The Video Card in a computer is a physical piece of hardware. Video Cards can be purchased separately or on a new computer the graphics card is located on the mother board. Video Cards were placed on motherboards to help lower the cost of purchasing a new computer.
When the Video Card is connected to a monitor, it serves as a Visual Interface were you are then able to control the processes that you computer carries out. You may browse for files, create files, browse the internet or play video games.
Video Cards must specify its video standards, allowing end users to know what video cards may or may not be capable of doing. With new computers, you will most likely find SVGA standard video cards, allowing you to run the majority of software applications as well as run at high resolutions.
Generally, most video cards shipped today are included with video memory. Video memory is built onto the video board and/or motherboard, allowing the video card to run at higher resolutions and run at more efficient speeds.
Video cards are most commonly found in the PCI slots; however, with the release of the Pentium II came the AGP (Advanced Graphics Port) support. This new type of slot was released on August 26, 1996. This new technology allows the card to run at 66 MHz, 32-bit bus.
With the increasing popularity of advanced gaming came a new breed of video cards known as the 3D accelerators. When originally released, these cards only had support for 3D and not 2D and commonly required an additional 2D card to fully work. Today, 3D accelerators support both 3D and 2D, contains several MB of memory and processor on the video card.
Video Card Connections
The Below picture illustrates a 15 Pin Video Port Connector. The Pin numbers as well as the pin duties. The table below the picture illustrates the functions of each video port connector.
- Pin #1 - Red video R
- Pin #2 - Green Video G
- Pin #3 - Red Video B
- Pin #4 - Monitor ID 2
- Pin #5 - TTL Ground
- Pin #6 - Red Anaglog ground
- Pin #7 - Green Analog Ground
- Pin #8 - Blue Analog Ground
- Pin #9 - Key Plugged Hole
- Pin #10 - Sync Ground
- Pin #11 - Monitor ID 0
- Pin #12 - Monitor ID 1
- Pin #13 - Horizontal Sync
- Pin #14 - Vertical Sync
- Pin #15 - Monitor ID 3
