For example, Nvidia and AMD (previously ATI) produced cards that render the graphics pipelines OpenGL and DirectX on the hardware level. Their integrated graphics processor can perform additional processing, removing this task from the central processor of the computer.
Most graphics cards are not limited to simple display output. At the core of both is the graphics processing unit (GPU), which is the main part that does the actual computations, but should not be confused with the graphics card as a whole, although 'GPU' is often used as a metonymic shorthand to refer to graphics cards. Frequently, these are advertised as discrete or dedicated graphics cards, emphasizing the distinction between these and integrated graphics. A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, or display adapter) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device (such as a computer monitor).
