Upgrading a Computer, Part 6
So, you’ve upgraded the RAM (memory) in your computer and now it runs better than before, but when you try to edit your digital video or convert your digicam footage into a DVD, it takes hours to run. Or maybe you go out and buy the latest game and then find it shows jerky video segments or takes excess time to update screens. What’s going on?
Well a lot of video performance issues come down to how capable your video card is.
Most recent computers have a video chip on the motherboard to provide video capability. The problems with this may only surface when you’re trying to use your system for high performance video functions such as those listed above.
For normal programs, such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat, the on board video chip is just fine. But the video chip gets its ability to perform by using functions and resources from the motherboard.
Now in a computer, to get anything done, the bits of information travel down pathways that have limits to how much they can handle. While the limits have been pushed to very high levels, trying to do too much can cause holdups in performance and even cause your computer to stop.
A good way to improve performance is to upgrade the video system by adding in a separate video card. This lifts a lot of the video overhead away from the motherboard and helps the system to do more in less time.
Use HWINFO to see what kind of video system you can have, (see screenshot above) then do a search for a video card that will match what your system can handle. Ensuring you have lots of video memory on the video card will help you get that smooth video performance, reduce the amount of time you spend waiting for your video to be converted and speed up the making of DVD’s.
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