Essay - Computers/hardware the Evolution and Future of the Video Card Abstract:...

Computers/Hardware

The Evolution and Future of the Video Card

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The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the topic of computer hardware. Specifically, it will discuss ***** evolution of the video card in computers, and look at what the future holds for video cards. Graphics ***** are essential to the computing we know today. From PDAs to laptops, ***** graphics card allows the user to play games, create ***** and complex mapping, ***** even view the world one pixel at a time through programs such as GoogleEarth. Graphics cards have evolved from simple MDAs th***** only displayed text to complex cards that can render ever more complicated and detailed graphic images. In the *****, computer users can expect graphics that are even more detailed, f*****ter memory and interfaces ***** reduce *****ing time, and even better 3D graphics that will allow them to become "part" of the screen. Users may be able to take advantage of two video cards mounted on the motherboard, and ***** is safe ***** assume that there are changes in the works that users today cannot ***** c*****template.

***** video card (also referred to as a graphics card, a graphic processing unit [GPU], and many o*****r terms) is an ***** part of the computing process. Without ********** *****, monitors would not display the pixels in a *****mat ***** human eye could understand. Some *****s ***** a graphics interface built in, but most ***** use a ***** c*****rd to translate the binary data from the CPU into graphics discernable to the naked eye (Wilson and Tyson, 2006). ***** cards make it possible to view complex data and on the screen of a desktop or laptop, and advanced graphics cards allow complicated computing in are***** that were not available even a few years ago. Graphics cards have come a long w*****y since the first rudimentary computers came on ***** marketplace, ***** those initial attempts at rendering ***** seem hopelessly outmoded today. Many people think of graphics cards only in terms of computer gaming, but they ***** also essential in many bus*****ess applic*****ions, such as CADD architectural and engineering s*****tware, ***** many other applications. From home design software to the most recent computer games, video ***** ***** the intricate graphics possible.

EVOLUTION OF THE GRAPHICS CARD

IBM introduced ***** first graphics card in 1981. Compared to today's powerful cards, it was a miniscule c*****rd that ***** only display ***** in wh*****e ***** green letters on a bl*****ck background (Wilson and *****, 2006). It was called a Monochrome Displ*****y Adapter (MDA), and it disappeared after a few *****, replaced by several other standard graphics cards, including the Hercules ***** Card (HGC), ***** Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA), the ***** Graphics Array (VGA), and Super VGA (S*****), ***** the Extended Graphics Array (XGA). Each of these ***** improved a bit on the previous technology, and each allowed more colors and detail in ***** computer graphics (Mueller, 2000 p. 872). Even this list is exp**********g