Overview
Thegraphicscard,alsoknownasthevideocard(Videocard),isanimportantpartofthecomputer.Itisresponsibleforthetaskofoutputtinganddisplayinggraphics.Forpeople,thegraphicscardisveryimportant.ThedisplaychipsofmainstreamgraphicscardsaremainlymanufacturedbyNVIDIAandAMD(SuperPowerSemiconductor).GraphicscardsthatuseNVIDIAdisplaychipsareusuallycalledNcards,andthosethatuseAMDdisplaychipsarecalledAcards.
Computerswithhigherconfigurationsallincludegraphicscardcomputingcores.Inscientificcomputing,thegraphicscardiscalledadisplayacceleratorcard.
Videochipsetisthemainprocessingunitofthegraphicscard,soitisalsocalledtheGraphicProcessingUnit(GPU).TheGPUwasfirstproposedbyNVIDIAwhenitreleasedtheGeForce256graphicsprocessingchip.concept.Especiallywhendealingwith3Dgraphics,theGPUenablesthegraphicscardtoreducethedependenceontheCPUandcompletepartoftheworkoriginallybelongingtotheCPU.ThecoretechnologiesusedbytheGPUincludehardwareT&L(geometricconversionandlightingprocessing),cubicenvironmenttexturemappingandvertexblending,texturecompressionandbumpmapping,dualtexturefour-pixel256-bitrenderingengine,etc.,andhardwareT&LtechnologyItcanbesaidtobeasignofGPU.
Thevarious3Dspecialeffectssupportedbythegraphicscardaredeterminedbytheperformanceofthegraphicschip.Thetypeofgraphicschipusedroughlydeterminesthegradeandbasicperformanceofthegraphicscard,suchasNVIDIA'sGTseriesandAMD'sHDseries.
Therearemanywaystomeasurethequalityofagraphicscard.Inadditiontousingtestsoftwaretotestandcompare,therearemanyindicatorsforuserstocomparetheperformanceofthegraphicscard.Themainfactorsthataffecttheperformanceofthegraphicscardarethefrequencyofthegraphicscard,displaymemory,etc.Performance.
Workingprincipleandmode
Thegraphicscardisinsertedintotheexpansionslotonthemotherboard(usuallyPCI-Eslot,therewereAGP,PCI,ISAandotherslotsbefore).Itismainlyresponsibleforconvertingthedisplaysignalsentbythehosttothedisplayintoageneralelectricalsignal,sothatthedisplaycanunderstandwhatthepersonalcomputerismakingitdo.Thegraphicscardismainlycomposedofgraphicscardmotherboard,displaychip,displaymemory,radiator(heatsink,fan)andotherparts.Themainchipofthegraphicscardiscalled"Videochipset"(alsocalledGPUorVPU,graphicsprocessororvisualprocessor),whichisthemainprocessingunitofthegraphicscard.Thegraphicscardalsohasamemorysimilartothecomputermemory,called"displaymemory",orvideomemoryforshort.
Earlygraphicscardswerepurelygraphicscards,whichonlyplayedtheroleofsignalconversion;thegraphicscardswegenerallyusehave3Dgraphicscalculationsandgraphicsaccelerationfunctions,sotheyarealsocalled"graphicsaccelerationcards"or"3Dacceleratorcard".TheearliestgraphicscardsonthePCweretheMDAandCGA2Dacceleratorcardsthatwereinstalledonthe5150personalcomputerlaunchedbyIBMin1981.
Thegraphicscardisusuallycomposedofbusinterface,PCBboard,displaychip,videomemory,RAMDAC,VGABIOS,VGAfunctionpins,D-subsocketandotherperipheralcomponents.MostgraphicscardsalsohaveVGAandDVIdisplayinterfacesOrHDMIinterfaceandS-VideoterminalandDisplayPortinterface.
Categories
Integratedgraphics
CPUsequippedwithcoregraphicscardsareusuallynotexpensive,andlow-endcoresareclearlydifficulttohandlelarge-scalegames.Theintegratedgraphicscardisacomponentthatintegratesthedisplaychip,videomemoryandrelatedcircuitsonthemotherboard,andintegrateswithit;thedisplaychipoftheintegratedgraphicscardhasaseparate,butmostofthemareintegratedinthenorthbridgechipofthemotherboard;somemotherboardsareintegratedThegraphicscardalsohasaseparatevideomemoryinstalledonthemotherboard,butitscapacityisrelativelysmall.Thedisplayeffectandprocessingperformanceoftheintegratedgraphicscardarerelativelyweak,andhardwareupgradesofthegraphicscardcannotbeperformed.However,youcanuseCMOStoadjustthefrequencyorflashanewBIOSfiletoachievesoftwareupgradestotapthepotentialofthedisplaychip.Theadvantagesofintegratedgraphicsarelowpowerconsumptionandlowheat.Theperformanceofsomeintegratedgraphicscanbecomparabletoentry-leveldiscretegraphics,somanypeoplewholiketoassemblecomputersbythemselvescangetthemselveswithoutspendingextramoneytobuydiscretegraphics.Satisfactoryperformance.
Thedisadvantageoftheintegratedgraphicscardisthattheperformanceisrelativelylow,anditissolidifiedonthemotherboardorCPU.Itcannotbereplacedbyitself.Ifitmustbereplaced,themotherboardcanonlybereplaced.
Discretegraphicscard
Discretegraphicscardreferstothedisplaychip,videomemoryandrelatedcircuitsbuiltonacircuitboard,whichisself-containedandexistsasanindependentboard.Needtooccupythemotherboardexpansionslot(ISA,PCI,AGPorPCI-E).Theadvantageofadiscretegraphicscardisthatithasaseparateinstallationofvideomemory,generallydoesnotoccupysystemmemory,andistechnicallymuchmoreadvancedthanintegratedgraphics,butitsperformanceiscertainlynotworsethanthatofintegratedgraphics,anditiseasytoupgradethehardwareofthegraphicscard.Thedisadvantageofthediscretegraphicscardisthatthepowerconsumptionofthesystemhasincreased,theheatgenerationisalsolarger,itneedstospendextramoneytobuythegraphicscard,andatthesametime(especiallyfornotebookcomputers)takesupmorespace.Astheperformanceofthegraphicscardhasdifferentrequirementsforthegraphicscard,discretegraphicscardsareactuallydividedintotwocategories,onetypeisentertainmentgraphicscardsdesignedspecificallyforgames,andtheotherisprofessionalgraphicscardsusedforgraphicsand3Drendering.
HDGraphics
HDGraphicsisthenewgenerationgraphicsprocessingcoreofIntelproducts.Unlikepreviousgraphicscarddesigns,IntelreliesonitsadvancedtechnologyintheprocessormanufacturingprocessandnewThearchitecturedesignintegratesthegraphicscoreandtheprocessingcoreonthesamesubstratetoformacompleteprocessor.Thedesignintegrationoftheintelligentprocessorarchitecturegreatlyreducesthedataturnaroundtimebetweentheprocessingcore,graphicscore,memoryandmemorycontroller,effectivelyimprovingprocessingefficiencyandgreatlyreducingtheoverallpowerconsumptionofthechipset,whichhelpstoreducethecorecomponentsThesizeprovidesmoreoptionsforthedesignofnotebooks,all-in-onesandotherproducts.
Itshouldbenotedthatthecoregraphicscardisnotthesameastheintegratedgraphicscardinthetraditionalsense.Thegraphicssolutionsadoptedbythenotebookplatformaremainly"independent"and"integrated".Theformerhasaseparategraphicscoreandindependentvideomemory,whichcanmeetthecomplexandhugegraphicsprocessingneedsandprovideefficientvideoencodingapplications;integratedgraphicscardsThegraphicscoreisintegratedonthemotherboardasaseparatechip,andpartofthesystemmemoryisdynamicallysharedasavideomemory,soitcanprovidesimplegraphicsprocessingcapabilitiesandsmoothercodingapplications.
Comparedwiththefirsttwo,thecoregraphicscardintegratesthegraphicscoreintotheprocessor,furtherenhancingtheefficiencyofgraphicsprocessing,andintegratesthe"processor+southbridge+northbridge(graphics)intheintegratedgraphicscard.The"core+memorycontrol+displayoutput)"three-chipsolutionisreducedtoadual-chipmodeof"processor(processingcore+graphicscore10memorycontrol)10motherboardchips(displayoutput)",whicheffectivelyreducestheoverallpowerconsumptionofthecorecomponents,Whichismoreconducivetoextendingthebatterylifeofthenotebook.
Lowpowerconsumptionisthemainadvantageofthecoregraphicscard.Duetothenewstreamlinedarchitectureandintegrateddesign,thecoregraphicscardhasbettercontroloftheoverallenergyconsumption,andtheefficientprocessingperformancegreatlyreducesthecomputingtime.Furtherreducetheenergyconsumptionofthesystemplatform.Highperformanceisalsoitsmainadvantage:coregraphicscardshavemanyadvantageoustechnologies,whichcanbringsufficientgraphicsprocessingcapabilities,andtheirperformanceisveryobviouscomparedwiththepreviousgenerationofproducts.
ThecoregraphicscardcansupportDX10/DX11,SM4.0,OpenGL2.0,andFullHDFullHDMPEG2/H.264/VC-1formatdecodingandothertechnologies.Theperformancedynamicadjustmentwillbeaddedsoon.Significantlyenhancetheprocessingpowerofthecoregraphicscard,sothatitfullymeetstheneedsofordinaryusers.
Structure
Thestructureofageneralgraphicscardisasfollows:
Capacitor:CapacitorisaveryimportantcomponentinthegraphicscardbecauseofthedisplayqualityTheprosandconsmainlydependonthequalityofthecapacitor,andthequalityofthecapacitordirectlyaffectsthequalityofthegraphicscardcircuit.
Videomemory:Videomemoryisresponsibleforstoringvariousdatathatthedisplaychipneedstoprocess.Itscapacityandperformancedirectlyaffectthedisplayeffectofthecomputer.ThenewgraphicscardsalluseDDR6/DDR5videomemory,andthemainstreamvideomemorycapacityisgenerally2GB~4GB.
GPUandfan:GPUisthegraphicschip,itisresponsibleformostofthecalculationworkofthegraphicscard,whichisequivalenttotheroleoftheCPUinthecomputer.ThefunctionoftheGPUfanistodissipateheattotheGPU.
Graphicsinterface:Usuallycalledgoldenfinger,itcanbedividedintothreetypes:PCI,AGPandPCIExpress.PCIandAGPgraphicsinterfacearebasicallyeliminated,andmainstreamgraphicscardsonthemarketareadoptedPCIExpressgraphicscard.
Peripheralinterface:Theperipheralinterfaceofthegraphicscardisresponsiblefortheoutputtaskofthegraphicscard.ThenewgraphicscardincludesatraditionalVGAanaloginterfaceandoneormoredigitalinterfaces(DVI,HDMIandDP).
Bridgeinterface:Mid-to-high-endgraphicscardscansupportmultipleworkatthesametime,andtheyareconnectedtothebridgeinterfacethroughabridge.
Businterfacetype
ISAgraphicscard
ISAgraphicscardistheoldgraphicscardsupportedbythemostcommonlyusedVGAmonitorbefore.
VESAgraphicscard
VESAis"VideoElectronicStandardsAssociation"(VideoElectronicsEngineeringStandardsAssociation)abbreviation,co-foundedbyanumberofcomputerchipmanufacturersin1989.Attheendof1994,VESApublishedthe64-bitarchitecture"VESALocalBus"standard.Mostofthe80486personalcomputersusethisstandardgraphicscard.
PCIgraphicscard
PCI(PeripheralComponentInterconnect)graphicscardsareusuallyusedinearlierorstreamlinedcomputers.ThistypeofcomputermustremovetheAGPstandardslotRelyonagraphicscardwithaPCIinterface.Knowntobeusedmostlyfromthe486totheearlyeraofPentiumII.ButuntilthedisplaychipcannotdirectlysupportAGP,somemanufacturerscontinuetomanufacturegraphicscardsbasedonAGPtoPCI.ThelatestknownPCIinterfacegraphicscardsareGeForceGT610PCI(SPARKLEsystem)modelGRSP610L1024LCandATIHD4350PCI(HISsystem)andHISHD5450PCI(HISsystem)HIS5450Silence512MBDDR3PCIDVI/HDMI/VGAProductnumberH545H512P.
AGPgraphicscard
AGP(AcceleratedGraphicsPort)isIntel(Intel)32-bitbusinterfacedevelopedbythecompanyin1996toimprovethedisplayperformanceincomputersystems.ThereareAGP1X,AGP2X,AGP4X,andfinallyAGP8X,withbandwidthsof266MB/s,533MB/s,1066MB/s,and2133MB/s.Amongthem,AGP4Xisnotcompatiblewiththepreviousvoltage.Amongthem,"Wildcat47210"of3DLABSisthestrongestprofessional-gradeAGPgraphicsacceleratorcard,whileATI'sRadeonHD4670andHD3850arethemostpowerfulconsumer-gradeAGPgraphicsacceleratorcardsoftheyear(2007).
PCIExpressgraphicscard
PCIExpress(alsoknownasPCI-E)isthelatestgraphicsinterfaceforgraphicscards.ItisusedtoreplaceAGPgraphicscards.Facedwiththecontinuousadvancementof3Ddisplaytechnologyinthefuture,AGPThebandwidthisnotenoughtocopewithhugedataoperations.ThemostpowerfulPCI-ExpressgraphicscardsareNVIDIA’s"NVIDIATitanV"andAMD’s"RadeonProDuo(Fiji)."Atpresent,thegraphicscardsproducedafter2007cansupportdualgraphicstechnology(NVIDIA'sSLiandnvlinkandAMD'sCrossFire).
ExternalPCIExpressgraphicscard
UseaUSBorThunderbolthigh-bandwidthcabletoconnecttoanexternalPCIExpressgraphicsbox,whichrequiresanindependentpowersupply.
Performanceindicators
Graphicscardfrequency
Graphicscardfrequencymainlyreferstothecorefrequencyandmemoryfrequencyofthegraphicscard,bothinMHz(megahertz).
(1)Corefrequency
Thecorefrequencyofthegraphicscardreferstotheoperatingfrequencyofthedisplaycore,anditsoperatingfrequencycanreflectthedisplaycoretoacertainextentTheperformanceofthegraphicscard,buttheperformanceofthegraphicscardisdeterminedbythecorefrequency,streamprocessorunit,videomemoryfrequency,videomemorybitwidthandotheraspects.Therefore,inthecaseofdifferentgraphicscores,thehighcorefrequencydoesnotmeantheperformanceofthisgraphicscardStrong.Forexample,thecorefrequencyofGTS250hasreached750MHz,whichishigherthan576MHzofGTX260+,butGTX260+isdefinitelystrongerthanGTS250inperformance.Inthesamelevelofchips,thehigherthecorefrequency,thestrongertheperformance.Thereareonlytwomainstreamdisplaychips,AMDandNVIDIA,bothofwhichprovidedisplaycorestothird-partymanufacturers.Underthesamedisplaycore,somemanufacturerswillappropriatelyincreasethedisplaycorefrequencyoftheirproductstomakethemworkhigherthanthefixeddisplaycore.Inordertoachievehigherperformance.
(2)Videomemoryfrequency
Thevideomemoryfrequencyreflectsthespeedofthevideomemorytoacertainextent.Thelevelofthevideomemoryfrequencyhasaverylargerelationshipwiththetypeofvideomemory.
Thevideomemoryfrequencyandthevideomemoryclockperiodarerelated,andthetwoareinareciprocalrelationship,thatis,thevideomemoryfrequency(MHz)=1/thevideomemoryclockperiod(NS)Xl000.Butitshouldbeunderstoodthatwhenthegraphicscardismanufactured,themanufacturersetstheactualworkingfrequencyofthevideomemory,andtheactualworkingfrequencyisnotnecessarilyequaltothemaximumfrequencyofthevideomemory.Suchsituationsaremorecommon.
Displaymemory
Displaymemoryisabbreviatedasvideomemory,alsoknownasframebuffer.Asthenamesuggests,itsmainfunctionistotemporarilystoretherenderingdataprocessedorabouttobeextractedbythedisplaychip,similartothatofamotherboard.Memoryisoneofthemainperformanceindicatorstomeasurethegraphicscard.
Thevideomemoryisthesameasthesystemmemory.Themorecapacitythebetter,thestrongerthegraphicscoreperformance,thelargerthevideomemoryrequired,becausethelargerthevideomemory,themoreimagedatacanbestored.Thehigherthesupportedresolutionandthenumberofcolors,thesmootherthegamewillrun.
Mainstreamgraphicscardsbasicallyhavea6GBcapacity,whilesomemid-to-high-endgraphicscardsareequippedwith6GBand8GBvideomemorycapacities.
Videomemorytype
Thevideomemorytypeisthetypeofstoragetechnologyusedbythegraphicscardmemory.ThemainvideomemorytypesonthemarketareSDDR2,GDDR2,GDDR3andGDDR5,butmostofthemainstreamgraphicscardsuseInadditiontotheGDDR3memorytype,somemid-to-high-endgraphicscardsuseGDDR5.ComparedwithDDR3,DDR5typegraphicscardshavehigherfrequenciesandmorepowerfulperformance.
Videomemorybitwidth
Thevideomemorybitwidthreferstotheamountofdatathatcanbereadatonetime,thatis,thespeedofdataexchangebetweenthevideomemoryandthedisplaychip.Thelargerthebitwidth,thesmootherthedataexchangebetweenthevideomemoryandthedisplaychip.Generallyspeaking,thespecificationofacertaingraphicscardis2GB128bit,where128bitreferstothevideomemorybitwidthofthisgraphicscard.
Streamprocessorunit
BeforetheDX10graphicscardcameout,therewasnosuchthingasa"streamprocessor".TheGPUiscomposedof"pipelines",whicharedividedintopixelpipelinesandvertexpipelines,thenumberofwhichisfixed.Simplyput,thevertexpipelineismainlyresponsiblefor3Dmodeling,andthepixelpipelineisresponsiblefor3Drendering.Sincetheirnumberisfixed,thereisaproblem.Whenagamescenerequiresalotof3Dmodelingwithouttoomuchpixelprocessing,itwillcausethevertexpipelineresourcetobetightandthepixelpipelinetobeidle.Ofcourse,therearealsoThediametricallyoppositesituation.Thiswillcausetheshortageofsomeresourcesandtheidlewasteofotherresources.Undersuchcircumstances,peoplefirstproposedthe"unifiedrenderingarchitecture"intheDX10era.Thegraphicscardcanceledthetraditional"pixelpipeline"and"vertexpipeline"andchangedittoastreamprocessorunit.ItcanperformvertexcalculationsorPerformpixeloperations,sothatindifferentscenarios,thegraphicscardcandynamicallyallocatethenumberofstreamprocessorsforvertexoperationsandpixeloperationstoachievefulluseofresources.
Thenumberofstreamprocessorshasbecomeaveryimportantindicatorthatdeterminestheperformanceofthegraphicscard.NVIDIAandAMDarealsoconstantlyincreasingthenumberofstreamprocessorsinthegraphicscardsothattheperformanceofthegraphicscardhasreachedaleap,ItisworthmentioningthattheGPUarchitectureofNcardandAcardisnotthesame,andtheallocationofthenumberofstreamprocessorsisalsodifferent.Thetwosidesarenotcomparable.
Displayinterface
Thefollowingarecommonlyuseddisplayinterfaces:
ADC-Appledisplayterminal
D-sub-MostpeoplecalltheVGAterminal,butmostgraphicscardshavecancelledthisinterfaceandonlyretainDVIandHDMI
13W3-analogvideoInterface,commonlyusedinearlygraphicsworkstations.
DVI-digitalvideointerface,coexistswiththeD-subconnectorinthecurrentmarket,andcanbeconvertedintoaD-subconnector
mini-DVI-usedbyAppleisareducedversionofDVI,whichcanbeconvertedtoDVIorD-sub
HDMI-anewtypeofaudio-visualhomeapplianceinterface,graphicscardsarecommonlyused,ItcanbeconvertedtoaDVIconnector
DisplayPort-anewinterfacethatcompeteswithHDMI
TheevolutionofMiniDisplayPort-DisplayPort
p>LFH-DMS-59Interfacepredecessor
DMS-59-atypethatcanoutputtwoGroupanalogandtwogroupsofdigitalsignalinterface
Thunderbolt-ahigh-speeddatainterfacejointlydevelopedbyAppleandIntel,backwardcompatiblewithMiniDisplayPortdevices,thenewgenerationusesUSB3.1TypeC.
Well-knowncompanies
Thefollowingcompanieshavebeenorareproducingdisplaychipsorgraphicscards;includingcompaniesthathavecloseddown,exitedthegraphicscardmarket,orweremerged.
3dfx(acquiredbyNVIDIA)
3DLABS
AccelGraphics
AvanceLogic
AMD(SuperMicro)
Appian
ArtistGraphics
ArkLogic
ATI(Tian,ithasbeenacquiredbyAMD)
Canopus
CirrusLogic
Colorgraphic(colormap)
Creative(innovation)
DEC(DiGuido)
DiamondMultimedia(EmperorLeague)
DynamicPictures
Everex
Genoa
Headland
Hercules
IODATA
Intel(Intel)
Intense3D
IXMicro
Kasan
LungHwa(Longhua)
Macronix(Macronix)
Matrox(迈创)
Matsushita(Panasonic)
Motorola(Motorola)
Mpact
NEC(NipponElectric)
NumberNine
NVIDIA
Orchid(Orchid)
OAK
PowerVR
Quantum3D(Quantum3D)
Realtek(Realtek)
RealVision
Rendition
S3Graphics
SigmaDesigns
SiS(SiS)
STBSystems
STMicroelectronics(STMicroelectronics)
Tandy
TechSource
Trident(Tandy)
TsengLabs(曾氏)
WesternDesignCenter
Weitek
XGI(TuCheng)
ASUS(ASUS)
GIGABYTE(GIGABYTE)
MSI(MicroStar)
EVGA(艾维克))
PowerColoer
Galaxy(GALAXY)
Zotac
Classificationofcurrentmainstreamgraphicscards
Thehighest-endgraphicscard:Thecurrenthighest-endgraphicscardisthe30seriesgraphicscard.
Mainstream:Sincethe30-seriesgraphicscardshavejustbeenlaunched,mostplayers’mainstreamgraphicscardsarestill16-seriesand20-seriesgraphicscards.
Mid-endgraphicscards:9thgenerationgraphicscardsand10seriesgraphicscards.
Low-endgraphicscards:7thgenerationandbelowgraphicscards