How It Works: Graphics Hardware

by Dustin Sklavos

This is the entry to the How it Works series that I'm sure some of the more knowledgable readers have been waiting for: graphics hardware. This is one of the most often misunderstood parts of a notebook, or even a desktop, really. It's something that I've struggled with for a while, and recent models from NVIDIA and ATI (mostly or almost entirely NVIDIA at this point) have only served to confuse things further.

But before I get into things, I want to be clear about something: this is NOT going to be a technical article. Take your memory buses, pipelines, and shaders elsewhere. I'm not even going to talk about DirectX, really. Why? Because anything on the market that would require Shader Model 3 needs a dedicated graphics card anyhow to be halfway playable, so ATI's Radeon X1250/X1270 with their halfway implementation aren't even really relevant. And there are no games that require DirectX 10, which has largely flopped anyhow. It's just not worth going into.

I will say that the notebook graphics market, so simple just a couple short years ago, has gotten patently stupid at this point. NVIDIA's model vomit that we can affectionately dub the GeForce 9 series is so convoluted it has actually prevented me from updating my notebook graphics guide. Simply put, I can't keep up with it and I can't make heads or tails of it. What the heck is a 9650? Your guess is as good as mine. ATI, conversely, completely streamlined their model number system.

How It Works: Graphics Hardware

Fundamentally, the graphics hardware in your notebook is what puts a picture on the screen. It's responsible for a couple more things, though: it's responsible for handling computer games that require 3-D rendering, it's responsible for running Vista Aero Glass, it's responsible for decoding some video so the CPU doesn't do all the work (see Part III), and it's responsible for driving an additional screen should you connect one to your laptop.

At its most basic, graphics hardware is comprised of two key components. First is the graphics core, or GPU, which is essentially a CPU that is highly specialized for handling 3-D rendering, video decoding, and outputting a picture. Second is the video memory, which is RAM used by the GPU to buffer images, store visual information for games, and so on.

One of the major points about graphics hardware is whether it's dedicated or integrated, and I'll explain what that means soon. But first, it's important to understand the two components in greater detail.

Graphics Core or Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

As I said before, this is basically a specialized CPU designed to handle video related tasks. The GPU runs at its own clock speed (MHz, as described in Part I), which chiefly affects gaming performance.

So what do I mean by specialized? Well, your CPU is designed largely to be a jack of all trades. It can do just about anything, but the problem is that for some tasks, it's just too slow to be usable. For example, the extraordinarily complex graphic effects in modern computer games will completely gum up a CPU. Yet a GPU, designed specifically to handle these effects, can perform exponentially faster and produce a smooth, playable experience depending on the game's settings and just how powerful the GPU itself is. Likewise, decoding high definition video is an extraordinarily hardware-intensive task that gums up all but the most powerful of modern CPUs. A GPU with proper high definition support built into it, however, can radically reduce the amount of CPU power required to play back that video.

Which brings us to an oft-ignored but increasingly vital component of the GPU: hardware support for video decoding. What this means is that the GPU transparently controls how a lot of the video on your computer is played back. Generally, no checkboxes or settings need to be changed for your GPU to handle it. In fact, a visit to the control panel of your GPU can show you just how fully-featured it really is. You can control brightness, contrast, saturation, and a wealth of other settings from there. Most GPUs include some form of de-interlacing, which can produce a cleaner, crisper video. Likewise, many of them include noise reduction, which can help smooth out grainy video. Of course, if these optimizations don't appeal to you, they can also be disabled.

This component is becoming particularly vital with the advent of high definition video. High definition video is simply too much for most notebook CPUs to handle on their own. Even if the CPU can, it generally has to run at near full bore to play it back properly and without stutter, and that has a profoundly deleterious effect on battery life. But if the GPU is designed to handle that video, it can do most of the heavy lifting without anywhere near such a profound impact on battery life.

Of course, the most important place this aids is in watching Blu-ray. Mercifully, manufacturers will seldom sell you a notebook with a Blu-ray drive that can't properly play back that content, and the logic here is fairly obvious: Dell and HP don't want their customer service department getting phone calls about why "Transformers" (terrible movie that it was) is chopping and stuttering. Equipping their notebooks properly from the outset avoids this problem entirely.

I've spoken a whole lot about video playback, and that's largely because gaming is the more obvious application. Unfortunately, it's not easy to just say "oh this GPU is the best for gaming." GPUs are extraordinarily complex in design - in many ways more complex than CPUs - and it's just too difficult to tackle in a basic article like this. As with CPUs, one GPU running at 500MHz can be significantly slower or faster than another one running at the same speed. Even then, performance can become dependent on how much video memory the GPU has (more on this in the next section), how much bandwidth that memory has, and even what game it is. "Crysis," for example, runs pretty poorly across the board (even on top of the line desktop machines), but tends to run better on NVIDIA hardware. "Assassin's Creed," on the other hand, can run markedly faster on ATI hardware if left unpatched (this is a rant for another time).

Video Memory

Much as your CPU requires RAM (see Part IV) to operate efficiently, the GPU requires RAM of its own. Video memory is oftentimes much more expensive than typical computer memory and is designed to run substantially faster to feed what is often a hungry graphics core. So while on a computer you'll see DDR2 or DDR3, video hardware can have DDR2, GDDR2, GDDR3, and even GDDR4 or GDDR5, and all of these are different kinds of video memory. This is a pretty easy one, though: the vast majority of the time, "higher is better."

While your CPU may have its memory controller in the northbridge (as is the case with current Intel CPUs) or onboard (as is the case with current AMD CPUs), the GPU's memory controller is always onboard. As mentioned in the memory article, keeping the controller onboard allows for improved performance. On graphics hardware, this can make all the difference in the world and it's an easy way to improve performance without having to raise video memory or GPU clock speeds.

Though the GPU has a major effect on all facets of your computing experience, video memory's is largely concentrated in gaming performance.

Now that we understand these two concepts, it's time to bring them together.

Integrated and Dedicated Graphics

The key differences between integrated and dedicated graphics are where the GPU is located and if the GPU actually gets its own dedicated video memory.

An integrated graphics part builds the GPU into the northbridge and as a result, the GPU is oftentimes stripped down compared to its dedicated counterparts in order to fit into the northbridge alongside everything else the northbridge has to handle. Consequently, it seldom if ever has its own video memory and uses its proximity to the computer's main memory controller (be it in the CPU as in AMD or in the northbridge as in Intel) to "steal" some of the system memory for itself.

The major drawbacks are fairly obvious: the GPU is stripped down to begin with so at best it may have drastically reduced gaming performance and at worst it may be missing entire features (particularly having to do with video decoding). The lack of dedicated video memory forces the GPU to use system memory which is much slower than the memory typically used for graphics hardware. Worse, video traffic now also has to piggyback on the same bandwidth the rest of the system is already using.

So why would you go integrated? If you're not planning on gaming or playing high definition content, you don't really need dedicated graphics hardware. Because the GPU is built into the northbridge and using system memory, it adds no chips to the design of the notebook - chips that draw power on their own. While the integrated GPU will use some memory bandwidth, it typically uses such a minute amount that the performance difference in regular tasks between integrated and dedicated graphics is more or less imperceptible. It's only when you start pushing your entire system hard (like doing video conversion and encoding) that a difference makes itself known, and even then it's a very minimal one.

Dedicated graphics hardware, on the other hand, is separate from the rest of the system. Generally it's either soldered into the motherboard or uses a proprietary connector (more on this later). The benefit is that the GPU's size (and accordingly complexity) is no longer limited by the northbridge and it has its own video memory which runs at a much faster speed. As a result, gaming is typically much improved and the GPU is much less likely to be feature limited.

The flipside is that a dedicated GPU and its video memory generate their own heat and draw their own power. While ATI and NVIDIA implement measures to reduce their power consumption when they aren't in use, it's never going to be comparable to an integrated part.

This is also where I explain to you why you won't see a high end part like a GeForce 9800M in a 12" notebook. Simply put, the GPU is too big, too complex, draws too much power, and generates too much heat. As GPUs get more powerful, increased size and complexity goes along with that. As they get bigger, they draw more power and thus generate more heat.

The big question is going to be: how can I tell if it's integrated or dedicated? The easiest way is if the graphics hardware has the word "Intel" in the title. If it does, it's integrated. As for the rest? If it lists a specific amount of video memory (not a range), it's dedicated. For example, a "Mobility Radeon HD 3650 512MB" is going to be dedicated.

Now we get to the most important part of the article...

No, You Can't Upgrade Your Notebook Graphics Hardware

Shut up. Just stop. No, you can't. You think you can, but you can't. This is the single most aggravating post that keeps rematerializing in the forums here on Notebook Review: "my graphics are slow, can I upgrade them?" NO. 99.9% of the time, the answer is no, and that .1% of the time it's yes, it's going to be yes for someone who already knows what they're doing and doesn't have to ask that question.

The reason why should be obvious at this point: notebooks are designed around very specific power draw and heat tolerances. More than that, graphics hardware is often soldered into the motherboard. There just isn't a slot for this and I honestly don't expect there will ever be a common one. I know someone in the forums will mention MXM or AXIOM, and to them I say: no. Don't even bother mentioning them, because you're just opening a bigger can of worms.

MXM and AXIOM are standards designed by NVIDIA and ATI respectably to allow for at least some upgrade options for video hardware in notebooks that - and this is key - already have dedicated video hardware to begin with. These standards, however, are somewhat rarefied and generally appear only in notebooks by more obscure brands. They're largely worthless, too. Since support for them is so minimal, you're not going to find graphics hardware upgrades for your laptop at your local Best Buy the way you can with your desktop. Even specialists like NewEgg and NCIX don't carry them. They're almost impossible to get and invariably very expensive. This is the long way of saying "don't waste another minute thinking about this."

What's the bottom line here? No, you can't upgrade your graphics hardware. You're stuck with the hardware in the notebook when you buy it, so you'd better do your research (the forums here are great for that).

Recommendations and Conclusion

First of all, if you're planning on playing games on your notebook, rule out integrated graphics immediately. Outside of the ATI Radeon HD 3100 and 3200 at the time of this writing, integrated graphics really aren't adequate for gaming proper. Intel's graphics hardware in particular has frequent compatibility problems with games, and games it can actually produce playable performance in are basically a crapshoot. Beyond all that, you're just going to have to shop around and do some research, and there's just no way around it. Notebooks in retail seldom have dedicated graphics hardware.

As for brands? Presently I'm an ATI man, but my laptop has an NVIDIA dedicated GPU in it that games alright from time to time. This is one of those situations where it's probably healthiest to just be brand agnostic and pick whichever suits your needs best.

I am also going to openly recommend against gaming notebooks or buying a notebook specifically for gaming. In my opinion, these are a waste of money. Gaming technology tends to advance just too fast to make these machines worthwhile, and they tend to be at least twice as expensive as a comparable PC. The dedicated PC gamer is going to want to have a desktop to game on, where the parts are cheaper and the options are plentiful. Notebooks are fine for the odd game or bringing to a LAN, but buying a notebook just to game on is really silly. The most powerful notebook gaming hardware results in a machine that, frankly, is just too big to be used on your lap. Thus, it winds up being a glorified desktop anyhow.

Though I typically close these articles with a digest of points, there's really only one I want to end with here:

• No, you can't upgrade your notebook's graphics hardware.

Unfortunately, my sense of responsibility requires me to distill the rest of the article proper, so here goes:

• Much like your CPU and RAM work together, a GPU and video memory are paired together.
• Your GPU can substantially improve video playback, and options exist to tweak it to your liking.
• Integrated graphics are better for battery life and heat but worse for gaming performance.
• If you plan on gaming on your laptop at all, get dedicated graphics hardware. This is identifiable by having a specific amount of video memory attached to it.

Coming Up:

The next "How it Works" article is going to make life a lot easier for me: I'm gonna explain hard drives to you!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

 

...... the single most definitive statement ever made at NBR.

I'm still giggling about this - it needs to be stapled to the top of every forum here

 

Another great article Dustin. Just want to add, though, that there are software codecs that allow you to playback on comparatively weak CPU's.

The free FFDshow tryouts allow 720p H.264 Playback on 1.6GHz C2D the last time I used them - they might be more efficient now.

The commercial CoreAVC allows 720p H.264 playback on a 1.2GHz C2D, easily. And it will get hardware acceleration in the future, making it even more efficient.

VC1 playback, on the otherhand, genereally requires a decent GPU. At least, I never managed to get FFdshow to take over instead of Microsofts built in codec.

Hardware acceleration will not work with every file (like .mkv files), and is not always the best solution (I'm looking at you, quicktime).

 

If you go into the ffdshow config for video you must change the "VC1" option from wmv9 to libavcodec, by default it uses Microsoft filters.

 

I'm pretty sure I did that, but I'll have to try again. I don't have the VC1 movie anymore, though.

 

this should be stickied, great job, keep it up.

 

Sweet, I can't wait until I have a chance to read this tonight!!!

 

nice guide
i have a question though, can i upgrade the graphics card on my notebook?

 

No, but if you post the question on our forums we can upgrade you with bruises and shame.

 

Pulp,

Great article, but I must take exception to your scandalous comment about a particular product.

No, I am not talking about Intel or Nvidia. How can you dish such a great movie as Transformers which propelled the heroine to sexiest woman in the world.

 

Once again, nice guide Dustin. I like that you explained what the GPU does without going in to details about bandwidth, pipelines, shaders, etc. It makes it simple for the layman to understand.

 

Pulp,

Your section on upgrading laptop graphics is hysterical and very, very satisfying.

 

Pulp,

ZOMG That Was one of the greatest reviews I have ever read.
Why?
Simple, because your opinion is exactly the same like mine.

1. Your not afraid to tell your opinion. Some people are always just scared to tell what they really think to pi$$ off some camps, and you just tell it like it is! Great job!

2. Transformers did suck. I think you and I both agree on that and your cool person, because you think it too. That's why we're both cool people. And majority of people who think it was good are just being mislead by big douchy CGI.

3. Notebook for gaming is a waste of money, another point that we're both agreeing on (becoz we're both cool people). And I was trying to tell this point to Narsnail in some post and I pissed him off, so he started getting offenced and put some post in caps that was deleted by moderators. Apparently now, he turned around his opinion and he supports your post thus making him a flip - flopper.

That is why your post is immensely cool.

Don't forget to rep.

Piece out.

 

I would at least add the MXM-Upgrade link to the guide.

But other than that, pretty good read.

 

Although this probably only applies to a small amount of people I'll say it anyway.

IMO Gaming notebooks are a great idea and not a complete waste of money, though I would not like to spend thousands on a gaming notebook. But notebooks for playing games are brilliant.

In my case, I can often spend long periods of time in hospital...I can't hardly bring my desktop in to the hospital with me to play games, but this is where the gaming notebook shines

 

Another excellent job. I am really enjoying this series . . . should make my mother read it!

 

Transformers was OK.

 

+1

I don't see the absolute relevance of the above statement: The most powerful notebook gaming hardware results in a machine that, frankly, is just too big to be used on your lap.


Firstly I don't know what percentage of people use a laptop on their lap or more likely on a hard surface such as a table. But needless to say I doubt very much its an over whelming majority that only use them on their laps.

Secondly, gaming laptops and those who use them make no assumption that they have the most bleeding edge graphics. But for sheer practicality for those who have to move regularly they can't be beaten. Moving a desktop is a laborious task and on the other hand even a heavy 17" can be popped into a suitable backpack and moved in minutes. Today's High Spec Clevo's, Alienware m-17x's and Dell's M1730's, equipped with Sli 8800M GTX's and x9000 CPU's are blazing fast through today's games and no doubt will allow their owners to play gaming titles into the future at a predicable decline in gaming performance that is constant in any advancing technology. Cost is high is these set-ups but very simply its a case of YGWYPF (you-get-what-you-pay-for).

72oo

 

I upgraded my 7950 GTX GO to an 8800M GTX and sold the 7950 for about half of what I paid for the 8800M so it wasn't that expensive. So I take affront at that comment!

/wishes he could upgrade his x600 in his zd8000; was a great notebook except for the crappy card

 

Great article, really to the point on gaming

As you mentioned, one of the things handled by the gpu is driving an additional screen. What sort of GPU is needed to extend the desktop to a 1920x1200 resolution external monitor?

 

An addendum to this question is, if you have a laptop with an external monitor plugged in but have the lid close (such that you aren't using the laptop monitor) and are using the monitor as your sole video output, is this going to affect the GPU more/less/same as if you had the laptop open too and/or are extending or mirroring the desktop to the 2nd monitor?

 

I plugged in Dell Laptop which belong 2 my mom and has intergraded x300 GPU into my 28" 1920x1200 viewsonic external lcd and it display 1920x1200 NO PROBLEM.

 

umm i know what your trying to say here lol..... but yes in certain case you can upgrade the graphic cards in some of the alienwares and in some sagers ..some people where upgrading 8700m to 8800m and some even from 7900 to 8800 just got to get them on ebay ...lol can i downgrade my graphics to integrated lol

 

Thank goodness you mentioned the ATI Radeon 3200, for a person on a budget its a good games solution. I was really happy when I got my dv5z to find that i could run Crisis fairly smoothly using the low details and that Titan Quest a game I had wanted to play for some time now plays on the highest settings. For a 549 laptop its a great solution in my opinion.

 

Great article. Not to take it away from you, but I really don't think Transformers was a bad movie. Yea yea you could say the plot was bad, but come on, the transformations were just so cool (especially if you saw the movie in a theater like I did). Man, I wish video games look that good.

 

hey guys little help here, looking at the Lenovo Ideapad U330, and it has a ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB integrated and discreet for when ur unplugged etc. Well im not a hardcore gamer and dont do intense games but do play games and would like the capability. Would this be good enough for just light gaming, ( I usually dont even play newer games jsut older ones that I like, CoD, star wars etccc

 

I doubt many of them use it only on their desk either. Which certainly applies for anyone with a 15.4'' or smaller notebook, which also happens to be the majority. People buy smaller notebooks because they can use it on the go.

 

With all of the current gaming notebooks coming out, I'd say that gaming on a notebook is actually quite cheap, AND cost effective vs desktops.

you can now get notebooks with 8800GTS cards which can play everything maxed out for $900, or notebooks with medium range gaming cards for $600, and ultra high end notebooks for $1500-$1800. The best part about this, is that unlike one year ago, you can buy these for good prices at retail locations now. Last year you wouldn't dream of going to a retail location and picking up a gaming notebook, now you can, and it's a great price!

The advantages of a gaming notebook vs desktop to some gamers is just so vast that there's far too much that can be listed here. It's definately worth the $100-200 extra over a similarly powered desktop to most people who are looking to invest in one. Saying that gaming on a notebook is a waste of money obviously has no need for a gaming notebook themselves.
I'd say that if your notebook hasn't left the desk in more than a month, then you probebly fall into the catagory of people who don't need a gaming notebook, but if your cramped for space, or merely need to move it around alot, there is no other option.

Onto upgradability. I think it's safe to tell people strait up, NO you cannot upgrade your graphics card, but don't tell people that the option is non-existant. And it isn't as expensive as it used to be. Right now I can upgrade my notebook's 8700m GT with an 8800m GTX for $500 flat. That's definately not a bad deal for the amount of performance i'd get out of it compared to the 8700. You can now buy standalone MXM cards in the accessories section of many clevo/sager resellers. (waiting for an mxm 4870 )

 

I don't believe I said the option is non-existent. But consider this: yeah, you can upgrade that 8700M GT to an 8800M GTX for $500 flat. Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is? The 8800M GTX is an underpowered 8800 GT. It's a specialized MXM part that you have to get from specific resellers that costs more than three times as much as its desktop superior. Even ignoring the dekstop comparison, MXM notebooks are extraordinarily rarefied in retail to begin with.

I'd like you to point me to notebooks with medium range gaming cards for $600, much less the ones equipped with 8800GTSes for $900.

The fact is they're a waste of money. At $600 you can build a HTPC-sized desktop computer with a Radeon HD 4850 or even an 8800GT in it, and I guarantee you it won't weigh much more than its $2,000 mobile equivalent.

 

"Outside of the ATI Radeon HD 3100 and 3200 at the time of this writing, integrated graphics really aren't adequate for gaming proper."

The ATI HD 3200 performance with the new AMD Turion Ultra processors actually has me seriously considering an AMD-based notebook for the first time. I've always had Intel processors, and for the last few years nVIDIA discrete graphics, but the HD 3200 is pretty amazing. In the case of the HP dv5z vs. dv5t, the integrated ATI HD 3200 outperforms not just the integrated Intel 4500MHD, it also performs slightly better than the 256mb nVIDIA 9200M GS discrete graphics option ($100 upgrade) in the dv5t! If you want better performance than ATI's IGP, you'd have to opt for the 512mb nVIDIA 9600M GT for $200 which is also available on the HP dv5t. HP should make the $100 upgrade at least the 9300M GS instead of the 9200M GS....it's hardly worth the $100 it costs...maybe if the Intel X3100 was still standard, but not with the improved Intel 4500.

What about the ATI Radeon 3100 (it seems that Toshiba is the only one utilizing this lesser version of the HD 3200)? It it simply assumed that the performance of the 3100 will be impressive because it is based on the HD 3200? Or has anyone seen any actual performance data/synthetic benchmark results of a system with the 3100 as the IGP?

I'd be very interested to know what sort of performance the 3100 can actually provide compared to the 3200. Although Toshiba is pairing it with the AMD RM-70 Turion processor instead of the ZM-series Turion Ultra processors. Unlike HP, Toshiba only offers the AMD-based systems in pre-configured models, so the processor can't be upgraded. They do tend to be dirt cheap, though.

 

Dedicated or integrated...
Integrated or dedicated...

Isn't just better to have both of them in your notebook?

It's called "switchable graphics". New technology in Intel Montevina platform.
There are fresh notebooks which implement this technology like thinkpad t400
(dedicated "version" has both, integrated and dedicated GPU which can be
switched on the fly if the OS supports this feature).

google "intel switchable graphics" for more.

 

Has anyone used the inspice computer recovery? If so what has been your esperience?

Evy

 

Incorrect. It was already implemented on Santa Rosa notebooks such as the Sony SZ and the Alienware M15x. If I recall correctly, there are more notebooks from older generations that carries this feature too.

 

Sure, like the Alienware Area-51 M5500.

 

Sitting infront of a severly underclocked for maximum gaming American Technology Institute (A.T.I) X1600 *notice hint of sarcasm* I applaud you. I have been waiting for this edition "how it works" thing for quite a time.

 

Either I've missed it, or it wasn't included, which I think is rather useful.

"Which is better, a X3100 with 768MB of RAM or a 8600M GT with 256MB RAM."

or similar questions.

I mean, I keep getting stuff like this from my friends and they said, "since it has more RAM, wouldn't it perform better? "

Or something of such nature as in: "My GPU has 1024MB of RAM, why do I see still pictures every 3seconds in Crysis"

Either way, still a great article.

 

I had a glimpse through an article and I think it was mentioned there as well. Basically, the amount of memory most(or better all comon) integrated graphics cards use is always withdraw from your system memory. That has several drawbacks, including limiting your total operating memory for operating system and apps(games including) making OS likely to swap to harddrive(in case you have 2GB setup, you are left with roughly 1.8GB in X3100 256MB setup.

Plus except of the latest DDR3 montevina 1066Mhz memory modules which aren't available yet (U series of Sony Vaio Z laptops maybe), operating system memory will still be slower than GDDR2/3 memory on graphics card itself. Moreover with integrated solutions like intel X3100 or X4500 graphic chip will still share the same bandwith with system processor whereas dedicated graphics card like nVidia M8400GT don't touch this bandwith at all since the actuall video memory is on same logic board as the chip itself(physically) and use it's own memory access paths.

High resolutions(anything above 1600 etc.) or with high detailed textures would definitelly need more than 128MB dedicated memory, but still most dedicated graphic cards will be way faster than integrated solutions. They can utilise PCI express facility to virtualize and use system memory as well, so nVidia m8400GT 128MB can still use 256MB if it needs to.

Anyway, unless you are hardcore gamer new X4500 paired with slowest 2.26Ghz P8400 C2D processor enables you to play ten thousands games on very acceptable framerate(in a case of 2007 releases and earlier on a excellent frame rate) while giving you a 25+ extra minutes on battery life. Yes you can play Doom3 on intel X4500(although not maxed obviously).

Well I don't play anymore but I am happy replaying Dungeon Siege or similiar games like that(Lazarus mod for DS, any ultima mods, Team Fortress etc.) X4500 would handle flawlessly. As for the Crysis, that's another story ;-)

 

I'll believe it when I see it.

Intel was touting the freaking GMA 900 as being able to run Doom 3. Even the X3100 doesn't run it playably.

 

Dustin, I wish I could give you more rep. But I can't. Because I don't have any left. Superb article, once again.

You've actually got me eager to learn about hard drives. Which is saying something.

 

"can i upgrade my graphics card on my laptop?"

how many times have i been asked that!!!!

great article mate, im reading my way through these. Informative and funny