Does Graphics Card Affect Video Quality in 2024?

By: Editorial Team

Modern graphics cards can handle more complex tasks than ever before, like manipulating computer graphics and image processing.

There are two types of GPU – integrated and dedicated.

An integrated GPU is built into the central processing unit (CPU) and shares the same memory, creating an efficient, power-saving system. 

A dedicated GPU is a separate processor from the CPU, which has different components. It does not share the memory with the central processing unit.

A dedicated GPU has a power source, and it’s own video RAM that allows for much higher performance. 

Depending on the workload, the computer shares the load between the iGPU and dedicated GPU. A dedicated GPU however, provides a much better video quality with increased detail.

Does Graphics Card Affect Resolution?

The graphics card is limited by the display resolution. For example; if your laptop display is 1920 x 1080, and the max resolution for the graphics card is 3840 x 2160, you would get 1080P resolution.

If and when you connect an HDMI to a TV and disable the built-in display that is 4K, your UI would render in that resolution.

Does GPU Affect Video Streaming?

To some extent, GPUs affect the quality of a video streamed off the internet. If you’re on a low-end GPU, it would not be able to consume high-resolution content, as there would be frame skipping and freezing.

You would have to lower settings to enjoy yourself without glitches.

Does GPU Affect Video Editing?

If you are talking about video editing, it would be better to purchase a CPU over a GPU. This is because, video editing is an intensive activity which requires multi-core processors.

However, that does not mean a GPU is absolutely useless when video editing.

Whenever graphically demanding tasks such as: after effects, 3D modelling are done, the presence of a dedicated graphics card makes the process fluid.

Does Graphic Card Affect Image Quality?

Yes, a GPU would slightly increase picture quality, by producing a much sharper image, reduce image noise.

Graphics cards help the display map the colours to match the colour range of the output display, and give a much more accurate image.

Do I Need A Graphics Card For 4K Video?

No. A dedicated graphics card is not needed to play 4k videos. Many of the modern CPUs would handle it with ease.

Do I Need A Graphics Card For Watching Movies?

As a user, if you wish to consume content in 4k, you need to have a CPU that is powerful enough to handle instructions, shared by the GPU otherwise, you’d experience low frames, lags, and frame skips on a regular.

In a computer, there 2 ways in which higher resolution is decoded.

  • Software decoding. In much older PCs that do not support hardware encoding, the CPU handles it through software virtualization. Hence, the increased demand for your processor.
  • Hardware decoding. This uses the CPU and Integrated GPU and a hardware decoder, although some processors might not support 4k acceleration.

Does Graphics Card Affect Video Quality?

GPUs have many uses, and displaying video content is one of them.

Content consumption above 1080P might sometimes require a dedicated graphics chip, but most modern computers have CPUs and GPUs that support either software or hardware decoding.

This makes things much easier for the computer and therefore enables users to watch movies and stream videos with ease.