PC's power supply cannot provide both connectors, you will need a power-supply upgrade. Therefore, you should research the size and power requirements before you buy a new graphics card.

Although they have their own heatsink and fan units, very large and long graphics cards, for example, those based on the Radeon HD 4870 X2 chips and the nVidia GeForce GTX 280 chip, can get very hot if the cooling in the case is inadequate, so you should have case fans installed in the front and the rear of the case - the front fan sucking air in and the back fan expelling it.

Click here! to go to relevant information on power supplies on this site.

A power-hungry video/graphics card, which will generate a lot of heat, can make a PC crash even if it has an adequate power supply. The cooling inside the case could be inadequate, causing the PC to overheat and crash. Adding more or replacing existing cooling fans in the case can rectify such a problem. The case might have additional fan-mounting points at the front or rear of the case. Some fans can be attached to the PC's motherboard, so, if you don't know where their connection points are located, consult the user manual for that make/model of board. If you don't have a copy, you should be able to download one in the PDF format from its manufacturer's website. If the existing case does not have any spare fan-mounting points, you may have to buy another case that provides adequate cooling options.

Another recent change in graphics technology is the introduction of DirectX 10. DirectX is the software standard that allows games developers to create games that will work on all of the PCs in the world. DirectX 9 was released in 2002, and most of the current games use it. DirectX 10 was released at the same time as Windows Vista (January, 2007). It adds some very impressive new effects that make games more realistic. It initially required a PC running Windows Vista, a DirectX 10 video/graphics card, and PC games that support DirectX 10.

Note that you can now also obtain DirectX 10 for Windows XP, which wasn't the case until recently; DirectX 10 could only be used with Windows Vista. Download pages can be found by using a search term such as windows xp directx 10 in the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled.) Here is a download page I found using it:

Download DirectX 10 for Windows XP from Alky Project -

http://www.technospot.net/blogs/...

DirectX 10 games will almost certainly come with DirectX 9 versions for up to two years from now.

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The first ISA video/graphics cards had very little onboard graphics RAM memory, which was measured in kilobytes (KB) instead of megabytes (MB). Ten years ago, 1MB and 2MB video cards were high-end cards. After the standard progressed to the PCI bus, quickly followed by the AGP bus, the amount of RAM quickly increased to 4MB, 8MB, 16MB, 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, and 512MB, where most AGP and PCI Express high-end cards are at present. It is possible to buy a graphics card with memory up to 1GB (1024MB), such as the 768MB of the Inno3D 8800GTX 768MB, but at the time of writing (September, 2007), such cards were rare.

In December 2007, desktop PCs with the 1GB version of the ATI Radeon HD2900XT graphics card were available. However, the card currently provides little in the way of a performance boost compared to the cheaper 512MB version of the card that has half the memory.

The amount of RAM memory that a video/graphics card has is usually of the utmost importance in determining its performance, because a graphics card uses its memory to store the information of the texture that games display. When the card's memory is used up, it has to make use of the PC's system RAM memory, which is slower than obtaining the textures directly from the graphics card's memory.

The image at the top of the page shows an ATI Radeon X1300 video card, which has three ports - from left to right, standard analog D-sub VGA, AVIVO (Video In, Video Out), and digital DVI.

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How to install a video/graphics card in a PC's motherboard

Visit Page 2 of this article for information on how to install a graphics card (or dual cards) in a PC's motherboard. Information is also provided on how to identify the graphics card that is already installed. Use your browser's Back button to return to this point on this page.

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512MB video/graphics cards

In May 2005, the first 512MB PCI Express cards became available.

The Sapphire Radeon X800 XL is a PCI Express graphics card with 512MB of memory. You can read the details about it here - http://www.sapphiretech.com/ - or use the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled) for vendor and information sites.

Recently, both nVidia and ATI have developed technology that makes it possible to install two video cards on a computer's motherboard.

1GB video/graphics cards

At the end of March 2006, ATI released the first graphics cards with 1GB (1024MB) of memory. For more information and news on these cards, use a search term such as 1GB + graphics + cards in the Google search box provided at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

Motherboards that can run dual video/graphics cards

Motherboards that can run two PCI Express video cards with graphics chips made by nVidia are available that run in SLI mode. ATI's response is dual-card technology called CrossFire. Some motherboards have become available that can run four graphic cards - as two sets of dual cards in both SLI and CrossFire modes. If you want to use one of these modes, you should check that your PC's motherboard supports it.

The following FAQ page answers many questions regarding these graphics technologies, including the question: Can you use SLI on a CrossFire board or can you use CrossFire on a SLI board? -

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245454-33-crossfire-faqs

Click here! to go to information on nVidia's SLI dual-card technology on this page.

Click here! to go to information on ATI's CrossFire dual-card technology on this page.

Quad SLI: Motherboards that can run four video/graphics chips

Believe it or not, it has also become possible to buy a motherboard that can run four graphics chips linked in SLI mode.

Quad SLI uses two PCI Express x16 slots on such a motherboard that run two special nVidia GeForce 7950 GX2 graphics cards. Each of the cards has two circuits that have their own graphics chip, memory, and cooling system that are connected by an internal SLI link.

If two of the special graphics cards are installed, several new modes of operation are available, including one in which each of the chips produces an alternative frame.

ATI's quad-chip QuadFire graphics system

At last, ATI has come up with a quad-chip graphics system. Read about it here:

QuadFire: CrossFire-on-a-Stick -

"To our knowledge, ATI never attempted to go for four. While CrossFire can support up to 32 devices I never thought we would see a consumer solution for more than two graphics processors under an ATI/AMD brand name. That was until today! We got a hold of a 'near-final' production model of Sapphire's X1950 Pro Dual that features two processors on a single printed circuit board (PCB) and connectors to connection to hook it up to another card for 'QuadFire'." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/crossfire-on-a-stick-uk,review-2135.html

Review: MSI K9A2 Platinum motherboard -

"This board provides support for AMD’s latest AM2+ processors as well as being fully backwards compatible with all AMD’s AM2 Athlon and Sempron CPUs. It’s also a first in that it supports Quadfire (four-way Crossfire) [four graphics cards] and SAS (serial attached SCSI). The board uses AMD’s latest AMD chipset, the 790FX, which supports 1,066/800/667/533MHz dual-channel DDR2 memory, while the four slots on the motherboard will take up to 8GB of RAM." -

http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-world/...review-msi-k9a2-platinum

Always remember that today's exceptional system costing an arm and a leg is tommorrow's standard system that is easily affordable.

THE LATEST GRAPHICS/VIDEO CARD NEWS AND REVIEWS Connecting a PC to a high-definition TV - the facts and reviews of three set-top boxes Connecting the digital home - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6691917.stm Set-top boxes put to the test - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6690939.stm Windows Vista: The Aero desktop February 11, 2007. - Microsoft released the versions of Windows Vista for the home user on January 30, 2007. The major difference between the Home Basic and Home Premium versions of Windows Vista is that only the Home Premium version features the new Aero Glass desktop, which is a transparent 3D interface that allows users to stack and navigate through webpages and folders. Vista Ultimate also features the Aero desktop. Windows Vista AERO Graphics - http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_aero.htm If you intend to upgrade to Vista, you should first check to make sure that your computer's hardware and software are supported. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/.../upgradeadvisor.mspx Graphics Hardware and Drivers for Windows Vista - http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/graphics-reqs.mspx You should also read the page called Upgrade Paths from Previous Versions, for example, because it contains information such as the fact thet Windows XP Professional can only be upgraded using the Upgrade version to Vista Ultimate or Vista Business. Click here! to go to the coverage on Windows Vista that is provided on this site. 720p vrs 1080p LCD and plasma HDTVs and 120Hz LCD TVs For more information on these topics, visit this article on this site: 720p and 1080p HDTV: The differences in these high-definition (HD) standards and 120Hz LCD TVs RECENT VIDEO/GRAPHICS CARD ARTICLES Best Graphics Cards For The Money: November '09 - "There's actually a lot to discuss in this month's column: the introduction of AMD's new Radeon HD 5000-series GPUs, Nvidia's new GeForce GT 220 and GeForce 210, availability of previous-gen high-end cards, and the state of the graphics war in general." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-graphics-card,review-31723.html GeForce GTX 285 Gets 2 GB: Gigabyte's GV-N285OC-2GI : Wasn't 1 GB Already Enough? - Today’s most powerful graphics processor, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 285, still struggles with some games at the highest resolution and quality settings. Gigabyte answers the question: 'Will more RAM help?' with its custom 2 GB GeForce GTX 285." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gv-n285oc-2gi-gtx-285,review-31648.html Roundup: Mainstream Graphics Cards From ATI And Nvidia : CrossFire With IceQ Is Very Quiet - "Great graphics cards don’t always have to cost big bucks. Even for prices around $100, you can get enough performance for playable frame rates at resolutions as high as 1920x1200. We round up a load of these mid-range cards to see who comes out on top." http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/budget-radeon-geforce,review-31652.html Gigabyte's Radeon HD 4650: Are AGP Graphics Still Good Enough? : It's Time For An Old-Fashioned Revival! - "Gigabyte's new Radeon HD 4650-based R465D2-1GI arrives on the scene, hopefully bringing playable frame rates to old AGP rigs long-forgotten by their gaming owners. We pair the card up to an Athlon X2 3800+ to see if AGP is still viable for budget buyers." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-4650-agp,review-31659.html AMD 785G: The Venerable 780G, Evolved - "AMD has enhanced one of its most popular integrated graphics chipsets with some compelling new features, creating the 785G. We examine this chipset, compare it to Nvidia's GeForce 8200/9400 and Intel's G45, and test several of its claimed capabilities." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/amd-785g-chipset,review-31647.html Tom's Hardware Charts: 2009 Mainstream Graphics Update : New Tests With Graphics-Quality Slider Set At Low - "Our graphics card charts now cover 24 more new cards. Today's update adds mainstream cards tested at more realistic settings for value-oriented gamers in the same benchmark suite you've seen us apply to the latest and greatest graphics offerings." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphics-chart-2009,review-31641.html Gaming Graphics Charts For 2009: Updated! - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-charts,2303.html Best Of The Best: High-End Graphics Card Roundup : High-End Graphics With Specialized Cooling - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-geforce-roundup,review-31585.html GeForce GTX 295 Vs. GTX 275 SLI: When Two Are Better Than One - "You're a gamer. You have an SLI-capable board. Do you buy the GeForce GTX 295 or a pair of GeForce GTX 275s, based on the same GPU? We got our hands on SLI'd 275s to explore the performance versus 'SLI on a card'." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-gtx-sli,review-31577.html DirectX - "Shows which versions of Windows support which versions of DirectX.Windows Xp only supports up to version DirectX 9.0c. Windows Vista suports DirectX 10 and 11 and the unreleased Windows 7 supports DirectX 11" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX Trick Out Your PC With Multiple Monitors - "A video card, the right utilities, and an extra display or two can dramatically enhance the way you work, use multimedia apps, play games, or simply surf the Internet. Here's how to tweak your rig." - http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/reviews/... How Much Power Does Your Graphics Card Need? : 3D Performance Requires The Most Electricity - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-radeon-power,review-31495.html Value In SLI? GTX 260 Core 216 Vs. GTX 280 : Does Three Of A Kind Really Beat A High Pair? - "We recently built a $2,500 gaming system with three GTX 260 Core 216 graphics cards, noting that these were less expensive than two GTX 280s." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-core-216,review-31481.html PCI Express & CrossFire: Scaling Explored - "Does your aging CrossFire-compatible motherboard have enough PCI Express bandwidth to make a second card worthwhile?" - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/crossfire-pci-express,review-31455.html PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Cards: How Much Extra Performance Do They Really Give? - "The PCI Express interface has been around for almost four years, and is in the middle of transitioning to its second generation. PCIe 2.0 effectively doubles bandwidth and offers better flexibility, while maintaining compatibility with PCIe 1.1...But do we really need PCI Express 2.0 today?" - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/pci-express-2-0,review-30726.html How To Overclock Your Graphics Card - "Overclocking is more popular than ever. And since it’s so easy to boost the frequency of your Intel processor, it would be a shame not to. But CPUs aren’t the only components that can be overclocked. The GPUs on graphics cards can also be speeded up, and so can their memory. And since an affordable card only differs from more expensive ones in its clock speed, overclocking can be your key to some real savings." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/overclock-graphics-card,review-30739.html BIOS Flash - Overclock Your Graphics Card in 5 Minutes - "3D drivers and third-party utilities let you overclock your graphics card's GPU and memory. Its pixel shader clock speed can only be changed in card's BIOS, though. This makes the changes permanent and independent of the graphics driver..." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-29744.html HDMI vs. Component - What's The Difference? - "Amid a global spectrum of high definition format battles, none is so misunderstood as the debate between HDMI and component video. Some videophiles expect HDMI to completely outpace the "vintage" analog format, while true experts in the field know there are distinct advantages and disadvantages to each format. This article will give you a better idea of the technologies that make up these video formats, and prove that the differences are not as lopsided as you may think..." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-29615.html How Cool Are Thermalright's Graphics Card Coolers? - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/thermalright-graphics-coolers,review-25355.html

Don't confuse PCI-X (or PCIx) with the PCI Express standard, because it stands for PCI Extended, which is a much improved extension of the PCI standard that is fully backwardly compatible with the previous versions of the PCI 2.x standard.

ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) technology is now redundant. PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) video cards are still available new, but this will soon be redundant technology. Most computers in use still use AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) technology, because it has been in existence for so long, but the AGP video/graphics standard is currently being superseded by PCI Express technology.

The image at the top of the page shows an ATI Radeon X1300 PCI Express video card. The heatsink and fan unit covers the graphics chip - the graphics processing unit (GPU) - to keep it cool.

The GPU of video cards, and the processing chip on sound cards, have taken over most of the tasks of rendering graphics and sound reproduction from the processor (CPU), thereby allowing it to concentrate on running the rest of the system more efficiently.

A graphics chip can be an integral part of the motherboard, in which case, the motherboard will have one or more inbuilt video ports to which a monitor's cable is connected. More information is provided about these ports a little further down this page. If there is an AGP or PCI Express slot on a motherboard that also has an inbuilt AGP or PCI Express video chip, that chip can usually be disabled in the BIOS or by setting a jumper on the motherboard so that the AGP or PCI Express slot can be fitted with an AGP or PCI Express video card. If there is neither an entry in the BIOS or a jumper on the motherboard that disables the onboard video chip, then the process is automatic. You install the video card in its slot, attach the monitor to it, and it automatically becomes the primary video card.

An example of a motherboard with a built-in PCI Express chip (ATI RADEON XPRESS 200) is the MSI RS480M2-IL. Almost everything is configured automatically by the very limited BIOS, including the processor's speed, the RAM, and the video card.

Note that any new, cheap PCI or AGP or PCI Express video card will provide first-class 2D graphics of the kind that is used for office applications (word-processors, databases, etc.), and for digital photo editing, web design, and accounts. In tests, an expensive £300 3D video card with 256MB of RAM typically only provides 2% to 3% better performance in 2D mode than a cheap £30 video card with only 64MB of RAM.

Most new high-end AGP video cards have three ports (connectors) - an analog D-sub VGA port (the one with the blue face in the image below) for an analog CRT monitor, a VIVO (the round video-in/video-out port in the image at the top of the page) that allows video to be captured for editing and then returned to an analog device such as a VHS recorder, and a DVI (Digital Video Interface) output port (the largest port with the white face in the image below) that connects to a DVI port on an LCD monitor.

Note that video cards that have a VIVO port do not provide hardware video encoding. Therefore, if you use it for the video capture and editing of analog video, you have to use video-editing software that makes use of the processor to do all of the work of digitising and compressing the video and saving it to the computer's hard disk drive. You therefore have to use a computer that has a fast processor. The video-editing software manufacturer's site should be able to provide you with information about the hardware that is required to make the best use of it. There is information on video-editing hardware and software on Page 2.

The image below is of VIVO cable for a video/graphics cards with 9-pin VIVO-out connector. It connects a 9-pin VIVO connector from a computer to 4-pin S-video In and Out port and RCA line In and Out connectors on a TV or video recorder. It does not convert a standard 4-pin S-video Out port from a computer into a VIVO port. The video/graphics card must have 9-pin VIVO connector to use this cable.

If you want to make use of the VIVO port on a graphics card or TV tuner card that provides one, make sure that a VIVO cable is provided in the package, because some cards have a VIVO port but don't supply the cable, which is usually a proprietary product, and, as such, can't be bought over the counter. Only the manufacturers of cards that use the same VIVO port can provide the cable. I know of someone who purchased an ASUS X700 Pro graphics card that uses an ATI Radeon chip and has a VIVO port. It didn't come with the VIVO cable, not by mistake, but because one was not part of the package. Asus ignored his requests for one, and ATI sent him a standard e-mail containing product purchase information that was of no help. Moreover, he was unable to find a vendor for the cable.

If a retail boxed video card only has a standard analog D-sub VGA port, it should come with DVI conversion cable that allows it to be attached to a DVI-only monitor.

Both DVI-to-VGA and VGA-to-DVI converters are available.

A DVI-to-VGA converter connects computers with digital DVI-D connectors to analog monitors or projectors with VGA connectors. In short, it converts digital DVI graphics to analog VGA monitors.

NTI DVI to VGA Converter - http://www.kvm-switches-online.com/dvi-vga.html

You can find vendors for DVI-to-VGA converters much cheaper than $282, indeed, for less than $10, but the VGA-to-DVI converters are very expensive, as can be seen on this page:

http://www.national-tech.com/catalog/dvitovgaconverters.htm

In many cases, it would be cheaper to buy a new monitor or graphics card with the required connector.

Video converters -

http://www.networktechinc.com/video-converters.html

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/DVI_ADC-converter.html

You can conduct your own search by entering the terms in the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

Note that some LCD TFT monitors have both an analog D-sub VGA port and a DVI port, but some only have a VGA or a DVI port. More LCD monitors have only a VGA port than only have a DVI port because most video cards have a VGA port. That is why DVI-only LCD monitors are more expensive than VGA LCD monitors.

The two types of port are completely different electronically and in size, and so a different cable is used to connect the video card to the monitor.

Most new video cards offer an S-video out port that connects a television set to the computer as an additional display. If it is a boxed, retail product, the video card should come with all of the cables it has ports for, but an OEM card, supported by the vendor only, not the manufacturer, is usually sold without any cables. If the TV set has only a composite (a yellow phono-type input port), or a SCART port, the S-video signal from the video card can be converted by using a cheap adapter.

There is more information on this subject, plus images, further down this page.

Most video cards that have both DVI and VGA ports can run monitors from both of them at the same time.

The top image above shows an ATI Radeon graphics card that has a standard analog D-sub VGA port (left, small, blue), which is older technology, and a purely digital DVI-D port, which is the current digital technology. The image below it shows a close-up view of the ports panel of another graphics card. It has a standard analog D-sub VGA port and a DVI-I port, currently the most common type, which can produce both analog VGA and digital DVI signals. It has four pin holes to the left of the main body pin holes (three rows of eight) that carry the VGA signal. If you have a PC monitor that only has an analog VGA connector, you can connect the graphics card and the monitor by using a cheap DVI-to-VGA cable that is often provided with a graphics card. The cable simply connects the four pins carrying the VGA signal to a D-sub VGA connector on the monitor.

However, a DVI-D port on a graphics card (or integrated motherboard) is purely digital. If you want to connect one to a VGA monitor, you would have to use a digital-to-analog converter/adapter, which is an actual device that costs around £200 or more. You would have to choose between buying a new digital monitor or an expensive adapter.

Below are the magnified images of a standard analog D-sub VGA connector of a VGA port (left) and a DVI-D port (right). As you can see, the four pin holes required to carry a VGA signal are not present.

Most current high-end graphics cards have two DVI ports (no D-sub VGA port), which could be two DVI-D ports, or one DVI-D port and one DVI-I port. You can connect the card to two monitors that can then display different applications.

If the motherboard chipset supports the DVI/HDCP and the high-definition HDMI graphics standards, it is possible to use a DVI-to-HDMI adapter cable to convert a DVI signal to a high-definition HDMI input signal of a high-definition TV or monitor. Here is an extract from the manual of the Asrock K10N78FullHD-hSLI (AMD Socket AM2+) motherboard.

The image below shows an example of a graphics card with two DVI ports, which could be a DVI-D port and a DVI-I port, two DVI-D ports, or two DVI-I ports.

The following page of the review of a Gateway FX530XT computer, designed for PC gaming, shows the analog D-Sub VGA and the digital DVI connection ports on its 24" LCD widescreen monitor:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gateway-goes-gaming-uk,review-2077-5.html

If you require more information, visit the following page:

All About DVI - A Complete Guide to the Digital Video Interface -

http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html

The dual-link DVI interface and cable

Some LCD PC monitors, such as the 30" Hazro HZ30WS, has a native screen resolution of 2,560x1,600 that exceeds the capabilities of single-link DVI, which can manage screen resolutions up to 1,920x1,200. Most video/graphics cards can manage higher resolutions, such as 2,560x1,600, but a dual-link DVI cable has to be used instead of the single-link version.

A dual-link cable has a full complement of 24 pins in a 3x8 configuration. A single-link cable has two 9-pin blocks that omits the six pins in the centre of the connector.

The following illustrated article shows the pin-outs of both connectors.

Digital Visual Interface - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

The safest way to upgrade RAM: Use the UK and US Crucial Memory Advisors

Paul Mullen, the highly-respected computer guru of the Helpfile at ComputerShopper.co.uk - "I have recently been buying my memory only from Crucial Technology. I would rather pay the extra cost than waste time trying to track down the obscure program faults that bad memory can cause."

The memory requirements of the versions of Windows Vista

Most of the versions of Windows Vista require more RAM memory to run optimally on a computer that doesn't use memory-hungry applications than Windows XP. A video-editing application is an example of memory-intensive software. Only Windows Vista Home Basic has a recommended minimum amount of memory of 512MB, which is the same amount recommended for Windows XP. Windows Vista Home Premium, the most popular version, and Windows Vista Ultimate require a recommended minimum of 1GB (1024MB) of memory, which is twice the amount of minimum memory recommended to run Windows XP. For more information on computer memory, read the RAM pages of this site.

For example, if your computer has an Asus motherboard, open the menu, scroll down to ASUS, and click GO. If, say, you have a Dell computer, scroll down to DELL, and do likewise. You will be taken to the relevant information on Crucial's website.

If you don't know the make and model of the motherboard installed in your computer, here is a good free utility - Belarc Advisor - that creates an analysis of the hardware and software on a personal computer. Look under FREE DOWNLOAD - http://www.belarc.com/. Another utility that also provides detailed information on the memory itself is CPU-Z.

VIDEO CARD DRIVERS

Apart from the drivers for notebook/laptop computers, driver development is now being exclusively handled by the manufacturer's of the graphics chips (ATI, nVidia, etc.) used in video cards, not by the manufacturers of the entire video/graphics cards (Gainward, Crucial, etc.). Nonetheless, regular visits to a graphics-card manufacturer's site is a good idea, because you could still download updates for utilities and tools, or download a newer version of the BIOS for the card.

The end of this section of this page deals with the video-card BIOS.

The drivers on the CD that comes with a new video card (or new computer) will probably already be out of date by the time you buy it. Therefore it's a good idea to download the latest drivers from the chipset manufacturer's site. Newer games tend to have problems with older drivers. The same is true for Microsoft's DirectX, which you should also keep up to date. Newer games often ship with the runtime installer of the current version of DirectX, which you run while online to install the latest version.

Here is a list of the most important graphics-card driver links:

ATI-based graphics cards (Radeon, All In Wonder, IGP) -

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

Intel integrated graphics (chipsets i865G, 915G) - http://downloadfinder.intel.com/

NVIDIA-based graphics cards (GeForce, nForce) -

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

S3-based graphics cards (Deltachrome) - http://www.s3graphics.com/drivers.jsp

SIS integrated graphics - http://download.sis.com/

XGI-based graphics (Volari) - http://www.xgitech.com/sd/sd_download.asp

ATI and nVidia 32-bit and 64-bit drivers for Windows Vista

ATI Catalyst Display Driver (Windows Vista 32-bit) 7.1 (01/29/2007) -

http://www.download.com/ATI-Catalyst-Display-Driver-Windows-Vista-32-bit...

ATI Catalyst Display Driver (Windows Vista 64-bit) 7.1 (01/29/2007) -

http://www.download.com/ATI-Catalyst-Display-Driver-Windows-Vista-64-bit-/...

nVidia ForceWare Graphics Driver (Windows Vista x86 RTM) 97.46 (01/05/2007) -

http://www.download.com/nVidia-ForceWare-Graphics-Driver-Windows-Vista-x86...

nVidia ForceWare Graphics Driver (Windows Vista x64 RTM) 97.46 (01/05/2007) -

http://www.download.com/nVidia-ForceWare-Graphics-Driver-Windows-Vista-x64...

LAPTOP/NOTEBOOK VIDEO/GRAPHICS CARD DRIVERS

The following quotation comes from the ATI website:

"You MUST use the drivers supplied with your laptop or notebook computer, or obtain a driver update from the manufacturer of your laptop or notebook computer."

In other words, because the video chips used in laptop/notebook computers have an architecture that is customised to to a particular laptop/notebook computer manufacturer's monitor requirements, etc., as opposed to the standard architecture of the chips used in PCI and AGP video cards and motherboard video implementations, ATI does not update the drivers. To do so would be uneconomic for ATI (and the other video-chip manufacturers that supply the chips for laptops/notebooks), and therefore the computer manufacturer is the only source of updated drivers.

Obviously, if the laptop/notebook manufacturer does not update the drivers, then there is no other source for them. - This is clearly yet another factor to be borne in mind when purchasing a laptop/notebook computer, because updated drivers are often required in order to be able to install updated versions of DirectX and OpenGL that are in turn required in order to run the latest games.

Omega drivers

If you buy a non-brand-name laptop/notebook computer, advertised as a gaming machine, from a manufacturer that has the computers made cheaply in the Far East, which won't be creating updated drivers, you might not be able to play games that require updated drivers.

Many laptop/notebook computers use ATI video chips. If this is the case and updated drivers are not available from the manufacturer, you should be able to use the Omega drivers that are created by Angel Trinidad in his spare time. The drivers are based on the official ATI drivers, and are modified for gaming performance. Installers are provided that cover all of the ATI video chips, including the Mobility series. The drivers install easily and provide mobile and overclocking options.

They can be obtained from: http://www.omegadrivers.net/.

Read this Q&A on this site for more information on the problem:

I can't update the device drivers for my Tiny notebook/laptop computer.

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Note that installing the latest drivers for a device can sometimes cause problems, or even render the device or even the whole system unusable until a fix of some kind is applied.

If this is the case, in a Windows 9.x system, uninstall the device in Safe mode (Safe Mode in Windows XP/Vista) by pressing the F8 key at start-up to bring up the boot menu, and then choose it from the list. Open the Device Manager and remove the device, then allow Windows to reinstall the drivers, and, if necessary, install an earlier version.

Windows XP has a Roll Back Driver feature in the Device Manager that allows you to roll the system back to the state it was in before you installed a new driver file. You can also use its System Restore feature to roll the whole system back to a former state.

Visit the Recovering Windows XP page on this site for more information on both of those features.

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DirectX and OpenGL

DirectX is a kind of super software device driver. It is Microsoft's graphics software that is used by games developers in the creation of their games. The set of controls that are used to create the 3D effects in most modern games are defined by DirectX.

A standard software device driver usually just makes it possible for the programs or applications that use a hardware device, such as a video or sound card, to be able to do so. DirectX does that, but if the hardware is found to be lacking it can also emulate the missing hardware capabilities in its software. This feature is known as the program's Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL).

To make 3D video acceleration possible, developers of 3D software need a standard language in which the 3D output is programmed. Such a standard, or API (Advanced Programming Interface) determines which operations a graphics chip must support.

Currently, the dominant 3D standards are OpenGL and Microsoft's Direct3D, which is a component of DirectX. Most PC games are designed to use Direct3D, so when Microsoft releases a new version of DirectX, most of the new functions are soon incorporated into OpenGL.

DirectX and OpenGL are the 3D programming interfaces used by graphics cards to play most graphics-intensive games.

DirectX 10 and 11

Windows XP can only use DirectX 9.0c. DirectX 10 is not backward compatible with previous versions, as is the case with the previous versions, which are backward compatible with previous versions. However, Directx 9 is emulated in DirectX 10, which means that it can run DirectX 9 games. At the time of writing this DirectX 11 was not yet available.

DirectX - "Shows which versions of Windows support which versions of DirectX. Windows XP only supports up to version DirectX 9.0c. Windows Vista suports DirectX 10 and 11 and the unreleased Windows 7 supports DirectX 11" -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX

In order to play DirectX 10 games, a PC must have a graphics card that supports its technology, such as the nVidia GeForce 8800GTX card.

However, because of the large number of PC that have graphics cards that don't support DirectX 10, games designed to use it will come with a version of DirectX 9.0c that does play them.

Visit Miscosoft's website called Games for Windows for DirectX 10. -

http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/aboutgfw/Pages/directx10-a.aspx

DirectX 11: A look at what's coming -

http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/09/17/directx-11-a-look-at-what-s-coming/1

Windows 7, DirectX 11! -

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/windows_7_directx_11

Click here! to go directly to more information on DirectX on the Gaming page of this site.

The video-card's BIOS setup program

All video cards - using ISA, PCI, AGP, and PCI Express motherboard slots - have a BIOS setup program that accesses a BIOS chip on the card in the same way as the system's BIOS setup program accesses the BIOS chip built into a computer's motherboard. Updates for the BIOS file can be made available for both the motherboard's system BIOS and the video card's BIOS from the motherboard manufacturer's and the video card manufacturer's sites respectively. Instructions on how to update the BIOS are usually also supplied. Often new features can be added by updating a video card's BIOS, because the manufacturer often uses the same video chip on high-end and low-end cards, and it's the BIOS that limits the low-end card. If that is the case, doing nothing more than updating the BIOS can make a low-end card function like its high-end relative. Updating a video card's BIOS can also sometimes solve problems that are otherwise insolvable.

But note that you cannot access the settings of the BIOS of a video card as you can access the settings of the motherboard's system BIOS by pressing the entry key(s) at start-up to run the BIOS setup program.

Advanced Guide: Flashing a Video Card BIOS -

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1633

You should be able to find other guides on this subject by entering a search phrase such as flashing + "video card" + bios (as is) in the Google search box provided at the top of this page.

A new standard of PCI bus called PCI Express (abbreviated to PCIe and PCI-E) has replaced the PCI and AGP standards for adapter cards. Since it can be bridged to the PCI bus, it can be used to run the the same kind of adapter cards that are presently run on the standard PCI bus - and can also run the fastest PCI Express video cards.

Note that at the time of writing (May 2008), the PCI Express 2.0 standard is in the process of replacing its forerunner. It provides double the bandwidth for data transfers that the original standard delivers.

PCI Express 2.0 to double bandwidth -

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/16/pci_express_doubled/

PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Cards Tested -

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pci-express-2-0,1915.html

The image shown above is of an MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 motherboard with two x16 SLI PCI Express graphics slots for AMD Athlon 64 and 64 FX processors.

There are two standard PCI slots - the orange slot and the white slot of the same length next to it on the far top left side of the board. The PCI Express slots are two long x16 slots (the longest slots on the board) for two graphics cards in SLI mode, one yellow x4 slot and two short white x1 slots for other PCI Express devices, such as a sound card, joystick, dial-up modem, etc., which have not yet appeared on the market.

There is no AGP video slot for an AGP video card. The slots for RAM DIMM modules are the four horizontally aligned blue and teal slots in the bottom right corner of the board.

Because the present Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus has reached the limit of its safe clock rate and its data-transfer capacity, a new much faster kind of bus is required to keep up as much as possible with increasingly faster hardware.

The original PCI bus is a parallel data system that works in the same way as the ATA IDE system, which transfers data down a cable containing 40 conductors. The PCI Express bus is a serial system of the same kind as the other new systems - the USB/FireWire and Serial ATA (SATA) data-transfer systems.

The PCI Express bus improves performance by replacing the shared PCI bus with a point-to-point packet switched design similar to the kind used in switched networks. The data is transferred in packets, each one of which contains the address of its destination and is routed through point-to-point connections until it arrives.

The fundamental element of the PCI Express bus is a four-wire link between only two devices called a lane. The two pairs of wires carry single bits of data in each direction.

The smallest and slowest link is called an x1 link, which has a single lane and which transfers one bit of data at a time in either direction. An x2 link has two lanes and transfers two bits of data in each direction at a time, etc. The standard sizes of PCI Express links are x1, x2, x4, x8, x16, and x32, with the possibility of the future development of an x64 link. An x32 link has 32 lanes and so can transfer 32 bits of data in each direction at a time.

The PCI bus uses a clock signal transmitted between the devices at each end of a link, but the PCI Express bus operates at a data transfer rate of 250MB/s per lane, per direction, which is 500MB/s in both directions. That is substantially faster than the maximum clock rate of 66MHz of the PCI bus, which can transmit only a maximum of 66Mbit/s of data down each data wire. The parallel PCI bus has a maximum data-transfer bandwidth of 132MB/s, which is shared by all of the devices connected to the bus.

Note that there are eight bits in a byte of data, so a megabit (Mbit) is an eighth of a megabyte (MB).

Because each lane consists of four wires, the PCI Express bus can transfer data in both directions, which is known as full duplex. Sound cards that are full duplex allow the connection of a microphone and can send and receive sound data.

The PCI slots on a motherboard are of the same fixed size, but the slots of the PCI Express bus can vary in size.

A switch using similar technology to that used in a networking switch is built into a PCI Express motherboard. It acts like a network router by examining the data packets and then switching them to the correct link. (A network switch would switch incoming data to the correct internal IP address.)

The processor and RAM memory are connected to this central switch, which is called the root complex. The switch manages all processor and memory transfers and PCI Express links to the rest of the system, such as to the PCI and USB buses, which are linked to across special electronic bridges. There is no need for an AGP bus, because an x16 PCI Express video card is much faster than an 8x AGP video card.

The data is transmitted to the PCI Express bus by the motherboard's chipset in packets of varying sizes that match the link being used. It is then broken up and transferred down the lanes. The packets are then reassembled at the receiving end. As well as containing the address of their destination, the data packets can make use of built-in error correction technology so that if an error is detected the corrupt packet is discarded and resent. Although it works well, the technology involved in this process is extremely complex, and that is why it has taken so long to be developed.

Since the length of a PCI Express slot depends on the number of lanes it contains, an x16 slot is about the same length as a PCI slot, but x8, x4, x2, and x1 slots get progressively shorter as the number of lanes they contain diminishes.

Most PCI Express motherboards are of the kind shown above, usually having a single x16 slot for a video card, a single x1 and a single x4 slot for devices that don't require much bandwidth, such as an adapter card with the ports for a mouse and keyboard, or a joystick. Since most motherboards still have PCI slots, device manufacturers have yet to produce devices that use those two slots.

Note also that motherboards are now available that have two x16 PCI-E slots for two video cards that are linked together and use nVidia's Scalable Link Interface (SLI) technology. Information on it is provided futher down this page.

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There are also x8 and x12 variants that are only likely to be seen on the motherboards used in servers that don't need a monitor because they are connected to the network that they serve. Dell sells its inexpensive PowerEdge servers that have two x8 PCI Express slots that are used for high-speed Input/Output (I/O) cards such as a RAID controller for an array of hard disk drives, or a gigabit Ethernet network interface card (NIC). Some people have bought these servers thinking in error that they can be used as cheap desktop computers by fitting a video card in one of the x8 PCI Express slots. Erroneous thinking, because all PCI-E video cards require a x16 slot. There are no x8 PCI-E video cards, and there is little or no likelihood that there ever will be.

Since each end of a PCI Express bus link can negotiate how many of the available lanes will be used to transmit data, an x1 adapter card can be plugged into any of the longer PCI Express slots. In short, an adapter card can be plugged into a slot of its own size or into a longer slot, but you obviously can't install an x16 card in a short x4 slot.

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Mini PCI Express is a connector designed for use in laptop and notebook computers. NewCard and ExpressCard is the PCI Express equivalent of PCMCIA cards.

The packet-switching technology of PCI Express makes it very flexible. For example, a Quality of Service (QoS) feature allows devices to negotiate a transfer priority. For example, a video stream could be granted priority over other types of data transfer and so should be able to display without any interference or glitches.

Fortunately, software compatibility with the original PCI bus has been maintained, so device drivers and operating systems don't have to be modified in order to work with the PCI Express bus. However, if the new features, such as QoS, are going to be used , the software using it has to be modified, which means that the developers will have to create upgrades, or provide updates for existing software.

It is well know that there is not much difference in the performance of 4x and 8x AGP video cards, but will there be any difference between AGP and PCI Express video cards? - Of course, but how much faster will the new cards be?

The power requirements of the power supply unit (PSU): the PCI Express power connector

If you want to install a high-end video/graphics card the +12V rail would have to deliver between 20A and 30A of current. Many PSUs deliver a maximum of under that. Therefore, you should always make sure that the PSU in a system can match the power requirements of a high-end video card before you buy or install it.

High-end PCI Express video/graphics cards have to be connected directly to the PSU. The following site shows examples of the PCI Express power connector. - http://www.jeantech.com/

If a particular PSU doesn't have a PCI Express connector and one is required of it, it's possible to buy an adapter that is fitted to a standard power connector of the kind that fits to standard IDE ATA (non-SATA) disk drives.

PCI Express: nVidia's Scalable Link Interface (SLI) dual-video-card technology

There is a new PCI Express technology already available called Scalable Link Interface (SLI) that makes it possible to double performance by using two PCI Express video cards on a motherboard that supports the technology.

Motherboards that can run two PCI Express video cards with graphics chips made by nVidia are available that run in SLI mode. ATI's response is dual-card technology called CrossFire.

Unfortunately, a motherboard that supports both CrossFire and SLI does not exist as yet, and probably won't ever exist.

SLI-capable motherboards come with a special bridge that connects to the top of each of the cards to link them. Two PCI Express cards that use the 6600, 6600GT, 6800GT, and 6800Ultra and later chipsets made by nVidia are required.

When the technology first became available, two identical video cards that support SLI mode were required, but that is no longer the case.

nVidia's Version 80 driver has made it no longer necessary to have exactly the same video cards and firmware versions. SLI mode can also now be used without having to make use of an SLI bridge connector that is connected between the two cards.

It used to be a requirement that two ATI CrossFire graphics cards had to be linked by an external cable. However, its Catalyst 5.11 drivers - and later versions - eliminate the need for this, and also eliminate having to make use of a CrossFire Master card, but at the price of reduced performance.

If you want to find out how to install two video cards so that they run in SLI mode, download the illustrated user manual for the Socket 939 MS-7100 (aka K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI), or any other motherboard that supports SLI made by MSI.

An SLI motherboard has an option in Display Properties called Enable Multiple GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). To open Display Properties, right click with the mouse on a empty space on the Desktop, click Properties, click the Settings tab in Display Properties, click on the Advanced button, and then click on the Adapter tab, which can just have the name of the SLI video cards being used, such as GeForce 6600 GT, instead of being called Adapter.

Note that if you use two high-end video cards in SLI mode that require to be connected to the power supply unit (PSU) via a PCI Express power connector, you need a PSU with two such power connectors - one for each card. An excellent example is the Akasa PowerPlus 550W unit.You can enter the make and model within double quotation marks in the Google search box at the top of this page to locate reviews and vendors.

A dual-core processor can draw up to 130W on its own, and nVidia currently (July 2006) recommends a 500W or 600W power supply in order to run two of its high-end graphics cards in SLI mode.

If you plan on using dual graphics cards that use either nVidia's SLI technology or ATI's CrossFire technology, make sure that your PC has a power supply that explicitly states in its specifications that it supports the dual-card technology that you want to install.

For example, the Tagan Dual Engine 700W ATX power supply, priced at £100, was given a Best Buy award by Computer Shopper in June 2007. It is certified for dual nVidia GeForce 8800GTS (SLI) graphics cards, but it doesn't have CrossFire certification.

The Hiper Type M 670W ATX power suppy, priced at £76, was given a Budget Buy award by Computer Shopper in June 2007. It is CrossFire certified for high-end ATI Radeon X1900 and X1950 graphics cards, and SLI certified for nVidia 8800GTS and 7950 GX2 graphics cards.

It is advisable to find out if a power supply has been certified for use in SLI systems by nVidia at http://www.nvidia.com/.

SLIZone - http://www.slizone.com/ - is devoted to every aspect of SLI. You should be able to find out anything about it that you need to know, including recommended motherboards, drivers, and power supplies.

If you're having problems in getting two cards to work together, read this Q&A on this site: I can't get two SLI or CrossFire video/graphics cards to work together in my computer.

For more information on this technology, visit http://www.nvidia.com/ and look under the Technologies heading.

SLI mode using only one video card

It's already possible to buy a single video card with two graphics processors that run in SLI mode on a specially adapted motherboard. Benchmark tests of the following video card and motherboard combination have produced very impressive results.

The Gigabyte 3D1 video card has two nVidia GeForce FX 6600GT graphics processors, each of which has its own 128MB of graphics memory. It can only run on the Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI motherboard, which uses just one x16 PCI Express slot that is divided into an eight-lane track for each of the graphics chips.

The Gigabyte 3D1 video card can also be installed in a conventional x16 PCI Express slot, but, as might have been expected, it only functions with about half the performance.

Visit http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/ for more information on these products, or make use of the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled) to search for product reviews by using a search phrase such as: "gigabyte k8nxp-sli" + reviews (as is).

ATI's CrossFire dual-graphics card technology

Video cards using ATI's CrossFire dual-graphics-card technology are now available.

Motherboards that can run two PCI Express video cards with graphics chips made by nVidia are available that run in SLI mode. ATI's response is dual-card technology called CrossFire.

Unfortunately, a motherboard that supports both CrossFire and SLI does not exist as yet, and probably won't ever exist.

ATI links its dual-card setups by using an exernal cable to link the two cards together. However, its Catalyst 5.11 drivers - and later versions - eliminate the need for this - and having to make use of a CrossFire Master card - but at the price of reduced performance.

Note that some motherboards that support CrossFire still use a video link cable to connect the two graphics cards. An example is the Socket LGA1366 MSI MS-7522 motherboard for Intel's new Core i7 quad-core processors that first became available in November 2008. An image of the cable is shown below.

The CrossFire Video Link cable is required to connect the "golden fingers" on the top of the two graphics cards. Although two graphics cards are used, only the video outputs on the CrossFire Edition graphics card works, therefore the monitor must be connected to the CrossFire Edition graphics card.

The motherboard's user manual should have the installation instructions for graphics cards, memory, hard disk drives, etc., and a BIOS section that provides information on BIOS settings.

If you're having problems in getting two cards to work together, read this Q&A on this site: I can't get two SLI or CrossFire video/graphics cards to work together in my computer.

If you plan on using dual graphics cards that use either nVidia's SLI technology or ATI's CrossFire technology, make sure that your PC has a power supply that explicitly states in its specifications that it supports the dual-card technology that you want to install.

For example, the Tagan Dual Engine 700W ATX power supply, priced at £100, was given a Best Buy award by Computer Shopper in June 2007. It is certified for dual nVidia GeForce 8800GTS (SLI) graphics cards, but it doesn't have CrossFire certification.

The Hiper Type M 670W ATX power suppy, priced at £76, was given a Budget Buy award by Computer Shopper in June 2007. It is CrossFire certified for high-end ATI Radeon X1900 and X1950 graphics cards, and SLI certified for nVidia 8800GTS and 7950 GX2 graphics cards.

At last, ATI has come up with a quad-chip graphics system. Read about it here:

QuadFire: CrossFire-on-a-Stick -

"To our knowledge, ATI never attempted to go for four. While CrossFire can support up to 32 devices I never thought we would see a consumer solution for more than two graphics processors under an ATI/AMD brand name. That was until today! We got a hold of a 'near-final' production model of Sapphire's X1950 Pro Dual that features two processors on a single printed circuit board (PCB) and connectors to connection to hook it up to another card for 'QuadFire'." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/crossfire-on-a-stick-uk,review-2135.html

The Digital Video Interface - DVI

DVI stands for Digital Visual Interface.

With the standard analog connection interface still used with most video card/monitor combinations, a computer has to convert its native digital video output to the analog video output supported by an analog CRT or LCD monitor. With DVI, everything is digital. The output from the video card is supported directly by the monitor.

The quality and speed of DVI output is superior, because there is no digital-to-analog conversion process involved.

DVI supports higher resolutions (more screen pixels). It supports high-definition video, and a bandwidth of about 165MHz - about 165 million pixels per second. The DVI is also hotpluggable (although that capability has yet to be supported by the current versions of Windows), which means that you can plug in or unplug a DVI device while the computer is running. DVI is set to become the next major video standard, and, as such, will replace all of the current standards such as SVGA.

Note that a monitor needs to have a DVI input port in order to able to use a DVI connector on a video card, which, you should also note, not all video cards have.

If anyone is thinking about buying a new flat panel LCD monitor, it would be wise to purchase a model that supports both analog D-sub VGA and DVI connectors. Otherwise, you may find yourself having to upgrade your monitor when you upgrade a video card that only has a standard analog monitor connector to one that only has a DVI output port.

All About DVI - A Complete Guide to the Digital Video Interface -

http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html

Accelerated Graphics Port: The AGP standard

Make sure that the AGP slot on the motherboard supports at least AGP 4x or it will probably not be able to supply the correct voltage for the current gaming video cards. Only ATI Radeon and nVidia GeForce cards should be considered for gaming purposes. AGP 8x is the latest standard, but an 8x card will almost certainly work on a motherboard that supports only up to 4x, but if the motherboard only supports 2x it is unlikely to fit the motherboard, because AGP slots are keyed so that only the kind of AGP card that will run in a particular AGP slot can be inserted into it. Many recent motherboards that support 8x mode,also support 4x mode, but don't support the earlier 2x mode, so even if a 2x graphics accelerator, such as a nVidia TNT2 card, fits into such a motherboard's AGP slot, it won't work, and you probably won't be able to see anything on the screen at start-up.

AGP compatibility is discussed in the next item on this page.

Click here! to go to the links to video-card reviews on this page. Use your browser's Back button to return to this point.

If it uses AGP, you can find out which AGP standards are supported by your computer's motherboard by looking in the BIOS, or by consulting the motherboard's manual. See the three Motherboard pages on this site for more information on motherboards and their manuals.

Keep reading this article for more information on the AGP standards.

AGP compatibility

The AGP 1.0, AGP 2.0, AGP 3.0, AGP Pro standards, and 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x video cards, and the different voltages they support, make AGP compatibility a somewhat confusing subject.

Read this Q&A on this site - The voltages used by the different kinds of AGP video cards. Use your browser's Back button to return here.

Visit these two pages for illustrated information on AGP compatibility:

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/agpcompatibility.html

If you have, say, a relatively elderly dual-voltage AGP 2x card the keys of which fit the AGP slot of a new motherboard that only supports, say, 8x cards, it won't damage the motherboard, but it also won't work.

Therefore, always check the motherboard's manual, which can usually be downloaded from its manufacturer's site, to find out what kind of video cards it supports before you try installing relatively elderly video cards.

If the motherboard only supports 8x video cards, then the BIOS won't support the lower speeds, because the BIOS is customised to support the motherboard's design features.

Is there space in the case for an upgrade?

You must make sure that you have enough space around your motherboard's PCI Express slot(s) or AGP slot if you want to install some of today's gaming video cards, because they often have large cooling units that will make it impossible to use the PCI slot beside the graphics slot(s). Hard disk drives and filled DDR RAM DIMM slots can also get in the way. The nVidia GeForceFX 5900 range of cards in particular are very large. Also note that the 256MB versions of most cards are larger than the 128MB versions. If you are unsure if a particular card will fit in the space provided by you computer, it would be best to take the tower unit into the shop from which you are buying it and have it fitted there.

Go to Page 2 of this article for information on removing and installing a video/graphics card.

Low-profile video cards

Slimline ATX desktop and tower cases are far too confined to house standard full-sized PCI or AGP or PCI Express video cards, therefore video cards that are usually half the full-size height, called low-profile cards, have to be used.

Proprietary manufacturers such as HP, Compaq, Gateway, and Dell can use slimline cases. Examples of models that can use them are the Compaq DeskPro and the Dell Optiplex.

PCI/AGP/PCI Express video cards are made as low-profile cards, and they are usually not much more expensive that the full-sized version of the same model, but availability could be a problem, because, firstly, not all video-card manufacturers make low-profile cards, and, secondly, when available, they have the same names as their full-sized counterparts, and, if not purchased at a premium from HP, Compaq, Dell, etc., would therefore be difficult to locate. Moreover, as you might expect, low-profile cards are never as powerful as the full-sized models.

The technology provided by the latest video cards cannot currently fit on to low-profile cards, so instead of running a 256MB ATI Radeon 9800XT or nVidia FX 5900 card, the user with such a slimline case would only be able to use relatively under-powered low-profile cards such as a 128MB ATI Radeon 9200 or an nVidia GeForce FX 5200.

Moral of the story: avoid buying a computer housed in a slimline case.

See the Motherboard page on this site for information on the use of riser cards to accommodate adapter cards in slimline cases.

PCI version 3 (PCI Extended - PCI-X/PCIx)

21 April 2004 - The PCI Special Interest Group announced the release of version 3.0 of PCI (the Peripheral Component Interconnect standard), known as PCI Extended (PCI-X) to distinguish it from the current PCI Express video/graphics standard that is covered further down this page.

If you see PCIe or PCI-E shown in the specification list of a computer or motherboard this stands for PCI Express.

Don't confuse PCI-X (or PCIx) with the PCI Express standard, because it stands for PCI Extended, which is an much improved extension of the PCI standard that is fully backwardly compatible with the previous versions of the PCI standard.

The new PCI standard migrates from supporting 5V to using 3.3V, which current PCI adapter cards use. However, PCI cards that are keyed to use both 5V and 3.3V continue to be supported.

Internal and external TV tuner cards

Click here! to go to the information on this subject on Page 2 of the Video and Graphics section of the site.

Cooling units, device drivers, and the video-card BIOS

If you purchase a retail (boxed) video card, it will come with all of the cables it has ports for, its software device drivers, and will also probably come with a heatsink and fan unit that cools the main video chip. This will not necessarily be the case with an OEM video card that is supported by the vendor but not the by the manufacturer. OEM video cards can be sold alone, without a cooling unit. If that is the case, you'll have to purchase the cooling unit separately. Remember that not all video cards require special cooling. Seek advice about cooling if you purchase an OEM video card that doesn't come with a cooling unit.

In any case, if the video card uses a chipset made by one of the major manufacturers, you will be able to download the latest driver file from the relevant website. Indeed, the chipset manufacturer's drivers are often superior to those provided by the manufacturers of video cards that incorporate those chipsets into their video cards.

You should upgrade the drivers as often as possible (especially if you upgrade any of the other graphics drivers used by your system) in order to keep them compatible. For instance, you might install the latest version of the DirectX gaming software, which might then conflict with the older drivers being used by your video card. Or you might update the AGP driver, made available from the computer's motherboard's site.

Video cards featuring home movie video editing and connectivity to VCRs and camcorders

You can now purchase video cards that are very reasonably priced and which allow a user to edit movies, connect to video recorders (VCRs) and camcorders, and support DVD authoring and burning. If you want any of those feature, look for them in a particular card's specifications.

Monitors

See the Monitor page on this site for information on CRT and LCD analog and digital (DVI) monitors.

VIDEO CARD REVIEWS

Video card Superlatives - For the best PCI Express and AGP video cards -

http://www.gpureview.com/superlatives.php

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: November '09 -

"There's actually a lot to discuss in this month's column: the introduction of AMD's new Radeon HD 5000-series GPUs, Nvidia's new GeForce GT 220 and GeForce 210, availability of previous-gen high-end cards, and the state of the graphics war in general." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-graphics-card,review-31723.html

Computer Shopper (UK) - Video/Graphics card reviews:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper/archiveproductsearch/5/Graphics-cards

Anandtech's video/graphics card reviews - http://www.anandtech.com/video/

Click here! to go to Page 2 of this article

PC Buyer Beware! Copyright © Eric Legge 2004-2009. All rights reserved.