PCI / PCIe Graphics Cards

PCI and PCI Express (PCIe) graphics cards are expansion cards that provide dedicated hardware acceleration for rendering graphics and images on display devices.

1. Graphics Cards

A graphics card is an expansion component that processes graphics data and sends visual output to the display. It significantly improves graphics performance.

2. PCI Graphics Cards

Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) graphics cards were early expansion cards used to connect graphics hardware to the motherboard.

3. PCI Express (PCIe)

PCI Express is a high-speed serial interface designed to replace older PCI standards. It provides much higher data transfer rates.

4. PCIe Lanes

PCIe lanes determine the amount of data that can be transferred between the graphics card and the system.

5. Components of a Graphics Card

6. Working of a Graphics Card

The CPU sends graphics data to the GPU. The GPU processes this data, stores it in video memory, and outputs the final image to the display. 

CPU
 |
 v
GPU (Processing)
 |
 v
VRAM
 |
 v
Display Output

7. PCI vs PCIe

PCI                          PCI Express (PCIe)
--------------------------   -----------------------------
Parallel interface           Serial interface
Low bandwidth                Very high bandwidth
Shared bus                   Dedicated lanes
Older technology             Modern standard

8. Advantages of PCIe Graphics Cards

9. Applications

Practice Questions

  1. What is a graphics card?
  2. Explain PCI and PCIe.
  3. What are PCIe lanes?
  4. List components of a graphics card.
  5. Differentiate PCI and PCIe.

Practice Task

Explain with diagram: ✔ PCIe architecture ✔ Graphics card components ✔ Working of GPU