Sunday, May 1, 2016

Basics of Building a Computer (Part 3)

                                                       Graphics Processing Unit 

       The graphics processing unit, aka. graphics card or GPU, is what translates the visuals or graphics from your PC to an external viewing device or a monitor. Graphics cards come in all types of speeds, sizes, colors, and more. When choosing your graphics card, it's important to decide based on what you wish to use your computer for. For intense gamers, choose a graphics card of at least 4gb of memory and a clock speed of atleast 1000MHz. For average users, you will not need more than 1gb of memory and a clock speed of 600MHz or less. Average gamers fall right in the middle of those specs.
      You must also be sure that you choose the correct GPU based on what type of cables or monitors you wish to connect to it and how many. If you are unsure of how that works, you can look up pictures of how a graphics cards looks when it's plugged into your motherboard. One side of the graphics card has ports which line up with the outside of your PC case, making it appear as all one, single motherboard component with the ports on the rear of the case. So be sure that you choose the rights ports (For your chosen monitors) and the correct amount.

DVI: HD monitor video cable (No audio, best for gaming and all-around HD monitor performance)
VGA: lower quality monitor video cables (No audio)
HDMI: HD quality monitor or TV video cable (Carries audio, not generally the most commonly used for gaming, but it still does just as well as DVI))
DisplayPort: High quality monitor video port (No audio)

GPU RAM Types:

DDR2 - Outdated
DDR3 - Still in use, not as common as DDR5
DDR5 - *Newest

       Be sure to check that the graphics card will fit inside of your chosen case as some graphics cards can be quite large.

4 comments:

  1. Everytime I read your posts, I learn something new. If I ever want to build a computer, I'll come to you.

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  2. Question is a HDMI better than a DVI? is there a major difference in price?

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    Replies
    1. It all depends on what you plan to use it for. Though they are both of equal visual quality, DVI is your best choice your HD gaming and standard PC use. HDMI is designed to carry audio through it so as to minimize the amount of cables required, but it may be completely useless if your monitor does not have a built in speaker; also the reason why we use HDMI for TVs as they have built in speakers. DVI is also more likely to stay in place and not be knocked out of the port due to the fact that it screws itself into place (Not permanently; it's easily removed).

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  3. Thank you sawyer for the good information. love reading your blogs

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