What Graphics Card Do I Have

With all these fantastic video games releasing, you may be interested in knowing how the graphics just keep getting better and better, and even how you can make sure your PC is the most up-to-date to keep up with the improved graphics. The bottom line is that this is because of the graphics card on your PC. But how do you tell which one you have? That’s important information to wield, as that’s the baseline for your upgrade options. In this article, we’ll go in-depth about what a graphics card is, how it works, and how to tell what type your PC has. Let’s dive right in.

What is a graphics card anyway?

The graphics card may sound important, after all, graphics are a major influence on the video game you may be playing, or even the movie you’re watching. In fact, it’s important for your entire display. Of course, you will not have to worry a whole lot about one if you don’t intend to do much of any gaming in the near future — the basic one you have usually does just fine for, well, basic activities.

Whether it’s watching a video, connecting 5 monitors to your PC, or just scrolling through Twitter checking out the latest news, a graphics card has a lot to do with how your PC operates, as well as everything you see happening on your computer screen, from opening a browser to moving your mouse from the left side of the monitor to the right. It will affect lighting, different shades of color, and every pixel on your monitor.

How does a graphics card work?

The graphics card takes binary information from your computer and will send the information to each individual light, or pixel, in your monitor, creating an illusion of reality. The manager/graphics card tells each and every person how and where to stand to make the best looking image they can. The graphics card can only hold so much information, however, which is why an older one will not work as well as a newer one.

How do I tell what graphics card I have?

By pressing the windows key and “r” simultaneously, you will open a run-dialog box. Enter “dxdiag” (sans quotation marks) into the box, and then select “okay.” This, in turn, will open the DirectX Diagnostic Tool which will show you a list of different computational information.

On this panel, navigate to the display tab, and you’ll notice the box on the left-hand side has the name of your graphics card, the manufacturer, and a lot of other information pertaining to your graphics card. This is also a good way to see if your graphics card is having problems, as the bottom dialog box will tell you whether there is a software error, a hardware issue, or even if there’s nothing wrong at all.

Whether you use your computer for gaming/recreational activities or even just for work, having a bad graphics card can slow your computer down by a lot, which is exactly why it’s so helpful to know which card you have so you can either get a replacement later, or even just to get an update for it. This is also great to remember if you want to compare it with other available graphics cards out on the market right now.

Upgrading your card

A great graphics card you might be interested in upgrading to is the GeForce RTX 2060. It’s fast, and extremely powerful with triple fans. This graphics card comes with an overclock mode, which will speed up your performance tremendously, keeping you as fast as you can be in some of the latest gaming titles. On top of that, it’s not so expensive that it’ll cost you an arm and a leg. While in overclock mode, the fans are sped up, and still perform 105% quieter than other graphics card fans in order to make sure it doesn’t burn out after an intense gaming session.

Verdict

Your graphics card is a vital component to making your PC run smoothly and efficiently. Knowing which graphics card you have can help you understand exactly what your computer can do or how well it can function. To a gamer, his or her graphics card is one of the most important pieces in their computer, so if it’s too low-quality, it will negatively impact their experience with video games. If they have a great one on the other hand, they will have no problem running all their favorite games at top settings and they will still be hitting 60fps. And even if you’re not a gamer, the graphics card can be the difference between a slow and lagging computer and an extremely fast one that has no problem running the applications you need it to with ease.