Observation: Graphics Cards Are for Everyone

Due to a shortage of work assignments this January (schools where I teach are snowed in), I decided I was overbudget for my new PC. For now, it was best to sell my GTX 770 graphics card and buy a better one later. I didn't wish to bother bringing my old Radeon 6850 out of retirement however.

Afterall, my CPU is still a state of the art i7! Surely taking away her pet graphics card won't make a difference to my general computing, right?

Right?

Turns out I was wrong.
~Meet my Happy Intel i7 (and her pet GTX 770)~

 A central processor, as is communally known, is an extremely busy device responsible for the heavy burden of giving life to your computer. They can do the duties of a graphical processor on top of running things in the background, but unsurprisingly, they really, really, really, don't like doing more than they have to if it can be helped.

Upon removal of its 770 puppy, my Intel i7 CPU essentially treated me with the passive aggression of a woman scorned, slowing to a state (too) similiar to my laptop.

~My i7's Mood Before~

Happy to Serve

Happy To Serve

 ~My i7's Mood After~

Um, still happy to serve?

Do these eyes still say "Happy?"

Procrastination when told to turn on.
Her head in the cloud when asked to retrieve things from the Cloud.
Feigned sickness when showing video.
Such were the tactics of her protest.

The message was clear: So long as she didn't have her helper to fetch display information, she wasn't happy. And if she wasn't happy, I wouldn't be happy.

Thus, in surrender to her strike, this morning I summoned the will to bring my old card out of retirement. The pouting, unsurprisingly, immediately ceased upon installation.

~My Old CPU's Old Companion to the Rescue~

An Old Hat is still better than no hat.

Smaller Doggie, but Still Loyal Doggie means...

 =  

...a Happy CPU Again!

The Moral: It's advisable that give your CPU a GPU to keep them company. Even if its cheap and obsolete.  Even if you do not play games. It does indeed make a difference in bottomline performance.

Yes, even when all we ask is to simply render some cat videos.channel some basic Youtube videos.

So the next morning I finally summoned the will to bring my old graphics card out of retirement to keep her company. Suddenly, my CPU is happy again.