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Appendix A: Installing the Video Graphics Card
There are a number of different BIOS types in operation as the computer boots. The “System BIOS” is resident
on the motherboard and is responsible for starting up all the hardware and mapping in the resources (like the
I/O) so that they are available to the CPU. The Video BIOS is resident on the graphics cards. It boots the GPU and
informs the System BIOS which resources will be required for the CPU to operate correctly.
The System BIOS requires an I/O-enabled Video Graphics Card if it is used as the boot device; i.e. it provides the
graphics output that displays the BIOS boot messages. The Windows driver for the Video Graphics Card does
not require I/O. We can use two types of Video BIOS for the Video Graphics Card, one that requests I/O (and that
can be used as a boot device) and one that does not. This allows us to increase the number of Video Graphics
Cards that can be used in a system.
To find out more about how to choose the correct BIOS for your requirements and how to update the BIOS for
the Video Graphics Card, see Chapter 3.
