ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5
Do you demand a simple and concise explanation of complicated and complex topics?
Fret not, dear voater, for ELI5 is here! Ask a complex question, and get a simple answer!
General guidelines:
Your explanation should be friendly and straightforward, but not condescending.
- 1.1. Above all, you're here to answer questions concisely. Don't get needlessly hostile or complicated in your response.
- 1.2. We aren't literally 5 year olds. Well, most of us aren't. We can handle big words and long sentences. There's no need to dumb down an explanation unless specifically asked to do so by the asker.
- 1.3. If specified by the asker, responses to particular levels of expertise are encouraged.
/v/ELI5 is a place to get simple explanations of complex topics.
- 2.1. Yes/no answer questions, and questions pursuing an answer without an explanation of that answer, are not allowed.
- 2.2: If it doesn't have an explanation, it isn't an explain like I'm five question.
- 2.3. Refrain from posing hypothetical or personal questions. Ideally, every question should have a factually based, reasonable explanation.
Feel free to send prohibited questions to /v/nostupidquestions, they'll help you out instead!
This isn't a debating subverse:
- 3.1. Don't ask for personal opinions (and don't ask potentially loaded questions)
- 3.2. Don't present a biased response
Top-level comments should be on-topic.
- 4.1. Self-explanatory, really.
- 4.2. Jokes are allowed and appreciated if they're on topic and not a whole top-level comment.
Someone came here for an answer, don't send them somewhere else.
- 5.1. Your response should not consist wholly of a redirection link within a sentence.
- 5.2. It is acceptable to link to outside sources for singular words or concepts. This can be done to save you explaining concepts that are non-central (yet still important) to your response.
- 5.3. Don't copy+paste from outside sources without paraphrasing. Outside sources don't always explain concepts in layman's terms.
Don't know? Don't teach.
- 6.1. If you don't know what you're talking about, don't try to teach someone else about it.
You are allowed to post a question that's been posted before, but to save your own time, search for it before posting anyway.
Tag your post as "Explained" once you're satisfied with an answer
All moderation decisions are made at the moderation team's discretion. You won't be protected by loopholes if you're using them to a detrimental effect.
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The Questions Network
Own a questions subverse? Doesn't match any of the ones above? Send a mod a message, and we'll gladly add a link to it!
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[–] binky ago (edited ago)
A video card has some pre-made parts and some that are made by the manufacturer. A GPU, for example, is premade. When it's sold the company that made it also provides a set of instructions for how it can be used. The power it needs, the way it has to be connected to the board, how much memory it can use and how the memory must be addressed are all part of the GPU. Some video card companies buy certain parts, like memory. Some video card companies have those parts made to their own specifications. Some make their own. But all the memory that connects to a GPU has to be addressable, or it has to connect to a custom chip that makes it addressable.
Different companies sell very similar cards because they're using the same pre-made parts, which have specific requirements that are best met by other pre-made parts. Other companies choose to make their own, or buy different components, which can be tied together in different ways.
Certain GPU's are able to support certain outputs. It's possible to add support (by adding a GPU or a chipset) but expensive and usually un-necessary. So that GPU will almost always be paired with that set of outputs.
As mavric pointed out licensing is also a big part of it. Sometimes a chip comes with a requirement that it be used in a certain way.