Need better understanding of graphic cards

I only barely get what graphic cards do. People seem to be saying it is good to have some independent graphics memory, especially when using Vista, even if not a gamer. Would someone mind explaining a bit about how that works? I do wordprocessing, watch a fair amount of internet video clips, and the occasional movie, zero gaming.

 

vista's aero glass feature requires some sort of 3d processing...hence, it runs more smoothly when there is a dedicated gpu. however, many run vista and aero glass just fine with integrated graphics.

 

Thanks for that feedback, EJL. What is it that graphics cards do that make them do somethings better?

 

Basically, a GPU (graphics processing unit) is a seperate processor where your computers main processor 'farms out' the graphics processing. It is a specialized processor specifically designed to give you what you see on the screen.
They vary in capability from very basic on the motherboard processors to crazy powerful GPUs that can work in tandem with each other if you have more than one.
Even though a little more would be good with vista there is no reason to go overboard since you do no rendering or games.

 

Imagine a factory. You have a guy who's very good at building all kinds of things. He's like your processor. He can also do math, but it's kind of hard for him to do the accounting math. So he gives it to an accountant, who does it much faster, and then he just gets the results back to keep running the factory. The accountant is like the graphics card. The thing is, with vista, the accounting math gets much harder, so it's much more important to have the good graphics card than it was before.

That make some sense to you? It's basically that graphics (especially on Vista) is a highly specialized kind of calculation that the GPU(aka graphics card or chip) is MUCH MUCH better at than the main processor is.

For you, I'd suggest getting an "integrated" level graphics card, like an NVIDIA 7200 or something. Those kinds of cards also make DVD playback better (as well as some other specific types of video), as well as all the special vista-y effects, so they're quite useful.

 

gpus render 3d images.

 

Thanks. That was very helpful. Is it the case that anything beyond an integrated card is a waste of money, or is it the case that an integrated card is adequate but an independent card with some memory would still be preferable, just don't get a huge card?

 

Pita I thought the 7200Go was dedicated.

My advice to OP: get a cheap dedicated card such as the nVidia 7200Go. Integrated solutions are crap.

 

he he.. i cudnt agree more with gator.. Integrated, nowadays are crap becasue even ur OS is asking for a better one..

considering ur performance reqmts, u r bang on the spot Diver.. get some not-so-costly dedicated card..

 

They are not crap. They are simply meant for different purposes. In fact, they have distinct advantages, including less power consumption, less heat and less cost. If you don't game, an integrated graphics solution is fine.

If you are using Vista, then a current generation integrated solution is needed to run Areo.

One further clarification to the original poster, integrated graphics 'integrate' the 3D rendering onto the motherboard chipset functions. This means that there is not a seperate GPU withits own RAM. The graphics is processed by the chipset (northbridge) with help from the CPU and main memory.

 

It was figuratively speaking

My previous laptop had one of those S3 "Savage" Integrated cards, and I had a terrible time running anything graphically intensive. I wish I'd known about dedicated cards back then, so that I would have gone with a low-end one for $40 more.

Anyway, integrated cards have most definitely gotten better since then. However, they still have a couple of strikes against them: the GPU needs to use slower system RAM and it needs to do so over the FSB, effectively competing with the CPU for both RAM and memory bandwidth. They also lack many hardware functions that modern applications often use without notifying the user, instead relying on the CPU to handle handle these tasks. So sometimes, when you launch an office type application and it slows to a craw, it's because the CPU is being bombarded with graphics calculations when it should be focusing on the application's instructions.

However there are many satisfied integrated card users so it's not to say they don't have their advantages: generally better battery times and cheaper.

 

I didn't think it had any dedicated memory, so I lump it in with integrated solutions, like the Intel graphics chips. It may be a discrete chip, but I'm thinking it still has minimal (if any) discrete memory, so that's a point against it being "dedicated".

Again, the ATI/NVIDIA chips have some video acceleration features that the Intel chips lack, and can make playing a DVD much smoother and nicer, and it will use much less CPU power to do so. That's why I recommend at least the lowest level of "specialized" chips.