GOVT. MAM PG COLLEGE, JAMMU.

PRESENTATION ON :

VIDEO CARDS

VIDEO CARDS PRESENTED BY : VIRANDER SINGHBBA PART 1ROLL NO. 29SESSION 2011-2012

Key words :

1. INTRODUCTION. 2. HISTORY. 3. Graphics Processing Unit. 4. Video memory. 5. RAMDAC. 6. Outputs.

INTRODUCTION :

A video card, display card, graphics card, or graphics adapter is an expansion card  which generates output images to a display. Most video cards offer various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics , MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors (multi-monitor). Other modern high performance video cards are used for more graphically demanding purposes, such as PC games.

Video hardware is often integrated into the motherboard, however all modern motherboards provide expansion ports to which a video card can be attached. In this configuration it is sometimes referred to as a video controller or graphics controller

HISTORY :

The first video card was the Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA). Introduced in 1981 by IBM. It had 4 kilobytes of video memory. It also had a printer adapter.

In 1995 the first consumer 2D/3D cards were released, developed by Matrox, Creative, S3, ATI and others.

3dfx released its Voodoo Graphics chip in 1996. Powerful compared to other consumer graphics cards, introducing 3D effects into the market.

The Voodoo2 was released in 1998. The Voodoo2 required a separate onboard 2D Video card for non 3D Gaming. The image quality passed the Voodoo by far. It had higher resolutions (1024x768). It had multitexturing support, resulting in four times better performance if supported.

In 1995 Nvidia NV5 had double the onboard memory of the NV4 Video card, which was 16MB, (The NV5 Had 32MB) It Also ran 70% faster than the NV4 Card.

In 2002 Matrox produced the Parhelia. It had 256-Bit memory, it came clocked at 220MHz and had support for three monitors. It also was supposed to support Direct X9. It did not have support for Direct X9, and its retail price was $400.00. Double the price for the same Specs other competitors were producing.

Video Cards Today :

Video Cards compared from 1981 to Now, in 2011 have changed a lot. One video card now can support 4 monitors and are literally hundreds of thousands times faster and can handle so much more at once. If you compared the Monochrome Display Adapter to a Geforce GTX 275 there not even in the same ballpark. The MDA had 4kb of video memory while the Geforce GTX 275 has 1.7Gb (1792Mb) of video memory.

Graphics Processing Unit :

A GPU is a dedicated processor optimized for accelerating graphics. The processor is designed specifically to perform floating-point calculations, which are fundamental to 3D graphics rendering and 2D picture drawing. The main attributes of the GPU are the core clock frequency, which typically ranges from 250 MHz to 4 GHz and the number of pipelines (vertex and fragment shaders ), which translate a 3D image characterized by vertices and lines into a 2D image formed by pixels.

Modern GPUs are massively parallel, and fully programmable. Their computing power in orders of magnitude are higher than that of CPUs. As consequence, they challenge CPUs in high performance computing, and push leading manufacturers on processors.

Graphics Processing Unit :

Video memory :

The memory capacity of most modern video cards ranges from 128 MB to 8 GB. Since video memory needs to be accessed by the GPU and the display circuitry, it often uses special high-speed or multi-port memory, such as VRAM, WRAM, SGRAM, etc. Around 2003, the video memory was typically based on DDR technology. During and after that year, manufacturers moved towards DDR2, GDDR3, GDDR4 and GDDR5. The effective memory clock rate in modern cards is generally between 400 MHz and 3.8 GHz.

Video memory : (Memory).

RAMDAC :

The RAMDAC, or Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter, converts digital signals to analog signals for use by a computer display that uses analog inputs such as CRT displays. The RAMDAC is a kind of RAM chip that regulates the functioning of the graphics card. Depending on the number of bits used and the RAMDAC-data-transfer rate, the converter will be able to support different computer-display refresh rates. With CRT displays, it is best to work over 75 Hz and never under 60 Hz, in order to minimize flicker.(With LCD displays, flicker is not a problem).

Outputs :

a. Video Graphics Array (VGA) (DB-15).b. Digital Visual Interface (DVI).c. Video In Video Out (VIVO).d. High-Definition Multimedia Interface

(HDMI).e. Display Port.f. Other types of connection systems.

Video Graphics Array (VGA) (DB-15) :

Analog-based standard adopted in the late 1980s designed for CRT displays, also called VGA connector. Some problems of this standard are electrical noise , image distortion and sampling error evaluating pixels.

Digital Visual Interface (DVI) :

Digital-based standard designed for displays such as flat-panel displays ( LCDs , plasma screens, wide high-definition television displays) and video projectors. In some rare cases high end CRT monitors also use DVI. It avoids image distortion and electrical noise, corresponding each pixel from the computer to a display pixel, using its native resolution.

Video In Video Out (VIVO) :

Included to allow the connection with televisions, DVD players, video recorders and video game consoles. They often come in two 10-pin mini-DIN connector variations, and the VIVO splitter cable generally comes with either 4 connectors.

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) :

An advanced digital audio/video interconnect released in 2003 and is commonly used to connect game consoles and DVD players to a display. HDMI supports copy protection through HDCP.

Display Port :

An advanced license- and royalty-free digital audio/video interconnect released in 2007. Display Port intends to replace VGA and DVI for connecting a display to a computer.

Other types of connection systems :

Analog system with lower resolution, it uses the RCA connector

An analog standard once used by Sun Microsystems, SGI and IBM

A connector that provides two DVI or VGA outputs on a single connector. This is a

DMS-59 port.

Thank you