Correctly checking the type of graphics card (GPU) on your computer

Andrew Moore
Updated: April 7, 2023

Graphics cards, or GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), power the visuals of your computer. GPU’s are a critical component in many high-performance PC gaming systems and workstations. Since they provide such an important role in modern computing, it is essential to ensure you have a good quality graphics card installed in your machine.

Table of Contents

  1. What brand of video card do I have?
  2. Check What Graphics Card (GPU) Is in Your Windows PC
  3. Check What Graphics Card (GPU) Is in Your Mac
  4. In conclusion

What brand of video card do I have?

Once you’ve determined the name of your graphics card model, you can use it to look up information about its specs and capabilities. This will give you a better idea of what type of games and software it can run. You can also compare performance with other cards in the same family or manufacturer. 

If your GPU is from an AMD brand, you can find out more information on their website. If your GPU is from an NVIDIA brand, you can visit their website for further details on the particular GPU model and driver versions available for download and installation on your system.

In addition to identifying your GPU model, you can also use the Windows Device Manager to check and see what driver version is installed on your system.

To do this, open the Device Manager (search for it in the Start Menu or type “devmgmt.msc” into a Run command box) and then expand the Display Adapters section. Right click on your graphics card model name and select Properties from the context menu that appears. Then click on the Driver tab in the Properties window and you will be able to view information about your current graphics driver including its version number. 

You may need to periodically update your drivers to ensure optimal performance of your graphics card.

Check What Graphics Card (GPU) Is in Your Windows PC

To determine what graphics card you have installed, you can use a few different methods:

  1. The first and simplest way is by right-clicking on your desktop and selecting the “Display Settings” option. By opening this menu, you should be able to see the name of your graphics card in the upper left corner of the window that appears. 
  2. Another method is to open up your device manager by pressing Windows+R (or typing “Run” into your search bar) and entering the command “devmgmt.msc”. Once opened, look for the category “Display Adapters” to find out what GPU is installed in your system. 
  3. Finally, if neither of these methods work, you can also use the popular tool GPU-Z to get detailed information about your graphics card. This program will give you a full overview of the specs of your GPU and is available for free download from many websites.

Check What Graphics Card (GPU) Is in Your Mac

Let’s take a look at how to check which graphics card is installed on your Mac. Depending on whether you have an iMac, MacBook Pro, or another Apple device, there are different ways to determine what type of graphics card you have:

  1. One way to check is by using the About This Mac function in your System Preferences. If you click on the Apple icon in the top left corner of your screen and select “About This Mac”, a window will appear with information about your computer including hardware specs like processor, memory, storage, and graphics cards. It should list both an integrated and discrete GPU if there are two installed on your device. 
  2. Another option is to open Activity Monitor from your Applications folder and click on the GPU History tab at the bottom of the window. Here you can see how much of each type of GPU is being used at any given time. This may be helpful for determining which type of GPU is better suited to your needs. 
  3. Finally, if you want more specific information regarding the type of GPU installed in your Mac, you will need to download a third-party application like GPU-Z or lspci. These applications can provide detailed information about what type of graphics card is installed on your device.

In conclusion

No matter which method you choose, it’s important to know what kind of GPU is installed in your computer so that you can make sure any new hardware or software you may buy is compatible with it. Knowing how to check what graphics card (GPU) is in your PC will save a lot of time and frustration and ensure that all your components are compatible with each other.