\paperw8325 \margr0\margl0\ATXph0 \plain \fs20 \f1 If you are working at higher resolutions and colour depths, you should pay attention to the speed at which the c
ard works. We have already seen how the amount of data required to make up a screen increases dramatically when the number of pixels on screen increases. In practical terms, this means that when a program wants to alter what is displayed on screen, it ha
s to manipulate a certain amount of data. There is a huge variation in performance between different video cards, and the only way you can really identify the ones that perform well is to look for tests in the specialist press.\par
There are a number of
pointers you can check for, based purely on the cardís specification. First, you should insist that the card is implemented either via the computerís PCI expansion bus, or directly onto the motherboard. Second, you should check the internal data path th
at the card uses for transferring data. The more bits in the data path, the faster the card manipulates the data. Finally, ask what type of memory the card uses. The cards with highest levels of performance use ëdual-ported RAMí and are capable of both r
eading and writing to the memory at the same time.
