"noobish" question about Video Cards

[Kumaiti]

Hey, I'm curious about something:


Does the video card work hard only when using 3d graphics?

In other words, if you are not using any kind of 3d graphics, is the power of your video card is close to useless??

[jlreich]

Right now answering this post my video card is lounging around sipping a drink, extremely bored out of it's VPU. :p

But 3D games are not the only thing that gives it a workout. When doing heavy photo/video editing/rendering it is getting a good workout as well.

If all your doing is surfing the web, email, or some basic office programs, then nothing much is going on with the video card. It's working on rendering whatever is on the screen, but barely lifting a finger. ;)