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Typically, a video card plugs into an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slot or PCle (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) slot on your computer's motherboard. Video cards usually have several ports that allow you to connect external devices, such as an LCD or CRT monitor, television or projector. High-end video cards have their own memory as well as a specialized chip, called the GUI (graphics processing unit) or VPU (video processing unit), that is optimized to produce 3-D images.
Normally, the life expectancy for a video card is about 2 to 5 years, but if you are an avid computer gamer and often overclock your card, you should expect a shorter lifespan. - ATI and Nvidia are two popular high-end video card manufacturers, and they often release updated video card drivers. Periodically, you should visit their websites for new drivers. If your current video card is manufactured by Intel, you should visit its website and download the software program that will scan your computer system to detect outdated drivers. Intel will specify an up-to-date driver that you can download and install on your computer.
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Generally, high-end video cards are designed to produce faster and smoother graphics for graphic-intensive games, photos or video editing software. Installing the latest version of DirectX, created for Windows operating systems, will prevent compatibility issues with the latest high-performance applications and games.
Most video cards are optimized to support DirectX, which is a set of applications that provide support for enhanced features, such as 3-D or 2-D (two-dimensional) accelerated graphics and sound cards. -
Also, there are several types of video card utilities that you can download from the Internet. A few examples are GMABooster, which is a safe overclocking utility that will increase your display frame rate. GPU-Z utility will display information about your video card and GPU. Riva Tuner 2.24c is designed to tweak ATI and Nvidia display adapters.
If you frequently play computer games, invest in a video card designed for playing graphic-intensive games. There are several top performers that gamers prefer, due to their accelerated frame rates and realistic images. -
Nvidia's GeForce GTX 295 is a dual-chip graphics card and is extremely fast. The card is perfect for gaming and editing digital images. The retail price is $500.
Nvidia's GeForce GTX 260 is another good choice. The video card allows you to watch Blu-ray movies and realistic 3-D images. The retail price is $250.
ATI's Radeon HD 4890 is designed to use the latest version of DirectX, and the default core speed is 850MHz. The retail price is $225.
