The graphics card (or video card or GPU) displays everything you see and are an essential piece of hardware. It determines the range of color, how sharp images appear, and how well videos or games run without stuttering or pausing. Integrated graphics are built-in to your PC's processor, while dedicated or discrete graphics are separate from the processor and enable you to run smoothly more advanced programs although they typically use more power.

The speed and power of a processor (aka the 'brain' of your computer) determines how well and how fast your computer can do things like create spreadsheets, play games, browse the internet, run software, and more. The more cores a processor has, the better it will be at doing multiple things at once.