For those of you who aren’t gamers, you may need to know this information if you perform complex tasks such as 3D rendering and video editing or use high-end applications like AutoCAD and Adobe Premiere Pro. Using higher-end graphics cards will make your workflow faster and more efficient.

GPU vs. graphics card

The graphics processing unit (GPU) is responsible for all the images that appear on your screen, from a Google doc to a 4K Gaming experience. It is the chip that performs the complex mathematical calculations that rendering graphics requires. GPU chips can be integrated onto the motherboard or be found on a larger, powerful expansion card. Expansion cards can perform more powerful tasks than integrated GPU chips. That makes them better for 3D gaming, accelerated video rendering, or other functions like mining bitcoin. All this extra power does require more power and more space on your computer. It also raises the temperature of your computer.

How to determine which graphics card you have

Knowing what graphics card you have in your Windows 10 PC can be tricky because there are two model numbers you need to know. One is the model of the GPU, the actual chip, and the other is for the card. The card contains not only the GPU, but it can also house the monitor connection port, coolers, and voltage regulator module, to name a few. There are two leading manufacturers of GPUs for expansion cards currently: Nvidia and AMD. Many companies use the chips from Nvidia and AMD and then create the card from that. Finding out which manufacturer built your graphics card means that you first have to decide if you need to know the chipset or the exact manufacturer and model of your card. Finding the chipset is easy using Windows, but the exact model can be more difficult.

Device manager

  1. Type Device manager into the search box in the lower-left corner of your screen and click on the icon to open it.
  2. Find Display adapters in the list and click on the arrow next to it to expand the list.
  3. The name of your GPU is listed there. You can see that my computer has an AMD Radeon Vega 3. If you aren’t sure what company built your chip, right-click on the device name and click Properties. In the window that opens, you will see the manufacturer listed there.

Third-party apps

If you want to know the exact model of your graphics card, you can use a third-party app such as CPU-Z to find that information. To use CPU-Z:

  1. Visit the website.
  2. Click on the Windows download button.
  3. Click on Setup – English.
  4. Choose Download now.
  5. Click Save File.
  6. Open the file in your downloads folder.
  7. Accept the agreement and finish installing the program.
  8. Launch the program.
  9. Click on the Graphics Tab to find out more about your graphics card.

Alternative: GPU-Z

GPU-Z from TechPowerUp is another small, simple and straightforward app that allows you to quickly identify your graphics card in Windows 10. There is no installation required. Simply download the application and double-click the .exe file to run it. It will instantly show the information about your graphics card. Once you have found the information you need regarding your graphics card, you can Google the name to find out more about it and figure out if it is powerful enough to use for your situation.

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