Assembly Line

How graphics cards are made

A graphics card is a second computer, with its own processor and memory, built to draw millions of pixels at once.

stations
7
things upstream
89
raw sources
26
steps from the ground
9

The short version

A graphics card is a circuit board built around a graphics processing unit and memory chips. Solder is screen-printed onto the board and surface-mount machines place the chips, then larger through-hole parts go in by hand and pass a wave soldering machine. A heat sink, fans and a bracket are fitted, the BIOS is loaded, and every card is tested.

  1. Fabricate the graphics chip

    The GPU is patterned on a silicon wafer, repeating light exposure and etching to build billions of transistors. The wafer is cut into chips that are tested and sorted.

    Goes in
    Microchip

  2. Print the solder

    Solder paste goes onto the multilayer board through a screen, much as ink goes onto a T-shirt. It lands only on the pads where parts will sit.

    Goes in
    Printed circuit boardSolder

  3. Place chips and memory

    Surface-mount machines fed from spools set the GPU, memory chips and power parts on the board, and an oven melts the solder so every joint forms at once.

    Goes in
    Memory chip

  4. Add through-hole parts

    Coarser parts such as connectors are placed by hand. The boards then ride a belt through a wave soldering machine, which solders everything in one pass, and a cooling unit brings them down.

    Goes in
    Solder

  5. Build the heat sink

    Aluminum is extruded or stacked into fins, and copper heat pipes are pressed in. The pipes carry heat away from the GPU to the fins, where fans blow it out.

    Goes in
    AluminumCopper

  6. Fit fans and shroud

    Plastic fans and a shroud are screwed over the heat sink. The shroud is molded plastic that guides air through the fins.

    Goes in
    ABS plasticElectric motorScrew

  7. Load the BIOS and test

    Each card has its BIOS loaded and runs a set of graphics tests. A card that passes goes back to the line for packaging, and one that fails goes to an engineer.

End of the lineGraphics card

Worth repeating

  • One Zotac plant in Dongguan produces an average of 400,000 graphics cards a month.
  • Nvidia's RIVA 128, released in 1997, was one of the first consumer chips to combine 2D and 3D processing on a single chip.

Back to the ground

Follow every input upstream and graphics card starts as these 26 raw sources.

Crude oilCoalCopper oreWaterAirQuartzTin oreGold oreSilica sandLimestoneLead oreSilver oreZinc oreBauxiteSulfurNatural gasIron oreRock saltTronaTitanium oreDolomiteManganese oreTimberCornSugarcaneSugar beet

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Shipping container 8 stations · 23 raw sources ABS plastic 6 stations · 9 raw sources Jarred salsa 9 stations · 25 raw sources Basketball 8 stations · 20 raw sources Phone charger 8 stations · 26 raw sources Solar cell 5 stations · 15 raw sources

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Sources

Cite this page: "How graphics cards are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/graphics-card

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