Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
of today's systems means that driver revisions are a necessity. Even if you are installing a
brand-new model ofavideo adapter,besuretocheck forupdated drivers onthe manufac-
turer's website for best results.
Note
Although most devices work best with the newest drivers, video cards can be a notable ex-
ception.BothNVIDIAandAMDuseunifieddriverdesigns,creatingasingledriverinstalla-
tionthatcanbeusedacrossarangeofgraphicschips.However,insomecases,olderversions
of drivers sometimes work better with older chipsets than the newest drivers do. If you find
that system performance or stability, especially in 3D gaming, drops when you upgrade to
the newest driver for your 3D graphics card, revert to the older driver.
The video driver also provides the interface you can use to configure the display your ad-
apter produces. The driver controls the options that are available for these settings, so you
can'tchooseparametersthehardwaredoesn'tsupport.Forexample,youcannotselectres-
olutions your display does not support, even though your video card might support them.
In most cases, another tab called Color Management is also available. You can select a
color profile for your monitor to enable more accurate color matching for use with graph-
ics programs and printers.
Videocardswithadvanced3Daccelerationfeaturesoftenhaveadditionalproperties;these
are discussed later in this chapter.
Maintaining Monitors
Because you can use a good monitor for several years on more than one computer, proper
care is essential to extend its life to the fullest extent.
Use the following guidelines for proper care of your monitor:
•Althoughphosphorburn(whereanimage left onscreen eventually leaves apermanent
shadow) is possible on CRT or plasma displays, LCDs are immune from this problem.
To prevent burn-in on non-LCD displays, use the power management settings in your
OS to blank the display after a period of inactivity. Screen savers used to be employed
for display protection, but you should avoid them in lieu of putting the display into
Standby mode.
• To prevent premature failure of the monitor's power supply, use the power-manage-
ment features of the OS to put the monitor into a low-power standby mode after a
reasonable period of inactivity. Using the power-management feature is far better than
using the on/off switch when you are away from the computer for brief periods. Turn
off the monitor only at the end of your computing “day.”
