What are video cards? Video cards are the graphical processor for your computer. In other words they help put the image on the screen. The computers central processor, ram, and motherboard do all the calculations but need a processor to take those calculations and put it on a screen. Most central processors have a built in video processor on them but they aren't very powerful. An additional video card can improve frames on your favorite pc games, help with editing videos, and mine for bit coins.

Step 1: How They Work?

GPU Heat Sink- The GPU heat sink sits on top of the physical graphical processor. The heat is put in place in order to keep the temperatures of the GPU down. The processor heats up since it is processing millions of calculations a second. They heat sink distributes that heat through a metal bracket in order to keep the temperatures down. Different GPU's have different heat sinks. Most have a fan in order to cool down the metal bracket. Some of the nicer GPU's have a water block cooler on which allows the processor to be water cooled.

Memory - Video memory works very similar in the way that normal computer memory (RAM) works. In simple terms the video memory allows how much performance you are able to use. For example if I want to run the latest PC game in 4k resolution at high settings I would need more video memory. The more you ask out of the GPU (better textures, resolution, shadows) the more video memory I need.

Connection to the Motherboard - The Video Graphical Unit is connected to a motherboard via a PCIe connector. The GPU has a thin gold connector that you use to put into the motherboards PCIe slot. This connection allows fast speeds for video processing.

Connections - Different video cards have different ways to take that processing and send it to your monitor. Most video cards have a HDMI, VGA, DVI, and display port in order to connect to you monitor. Only one connection is needed but each connector has different uses. For example if you want to run your computer at 144hz you would need to use a DVI connector over a VGA connector since the VGA does not support 144hz.

Step 2: Maintenance

Physical Maintenance - Like any other object in your household video cards get dusty overtime. GPU's can accumulate dust inside that cooler. The clogging of the card can cause lack of potential performance and cause the card to just shut down. Regularly cleaning your card can fix these problems. Simply use a dust can to spray pressured air into the video card to clean the dust out.

Software Maintenance - When it comes to video cards software is very important. Right out of the box your video card will not work properly with the rest of the computer. The resolution will be off and certain applications will not work properly. In order to fix this you need to install drivers specific to your computer. To do this simply search your video card on the manufactures website and download the most recent one. When you purchase your video card you should receive a disk that contains the drivers. You should only use that disk if you cannot connect to the internet since it is most likely not up to date.

Another software maintenance you can do is going into the bios. Once you have your video card installed with it's drivers you can go into the bios to tweak the settings. You can boot into bios by hitting the f2 key as soon as you start your computer. Insider go to advanced settings and final video card settings (note: all motherboards have different bios settings so some settings might be in different locations or have different names). Once you find the video card settings you can adjust clock speeds, frequency settings, etc. Increasing these settings will help get the most out of your gpu. You do have to be careful though since to much tweaking can cause your video card to fail.

Step 3: Troubleshooting

Problem 1: Computer turns on but with a blank screen.

This is a common problem when first using a video card. Once you have installed your video card a common mistake is to leave your display cable connected to you motherboard. For example if you didn't have a video card in before you connected your computer to your monitor via HDMI cord. Then once you install your video card you leave the HDMI cord in the motherboard. This mistake will lead the computer to providing no image. This happens because once you install your video card the computer will only run graphics off that card. Because of this you need to connect your display cord (HDMI, VGA, DVI) into your graphic card.

Problem 2: Computer turns on then restarts after a couple minutes.

This problem is likely due to too much tweaking to your video card. Your graphic card can only handle so much power when tweaking. If you increase the speed of your card it will cause your computer to crash. In order to fix this go back into the bios settings and bring back the speeds to where it is stable.

Problem 3: Computer starts up but isn't to resolution.

This problem is most likely due to not having drivers installed on your computer. For details on why this occurs refer to Step 3: Software Maintenance. In order to fix this go to the manufactures website and install the latest drivers specific to your type of video card.