Video Card Terminology

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Wading through the cryptic Videocard terminology

When searching for a new videocard it's very easy to get nonplused by the flurry of features and acronyms videocard vendors throw at you. It's frustrating to learn a new language just to purchase a new videocard; what do all those obscure features and specifications mean? Here's a quick and simple guide to get you acquainted with common videocard babble.

DVI-I and Dual-Link DVI-I

The DVI-I port on a videocard interfaces with an LCD display to output digital video. If you have an analog CRT monitor, a VGA adapter can be used to connect to the DVI-I port. A videocard that's advertised as having �Dual-Link DVI-I� employs a second data pipe to push more bandwidth; this is useful for displays set to high resolutions (think 2560x1600).

Pixel Shaders

The Pixel Shader is your GPU's way of applying textures and transformations to manipulate each pixel that is output to your display; it's a hardware component of your GPU. Pixel Shaders are employed to give a more realistic feel to objects, such as creating real-life reflections to emulate the real world.

Pixel Pipeline

The smallest element that makes up an image on your display is called a pixel. Before the pixels are rendered to your display, they commute through a data pipe so that each one can receive its necessary transformation. This data pipe is aptly named the �Pixel Pipeline�. Examples of pixel transformations include applying textures to objects and image transparency.

Scissor-mode Rendering

Scissor-mode rendering is a method of splitting the output workload; videocards that use multi-GPU rendering techniques divide a scene into regions, giving each GPU a portion to process. This split-frame method makes for fast graphical rendering.

High Dynamic Lighting

Have you ever been to the movie theater in the afternoon? You sit in a dark theater room for a good 2-3 hours; when you exit the theater your eyes are overwhelmed by the sunlight outside. It's takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to their new illuminated surroundings. This common situation is often simulated in games by using a rendering technique called �High Dynamic-Range Lighting�, an attempt to emulate real-world situations and happenstances.

Buying a new videocard doesn't have to be an exhausting exercise in techno-babble. Once you understand the basic underlying terminology, you'll feel more comfortable with your new videocard purchase.

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