Computer Hardware Evolution of the

¶ … Computer hardware [...] evolution of the video card in computers, and look at what the future holds for video cards. Graphics cards are essential to the computing we know today. From PDAs to laptops, the graphics card allows the user to play games, create graphics and complex mapping, and even view the world one pixel at a time through programs such as GoogleEarth. Graphics cards have evolved from simple MDAs that only displayed text to complex cards that can render ever more complicated and detailed graphic images.

In the future, computer users can expect graphics that are even more detailed, faster memory and interfaces that reduce rendering 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 it is safe to assume that there are changes in the works that users today cannot even contemplate.

A video card (also referred to as a graphics card, a graphic processing unit [GPU], and many other terms) is an essential part of the computing process. Without these cards, monitors would not display the pixels in a format the human eye could understand. Some motherboards have a graphics interface built in, but most computers use a graphics card to translate the binary data from the CPU into graphics discernable to the naked eye (Wilson and Tyson, 2006).

Graphics 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 areas that were not available even a few years ago. Graphics cards have come a long way since the first rudimentary computers came on the marketplace, and those initial attempts at rendering graphics seem hopelessly outmoded today.

Many people think of graphics cards only in terms of computer gaming, but they are also essential in many business applications, such as CADD architectural and engineering software, and many other applications. From home design software to the most recent computer games, video cards make the intricate graphics possible. EVOLUTION OF THE GRAPHICS CARD IBM introduced the first graphics card in 1981. Compared to today's powerful cards, it was a miniscule card that could only display text in white or green letters on a black background (Wilson and Tyson, 2006).

It was called a Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA), and it disappeared after a few years, replaced by several other standard graphics cards, including the Hercules Graphics Card (HGC), the Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA), the Video Graphics Array (VGA), and Super VGA (SVGA), and the Extended Graphics Array (XGA). Each of these cards improved a bit on the previous technology, and each allowed more colors and detail in the computer graphics (Mueller, 2000 p. 872).

Even this list is expanding as Microsoft prepares to introduce their newest operating system, Vista, which will support older graphics technology, but will also support brand new technologies such as DirectX 10, which is an application used in developing graphics for gaming and engineering, and is the newest application in the Direct X system line. VGA is the absolute minimum acceptable graphics capability in computers today, as author Scott Mueller notes.

He writes, "The sole exception to this is VGA, which is a term that is still used to refer to a baseline graphics display capability supported by virtually every video adapter on the market today" (Mueller, 2000, p. 872). VGA allows 256 colors, but most modern cards support much more than that. Most current cards can display VGA graphics in older software that might use obsolete adapters, as well. IBM established many of these standards, and most are now obsolete.

IBM is no longer the leader in graphics card design and evolution, there are many other manufacturers well-known in the industry, such as NVIDIA, ATI, and others. What drove graphics cards to consistently improve were gamers who constantly wanted new challenges in their computer gaming. Gamers wanted graphics that are more detailed and offer more colors, as another author notes. He writes, "Powerful graphics cards are intended mainly to allow gamers to enjoy smooth and realistic video game environments, but smart planners won't leave the office without one" (Bordenaro, 2004).

This led to the development of the Quantum Extended Graphics Array (QXGA). These cards can display millions of colors at resolutions of up to 2040 x 1536 pixels, which allow incredible details in games and other graphic software. Video cards create the graphics, but they rely on software as well, and one of the most important developments in graphic software coincided with the development of Windows 95. It was called DirectX, and it changed the way computers render graphics.

The DirectX system is a graphics application created in 1995 to support better graphics capabilities in Windows 95 applications. DirectX allowed computers to utilize and render much better graphics that ever before, and DirectX has evolved from version 1.0 to version 9.0 released in December 2006, and version 10 created to be compatible with the Microsoft Vista release in 2007. DirectX was essential in the development and evolution of stronger video cards, and led to the amazing graphics many computers can display today. Video cards have some components that vary according to their speed and use.

Most video cards contain their own memory, or Video Ram (VRAM), unlike many other components in the computer. VRAM stores and buffers display images and allows them to render more quickly. Video cards fit into a slot on the motherboard that can vary with computer price and quality. Almost all the slots today are PCI Express (PCI-e) slots, which is much faster than the old AGP slot. However, some cheap, low-end computers may still come with AGP slots, although they will be phased out sometime in the future.

FUTURE OF THE GRAPHICS CARD The future of the graphics card is certainly one of continual change and improvement. Already, developers have created graphics cards that utilize the newest Direct X application, DirectX 10. DirectX 10 is one wave of the future; however, experts do not expect it to really take off until mid-2007 after Microsoft releases Vista. An AMD executive believes "the graphics card market will be in stasis during the first half of 2007" (Editors, 2006); due to a lack of games developed in the DirectX 10 system mode.

Vista uses the DirectX 10 application as part of its graphics interface, and as more people upgrade to Vista machines, developers will certainly create more games that utilize the new graphics technology. In addition, AGP slots will disappear, and the computers that use them will become obsolete. As one hardware expert notes, "For instance, the AGP standard for graphics cards is more than five years old and is in its fourth generation.

Current AGP cards can run at 8X the original AGP speed (they can still work in an older 1X computer, although only at 1X speeds). There will be no 16X AGP, the standard simply can't accommodate that speed" (Bolkan, 2005). Thus, PCI-e will continue to expand and grow to support graphics cards as they develop and grow. Of course, there are many other future possibilities in the graphics arena.

It is a sure bet that cards will continue to evolve and become more powerful, especially as gamers become even more sophisticated and demanding. In the near future, motherboards could create the possibility for graphics still only dreamed of. Another hardware expert notes, "It's conceivable that we might see motherboards with two PCI Express x16.