Graphics Card Driver

Unless you are a computer expert or a dedicated online gamer, you may not be familiar with graphics card drivers. Many people are unaware that drivers are not used solely by external devices like scanners and printers. In fact, they control numerous aspects of computer use. A driver is basically a “group of files that enable one or more hardware devices to communicate with the computer’s operating system.” (Computer Hope) And they are very important to graphic cards. “A graphic card, sometimes called a graphics adapter, video cards or graphic accelerator, is a computer component which converts digital data into a graphical form which can be displayed on a monitor.” (Kioskea)

Graphics cards have come a long way from their origin in 1981. The first graphics card developed by IBM displayed one color on a screen and had a 4KB memory. Today’s high-quality graphics cards can display millions of colors with memory capacities of up to 4GB. (Wikipedia) Graphics cards can be either separate components of the motherboard or an integrated part (shared graphical processing). The separate replaceable cards are much more powerful and are the main type of graphics cards used by graphics designers, animators and gamers. Both types of graphics cards require drivers. (E-How)

Graphics card drivers have become more complex as the cards increase in speed and capabilities to handle new games and software frequently using 3D effects. “Games are now more graphically rich than ever—they use lots of graphical effects and display everything in 3D.” (Tech-Hounds) It is not uncommon for gamers or others to purchase graphics cards costing several hundred dollars in a continuing search for the fastest cards. However, even if you spend a lot of money for a graphics card, it may nor be the best idea to install the drivers which come packaged on a CD with the card. “Those drivers are almost always out of date by the time you get the video card.” (Playtool)

It is a better idea to go to the manufacturer’s website and download the latest driver for your cards. The two major manufacturers of graphics cards are ATI which makes Radeon cards and Nvidia which manufactures Geforce and other cards. Between them, these two companies account for around 90% of the graphics card market. (Wikipedia) They both have websites offering information and the latest version of drivers as free downloads.

Even if you have not recently bought a new graphics card, it is still a good idea to update your graphics card driver by downloading the most current version from the manufacturer. Manufacturers of graphics cards generally provide updated drivers more often than many other applications. “Graphic card drivers are frequently updated with the release of new games to support the latest features of the games.” (Trouble Fixers)

You may also need to update or reinstall your graphics card driver if you are having problems displaying graphics correctly on your computer. If your computer is displaying images slowly or they are choppy or grainy, “The problem might be coming from the outdated or corrupt graphics card drivers.” (Quick PC Solutions)

If you need to update the driver for your graphics card, you will need to know specifically which card it is. Some computer systems such as Windows can display all your devices through the Device Manager. If you have an older or customized computer, you may need to find the manufacturer’s name and model number for your card to locate drivers. Then you simply need to find the appropriate updated driver for your card. One of the best methods around is to check with Driver Guide, an online site with searchable archives for many thousands of drivers., including older and hard-to-find drivers. (Driver Guide)