What Video Card Do I Have?

The video card is a necessary component added to the computer to allow for graphics to play at higher qualities. The better the video card, the more that can be done on a computer. Many elite gamers spend hundreds, if not thousands, to have the most up to date graphics card installed on their computer because it ensures that the quality of their gaming is pristine. Knowing what video card you currently have makes it easier to determine what type to get in the future since graphic cards need to be compatible with the motherboard.

There are two main methods of determining the type of video card installed on the computer. These don't include any MS-DOS prompts and typically work. The first method is to go into your device manager. To get there, go to your control panel and allow all of the tabs to load. Once you've allowed them to load, locate the device manager button. Double click on that and allow the manager to load.

Once it loads, close all the tabs down so that you can easily locate what you're looking for. The section you want to access is the display adapters. This section includes all of the graphic cards installed on the computer. It should be noted that sometimes there is only one and sometimes there is a second. Click the plus sign and it will expand to list all of the video cards. An example of a graphics card is NVIDIA. This is one of the leading companies.

That'll give you all the different names. However, should you not be able to access your device manager, another way is to reboot your computer. When the computer restarts and text appears on the screen, hit the pause or break button. This will stop the booting process mid-boot. Then, you can start to read the different text that is available. If you are not well versed in video cards, the best bet is to write down the different company names that sound familiar with the model numbers next to them. You can then cross reference them on Google.

Once you've written the information down, hit the pause/break button again and the boot will finish. If your computer doesn't have text that appears during boot and you can't access your device manager, you can always open up the back of your computer and look for the chip. On the chip, there will be the name of the company as well as the model number; however, typically, the first two methods work, so employ them first.