An expansion card (also expansion board, adapter card or accessory card) in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard to add additional functionality to a computer system. One edge of the expansion card holds the contacts (the edge connector) that fit exactly into the slot. They establish the electrical contact between the electronics (mostly integrated circuits) on the card and on the motherboard. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A motherboard is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a modern computer. ... Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) was an Albuquerque, New Mexico company founded in 1968 by Ed Roberts. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... 64-bit PCI expansion slots inside a Power Macintosh G4 The Peripheral Component Interconnect, or PCI Standard (in practice almost always shortened to PCI), specifies a computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... PCI Express (formerly known as 3GIO for 3rd Generation I/O, not to be mistaken with PCI-X) is an implementation of the PCI computer bus that uses existing PCI programming concepts and communications standards, but bases it on a much faster serial communications system. ... An expansion card (also expansion board, adapter card or accessory card) in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard to add additional functionality to a computer system. ... A video card, (also referred to as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, graphics card, and numerous other terms), is an item of personal computer hardware whose function is to generate and output images to a display. ... A sound card (also known as an audio card) is a computer expansion card that can input and output sound under control of computer programs. ... A network card, network adapter or NIC (network interface controller) is a piece of computer hardware designed to allow computers to communicate over a computer network. ... A modem (from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ... An expansion card (also expansion board, adapter card or accessory card) in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard to add additional functionality to a computer system. ... RAM (Random Access Memory) Look up computing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Part of a 1983 Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer board. ... This article is about the machine. ... A motherboard is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a modern computer. ... An edge connector is a type of electrical connector for use with PC boards. ... Integrated circuit of Atmel Diopsis 740 System on Chip showing memory blocks, logic and input/output pads around the periphery Microchips with a transparent window, showing the integrated circuit inside. ...

Connectors mounted on the bracket allow the connection of external devices to the card. Depending on the form factor of the motherboard and case, around one to seven expansion cards can be added to a computer system. There are also other factors involved in expansion card capacity. For example, some expansion cards need two slots like some NVidia GeForce FX and newer GeForce graphics cards and there is often a space left to aid cooling on some high-end cards. Form factor refers to the linear dimensions and configuration of a device as distinguished from other measures of size (for example Gigabytes; a measure of storage size): in computing, form factor is used to describe the size and format of PC motherboards (see AT, ATX, BTX), but also of hard... NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) (pronounced ) is an American corporation specializing in the manufacture of GPU technologies for video cards, graphics cards, workstations, desktop computers, handhelds and more. ... The GeForce FX Series (codenamed NV30) is a line of graphics cards from the manufacturer NVIDIA. // The famous Dawn demo was released by NVIDIA to showcase pixel and vertex shaders effects of the GeForce FX Series NVIDIAs GeForce FX series is the fifth generation in the GeForce line. ...

Some cards are "low-profile" cards, meaning that they take up little physical space. (There is a "low profile PCI card" standard [1] [2] that specifies a much smaller bracket and board area). The group of expansion cards that are used for external connectivity, such as a network, SAN or modem card, are commonly referred to as input/output cards (or I/O cards). A network card, network adapter or NIC (network interface controller) is a piece of computer hardware designed to allow computers to communicate over a computer network. ... In computing, a storage area network (SAN) is an architecture to attach remote computer storage devices such as disk array controllers, tape libraries and CD arrays to servers in such a way that to the operating system the devices appear as locally attached devices. ... A modem (from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ...

History of the expansion card

The first microcomputer to feature a slot-type expansion card bus was the Altair 8800, developed 1974-1975. Initially, implementations of this bus were proprietary (such as the Apple II and Macintosh), but by 1982 manufacturers of Intel 8080/Zilog Z80-based computers running CP/M had settled around the S-100 standard. IBM introduced the XT bus, with the first IBM PC in 1981; it was then called the PC bus, as the IBM XT, using the same bus (with slight exception,) was not to be introduced until 1983. XT (a.k.a. 8-bit ISA) was replaced with ISA (a.k.a. 16-bit ISA,) originally known as AT bus, in 1984. IBM's MCA bus, developed for the PS/2 in 1987, was a competitor to ISA, also their design, but fell out of favor due to the ISA's industry-wide acceptance and IBM's closed licensing of MCA. EISA, the 16-bit extended version of ISA championed by Compaq, was common on PC motherboards until 1997, when Microsoft declared it a "legacy" subsystem in the PC 97 industry white-paper. VESA Local Bus, an early 1990s expansion bus that was inherently tied to the 80486 CPU, became obsolete (along with the processor) when Intel launched the Pentium CPU in 1993. A personal computer (PC) is a computer whose price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals. ... The current version of the article or section is written like a magazine article instead of the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia. ... The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... AMD clone NEC 8080AF (2nd-source). ... One of the first Z80 microprocessors manufactured; the date stamp is from June 1976. ... CP/M was an operating system originally created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. ... The S-100 bus, IEEE696-1983 (withdrawn), was an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800, generally considered today to be the first personal computer. The S-100 bus was the first industry standard bus for the microcomputer industry, and S-100 computers, processor... IBM redirects here. ... IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151), running MS-DOS 5. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The PC 97 standard is a set of design requirements developed by Microsoft and aimed at making PCs easier to use by maximizing cooperation between the operating system and hardware. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Die of an Intel 80486DX2 microprocessor (actual size: 12×6. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The PCI bus was introduced in 1991 as replacement for ISA. The standard (now at version 3.0) is found on PC motherboards to this day. Intel introduced the AGP bus in 1997 as a dedicated video acceleration solution. Though termed a bus, AGP supports only a single card at a time. From 2005 PCI-Express has been replacing both PCI and AGP. This standard, approved ^{[by who?]} in 2004, implements the logical PCI protocol over a serial communication interface. 64-bit PCI expansion slots inside a Power Macintosh G4 The Peripheral Component Interconnect, or PCI Standard (in practice almost always shortened to PCI), specifies a computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC, SEHK: 4335), founded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation, is an American multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

After the S-100 bus, this article above mentions only buses used on IBM-compatible/Windows-Intel PCs. Most other computer lines that were not IBM compatible, including those from Tandy, Commodore, Amiga, and Atari, offered their own expansion buses. Even many video game consoles, such as the Sega Genesis, included expansion buses; at least in the case of the Genesis, the expansion bus was proprietary, and in fact the cartridge slots of many cartridge based consoles (not including the Atari 2600) would qualify as expansion buses, as they exposed both read and write capabilities of the system's internal bus. However, the expansion modules attached to these interfaces, though functionally the same as expansion cards, are not technically expansion cards, due to their physical form/ Tandy Corporation is the former name of the parent company of RadioShack Corporation, a Fort Worth, Texas-based company best known for its RadioShack electronics stores. ... Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was an American electronics company based in West Chester, Pennsylvania which was a vital player in the home/personal computer field in the 1980s. ... The original Amiga 1000 (1985) with various peripherals The Amiga 500 (1987) was the most popular variant of the Amiga. ... This article is about a corporate game company. ... The Mega Drive/Genesis was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world as the Mega Drive. ... The Atari 2600, released in October 1977, is the video game console credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. ...

For their 1000 EX and 1000 HX models, Tandy Computer designed the PLUS expansion interface, an adaptation of the XT-bus supporting cards of a smaller form factor. Because it is electrically compatible with the XT bus (a.k.a. 8-bit ISA or XT-ISA,) a passive adapter can be made to connect XT cards to a PLUS expansion connector. Another feature of PLUS cards is that they are stackable. Another bus that offered stackable expansion modules was the "sidecar" bus used by the IBM PCjr. This may have been electrically the same as or similar to the XT bus; it most certainly had some similarities since both essentially exposed the 8088 CPU's address and data buses, with some buffering and latching, the addition of interrupts and DMA provided by Intel add-on chips, and a few system fault detection lines (Power Good, Memory Check, I/O Channel Check.) Again, PCjr sidecars are not technically expansion cards, but expansion modules, with the only difference being that the sidecar is an expansion card enclosed in a plastic box (with holes exposing the connectors.) The Tandy 1000 was a line of more or less IBM PC compatible home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its Radio Shack chain of stores. ... The Tandy 1000 was a line of more or less IBM PC compatible home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its Radio Shack chain of stores. ... The IBM PCjr was a relatively inexpensive home computer of the 1980s, and it was IBMs first attempt to enter the educational and home computer markets. ... In computing, an interrupt is an asynchronous signal from hardware or software indicating the need for attention. ... Direct memory access (DMA) is a feature of modern computers that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory for reading and/or writing independently of the central processing unit. ... In document ISO/CD 10303-226, a fault is defined as an abnormal condition or defect at the component, equipment, or sub-system level which may lead to a failure. ...

Expansion slot standards

• PCI Express
• AGP
• PCI
• ISA
• MCA
• VLB
• CardBus/PC card/PCMCIA (for notebook computers)
• Compact flash (for handheld computers)
• SBus (1990s SPARC-based Sun computers)
• Zorro (Commodore Amiga)
• NuBus (Apple Macintosh)

PCI Express (formerly known as 3GIO for 3rd Generation I/O, not to be mistaken with PCI-X) is an implementation of the PCI computer bus that uses existing PCI programming concepts and communications standards, but bases it on a much faster serial communications system. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... 64-bit PCI expansion slots inside a Power Macintosh G4 The Peripheral Component Interconnect, or PCI Standard (in practice almost always shortened to PCI), specifies a computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Micro Channel architecture (in practice almost always shortened to MCA) was a proprietary 16 or 32-bit parallel computer bus created by IBM in the 1980s for use on their new PS/2 computers. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The PCMCIA is the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, an industry trade association that creates standards for notebook computer peripheral devices. ... CompactFlash (CF) was originally a type of data storage device, used in portable electronic devices. ... SBus is a computer bus system that was used in most SPARC-based computers from Sun Microsystems during the 1990s. ... Sun UltraSPARC II Microprocessor Sun UltraSPARC T1 (Niagara 8 Core) SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a RISC microprocessor instruction set architecture originally designed in 1985 by Sun Microsystems. ... Sun Microsystems, Inc. ... Zorro II is the name of the general purpose expansion bus used by the Amiga 2000 computer. ... Amiga is the name of a range of home/personal computers using the Motorola 68000 processor family, whose development started in 1982. ... NuBus is a 32-bit parallel computer bus, originally developed at MIT as a part of the NuMachine workstation project, and eventually used by Apple Computer and NeXT Computer. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ...

Expansion card types

• Graphics cards
• Sound cards
• Network cards
• TV tuner cards
• Modems
• Host adapters such as SCSI and RAID controllers.
• POST cards
• BIOS Expansion ROM cards
• Physics cards, only recently became commercially available.
• Video processing expansion cards
• Disk controller cards (for fixed- or removable-media drives)
• Interface adapter cards, including parallel port cards, serial port cards, multi-I/O cards, USB port cards, and proprietary interface cards.
• Memory expansion cards (legacy)
• Clock/calendar cards (legacy)
• Security device cards

A graphics/video/display card/board/adapter is a computer component designed to convert the logical representation of visual information into a signal that can be used as input for a display medium. ... A sound card (also known as an audio card) is a computer expansion card that can input and output sound under control of computer programs. ... A network card, network adapter or NIC (network interface controller) is a piece of computer hardware designed to allow computers to communicate over a computer network. ... Hauppauge WinTV TV tuner card One of the first DVB-S2 tuner cards. ... A modem (from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ... Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (64-bit PCI-X card) SCSI Host Bus Adapter (16-bit ISA card) In computer hardware, a host controller, host adapter, or host bus adapter (HBA) connects a host system (the computer) to other network and storage devices. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... In computing, specifically computer storage, a Redundant Array of Independent Drives (or Disks), also known as Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives (or Disks), (RAID) is an umbrella term for data storage schemes that divide and/or replicate data among multiple hard drives. ... For the computer diagnostic tool, see Postcard (computing). ... A physics card is an expansion card for computers, similar to a graphics card but which is used to process physics interactions as opposed to graphics. ... A Video processing expansion card is a computer expansion card that allows a computer to receive television signals, record video, and/or playback video content. ...

External links

• Computer expansion slots listing and pinouts