How to determine the video card yourself?

Any owner of a personal computer or laptop sooner or later wondered about which video card is on the computer. This knowledge is not needed, except, to someone who does not at all try to understand what kind of computer it is working on. Understand how to determine the video card is also necessary for the timely updating of drivers and, if necessary, upgrading the hardware components (upgrade).

A video card is an integral part of any computer system that provides an image output to the screen. Structurally can be a separate device (board), and built-in. In the first case, we are talking about discrete solutions, and in the second case, about integrated solutions. This moment has absolutely no effect on how to determine the video card - the order of the actions is completely identical. The main thing is to follow the recommendations consistently.

There are several ways to determine the video card. All of them are quite effective and give a 100% result. The fair question is: why not use just one? The thing is that people are different, and that it is more convenient to one, the other will seem to be a "dark forest". Understanding this, we will give several options for how to determine the video card. Will only read and choose the most convenient for yourself. First, we'll look at the order of the operation for individual devices.

One of the simplest is to take the instruction booklet from a discrete graphics card, a box or a warranty sheet and find the name of the model there.

Its opposite is the most difficult way. It involves removing the side cover of the system unit, finding a video card there and reading the exact name on its label. Sometimes it may be necessary to decipher the alphanumeric symbols.

A compromise option is to use the appropriate software. If drivers are already installed on the card in the operating system, then you can proceed as follows. In any free area of the desktop, press the right mouse button and select "Screen Resolution". Then go to "Advanced settings" and open the "Adapter" tab (all the above is true for Vista systems - Win 8). Here you can see data about the BIOS and the graphics processor.

You can also determine the model of the video card using the built -in Windows tools and other Way. To do this, call the properties of the shortcut "Computer" and go to "Device Manager" (here you can also access from the control panel). In the list of connected components, we find and open "Video adapters". The name of the card, including the manufacturer, is displayed here.

This data is enough to find the necessary driver and orientation in the capabilities of the video subsystem of the computer.

A much more detailed result is provided by specialized programs. For example, by downloading, installing and running the GPU-Z application, you can determine the detailed characteristics of the GPU. Also worth mentioning is the diagnostic AIDA64. After starting, go to the item in the "Display" list.

For integrated solutions, the order is slightly changed. Since there is no separate box to the card, you should search for the data on the developer's website of the motherboard used (in case of decoding the video core on the board) or read the CPU specification (if the video card is integrated into this chip). It is also not always possible to determine the type of integrated card when disassembling the chassis of the system unit. Software methods are fully applicable.