I know absolutely nothing about computers. Is a graphics card the same thing as a 3-D accelerator?

I'm not the most knowledgeable Jedi here, but since you haven't gotten any other responses so far...

I would say that a 3-D accelerator IS a graphics card, a graphics card is NOT always a 3-D accelerator. There are MANY kinds of 3-D accelerators.

Hope that answered your question. Please respond back if you need more clarification or answers.

And welcome to the forums. Hope you enjoy your stay.

HBK

Back in the day, there used to be video cards. A 3-D accelerator was an add-on card. With this setup, you had a video card, then a separate 3-D accelerator to handle the 3-D graphics.

Now, the cards have been combined into one. They are commonly described as "video cards" and "graphics cards." Now your video card handles 3D acceleration as well.

So, in summary:

3-D accelerator = add-on card that provides 3-D acceleration (not a standalone video card)

3-D Graphics Card = standalone video card that will also do 3-D graphics (standard nowadays)

Cool, thanks

Originally posted by JaG|Kaiser
Back in the day, there used to be video cards. A 3-D accelerator was an add-on card. With this setup, you had a video card, then a separate 3-D accelerator to handle the 3-D graphics.

My good ol' Vodoo2...:)

Originally posted by digl

My good ol' Vodoo2...:)

Amen brother. I had the Monster 2 with 16 MB! The thing was as large as a TV tray! I then got a Voodoo2 from 3dfx. Those cards were great!