The owner of a personal computer who wants to fully unleash the performance potential of his electronic assistant is simply obliged to know how to configure the video card. In this matter, do not trust developers too much, relying on the so-called default settings.
Vidyushka, video card, video adapter, graphics adapter - all these are the names of the same device, which is part of any personal computer and laptop. Its main task is simple - to ensure the conversion of part of the internal digital data of the system bus into monitor control signals. In other words, the video card allows you to see the result of the programs on the screen. Of course, the circle of tasks that it solves is not limited to just outputting a picture - modern video cards include a sophisticated graphics processor, the processing power of which often exceeds a similar parameter for central processors.
What is a video card setup? One of the features of computer technology is that without control software (driver), any component is no more than a useless set of varnish, textolite and electronic components. With some caveats, a component without drivers can be compared to a body without a soul.
One of the features of drivers for video adapters is the ability to make adjustments to their work. Moreover, the user himself can do this by repeatedly clicking the mouse button. This configuration of the video card allows you to both increase the performance of the graphics subsystem when processing three-dimensional applications, and to obtain higher image quality. In addition, other graphics related changes are also allowed.
Three companies are presenting their video cards on the market - Intel with its HD, nVidia with the GeForce series and ATI (acquired by AMD) with the Radeon family. In the driver of any of them, the video card can be configured. The difference is only in the opportunities provided for adjustment.
Let's look at the practice and look at an example of how the ATI video card is set up in the environment of the Windows 7 operating system. Of course, in order to configure the driver parameters, you must first install it. Usually with the card there is a disk on which this control program is contained. For integrated solutions (as well as laptops) you need to use the drive to the entire motherboard.
At any free point on the desktop, click the right mouse button and select Catalyst Control Center in the menu that appears. The column on the left is quite informative - you can easily find the required item in it. Let's start in order. Setting up a Radeon video card starts from the desktop control point. Here, of interest is the opportunity to set the brightness and color intensity. In three-dimensional graphics does not work.
"General tasks" will be useful when several monitors are connected - here they are activated search and configuration.
The item "Flat digital panels" is more informative. Here you can select the zoom mode (it can be blocked) and make adjustments to the interface, which can affect the image on the screens connected via DVI-HDMI adapters of TVs. In the color temperature adjustment, check the box.
The “Video” item allows you to configure the display of the video stream (movies).
In the "Games" section, you can make settings in the GPU operation algorithm. Hovering over the desired item, you can see the highlighted hint.
In the "Performance" section, you can significantly increase the speed of the card by increasing the frequencies above their nominal value - this is called "overclocking".