Unleashing Power: How Graphics Cards Boost Your Gaming Experience

Your computer has many components inside its case, each responsible for a different function. If you opened up your PC case right now, you'd likely find a motherboard, a CPU, some RAM, and a storage drive. Then, in some computers, you'd also find a graphics card, the bit of hardware responsible for creating images on your screen.
The graphics processing unit (GPU) is a vital piece of hardware. Without it, you wouldn't be able to play games, watch movies, or even flick through a Powerpoint presentation. So, what is a graphics card, and does it actually work?
What Is a Graphics Card?
So, when someone says "graphics card," they're referring to the GPU-the graphics processing unit. Like the motherboard in your computer, the graphics card is also a printed circuit board. It comes with a specific set of instructions to follow, and when it comes to standalone (known as discreet) GPUs, it'll also come with fans, onboard RAM, its own memory controller, BIOS, and other features.
While graphics cards can come in all different shapes and sizes, there are two main types:
Integrated: An integrated GPU is built directly into the same housing as the CPU or an SoC. The vast majority of Intel CPUs come with integrated graphics, though it's a bit hit and miss with AMD's CPUs. Integrated graphics are useful for some modest gaming, web browsing, email, and potentially watching videos. They're also less power-hungry than a discreet GPU.
Discreet: A discreet GPU is one separate from the CPU, added to an expansion slot found on the motherboard. A discreet GPU will deliver more power than an integrated GPU and can be used for high-level gaming, video editing, 3D model rendering, and other computationally intensive tasks. Some modern GPUs require hundreds of watts to run.
A modern, discreet GPU will typically outperform an integrated GPU, but you do have to take CPU and GPU generations into consideration. If you're comparing hardware produced in the same era, the discreet GPU will win out. It simply has more processing power and more cooling available to process complex tasks.
What Components Does a Graphics Card Have?
Specific hardware varies between graphic card models, but most modern, discreet GPUs have the following components:
GPU: The GPU is an actual hardware component, similar to a CPU
Memory: Also known as VRAM, the graphics card comes with dedicated memory to assist operations
Interface: Most GPUs use PCI Express, found at the bottom of the card
Outputs: You'll find various video outputs, often comprising HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, or VGA
Fans/Heat Sink: All GPUs come with fans and a heat sink to help dissipate heat build-up during usage
Power Connectors: Modern GPUs require a six or eight-pin power connector, sometimes even requiring two or three
BIOS: The GPU BIOS holds initial setup and program information, retaining data on voltages, memory, and more when you power down your machine
How Does a Graphics Card Work?
A graphics card is primarily responsible for rendering images on a display, be that photos, videos, games, documents, your regular desktop environment, a file folder, and anything else. All of these things, from tasks that require tremendous computing power, like a video game, to something we deem "simple" like opening a new text document all require the use of a graphics card.
Expanding on this a little, your graphics card maps the instructions issued by the other programs on your computer into a visual rendering on your screen. But, a modern graphics card is capable of processing a phenomenal number of instructions simultaneously, drawing and redrawing images tens or even hundreds of times every second to ensure whatever you're looking at, whatever tasks you're attempting to complete remains smooth.
So, the CPU sends information regarding what needs to appear on screen to the graphics card. In turn, the graphics card takes those instructions and runs them through its own processing unit, rapidly updating its onboard memory (known as VRAM) as to which pixels on the screen need changing and how. This information then whizzes from your graphics card to your monitor (via a cable, of course), where the images, lines, textures, lighting, shading, and everything else changes.
If done well, and the graphics card and other computer components aren't pushed to perform actions outside their capabilities, it looks like magic. The above description is very, very basic. There is a lot more going on under the surface, but that's a rough overview of how a graphics card works.
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