If you are looking for a way to boost the graphics of your computer, you should be aware of how the graphics is functioning in the first place. This article will provide you with essential information about such crucial elements of a computer as display adapters and graphics cards.
How does your monitor display graphics?
A monitor is one of the most essential components of a computer. There is no practical use of computer without monitor. I mean, of course, there is CPU, RAM, SSD/HDD etc. They are the vital force of the computer. If we compare these components with the biology of the human, The CPU is the heart, RAM and SSD/HDD would be part of the brain and so on, while the monitor is the eye. We heavily rely on output of a computed process, the result is shown on the monitor. Yet, the monitor alone would not work, for a monitor to work, another component needs behind the scene to make the monitor work. This component is either a display adapter or graphics card.
What is a display adapter?
Display adapters or graphics cards intermediate between the monitor and make all the necessary communication to and from the CPU and send it to the monitor. A display adapter is one of the most complex piece of device in the computer.
A display adapter itself is one of the mini motherboards. It has its own RAM, processors etc. A processor which processes all the necessary task to finally output the result on the display is called a graphics processor. One of the core thing to note is that any monitor must have a compatibility match with the display adapter in the system, otherwise, it will simply not respond.
In the old school days, you had to install an expansion card which was plugged into the motherboard was one of the most common tasks of Windows-based PCs. Fortunately, those days are long gone and now you have built-in display adapters that almost every motherboard provides. However, one of the most confusing things is that even most for the majority of the techs, is referring to display adapters as graphic cards. But, without further ado, let’s clear the distinction between a graphics card and a display adapter.
What is a graphics card?
Anything that is outside of the five things that make a graphics card is the display adapter. These five things are – a motherboard slot, graphic processor, video memory, integrated GPUs and the right connections – are what defines a graphics card. However, the disputes on the Internet is filled with such idea that these two are the same.