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1024 x 768. Some monitors can achieve resolutions as high as 2048 x 1536. The higher
you set the resolution on your monitor, the larger the viewable desktop, with the limit
dictated by the physical size of your screen. WYSIWIG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get)
resolutions are resolutions that correspond 1:1 to the printed output. For a 15” screen,
this translates into 800 x 600; for a 17” screen – 1024 x 768; a 19” screen – 1280 x 1024,
and so on. Most monitors can generally support the next higher resolution from their
WYSIWIG resolution. Setting the resolution on a monitor is a matter of preference. Some
users opt for the most comfortable viewing resolution, while others prefer the higher
resolution as it affords a larger desktop space at the expense of smaller images, icons,
and text. Most monitors come with controls allowing you to set the brightness, contrast,
horizontal size, vertical size, overall size, center point, color balance, and other
parameters. Please refer to your monitor documentation for complete information on
these adjustments.
The Video Card
The video card, also referred to as the graphics adapter or video adapter, processes display
information received from other system components, translates it into a form readable by the
monitor, and transmits the information to the monitor. Some important variables that affect video
performance are:
• Amount of RAM on the card
- Generally, the more available RAM on a card, the higher
the resolution it can support, and the higher the possible color depth (number of colors
that can be displayed simultaneously). However, there are factors that limit the amount of
video RAM that can be used for display functions. Most new video cards have built-in 3D
graphics accelerators and the RAM on these cards is used for display memory (used to
set up the resolution and color depth of the display), and texture/z-buffer memory (used
to hold 3D texture and object-sorting data). Because a 3D application requires a certain
amount of memory to set up the texture and z-buffers, the maximum resolution and color
depth of its display is lower than that of a 2D application, which can use the total amount
of video RAM available.
• Type of video RAM
- Newer types of RAM access data far more rapidly. Older RAM types
include DRAM, VRAM and WRAM. Newer cards incorporate higher speed memory such
as SDRAM, SGRAM and DDR-DRAM.
• Video chipset
- Newer chipsets incorporate faster processing and more advanced
functions such as full screen MPEG playback and 3D acceleration. Chipsets from
companies such as 3dfx. (Voodoo3, 4 and 5), NVIDIA® (TNT2., GeForce 256. and
GeForce2 GTS.), and ATI Technologies, Inc. (RAGE 128 PRO. and RADEON.) are used
in high performing 3D accelerators. Other manufacturers, like 3Dlabs. and Intergraph,
have specialized products for professional CAD or 3D animation markets.
• Card bus type
- Video cards interface with the computer through either the PCI or the
AGP bus. Most new 3D accelerators use the AGP bus, which was specifically designed
to address the performance required by today’s intensive 3D applications.
Universal Serial Bus (USB)
Many peripherals such as mice, printers, scanners, joysticks, and digital cameras require the user
to shut down the computer, plug in the peripheral, and then restart the computer to use the
device. USB changes that. Newer models of these same devices that support USB can be
plugged in and unplugged at will, without restarting the computer. USB provides a data transfer
rate of 12Mbps (megabits per second). USB ports are standard on new CTL computers and are