Video / Graphics Cards (GPUs)

Video/graphics cards and integrated  motherboard/processor graphics chips (GPUs)

Graphics cards - fan-cooled (left) and passive-cooled
Graphics cards – fan-cooled (left) and passive-cooled. Click on the image to see its full size

This section of this website, combined with its Graphics Card Problems, Monitors and Laptop PCs sections, provides all of the information a prospective or an actual desktop and laptop PC owner needs to know about graphics cards and other graphics implementations and the problems that beset them.

Remove old GPU device drivers before installing a new graphics card

Note well that Windows 10 does not like swapping cards if the old card’s device drivers are still installed, so  remove any previous drivers ny using the Win10 Device Manager and shut down the PC before replacing the graphics card. If, say, you have a graphics card made by Asus, boot the system. If you are online, Win10 will find and install the drivers from Windows Update, but you should install the latest drivers from asus.com  – Graphics Cards Support and Services – and  everything should work perfectly.

Installation of graphics and sound cards

The Installing video/graphics and sound cards section of the Build Your Own Desktop PC article (under the Hardware menu item) on this website provides illustrated information on and videos of the installations of those adapter cards.

CONTENTS

1.Graphics motherboard connection standards: PCI, PCI-X and PCI Express

2.Graphics connection interfaces: VGA, DVI, DisplayPort,HDMI and USB

3.Using multiple monitors

4.Intel and AMD processors (CPUs) with integrated graphics chips

5. Video card device drivers

6.AMD’s CrossFireX, Nvidia’s SLI and comparisons of graphics cards

7.How to find out the information about the graphics card(s) installed in a PC/computer

8.More detailed information on the graphics-card auxiliary power connectors and connection interfaces – VGA, DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI

9.The HDMI sound and vision transmission standard, its digital rights management system and other matters

10.How to fix Windows 10 upgrade graphics card problems

POSTGaming monitors: Which monitor adaptive sync technology is best, AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync?

POST No HDMI sound – Windows 7 PC, Nvidia GeForce graphics card

POST How to find out if a PC’s motherboard provides particular graphics card support

How to tell from the model name if an Intel or AMD processor has a built-in graphics chip

Graphics cards are in short supply due to Covid-19 lockdowns. Consequently, you will probably find buying a separate graphics card difficult. Intel and AMD processors can come with a  built-in graphics chip (GPU). If you want to rely on the graphics that a processor’s graphics chip provides, you need to know how to tell from the Intel and AMD processor’s name which models come with one.

Most current Intel processors come with a built-n graphics chip. If the processor does NOT come with one, its model name has the letter F as the last letter in the name.An example is the Intel Core i9-10900F, which does not provide a graphics chip.

AMD uses the opposite method. With AMD Ryzen processors, the model must have the letter G as the last letter in its model name if it has a built-in graphics chip. The letter at the end of the model name indicates that it has a graphics chip. That letter is G. Most AMD Ryzen processors do not have the letter G in their model name and so do not have a built-in graphics chip. An example is the third-generation AMD Ryzen 5 3400G that provides a graphics chip.

Interesting information on graphics cards on the web –

1. – You Can Finally Afford to Buy a GPU Again –

“The day you’ve waited for is finally here; GPUs are now reasonably priced, in stock, and on sale. Buying a graphics card today guarantees you the best price of the last three years—yeah, you can finally afford to buy a GPU again.”

https://www.reviewgeek.com/122006/you-can-finally-afford-to-buy-a-gpu-again/

2. – Explaining PCIe Slots – The history of adaptor-card slots ending with PCI Express (PCIe), which is currently up to version 4.9. –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrXwe21biJo

3. -. – How To Avoid Potential Problems With Windows 10 Update If You Have A Discrete Graphics Card –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwhVzBCyRVE

4. – Removing a large graphics card that has a locking mechanism can be difficult. It is such a problem for him that Carey Holzman is working on a tool that removes graphics cards such as the Gigabyte RTX 3090. He tests a prototype of the tool in the following video.. Graphics card installation time starts at 44 minutes into the video.

AMD Threadripper 3960x, Gigabyte RTX 3090, 128GB RAM – Testing my new GPU removal tool prototype! –

Intel to become a manufacturer of graphics cards

Intel has decided to become a manufacturer of high-power graphics cards. The video at the top of the following page is a discussion on this prospect.

Intel 10th-gen Core i9 to deliver 5.3GHz clock speeds, according to leaked slide [March 20, 2020] –

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-10th-gen-core-i9-leak-clock-speed/