What is a built-in graphics card

The progress in the field of computer technology is developing so rapidly that many things, which seemed to be fantastic yesterday, are now becoming a reality. For example, hardly a decade ago someone could seriously think that the integrated graphics card will become an indispensable attribute of a modern computer, such as the AC97 audio codecs and the replaced Audio HD.

Perhaps, every computer owner knows what a video card looks like. This is a relatively small board (although there are exceptions) with two rows of sliding contacts, which it connects to the connector on the motherboard. Such varieties are called discrete varieties. But the built-in graphics card is a completely different design solution. If an inquisitive user wants to find such a video card on the motherboard, then it can not turn out right away. The integrated graphics card is a large chip on the motherboard, often with its own radiator. However, such a constructive solution has recently been used less and less. Perfection of the manufacturing process of semiconductor transistors (22 nm or less) made it possible to integrate the computing and execution units of the video adapter on a processor chip. So, to see what the built-in graphics card looks like, it's enough to look, for example, on the Intel Core processor of the generations of Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge. Part of its crystal is just a video adapter. If the motherboard has connectors for connecting the monitor, then a built-in video card is provided.

In comparison with discrete models, the advantages are obvious:

- reduced power consumption;

- fewer noisy fans;

- 100% compatible with the CPU ;

- savings on the purchase of another card.

By the way, the lack of PCI-E 16 connector almost certainly indicates the presence of an integrated solution. The only drawback - in some cases, the performance of such a solution may not be enough. Still, on a separate device, you can place more computational blocks than on a single chip with processor cores. If the user is not addicted to modern computer games, then the built-in card is the best choice. Sometimes a little You can increase the performance by simply installing new drivers on the integrated graphics card. They need to be downloaded from the sites of manufacturers - NVidia, Intel or AMD (the most popular ones). Alternative solution: go to the site of the motherboard manufacturer and look for the appropriate driver to your motherboard. However, this does not guarantee obtaining the latest version.

If the owner of the computer for any reason does not like the level of performance of the built-in device, then you can purchase and connect a discrete video adapter to the motherboard (if there is an appropriate connector). In this case, it is recommended to disable the built-in video card, which will release some of the reserved resources. The interruption, part of the RAM is released, the power of the integrated video card is turned off, the total power consumption is reduced. To do this, go to the BIOS (pressing the DEL button immediately after turning on the computer), find the Integrated or Onboard Video item and set it to the Disable state.