There are two types of systems used to create video on your computer; one type is integrated video and the other is a video card. A video card is the part of your computer that is responsible for converting binary code from the CPU (Central Processing Unit) into a picture so you can view it on your monitor. Video cards plug directly into a expansion slot on the main board (motherboard) of your computer using various slots like PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), AGP (Advanced Graphics Port), and PCI Express. Integrated video is a chip built into the main board used to run the video. Most older systems have integrated video because it is a less expensive alternative to a video card. This usually this gives poor picture quality and slows down the computer because it relies on the systems CPU and memory to run it. Newer video cards come with their own memory, cooling, and a graphics processing unit (GPU).

There are four main components to a Video Card; the memory, a processor, a connector to the motherboard and a connector to the monitor. These components are responsible for making a 3-D image out of the binary data, filling in the remaining pixels, and adding light, texture and color. If you were using integrated video and tried to play the most up- to-date video games the load on the computers CPU and Memory would become to much for the computer to handle. If you like good graphics, watch DVD’s, or play computer games a Video Card is definitely the way to go.

DVI and VGA Ports (VGA is the port on the left and DVI is to the right)

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