Every computer has its own graphics hardware which is responsible for all things display, from drawing your desktop and decoding videos to displaying computers games that demand graphics. Almost all PCs of our time have Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) built either by Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD.
Although the CPU and RAM have a role to play, the GPU is the most important element required for computer video games. If your GPU is not well sophisticated, you’ll find it impossible to play any recent PC games and even if you can, you will have to play with lower graphics settings. Some PCs possess low-power “onboard” or “integrated” graphics, while some others have powerful “dedicated” or “discrete” graphics cards. Below is a way to know which one your computer possesses.
You can check for details of your computer’s GPU on Windows 10 from the Task Manager. To do this,
Right-click on the taskbar, then select “Task Manager” or press Windows+Esc.
Click the tab labelled “Performance” at the top of the window that opens, but if you don’t see the tabs, click “More Details”. Click on “GPU 0” in the sidebar, once this is done, you will find the manufacturer name and model name of the GPU displayed at the top-right corner of the window.
You are also going to find out more data like the amount of dedicated memory on your GPU, it’s in this window that you’ll find your GPU usage as displayed by Windows 10 plus you can view how much of the GPU is used by application.
But, suppose your system has more than one GPUs, you may see something like “GPU 1” and more on that window, all standing for a different physical GPU.
For versions of Windows that are older than Windows 10 like say Windows 7, you can check for your GPU in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. This you can find when you press Windows key+R and type “dxdiag” in the Run dialog that pops up after which you press Enter.
Click on “Display” tab and take a look at the “Name” field in the “Device” segment. You will also find more info regarding the amount of video memory (VRAM) built into the GPU.
Suppose you have more than one GPUs in the computer, say a lower power Intel GPU for when you’re using battery and a higher power NVIDIA GPU that you can use when you plug the system; if you want to play a game, you can choose which GPU the game can use from Windows 10 Settings. You can also do this from the NVIDIA Control Panel.
