MODULE 2

Expansion cards

The expansion card(also expansion board,adapter card oraccessory card) in

computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a
computer motherboardor backplane to add functionality to a computer system via
the expansion bus.

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
(mostlyintegrated circuits) on the card and on the motherboard.

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. 19 or more expansion
cards can be installed in backplane systems. There are also other factors involved
in expansion card capacity. For example, most graphics cards on the market as of
2010 are dual slot graphics cards, using the second slot as a place to put an
activeheat sink with a fan. The first commercial microcomputerto feature
expansion slots was the Micral N, in 1973.

1)VIDEO CARDS

Avideo card (also called a video adapter,display card,graphics card, graphics

board,display adapter or graphics adapter) is an expansion card which generates a
feed of output images to a display. Most video cards offer various functions such as

accelerated rendering of 3Dscenes and2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding,

TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors (multi-monitor).

Video hardware can be integrated into the motherboard or (as with more
recentdesigns) the CPU, but all modern motherboards (and some from the 1990s)
provideexpansion ports to which a video card can be attached. In this configuration
it issometimes referred to as a video controller or graphics controller. Modern lowendto mid-range motherboards often include a graphics chipset manufactured by
the developer of the Northbridge(e.g. an AMDchipset with Radeongraphics or an
Intel chipset with Intel graphics) on the motherboard. This graphics chip usually
has a small quantity of embedded memory and takes some of the system's main
RAM, reducing the total RAM available. This is usually called integrated graphics
oron-board graphics, and is usually low in performance and undesirable for those
wishing to run 3D applications. A dedicated graphics card on the other hand has its
own Random Access Memory or RAM and Processor specifically for processing
video images, and thus offloads this work from the CPU and system RAM A
modern video card consists of a printed circuit board on which the components are
mounted. These include:
a)Graphics processing unit

A GPU is a dedicated processor optimized for accelerating graphics. The processor

is designed specifically to perform floating-point calculations, which are
fundamental to 3D graphics rendering and 2D picture drawing. The main attributes
of the GPU are the core clock frequency, which typically ranges from 250 MHz to
4 GHz and the number of pipelines (vertex and fragment shaders), which translate
a 3D image characterized by vertices and lines into a 2D image formed by pixels
Modern GPUs are massively parallel, and fully programmable. Their computing
power is orders of magnitude greater than that of CPUs for certain kinds of
operations. This has led to the emergence of general-purpose computing
ongraphics processing units.

b)Heat Sink
Aheat sink is mounted on high performance graphics cards. A heat sink spreads out
the heat produced by the graphics processing unit evenly throughout the heat sink
and unit itself. The heat sink commonly has a fan mounted as well to cool the heat
sink and the graphics processing unit.

c)Video BIOS

The video BIOS or firmware contains the basic program, which is usually hidden,
that governs the video card's operations and provides the instructions that allow the
computer and software to interact with the card. It may contain information on the
memory timing, operating speeds and voltages of the graphics processor, RAM,
and other information. It is sometimes possible to change the BIOS (e.g. to enable
factory-locked settings for higher performance), although this is typically only
done by video card over lockers and has the potential to irreversibly damage the
card.

d)Video memory

The memory capacity of most modern video cards ranges from 128 MB to 8 GB.
Since video memory needs to be accessed by the GPU and the display circuitry, it
often uses special high-speed or multi-port memory, such as VRAM, WRAM,
SGRAM, etc. Around 2003, the video memory was typically based on
DDRtechnology. During and after that year, manufacturers moved towards
DDR2,GDDR3,GDDR4 and GDDR5. The effective memory clock rate in modern
cards is generally between 1 GHz and 6.3 GHz

e)RAMDAC
The RAMDAC, or Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter, converts
digital signals to analog signals for use by a computer display that usesanalog
inputs such as Cathode ray tube(CRT) displays. The RAMDAC is a kind of RAM
chip that regulates the functioning of the graphics card. Depending on the number
of bits used and the RAMDAC-data-transfer rate, the converter will be able to
support different computer-display refresh rates. With CRT displays, it is best to
work over 75 Hz and never under 60 Hz, in order to minimize flicker. (With LCD
displays, flicker is not a problem.) Due to the growing popularity of digital
computer displays and the integration of the RAMDAC onto the GPU die, it has
mostly disappeared as a discrete component. All current LCDs, plasma displays
and TVs work in the digital domain and do not require a RAMDAC
f)Outputs

Video In Video Out (VIVO) for S-Video (TV-out), Digital Visual Interface (DVI)
for High-definition television (HDTV), and DB-15 for Video Graphics Array
(VGA)

1)Video Graphics Array (VGA)

Analog-based standard adopted in the late 1980s designed for CRT displays, also
called VGA connector. Some problems of this standard are electrical noise,image
distortion andsampling errorevaluating pixels.

2)Digital Visual Interface (DVI)

Digital-based standard designed for displays such as flat-panel displays (LCDs,
plasma screens, wide high-definition television displays) and video projectors.
Insome rare cases high end CRT monitors also use DVI. It avoids image distortion
and electrical noise, corresponding each pixel from the computer to a display pixel,
using itsnative resolution. It is worth to note that most manufacturers include DVIconnector, allowing(via simple adapter) standard RGB signal output to an old CRT
or LCD monitor with VGA input.
3)Video In Video Out (VIVO

Included to allow the connection with televisions,DVD players,video recorders

andvideo game consoles. They often come in two 10-pin mini-DIN
connectorvariations

4)High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)

An advanced digital audio/video interconnect released in 2003 and is commonly

used to connect game consoles and DVD players to a display.

2)SOUND CARD

Asound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal computer expansion

cardthat facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer
under control of computer programs. The term sound cardis also applied to
external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using
hardware inside the PC. Typical uses of sound cards include providing the audio

component for multimedia applications such as music composition, editing video

or audio, presentation, education and entertainment (games) and video projection.

Sound functionality can also be integrated onto the motherboard, using basicallythe
same components as a plug-in card. The best plug-in cards, which use betterand
more expensive components, can achieve higher quality than integrated sound. The
integrated sound system is often still referred to as a "sound card".Most sound
cards use a digital-to-analog converter(DAC), which converts recorded or
generated digital data into an analog format. The output signal is connected to an
amplifier, headphones, or external device using standard interconnect. If the
number and size of connectors is too large for the space on the back plate the
connectors will be off-board, typically using a breakout box, an auxiliary back
plate, or a panel mounted at the front. More advanced cards usually include more
than one sound chip to support higher data rates and multiple simultaneous
functionalities. Most sound cards have a line in connector for an input signal from
a cassette tape or other sound source that has higher voltage levels than a
microphone. The sound card digitizes this signal. The DMACtransfers the samples
to the main memory, from where a recording software may write it to the hard disk
for storage, editing, or further processing. Another common external connector is
the microphone connector, for signals from a microphone or other low-level input
device.
An important sound card characteristic is polyphony, which refers to its ability to
process and output multiple independentvoices or soundssimultaneously. These
distinctchannels are seen as the number of audio outputs, which may correspond to
a speaker configuration such as 2.0 (stereo), 2.1 (stereo and sub woofer), 5.1
(surround), or other configuration. Sometimes, the terms voice and channel are
used interchangeably to indicate the degree of polyphony, not the output speaker
configuration.

3)NETWORK INTERFACE CARD (NIC)

A network interface card (also known as a network interface card, network

adapter, LAN adapter and by similar terms) is a computer hardware component
that connects a computer to a computer network.

Early network interface controllers were commonly implemented on expansion

cards that plugged into a computer bus; the low cost and ubiquity of the Ethernet
standard means that most newer computers have a network interface built into the
motherboard. The network controller implements the electronic circuitry required
to communicate using a specific physical layer and data link layer standard such as
Ethernet,Wi-Fi, orToken Ring. This provides a base for a full network protocol
stack, allowing communication among small groups of computers on the same

LANand large-scale network communications through routable protocols, such as

IP.

Every Ethernet network controller has a unique 48-bit serial number called a MAC
address, which is stored in read-only memory. Every computer on an Ethernet
network must have at least one controller. Normally it is safe to assume that no two
network controllers will share the same address, because controller vendors
purchase blocks of addresses from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) and assign a unique address to each controller at the time of
manufacture.
The NIC allows computers to communicate over a computer network. It is both an
OSI layer 1 (physical layer) and layer 2 (data link layer) device, as it provides
physical access to a networking medium and provides a low-level addressing
system through the use of MAC addresses. It allows users to connect to each other
either by using cables or wirelessly.

ROM (READ ONLY MEMORY)

Read-only memory (ROM) is a class ofstorage medium used in computers and

other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be
modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware
(software that is very closely tied to specific hardware, and unlikely to need
frequent updates).

In its strictest sense, ROM refers only to mask ROM(the oldest type of solid state
ROM), which is fabricated with the desired data permanently stored in it, and thus
can never be modified. Despite the simplicity, speed and economies of scale of
mask ROM,field-programmability often make reprogrammable memories more

flexible and inexpensive. Other types ofnon-volatile memorysuch as erasable

programmable read only memory (EPROM) and electrically erasable

programmable read-only memory (EEPROM or Flash ROM) are sometimes

referred to, in an abbreviated way, as "read-only memory" (ROM); although these
types of memory can be erased and re-programmed multiple times, writing to this
memory. When used in this less precise way, "ROM" indicates a non-volatile
memory which serves functions typically provided by mask ROM, such as storage
of program code and nonvolatile data.
Everystored-program computer needs some form of non-volatile storage (that is,
storage that retains its data when power is removed) to store the initial program
that runs when the computer is powered on or otherwise begins execution (a
process known as bootstrapping, often abbreviated to "booting" or "booting up").
Likewise, every non-trivial computer needs some form of mutable memory to
record changes in its state as it executes.

In modern PCs, "ROM" (or flash) is used

to
store
the
basic
bootstrapping firmware for
the
main
processor,
as
well
as

the
various firmware needed
to
internally
control
self
contained
devices
such

as graphic cards,hard disks,DVD drives,TFT screens, etc., in the system. Today,

many of these "read-only" memories especially the BIOS are often replaced
with Flash memory (see below), to permit in-place reprogramming should the need
for a firmware upgrade arise. However, simple and mature sub-systems (such as
the keyboard or some communication controllers in the ICs on the main board, for
example) may employ mask ROM or OTP(one time programmable)

Programmable read-only

memory(PROM), or one-time programmable

ROM (OTP), can be written

to or programmed via a special

a PROM

programmer.

device called

Typically, this device uses high voltages

to

permanently destroy or create internal links (fuses or antifuses) within the chip.
Consequently, a PROM can only be programmed once.
Erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)
can be erased byexposure to strong ultraviolet light (typically for 10 minutes or
longer), then rewritten with a process that again needs higher than usual voltage
applied. Repeated exposure to UV light will eventually wear out an EPROM, but
the endurance of most EPROM chips exceeds 1000 cycles of erasing and
reprogramming. EPROM chip packages can often be identified by the prominent
quartz "window" which allows UV light to enter. After programming, the window
is typically covered with a label to prevent accidental erasure. Some EPROM chips
are factory-erased before they are packaged, and include no window; these are
effectively PROM.
Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) is based on
a similar semiconductor structure to EPROM, but allows its entire contents (or
selected banks) to be electrically erased, then rewritten electrically, so that they
need not be removed from the computer (or camera, MP3 player, etc.). Writing or
flashing an EEPROM is much slower (milliseconds per bit) than reading from a
ROM or writing to a RAM (nanoseconds in both cases).

Electrically alterable read-only memory (EAROM) is a type of EEPROM that

can be modified one bit at a time. Writing is a very slow process and

again needs higher voltage (usually around 12 V) than is used for read access.
EAROMs are intended for applications that require infrequent and only partial
rewriting. EAROM may be used as non-volatile storage for critical system setup
information; in many applications, EAROM has been supplanted byCMOS RAM
supplied bymains power and backed-up with a lithium battery.