Video cards translate your computer's output into a video signal your monitor can read. You may also hear these cards referred to as video boards, video display boards, graphics boards, graphics adapter cards and video adapter cards, but for the sake of consistency we'll call them video cards. Similar to your computer, a video card has a processor of its own, called a graphics accelerator. The processor translates the digital information from your computer into a video signal. The video card and its graphics controller chips determine the images that your monitor can display.

Video cards can be further broken down into two classes: integrated (onboard) and dedicated.

Many PCs come with video cards built right onto their motherboard. These cards are also known as onboard video cards, as they tap the PC's system memory rather than providing their own separate video memory source. Memory is measured by RAM, and the more RAM that a video card can use, the faster it can process and display information. Also, more RAM allows the card to display higher resolution images with sharper details and richer colors. Because sapping the system memory can slow your PC's video performance, integrated video chipsets have long been considered inferior to dedicated video cards. However, onboard cards have begun to bridge this gap. Also, integrated video cards are more convenient and less expensive than dedicated video cards because they come already built-in to PCs.

Dedicated video cards are separate peripherals that need to be connected to your PC. Since they come with their own video memory, they are widely considered superior to integrated chipsets and are often the choice of users who need to support graphics intensive programs, such as video games and multimedia software. Because of their higher performance and separate video memory, these video cards also cost more.

Dedicated video cards connect to your PC through either a Peripheral Component Connection (PCI) or Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). PCI is a plug-and-play enabled bus system that allows you to connect up to five peripherals. AGP is an upgrade of this interface, and was designed to display streaming video and 3D graphics on your monitor.

3D acceleration
Many video card processors are designed with special processors for displaying 3D graphics. These processors provide more realistic animation, lighting, and sharper graphics, especially for games and multimedia software.

MPEG video playback capability is possible with most graphics cards. With this technology, PCs running the Windows® XP operating system can offer video playback quality far beyond what is possible on many high-end televisions today. Many video cards also support DVD video playback, allowing you to watch entire DVD movies on your PC. However, be sure to check that your PC—especially your processor—fulfills the minimum system requirements for DVD playback before purchasing such a card.

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