Why do Graphics cards exists.

[Joe Jackman]

They could just soldered it in a motherboard. Like it could have been fast and cheap as mass production of motherboards could have lowered the cost.

[Drak3]

Upgrading as time goes on, not locking a user into mainboard x because it has GPU x, when they want features only on mainboard y and GPU x.

[Lord Nicoll]

3 minutes ago, Joe Jackman said:

They could just soldered it in a motherboard. Like i could have been fast and cheap as mass production of motherboards could have lowered the cost.

Because VRAM, VRMs and all that take up a lot of room, it goes back to the days of 16 ISA cards, when a motherboard only did CPU and RAM, that was it, everything needed expansion cards, from CD drives and HDD's to sound cards, the graphic display out was another card, it still remained that, however you don't need a GPU for most commuters, and some older boards have integrated graphics on the motherboard, they sucked. 

[MrMcMuffinJr]

why would you want to buy a whole new car when you can just buy a single replacement part

[Guest]

The above, not to mention that motherboard manufacturers would have to purchase their cards to put on every one of their boards, for the majority of graphics cards.....................

 

That's, an insane amount of combinations. So it wouldn't lower costs really

[Joe Jackman]

Just now, AUniqueName said:

The above, not to mention that motherboard manufacturers would have to purchase their cards to put on every one of their boards, for the majority of graphics cards.....................

 

That's, an insane amount of combinations. So it wouldn't lower costs really

True, at least we could have swap out the GPU chip like a processor.

[grimreeper132]

because could you imagine the size of a motherboard with a card like this in it

 

it just wouldn't be practical, that and it means the motherboard makers can make a couple of motherboards, and from them and all the other parts make nearly infinite combinations which wouldn't be possible to make otherwise 

[SPARTAN VI]

IDK if it's "THE" reason, but one reason why I wouldn't want them to be on the same PCB: I upgrade my core components (CPU, Mobo, RAM) once every 3-5 years, but I upgrade my video card at least once annually. I couldn't imagine a world where I'd have to do a complete gut every time I upgraded my GPU: reinstall CPU backplate, reseat CPU, remount HSF, re-cable manage. No way. It's triggering my OCD just thinking about it.

[Joe Jackman]

4 minutes ago, Lord Nicoll said:

Because VRAM, VRMs and all that take up a lot of room, it goes back to the days of 16 ISA cards, when a motherboard only did CPU and RAM, that was it, everything needed expansion cards, from CD drives and HDD's to sound cards, the graphic display out was another card, it still remained that, however you don't need a GPU for most commuters, and some older boards have integrated graphics on the motherboard, they sucked. 

Well lets say, a company managed to pull it off...

So pros would have been that we could swap out vrams and GPU chip just like processesor and system ram..what are the cons then?

[GoodBytes]

43 minutes ago, Joe Jackman said:

Well lets say, a company managed to pull it off...

So pros would have been that we could swap out vrams and GPU chip just like processesor and system ram..what are the cons then?

Because unlike CPUs, there is no actual standard on graphics cards and the GPUs as they rapidly change every 2-3 years. That is why we have DirectX and OpeGL, where the graphics card driver does the translation from OpenGL/DirectX calls to its own architecture, and the circuitry is designed to reflect the architecture design of the GPU. Even then, say that this part standardizes like on CPUs with the core architecture (x86), we can see from AMD and Intel CPUs they have a different CPU sockets, and Intel and AMD need to change their socket type every now and then due to changes to the architecture an chip design.

[Joe Jackman]

2 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Because unlike CPUs, there is no actual standard on graphics cards and the GPUs as they rapidly change every 2-3 years per se. That is why we have DirectX and OpeGL, where the graphics card driver does the translation from OpenGL /DirectX call to its own architecture.  Even then, you still need a AMD chipset for AMD CPUs, and Intel CPUs requires Intel chipset on the motherboard, both hjave different sockets, and Intel and AMD need to change the socket type every now and then due to changes to the architecture an chip design.

 

Aaaaaaaahhh. That's right....