WEBVTT - What Are Graphics Cards Good For? 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:14.920 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:19.000 Jonathan Strickland. I am an executive producer for I Heart Radio, 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:22.000 and I love all things tech and I'm just back 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.799 after a week off on vacation, and I nearly forgot 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.320 how my intro goes. So that shows how my brain works. 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:33.320 But enough of that. So I follow a lot of 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:37.280 gamers and streamers, and there's some folks I just, you know, 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:41.240 find really entertaining, and when their love of games comes 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.440 through on top of them being entertaining, I know I've 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.319 really hit something that appeals to me. And in mid 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:52.559 September twenty it seemed like every single person I followed 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:55.800 was chatting about something called the r t X thirty 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.280 ninety or in some cases, the thirty eight. And the 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.160 gamers elt they're already know exactly where I'm headed on 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.840 this one. But while I love video games, I'm not 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:10.720 exactly dialed into the heart of hardcore competitive gaming. And 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:13.840 so I had no clue what the heck this thing was. 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.959 I mean, I had an inkling, but I had to 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.560 look it up. And it's a new high performance graphics 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:24.959 card with a graphics processing unit or GPU. So today 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.920 I thought we would talk a little bit about GPUs 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:32.600 in general, where they originated, why they're important for modern games, 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:34.960 and why they can be so hard to get hold 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:39.600 of as well as so expensive. And here's another interesting tidbit, 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:42.560 the main reason they're hard to get hold of has 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:46.800 nothing to do with video games. Will also cover why 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.400 the r t X thirty eight and the thirty nine 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:55.360 cards have had a well, let's call it a troubled launch. Now, 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.840 despite the fact that graphics cards have been around for 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.280 more than two decades, there's still something that I have 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:07.200 only had limited experience with. And here's where the grumpy 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.560 old man Jonathan comes out to, you know, shake his 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.919 fist at a passing cloud. See. I come from a 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:18.840 time when your CPU, the amount of RAM your computer had, 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.400 and the operating system you were running were really the 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.360 only things that mattered when it came to which games 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.520 you could actually play on your machine or how well 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:31.840 those games would perform on your PC. Heck, I remember 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:36.239 when games first started requiring that your PC run on Windows, 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.680 and I was a Windows holdout. I preferred the fast 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:45.000 responsiveness and lighter framework of DOSS. The doss user interface 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:49.200 consisted of command prompts. You would actually type in stuff 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:53.120 in a line command to change directories and navigate to 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.520 where a file was, and then type out the execute 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:59.960 file to really get it started. Now, it wasn't actually 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:04.880 hard to do, but it also was not intuitive at all, 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.200 and it stood as a barrier for the average person 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:13.720 to you know, embrace computers. Windows made stuff easier to understand. 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.400 You just, you know, move your cursor to the picture 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:18.880 that represents whatever it is you want to do, and 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.760 then you click on it. That was super simple. But 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:26.080 Windows also required more processing power from the PC, and 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:29.000 so I was of the snooty opinion that I would 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.480 rather set aside that power for the stuff I was 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:35.080 running on the computer, apart from the operating system. That's 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:39.640 how old I am. Also, Eventually it didn't matter. Eventually 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:43.360 games started requiring Windows and I had to give in. 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.880 Over time, game developers began building out games that required 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.680 more umph from the PCs that were running the games, 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:55.360 and sometimes that meant you just had to have, you know, 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.920 a pretty recent CPU to run the game, which meant 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:00.800 that if you were relying on a computer that was 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.600 a year old or older, you might be out of 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.040 luck unless you could upgrade your machine, or you know, 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.080 and really severe cases, you'd have to go out and 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.920 buy a whole new one. But one thing that PCs 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:17.600 had that really opened up some opportunities were expansion slots 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:23.000 built into the motherboard. Now, these are standardized slots that 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.840 are that are built into that mother board. There's been 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.279 a couple of different standards over the years, but pc 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:34.080 I expresses the current one. The motherboard is the main 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:38.240 circuit board of a PC. That's where you'll find components 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:42.800 like the CPU that connect to other components like memory 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.120 or the power supply will connect to the motherboard to 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:50.000 supply power to all the components. So motherboard manufacturers would 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:54.080 frequently include slots that would allow for additional cards to 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:59.120 plug into the circuit board, thus expanding the capabilities of 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:03.839 your PC. All the wiring, all the circuitry was there 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.040 to work with the other parts of the motherboard. So 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:10.440 if a card manufacturer, you know, a company that makes 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.240 expansion cards, as long as they adhered to the standard, 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.479 then you could buy the card, you could open up 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.040 your computer case, you could plug the card into one 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:24.200 of those pc I express slots. These days, on the motherboard, 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.039 you reassemble the case, you know, make sure everything's lined 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.120 up properly with the backplate of your case, and voila, 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:33.520 you've got added functionality to your PC without having to 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.440 replace the whole darn thing. And manufacturers made all sorts 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.200 of cards, and I think I first really became aware 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:45.240 of this upon the release of various sound cards, which 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:49.760 would allow PCs to produce all sorts of wondrous sounds, music, 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.839 and spound special effects, that kind of thing. The early 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:56.840 PCs could essentially just beep. I mean, even R two 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:01.400 D two had a more extensive vocabulary, but sound cards 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.440 allowed for virtual orchestras to play on your machine. By 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.000 the way, if you seek out videos of early sound 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.719 cards playing computer music, you're probably gonna laugh at my 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:16.880 description because it definitely sounds primitive compared to what a 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.440 PC out of the box can do these days. Now. 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:24.839 Graphics cards followed close behind sound cards. The first card 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:29.440 to be described as having a graphics processing unit was 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:34.400 the G Force two fifty six from in Video in Videos, 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.440 the same company that's behind the recent rt X thirty 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.320 eight cards. By the way, more on that later. But 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:46.720 what the heck does a graphics card actually do well. 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.760 It's first good to remember what a CPU or central 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:57.479 processing unit does. It's the CPUs job to execute instructions 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:01.839 upon data. The data flows into the CPU from input 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.200 devices like a keyboard or a touch screen, as well 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:09.760 as from stored locations like a computer memory or hard drives, 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:14.000 and the instructions come from programs or input devices. And 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.800 instructions are mathematical operations, So it might be something as 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:21.120 simple as add this one really big number to that 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:24.920 other really really big number, and then compare the result 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:29.200 to this other number, whereupon a specific outcome will follow 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:34.040 based on that comparison. Really, everything your computer does is 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:37.720 a result of processes like this. You could think of 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.240 it as I choose your own adventure book, which I 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.360 guess also kind of dates me. But by that I 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.480 mean you can think of a path that branches into 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:49.360 lots of other potential pathways, and the results of a 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:53.920 math problem determine which of those potential pathways you actually 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:58.120 go down. Now, we describe the speed of a CPU 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:02.120 as terms of clocks. Speed that refers to the number 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:06.840 of pulses the CPU generates every second, and these regular 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:11.080 pulses synchronize operations on the computer, and they determine the 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:15.160 speed at which the CPU can carry out instructions on data. 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:20.120 So generally speaking, the higher the clock speed or clock 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.640 rate of a computer, the more instructions CPU can carry 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:29.520 out per second, and the quote unquote faster the processor is. 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:34.439 We express this in terms of hurts h E R 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:39.000 t Z. That refers to cycles per second. One pulse 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.880 would be one cycle. So if you have a computer 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:46.400 with a three point two giga hurts processor, that processor 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:51.680 is pulsing three point two billion times every second. As 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:57.320 game developers began making more sophisticated games, particularly as the 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.360 era of three D graphics dawned, meaning you know, graphics 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.320 that appeared to be three dimensional rather than a two 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.559 dimensional representation, you know, the more like cardboard cutout looking stuff. 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:13.319 Before the three D graphics era, that's when CPUs were 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.200 starting to hit a choke point. The CPU has to 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.800 handle pretty much all the processing, though in some cases 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:23.880 you might have what's called a coprocessor to tackle specific 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:29.959 subsets of mathematical problems. Graphics cards would become another type 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:34.520 of coprocessor. They would shoulder the work of processing the information, 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:39.520 specifically relating to presenting graphics on a display and remove 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.280 that responsibility from the CPU, freeing it up so it 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.920 could continue to work on you know, other stuff. Together, 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:50.520 the CPU and the GPU could handle all the processing 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:53.840 that the game required and create a really cool experience 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.920 for the player, you know, for a price. It was 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:02.040 right around this time, in the late nineties when I 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:06.319 got out of PC games for a pretty long time. See, 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:10.080 I had grown frustrated with the need to update my 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.560 machine on a regular basis if I wanted to play 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:16.080 the latest games. I hated the idea of having to 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.920 buy an expensive graphics card every so often and then 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:24.200 also upgrading my entire computer, or at least replacing the 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.360 CPU every couple of years. On top of that, I mean, 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.720 come on, these these components are expensive. Buying a new 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.640 computer is even more expensive. And in the late nineties, 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:38.080 I was what we like to call poor, or at 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.080 least I wasn't making enough money to be able to 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.720 keep up with that cycle of upgrading if I wanted 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.800 to play the latest games. So I fell off of 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:50.640 PC games for a really long time, and instead I 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:52.800 saved up my money and made a switch over to 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:57.280 consoles like the Nintendo sixty four. That kind of stuff, 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:01.199 because one thing you can depend upon with consoles, at 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:05.840 least until more recent generations have proven otherwise, is that 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.560 a game that's released on launch day of a console, 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.520 the day the console comes out, and a game that 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.760 is released at the very end of a console's life 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:21.120 cycle should both run just fine on that console. Now, 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.400 the later games should be better as developers learn how 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.840 to optimize for a console's hardware, but both games should 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.760 run just fine. You you don't have to worry about 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:35.800 your console not having the capacity to run the game. 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:40.480 Consoles aren't designed to be upgraded generally, and so game 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:43.760 developers have to work within those limitations and optimize their 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.760 games to run on standardized hardware. PCs are totally different. 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:54.719 PCs can come in up entire spectrum of capacities and capabilities, 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:58.400 and generally speaking, game developers want to make the coolest 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.840 stuff out there, so they're taking aim at the heavier 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.480 hitting end of the PC market. Usually there are ways 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.600 to reduce settings so that you can at least play 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:14.240 more advanced games on more modest hardware, but at some 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:16.800 point you just feel like you're no longer giving the 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:21.040 experience you want and you feel obligated to upgrade now. 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:24.079 Even though I got out of the whole PC gaming 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:27.760 thing for a long time, it turns out that the 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.560 PC game industry was going strong without me, which I 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:37.840 personally find very insulting. Developers were making increasingly impressive games, 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:42.400 and GPU companies like in Video followed suit by creating 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:46.880 more capable graphics cards, and that was really a necessity 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:51.680 that ties into a Rye observation about computing power. Okay, 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:55.000 so a lot of folks have heard about Moore's law, 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:58.800 which we usually use in reference to how computer processing 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:03.559 speeds improve over time. The original observation Gordon Moore made 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:08.680 decades ago was that, due to market factors, silicon chip 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:13.400 manufacturers were cramming about twice as many components onto a 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:17.360 single square inch of a silicon wafer as they had 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.880 two years previously, and they do this by shrinking down 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:25.400 those individual components so they're about half the size as 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.320 they had been, and that as long as the market 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:31.680 continued to place this kind of demand on an increase 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:36.040 in processing power, that trend would likely continue until it 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.920 would become physically impossible to achieve because you just could 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:44.000 not reduce the components in size any further due to 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:47.960 the limitations of physics. Now these days we dumb all 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:52.599 that down to say essentially that computers double in processing 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:57.000 power about every two years, So a typical computer in 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:01.679 twenty has about twice the processing capability of a typical 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:09.120 computer from However, there's another observation called Worth's law, and 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:13.400 it's named after a Swiss computer scientist named Nicholas Worth. 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:18.439 The Worth himself credited another computer programmer named Martin Riser 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.640 with the idea. Worth's law states that the demands of 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:28.520 software grow faster than the increase in capability of hardware. 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:32.880 So while processing speed was doubling every two years, the 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:38.200 demands of software were such that this otherwise incredible increase 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:42.720 in capability was hard to detect because the software of 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:46.840 the time that people were writing was growing more demanding. 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.920 This also would feed into the perception that a computer 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:54.680 would become obsolete super fast. Like you know. The joke 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.920 was that by the time you got a computer home 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.160 from the store and you got it out of the 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.880 box and you plugged it in, it would be outclassed 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:07.040 by a brand new PC unveiled at the very same 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.120 store where you bought yours. From and while that was 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.200 an exaggeration, it often felt like it was pretty close 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.880 to the truth. The software bloat was forcing people to 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:20.840 either rely on older programs that could still run on 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.320 their PCs, or else cough up the cold hard cash 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:29.440 to buy a new computer or upgrade their current machine. Now, 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:34.800 this cycle was felt throughout the entire PC community, but 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:40.840 gamers felt it particularly acutely Worth observation or you know, 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.600 risers if you prefer, though truthfully, people were already kind 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:48.640 of becoming aware of this general trend around that same time. Anyway, 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:53.080 that observation was published in the first graphics card to 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:57.280 have what in video called a g PU would debut 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.440 a couple of years later. The GPU U was in 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:05.200 many ways a response to the problem presented by Worth's law. 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.680 Game developers were coming up with lots of new tools 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.920 that allowed them to build more spectacular games, but that 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:17.120 in turn placed increasingly heavy demands on computers. Graphics cards 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.720 were a necessity to meet those demands that the games 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:24.080 were placing on the computer systems, and it in turn 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:28.440 helped perpetuate this cycle. I'll explain in more detail how 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:32.400 graphics cards help out, but generally speaking, it's a pretty 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:38.200 simple concept. The graphics card has its own microprocessor, similar 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:42.760 in many ways to a CPU, but a CPU is 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.200 a general purpose device now. That means it needs to 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:50.800 be able to handle a wide spectrum of different tasks, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.520 and processors are a lot like people in this way. 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.520 If you dedicate yourself to learning how to do one thing, 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:03.640 like really focus on just one thing, then eventually you're 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:06.960 likely to get super good at that one thing. You've 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:10.520 blocked everything else out. If, however, you decide you want 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.040 to be a jack of all trades, you want to 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.800 learn lots of things, chances are you will not reach 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:20.280 the same level of expertise with any single task as 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.800 you would if you had just focused on that specific task. 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:26.320 You can do all of them, and maybe you can 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.200 even do them well, but not at the same level 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:34.040 as if you had specialized. Well. The GPU is like 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:37.920 a specialist. It doesn't have to handle all the other 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.760 tasks that a CPU has to perform. It can focus 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:46.119 on more specific types of operations, which means chip designers 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:50.000 can create a more efficient architecture to carry out those 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:55.920 specific processes. Specializing allows the GPU to perform a subset 0:17:55.960 --> 0:18:00.280 of tasks far more efficiently. Than a typical CPU could day. 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.639 When we come back, I'll go into this a little 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:15.080 bit more, but first let's take a quick break. Before 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.159 the break, I talked about the motherboard. You know, the 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.919 primary circuit board in a computer. The motherboard has the 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:25.280 circuitry that connects the CPU to the different components in 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:28.879 the system, like memory and stuff. Well, a graphics card 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.760 is at its heart a printed circuit board that in 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:37.320 many ways is similar to a motherboard. It's smaller and 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.800 it's designed to connect to the mother board itself, but 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:42.800 it's got a lot of the same stuff you will 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:47.119 find on a typical PCs motherboard. At the heart of 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.119 the printed circuit board in the graphics card is the 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:54.560 graphics processing unit itself, or the GPU, but you'd also 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.680 have RAM dedicated to the GPU, just as the mother 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.520 board has its own AM dedicated to the CPU. So 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:04.520 I guess I should give you guys as a quick 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:09.719 reminder of what RAM is. RAM stands for random access memory, 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:13.800 and it's a type of temporary computer storage. The purpose 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:18.000 of RAM is to hold information that the CPU, or 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:21.240 in the case of the graphics card, the GPU needs 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.960 to reference frequently. So RAM access kind of short term 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.760 memory a quick reference for these processors, and RAM helps 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:33.280 reduce the weight time for a program to complete an operation. 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.360 So when your computer is running a program, it will 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:40.480 load some information into RAM. This is the stuff that 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.000 the processor is going to need most frequently to do 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.560 whatever the program needs it to do. Now, RAM has 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:52.439 a limited capacity with most PC manufacturers, including you know, 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.440 some RAM, but they don't max it out. They leave 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.000 it up to the end consumer who can choose to 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:00.680 purchase more RAM and then in to all it on 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:05.240 the motherboard. Typically, not all motherboards allow you to do this. Uh, 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:09.800 some companies are less open to you adding more memory 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:14.840 to their systems. Cough Apple cough. The motherboard itself will 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.920 have limitations to how much memory it can support. There 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.480 is a top cap. You can't just keep adding RAM 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:25.720 chip after ramchip. You will eventually cap out. And that 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.280 also means that eventually you have to do a more 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:32.760 extensive upgrade to keep up with evolving technology, as you 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:36.800 will eventually encounter components that the old motherboard just can't support, 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.520 so you'll have to you know, go up a step. 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:42.600 You could, I guess keep pulling parts out of your 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.879 PC and replacing them bit by bit but sometimes it 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:48.399 just gets to a point where it's better to go 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:52.080 ahead and build a whole new machine. By loading information 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:56.760 into RAM, the computer limits how frequently the processor has 0:20:56.800 --> 0:20:59.760 to send a command to retrieve information from the longer 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.960 term storage like a hard drive disk, and that process 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:08.200 takes a little longer, actually much longer in computer terms, 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:12.520 than accessing information that's stored in RAM. So you've likely 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:15.280 heard that one way to speed up your computer is 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:19.200 to add more memory. Now the computer itself isn't actually 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:23.880 operating faster. Rather, it can load more information into that 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:28.320 temporary memory that RAM, and thus reduce the need to 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:31.879 go hunting for the information in long term storage. That 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:36.440 cuts down on delays and lags. So the processor isn't 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:39.359 going faster just because you added RAM to it, It 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:42.159 just doesn't need to send as many retrieve requests for 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:46.040 data that's stored on a hard drive. For example. Graphics 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.800 cards typically have a decent amount of RAM on them, 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:52.760 sometimes beyond decent. Some of some of those graphics cards 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:56.120 have way more memory on them than my current PC 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:59.640 has in it, and that's just on the graphics card. 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:03.200 But that allows the GPU the same sort of benefits 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:06.600 that the CPU enjoys with the RAM that's on the 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:12.320 PCs motherboard. Another important component is the connections between the 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:16.400 processor and the memory. This is what we call a bus. 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:19.560 A bus is sort of like a data pathway. The 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:23.439 capacity of the bus and the actual distance between the 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:26.680 processor and the memory can have an effect on how 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.120 quickly information can move from one component in the system 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:33.440 to the other. And really, when you start looking at 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:37.040 computer speeds and you're looking at, you know, the the 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:40.840 edge of computing, like the cutting edge, it really becomes 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:44.000 a game of find where the bottle neck is. Is 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:47.240 the bottleneck the processor, well, then you need something that 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:50.720 has a higher clock rate, or is it a limitation 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:53.960 in the system's memory. Then you need more RAM or 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:57.040 is it the actual connection between the components. Then you 0:22:57.119 --> 0:22:59.960 might even need an upgraded motherboard with a more robust 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:04.360 bus between processor and memory. So it all comes down 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:06.960 to figuring out where's the slow point, where's the weak 0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:10.760 link in this chain. The RAM on a graphics card 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.879 tends to have a dual port design, meaning the system 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:20.040 can both read and write to RAM simultaneously. Now, in 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:23.680 the simplest design, you could do one or the other, 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:26.359 but you couldn't do both at the same time. With 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:29.920 older graphics cards, the RAM also connects to a component 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:33.840 called the digital to analog converter or DACK d A C, 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:38.000 and then together you would sometimes find both of these 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:40.840 terms smush together. You would have RAM and DACK together 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:44.000 to make RAM DAK. The purpose of that component is 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:47.600 to take digital information, which at its heart is binary, 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:50.199 you know, in the form of zeros and ones, and 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:54.440 then convert that into an analog signal, which is continuous 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:59.000 and a changing signal that is capable of sending information 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:03.800 to like CRT monitor. However, today we have plenty of 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:07.600 digital displays and digital cable stuff like h d M 0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:10.840 I that carries digital signals, and that makes the converter 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:14.440 component less critical. It's not really something that you would 0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:19.000 necessarily hear much about with graphics cards these days because 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:23.760 it's just not necessary. The hardware people are buying doesn't 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:29.679 require the converter. Modern graphics cards typically support multiple displays. 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:32.520 You know, chances are a lot of you out there 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:35.680 have systems where you have at least two displays. I've 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:38.720 got two in front of me right now. The pc 0:24:38.920 --> 0:24:42.960 I Express connector on modern motherboards allows for support for 0:24:43.200 --> 0:24:47.600 up to four monitors, though not all graphics cards can 0:24:47.640 --> 0:24:50.520 actually do that, not all of them have four connections 0:24:50.520 --> 0:24:54.240 for displays. The r t X thirty nine, the monster 0:24:54.400 --> 0:24:57.560 card that kind of prompted this whole episode, that one 0:24:57.680 --> 0:25:00.199 can support up to four monitors, and it as a 0:25:00.200 --> 0:25:04.480 maximum resolution display of seven thousand, six hundred eighty by 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:08.440 four thousand, three twenty pixels, which we tend to just 0:25:09.240 --> 0:25:12.600 you know, it's say, is an eight K resolution. In 0:25:12.640 --> 0:25:15.160 other words, and just in case you need a refresher, 0:25:15.560 --> 0:25:20.720 resolution refers to the pixel density on a screen. Pixels 0:25:20.720 --> 0:25:24.159 are points of light, so generally the more points of 0:25:24.240 --> 0:25:27.879 light you have per square inch to to make an image, 0:25:28.200 --> 0:25:31.520 the smoother the image will be. I often talk about 0:25:31.600 --> 0:25:35.000 using like think about wooden blocks that a kid plays with, 0:25:35.960 --> 0:25:38.680 and think of them in different colors, like just nice 0:25:38.720 --> 0:25:40.919 primary colors. If you were to try and make a 0:25:40.960 --> 0:25:43.240 picture out of those blocks, it would be very blocky. 0:25:43.280 --> 0:25:46.120 You would see the edges of each block as they 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:48.399 were up against each other, and it wouldn't be a 0:25:48.440 --> 0:25:50.520 very smooth image. You might be able to make something 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:53.320 people could recognize, but it wouldn't look very smooth. If 0:25:53.320 --> 0:25:57.720