Our society is defined by innovations and how people use them. As electronic devices get more complex, there has been an increase in internet presence by users. This spike means that the users get exposed to more data of a broad spectrum.
You, therefore, need an efficient way to handle all this data, especially data like videos, 3D images, graphics, and others. This processing requires a powerful graphics processing system, so how would you deal with it?
How to Use Onboard Graphics and Video Card at the Same Time
Why would you even want to do this? Let’s say you have a graphics card that has only one HDMI port, and the others are display ports.
You could buy an adapter, but they are often quite expensive, so you need another Graphics processor.
With the correct setup, you can run your monitors off your internal graphics and graphics card simultaneously. This combination might seem like a ridiculous idea, but it is a solid way to go forward when you have multiple monitors, and they all need a graphics processor.
Your computer will automatically disable the internal graphics card when you install a new graphics card because it assumes you don’t want to use both. While most people will not want to use both, you might want to, so let’s get this fixed.
Restart your computer; wait for the screen to turn on, then repeatedly press the delete button to get you the BIOS menu. BIOS settings are often sensitive, so you need to be careful about the settings you tinker with within this category.
Scroll across to get the chipset menu in the BIOS, then scroll down to the Internal graphics option. You will notice that the internal graphics is disabled, and this is why your dual monitor output is not working.
Enable the internal graphics, then save the changes and exit BIOS. As simple as that, you will be using both the onboard graphics and your video card, and you don’t need additional software or connectors to make it work.
The BIOS menu will differ depending on your CPU, but they have the same general idea. Look for internal graphics, and it should be somewhere in the graphics. Using both cards will give you a higher amount of flexibility with your monitor usage.
What Is A Graphics Card?
The biggest issue to look at in any gaming PC today is the graphics card. There are many other excellent components you can add to your rig, but nothing beats a high-performing GPU. This will turn your regular PC into an efficient gaming station.
For beginners, you must have heard about graphics cards, and you are wondering what they are all about. These are essential parts of any computer system, and they are vital in making the system run smoothly.
A video card is an independent dedicated silicon chip, circuit board, and cooling system that work together to produce high-quality graphics processing for computers.
These are bought separately by users, and they can be installed into a computer to improve performance.
The graphics card might not be able to do all the things a CPU does, but it is specialized to handle graphics in a high-quality manner.
The CPU is a general-purpose tool that can perform various activities, but they are limited because of their size.
With graphics rendering, you might get frustrated working with a CPU since it performs other tasks simultaneously.
The numerous functions might clog up in the processor and cause your entire system to hang, and the game won’t run.
This is why you need a GPU to handle all the graphics rendering, which would take a toll on your CPU. This will free your CPU and give you a realistic video and audio rendering when gaming or watching a movie.
Can You Install Two Graphics Cards On The Same Motherboard?
We all know that you can add another RAM to your PC or laptop whenever you want to. With RAM, all you need to do is plug it in, and provided it is compatible with your computer; it will run.
You can do the same thing with graphics cards, but it is slightly more complicated than plugging them in.
You can have two cheap graphics cards on your computer, and they will give you better performance than one expensive graphics card.
There are some things you need to check to make sure the graphics cards work together. The most important and basic thing is your motherboard.
You need to check and make sure that your motherboard supports the installation of two graphics cards.
The graphics card to add for NVIDIA is called SLI, and that of AMD is called Crossfire. These are your options for adding graphics cards, so you need to make sure that the card you currently have supports either one or both of these options.
Just like RAM, the two sticks have to be compatible with each other. If you miss out on compatibility, you will end up with a messed-up computer that probably won’t work until you get the right graphics cards.
If you are using NVIDIA graphics cards, you have to make sure they are identical for them to work. AMD gives you a more comprehensive range of choices in graphics cards, but the best way is to make sure the cards are in the same series.
So if you are planning to do this, you need to check what graphics card you buy so you don’t have to overhaul it.
Graphics processing requires a lot of power; you, therefore, have to make sure that your Power Supply Unit can deliver the additional power requirement. Having underpowered equipment will be a problem since most components won’t start.
After installation, you will have to go into your BIOS settings and enable SLI or Crossfire to make sure both cards work. This will increase the performance of your computer, but it will come at a cost.
Two graphic cards will consume more power and produce more heat which is not suitable for your processor.
In addition, not all games support SLI and Crossfire, so you might have compatibility issues along the way.
Are Integrated Graphics Good?
If you are a dedicated gamer, you know that having a dedicated graphics card will often give you better performance than using integrated graphics. This is because of the small sizes of the graphics integrated into your CPU.
Fitting all the high-performance graphics components into a small CPU is challenging since there isn’t enough space for all the transistors you need. In addition, it would be difficult to cool down components in such a compact state.
It is also true that integrated graphics have improved significantly over the years, and now they perform almost as well as dedicated graphics.
More users are getting into high-quality integrated solutions rather than expensive dedicated graphics.
Now you can play games in HD with decent frame rates and visual quality. The main reason for this is the reduction in transistor sizes, and now there are transistors of 14nm. This reduced size means that engineers can fit more transistors into a CPU.
The additional transistors provide users with increased performance while reducing the power needed to process data, reducing the heat generated by your CPU. This has increased the market for integrated graphics cards.
The progress is such that most users choose integrated graphics since budget graphics cards cannot compete with the performance of a free graphics processor.
The onboard GPUs handle more than just games; they deal with video playbacks and productivity.
Many people use their integrated graphics even when they have a discrete card installed on their system.
This has driven chip manufacturers to develop products that serve a broader audience, making integrated graphics more efficient.
They have achieved this through tricks like dynamic tuning. This uses software to allocate power between the GPU and CPU depending on what the system is doing. They also categorized processing to make the overall performance better.
With all these in consideration, an integrated graphics card is sound, and it will do almost everything you need from a dedicated graphics card. It is a cheap way to get high performance, but it only works well if you select the right laptop.
Conclusion
You can use an onboard graphics card as well as a video card at the same time. This will be an excellent way to boost your computer’s performance and improve image quality, especially if you broadcast the signal onto two screens.
A dedicated graphics unit will offer you superior performance than you would get from an integrated GPU. This is because they handle only one task, so they can work better in the long run.
You don’t have to buy a dedicated graphics unit since integrated graphics are improving. The reduction in transistor sizes has allowed more of them to be used in CPUs, making their GPUs perform almost as well as dedicated graphics cards.
