Gamer's hands on a PC keyboard
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All computers take graphics hardware that handles everything from displaying your desktop and decoding videos to rendering enervating PC games. Nearly modernistic PCs take graphics processing units (GPUs) fabricated by Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD, only remembering which model you have installed can exist difficult.

While your computer'due south CPU and RAM are also of import, the GPU is unremarkably the nigh critical component when it comes to playing PC games. If you don't take a powerful plenty GPU, you can't play newer PC games—or y'all may have to play them with lower graphical settings.

Some computers have low-power "onboard" or "integrated" graphics, while others have powerful "dedicated" or "discrete" graphics cards (sometimes called video cards.) Hither's how to see what graphics hardware is in your Windows PC.

On Windows 10, y'all tin can check your GPU information and usage details correct from the Task Manager. Right-click the taskbar from the bottom of your screen and select "Task Manager" or press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the task manager.

Option to open Task Manager from Windows 10's taskbar

On Windows 11, y'all can also press Ctrl+Shift+Esc or right-click the Start button and choose "Task Manager."

From at that place, select the "Operation" tab at the top of the window—if you don't see the tabs, click "More Details." Choose "GPU 0" in the sidebar. The GPU'due south manufacturer and model proper noun are displayed in the acme-correct corner of the window.

You'll besides see other data, such every bit the amount of dedicated memory on your GPU, in this window. Windows 10's Task Managing director displays your GPU usage here, and you can likewise view GPU usage past application.

If your arrangement has multiple GPUs, you lot'll also see "GPU 1" and and then on here. Each represents a different physical GPU.

Name of computer's GPU shown in Windows 10's Task Manager

On older versions of Windows, such as Windows vii, you lot tin discover this information in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. To open it, press Windows+R, type "dxdiag" into the Run dialog that appears, and press Enter.

Launching dxdiag from Windows 10's Run dialog

Click the "Brandish" tab and await at the "Name" field in the "Device" section. Other statistics, such as the corporeality of video memory (VRAM) built into your GPU, are besides listed here.

DirectX Diagnostic Tool showing name of computer's graphics card

If you have multiple GPUs in your system—for instance, as in a laptop with a low-power Intel GPU for use on bombardment power and a high-power NVIDIA GPU for use while plugged in and gaming—you tin command which GPU a game uses from Windows ten's Settings app. These controls are also built into the NVIDIA Control Panel.

RELATED: How to Monitor GPU Usage in the Windows Job Manager