robbyduffy

I have little experience with the actual internal goings on of a PC. I've built a few in my time but the specific functions are a mystery to me. It seems that the optional harware in PCs (gfx/sound cards) are there simply to process inputted information then convert it into some kind of output (monitor/speakers). If this is basically all these do then surely one could build a program which runs through the processor and performs the same task, or maybe it could enhance the performance of the devices. It just thought this having just used a PC with no sound card which stops me from playing any AV file in WMP. I know i'm probably being a complete newbie here but any help please? btw how do U play just the video in e.g. WMP??