Expansion Slots Peripheral Devices

Alternatively referred to as an add-on card, expansion board, internal card, interface adapter, or card, an expansion card is a PCB that fits into an expansion slot on a desktop computer. An expansion card is used to give a computer additional capabilities, such as enhanced video performance via a graphics card.

Network Interface Cards or network adapters are commonly connected to Peripheral Component Interconnect Express x1 and PCI expansion slots in a desktop computer. These slots are prevalent so expansion won't be a problem if you have free slots. NICs include Ethernet adapters and Wi-Fi adapters. Laptops can use Express Card and PC Cards to add NICs. The two most common slots available on today’s PCs are PCI and PCI-Express: PCI: The Peripheral Component Interconnect type of slot is the most popular and widely available expansion slot on today’s PCs. It’s normally colored white, though often beige is used. There are 32-bit and 64-bit PCI expansion slots.

EXPANSION SLOT TYPES Now that we are done with the expansion cards, let us move on with the types of expansion slots, so you know which is which. 9) PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT (PCI) First developed by Intel in 1990, the PCI is a local bus for adding more hardware components to a computer.

Expansion cards can sometimes be called daughterboards. However, it is more appropriate to refer to them as expansion cards or one of the terms mentioned earlier.

Types of expansion cards in a computer

• Interface card (ATA, Bluetooth, EIDE, FireWire, IDE, parallel, RAID, SCSI, serial, and USB).

The above devices are available as expansion cards and can also be onboard the motherboard.

Expansion card example

Below is a graphic illustration of an ISAModem expansion card (click the picture to get a descriptive overview).

Expansion Slots Peripheral Devices Device

As seen in the picture, an expansion card has two main parts, the gold plated connector that connects to a motherboard expansion slot and the connector plate. The back metal plate often has connections that allow an outside device to communicate with the card and computer. In this example, the modem has two RJ-11 jacks that allow it to communicate over a phone line.

Expansion Slots Peripheral Devices Definition

Do laptops or netbooks have expansion cards?

Laptops, netbooks, and other mobile computers do not have expansion cards like what was explained above. However, some laptops can have PC Cards that can be inserted into the side of the laptop. They may also have a Cardbus slot for an ExpressCard to be added.

Related pages

Expansion Slots Peripheral Devices Types

Adapter, Card, Expansion, Expansion slot, Expansion slot cover, Hardware terms, Reseat, Riser board, ROM card, Seated, Smart card