Let’s say for a moment, you are hopping around the internet. One window for email. Another fixed on your favorite shopping site. A third playing a hot hand of online poker. Someone’s sent you a hilarious picture to make your day. You’ve found the perfect gift for that birthday coming up and you’re being dealt into another promising hand of Texas Hold-em. All of these images are brought to you by the graphics card. Here’s a brief overview of what your graphics card does for you.

A graphics or video card is a component built into your computer, allowing it to display images and text onto the screen. Both 2D and 3D graphics are read by the card. This card interprets binary data and produces the images you see on your screen. Some cards work to produce the images faster than others do. They may also include additional features such as video capture or TV tuner capabilities. If one of your favorite ways to unwind is with a complexly programed PC game, there are video cards you can purchase to help handle the load, making the game run smoother.

There is a graphics card available for each budget range. Consider what it is you want to do with your computer. If your rendering needs require a fast reaction time, as in a PC game world, there’s a card for that. Faster cards also tend to contain their own set of memory. This simply means that the card will not need to borrow RAM from your CPU. Don’t think that the only reason to obtain a faster card is to play a video game. If you prefer to watch movies on your screen rather than storm the castle, the graphics card helps in that area too.

If you want to gain better performance through a better graphics card, consider two things. How fast to you want to go? And how much do you want to spend? There is a card out there that is perfect for you.