How Today’s Average Computer Graphics Card is More Powerful Than Computers of 20 Years Ago

When looking at the history of computer video cards, (or graphics cards) it’s hard to believe how far we’ve come.  The sensation is probably not too far from that of an early hunter comparing his bow and arrow to an out-dated, roughly-hewn spear.  Or, for that matter, to a modern hunter, with his high-powered rifle, staring at a hand made bow and arrow.

The first computer graphics, as difficult as this may now be to visualize, were created without the use of video cards.  This was back in the late 40s and early 50s when a lot of the groundbreaking work in computer technology was happening in the US military.  The Navy’s first computer flight simulator, known to posterity as Whirlwind 1, no doubt represented the very zenith of high technology in the first half of the twentieth century.  Imagine what its inventors would think of today’s EVGA technology or ARG adapters.

The first actual video cards, developed in the early 1980s, could, believe it or not, only function in text mode, with 4 kilobytes of memory, and could process one color only.  These cards were tasked with the rather drab responsibility of producing the text-based picture on the monitor screen.  But the development of graphical operating systems made it increasingly difficult for the graphic load to be handled inside the main processor. The answer was to “farm” this workload out to a more powerful graphics card.  These were no doubt, a far cry from today’s video cards, with their VRAMs, RAMDACs etc.  But at the time they were considered groundbreaking examples of cutting edge technology.

And yet the day will come when we look back on today’s shiny new computers with something like condescension.  “Aw, remember the old ARG adapters?” Someone may one day ask.  “Can you believe they got by in the old days with only 16.7 million colors?”

Indeed the trend nowadays is for video cards to exceed the confines of their original purpose, not just their original design.  The gaming industry has been commonly producing both 2- dimensional and 3- dimensional cards for years.  In fact, in the 1990s it was almost impossible for video card manufacturers to keep up with design. The average product life of a video card was about 6 months.  In other words, the technology began to grow almost exponentially.  Products were outdated almost as soon as they hit the showroom floor.  To put this another way, it would be like going from a horse, to a Model T, to a rocket ship in half a year.

It’s hard to imagine where this all is going to end.  But rest assured, one day—perhaps even in the next six months—we’ll be sitting around laughing at the GPUs of today, thinking: how quaint and primitive they once were.