We will continue this article from where we left off last week. If you missed last week article you can read it at: www.jamaica-star.com

The following terms have been defined so as to allow a clearer understanding.

Computer peripherals: Any device connected to the computer to expand its capabilities, this device is not essentially a part of the primary make-up of the computer. (Examples: printers, cameras, CD ROMs, sound cards, etc.)

Bandwidth: this refers to the data transfer rate - the amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period (usually a second).

AGP: (Accelerated Graphics Port) AGP introduces a dedicated channel so that the graphics controller can directly access the system memory and does not have to share its bandwidth with other peripherals. Some motherboards still support AGP and the performance capabilities are higher than those of PCI. AGPs' maximum transfer rate is 2GBps (gigabytes per second)

PCI Express: This is the newest and fastest technology of the three bus-connectors. PCI Express replaces the older AGP and PCI technology. When PCI Express was introduced in 2004, it was known to us as PCI Express 1.1, with a total bandwidth of 8GBps. PCI Express has now evolved to 2.0 with a bandwidth of 16GBps.

There is also a newer version of PCI Express being worked on this will be titled PCI Express 3.0. According to PCI-SIG (Peripheral Component Inter-connect Special Interest Group) the release date can be expected in the last quarter of 2010. PCI Express 3.0 is expected to double the bandwidth speed of its predecessors by dishing out an expected maximum total bandwidth of 32GBps. In layman's terms, this means PCI Express 3.0 will, theoretically, double the speed of what our high-end video cards are performing at today!!

PCI Express 3.0 will be fully compatible with all other PCI Express technology on the market. This simply means no matter which generation your motherboard or video card is from, as long as it belongs to the PCI Express family, it will work perfectly well with each other and perform at its highest level.

If you are building or buying a new computer, and one of the required objective is to play high-end video games, and or the use of any video-editing application, please ensure the video bus is PCI Express. This is basically a must-have spec for your motherboard if you are going to contend in today's gaming and graphic world.

As it relates to interoperability, a video card doesn't share similar concepts with a CPU (Central Processor Unit). This means the technology is not proprietary. No matter which manufacturer the video card is from, it should work flawlessly on any motherboard that has the required connecting bus. The two biggest GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) manufacturers in the market today are - ATI and Nvidia. Both companies develop remarkable devices that are capable of producing exceptional graphics on your computer monitor - if properly supported.

Buying a high-end video card with limited support is the same as buying a low-end video card. Having a high-end video card with a low-end CPU for support will yield low-end results because the video card will often end up waiting on the CPU because it's not as fast as the GPU.

Note: GPU (Graphics Processor Unit) handles the manipulation of computer graphics. Processing computer graphics requires a lot of mathematical calculations that can place a lot of stress on the CPU. So having a dedicated processor for graphics allows the CPU to focus on other instructions, so it can be a lot more efficient in executing other tasks.

CPU (Central Processing Unit) not to be confused with the GPU. The CPU is responsible for interpreting, manipulating and executing commands or requests from the computer's hardware and software.

Look out for Part 8 next Wednesday, as we continue to explore the delicate but complicated world of video cards.

For questions and comments

Technical writer:

Kamar McIntyre

Tel: 849-9381

Email:

kamar_mcintyre@yahoo.com