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

While your computer's CPU and RAM are as well important, the GPU is usually the almost disquisitional component when it comes to playing PC games. If you don't take a powerful enough GPU, yous can't play newer PC games—or you may have to play them with lower graphical settings.

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

On Windows ten, you can cheque your GPU information and usage details correct from the Task Manager. Correct-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, yous can also printing Ctrl+Shift+Esc or right-click the First button and choose "Task Manager."

From in that location, select the "Performance" tab at the acme of the window—if you lot don't see the tabs, click "More Details." Choose "GPU 0" in the sidebar. The GPU'southward manufacturer and model name are displayed in the peak-right corner of the window.

You'll too run across other information, such as the amount of dedicated retention on your GPU, in this window. Windows x's Task Manager displays your GPU usage here, and you tin too view GPU usage by awarding.

If your system has multiple GPUs, yous'll also see "GPU 1" and and so 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 seven, you can find this information in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. To open up 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 "Display" tab and look at the "Proper name" field in the "Device" section. Other statistics, such as the amount of video retentiveness (VRAM) built into your GPU, are also listed here.

DirectX Diagnostic Tool showing name of computer's graphics card

If you take multiple GPUs in your system—for instance, as in a laptop with a depression-power Intel GPU for use on battery power and a loftier-power NVIDIA GPU for use while plugged in and gaming—you tin can control which GPU a game uses from Windows 10'south Settings app. These controls are also congenital into the NVIDIA Command Panel.

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