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Graphics card
Graphics card is the full name of display interface card, also known as display adapter. It is one of the most basic and important accessories of computer. As an important part of the computer host, the graphics card is the equipment for digital to analog signal conversion of the computer, which undertakes the task of outputting and displaying graphics.
The graphics card is connected to the computer motherboard. It converts the computer’s digital signal into analog signal for display. At the same time, the graphics card still has image processing ability, which can assist the CPU and improve the overall running speed. For people engaged in professional graphic design, graphics card is very important. Because of its architecture, the computing power of the graphics card is actually much stronger than that of the CPU. Some software or features developed for the graphics card can call the computing power of the graphics card, so as to greatly improve the computing efficiency. It is mainly used in scientific computing, video rendering, video processing and other fields. Therefore, the graphics card is called the display accelerator card.
When purchasing graphics cards, you usually need to consider the following aspects in order of importance.
1.Stream processor
Stream processor is a microprocessor that can process stream data. Its specific function is to process the data transmitted by CPU and convert it into digital signals that can be recognized by the display.
The number of stream processors plays a decisive role in the performance of graphics cards. In a sense, the main difference between high, middle and low-end graphics cards is the number of stream processors in addition to different cores. It is worth noting that due to different architectures, the number of video card stream processors from different video card chip suppliers is not comparable, and the performance cannot be compared by simply comparing the number of stream processors.
2.Architecture
Graphics card architecture refers to the internal hardware structure. The new structure has higher efficiency and stronger performance, which also means lower power consumption. Take NVIDIA graphics card as an example. As shown in Figure 1, with the upgrading of the architecture, its corresponding performance is also gradually improved. Therefore, when purchasing graphics cards, new products are often more worthy of consideration.
The number and architecture of stream processors are the two most important parameters affecting the performance of graphics card, which should be fully considered when selecting graphics card.
3.Graphics card frequency
Graphics card frequency refers to the working frequency of the graphics card core, that is, how many calculations can be completed per second, which can reflect the performance of the graphics card to a certain extent. Obviously, under the same conditions, the higher the frequency of the graphics card, the stronger the performance of the graphics card.
4.Graphics card memory
In order to improve the performance of the graphics card, there is special memory in the graphics card, which is called graphics card memory. The graphics card memory is used to store instructions and data called from the hard disk. Because the reading speed of the graphics card memory is much faster than that of the hard disk, if the required data is stored in the graphics card memory in advance, the data processing speed of the graphics card can be greatly improved, so that the graphics card can give better play to its due performance. The main parameters of graphics card memory are capacity, frequency and bit width.
4.1 Capacity
The memory capacity of the graphics card determines the amount of data that the graphics card memory can store. The larger the graphics card memory, the more data it can store, and the less dependence on the hard disk, which is good for improving the performance of the graphics card.
4.2 Frequency
Graphics card memory frequency refers to the frequency of data interaction between graphics card memory and graphics card core. The higher the graphics card memory frequency, the more frequent the data interaction, which can improve the performance of graphics card.
4.3 Bit width
The memory bit width of the graphics card refers to the amount of data that can be exchanged in each interactive data. The larger the memory bit width of the graphics card, the greater the amount of data that can be exchanged each time.
The speed of data interaction between the graphics card memory and the graphics card core is the graphics card memory frequency × Graphics card memory bit width.
5.Public and non-public editions
Graphics card chip suppliers mainly include amd (ultra micro semiconductor) and NVIDIA (NVIDIA). The graphics cards directly produced and sold by these two companies are called public graphics cards. These two companies also sell the core chips of graphics cards and authorize other manufacturers to manufacture finished graphics cards. Other manufacturers can independently design, manufacture and sell accessories other than core chips, This kind of graphics card is called non-public graphics card. In China, the suppliers of non-public graphics cards generally include Weixing, ASUS, gigabyte, sapphire, galaxy, sotai, Mingxuan, Gengsheng, qirainbow and so on.
Advantages of public graphics card: strong stability, good electrical performance, strong overclocking ability brought by solid materials, less occupation of motherboard slots and fast listing speed; The disadvantage is that the effect of single fan closed turbine radiator is poor, the air volume is insufficient, and high temperature is easy to occur.
Advantages of non-public graphics card: the price is cheaper than the public version, the default high frequency, good heat dissipation and diversified product selection; The disadvantage is that there are different materials and workmanship. Some are better than the public version, and some are worse than the public version, which is basically proportional to the price.
Generally speaking, non-public version is more worth choosing.
6.Heat dissipation
Graphics cards often have high power and significant heating, so they are generally equipped with corresponding cooling systems. Graphics card heat dissipation can be roughly divided into three categories: passive heat dissipation, air cooling and water cooling. In the current cooling schemes for graphics cards on the market, passive cooling is mainly used for low-end graphics cards and silent graphics cards, while almost all mainstream and high-end graphics cards are air-cooled cooling, and very few high-end graphics cards use water-cooled cooling.
6.1 Passive heat dissipation
Passive heat dissipation relies on temperature gradient to exchange heat with the outside world in order to achieve the purpose of heat dissipation. In order to improve the heat dissipation efficiency, passive heat dissipation often uses direct metal contact or more efficient heat pipe heat transfer, and fins are used to increase the heat dissipation area.
The diameter and number of heat pipes have an important influence on heat transfer efficiency. The diameter of heat pipe is generally 6mm and 8mm, and its cross-sectional area is about 28.26mm2 and 50.24mm2 respectively. There is a significant difference in its heat bearing capacity; At the same time, the more heat pipes, the stronger the heat transfer efficiency.
6.2 Air cooling heat dissipation
Air cooling heat dissipation can be divided into two heat dissipation schemes: down pressure type and turbine type.
The down pressure heat dissipation sucks in cold air by several (generally one to three) fans and blows the hot air out from around the graphics card to take away the heat on the fins. This scheme has good silence, but the heat will be discharged into the chassis, so the heat dissipation efficiency also depends on the ventilation of the chassis.
The turbine type heat sink sucks in the cold air by the turbine to make the cold air flow along the length of the graphics card to take away the heat. The hot air is directly discharged to the outside from the joint surface between the graphics card and the chassis. The turbine speed is often high and the noise is high, but the heat will not accumulate inside the chassis. At the same time, it can make the graphics card smaller. It is more convenient to install multiple graphics cards without interfering with each other’s heat dissipation.
6.3 Water cooling heat dissipation
Water cooling uses liquid as heat transfer medium, the coolant circulated by the water pump take away the heat absorbed from the GPU chip on the water block, after the hot water flows into the radiator and is cooled by the fan, cold water flow back to the water block, to start a new round of heat exchange. Compared with air cooling, water cooling can significantly reduce the temperature.