Glossary of terms for Graphic Cards
Technology
This represents the graphic card's bandwidth that will determine the range of colors the graphic card will display. The higher the data width will be, the more colorful the displayed pictures will be.
Graphics Processor
The Graphics Processor is the main component of the graphic card. Its main role is to interpret and execute commands. Different graphic processors offer different performance and features, based upon the generation of the chipset and the manufacturer. Among manufactures, the most popular are ATI and nVIDIA.
Interface Type
This indicates the type of interface used by your graphic card to connect to the motherboard. The most popular interfaces are AGP, PCIe, PCI Express x16 and PCI Express 2.0 x16. The most important thing to take into consideration is that the graphic card must be compatible with the motherboard.
Memory
Memory is a very important feature to take into consideration when buying a graphic card. The bigger the memory is, the better the obtained performance will be and rendering the textures and 3D images will be much faster.
Max Resolution
The graphic card's resolution indicates the number of pixels that the graphic card may display on a screen. A higher resolution means that the graphic card may display more pixels, and, consequently, more detailed images.
Digital Video Standard
Digital video signals offer better picture quality and allow higher resolutions than the traditional analog signals. HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) and DVI (Digital Visual Interface) connectors transmit any level of video signal digitally, for the best picture quality. The HDMI interface also carries audio signals, making it a very important advantage.