Computer Hardware Peripherals

Introduction
A peripheral is a piece of computer hardware that is added to a computer in order to expand its
abilities. The term peripheral is used to describe those devices that are optional in nature, as
opposed to hardware that is either demanded or always required in principle. There are all
different kinds of peripherals you can add your computer. The main disctinction among
peripherals is the way they are connected to your computer. They can be connected internally or
externally.

Buses
A bus is a subsystem that transfers data between computer components inside a computer or
between computers. Unlike a point-to-point connection, a bus can logically connect several
peripherals over the same set of wires. Each bus defines its set of connectors to physically plug
devices, cards or cables together. There are two types of buses: internal and external. Internal
buses are connections to various internal components. External buses are connections to various
external components. There are different kinds of slots that internal and external devices can
connect to.

Internal
Types of Slots

There are many different kinds of internal buses, but only a handful of popular ones. Different
computers come with different kinds and number of slots. It is important to know what kind and
number of slots you have on your computer before you go out and by a card that matches up to a
slot you don’t have.

PCI

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)

is common in modern PCs. This kind of
bus is being succeeded by PCI Express.
Typical PCI cards used in PCs include:
network cards, sound cards, modems,
extra ports such as USB or serial, TV tuner
cards and disk controllers. Video cards
have outgrown the capabilities of PCI
because of their higher bandwidth
requirements.

PCI Slots

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PCI Express

PCI Express was introduced by Intel in 2004. It was designed to replace the general-purpose PCI
expansion bus and the AGP graphics card interface. PCI express is not a bus but instead a point-
to-point conection of serial links called lanes. PCI Express cards have faster bandwidth then PCI
cards which make them more ideal for high-end video cards.

PCMCIA

PCMCIA (also referred to as PC Card) is the type of bus used for laptop computers. The name
PCMCIA comes from the group who developed the standard: Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association. PCMCIA was originally designed for computer memory expansion,
but the existence of a usable general standard for notbeook peripherals led to many kinds of
devices being made available in this form. Typical devices include network cards, modems, and
hard disks.

AGP

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) is a high-speed

point-to-point channel for attaching a graphics
card to a computer’s motherboard, primarily to
assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics.
AGP has been replaced over the past couple years
by PCI Express. AGP cards and motherboards are
still available to buy, but they are becoming less
common.

Types Of Cards
AGP Slot

Video Card

A video card (also known as graphics card) is

an expansion card whose function is to generate
and output images to a display. Some video
cards offer added functions, such as video
capture, TV tuner adapter, ability to connect
multiple monitors, and others. Most video cards
all share similar components. They include a
graphics processing unit (GPU) which is a
dedicated microprocessor optimized for 3D
graphics rendering. It also includes a video
BIOS that contains the basic program that
governs the video card’s operations and
provides the instructions that allow the
computer and software to interface with the Graphics card

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card. If the video card is integrated in the motherboard, it may use the computer RAM memory.
If it is not it will have its own video memory called Video RAM. This kind of memory can range
from 128MB to 2GB. A video card also has a RAMDAC (Random Access Memory Digital-to-
Analog Converter) which takes responsibility for turning the digital signals produced by the
computer processor into an analog signal which can be understood by the computer display.
Lastly, they all have outputs such as an HD-15 connector (standard monitor cable), DVI
connector, S-Video, composite video or component video.

Sound Card

A sound card is an expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to/from a
computer under control of computer programs. Typical uses for sound cards include providing
the audio component for multimedia applications such as music composition, editing video or
audio, presentation/education, and entertainment. Many computers have sound capabilities built
in,, while others require additional expansion cards to provide for audio capability.

Network Card

A network card is an expansion card that

allows computers to communicate over a
computer network. It allows users to
connect to each other either by using cables
or wirelessly. Although other network
technologies exist, Ethernet has achieved
near-ubiquity for a while now. Every
Ethernet network card has a unique 48-bit
serial number called a MAC address, which
is stored in ROM carried on the card. You
can learn more about networking in the
introduction to networking lesson.

External Network Card

Types of Connections

USB

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a serial bus standard to

interface devices. USB was designed to allow many
peripherals to be connected using a single USB Connectors
standardized interface socket and to improve the plug-
and-play capabilities by allowing devices to be connected and disconnected without rebooting
the computer. Other convient features include providing power to low-consumption devices
without the need for an external power supply and allowing many devices to be used without
requiring manufacturer specific, individual device drivers to be installed. USB is by far the
dominating bus for connecting external devices to your computer.

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Firewire

Firewire (technically known as IEEE 1394 and also known as i.LINK for Sony) is a serial bus
interface standard for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer,
frequently used in a personal computer. Firewire has replaced Parallel ports in many
applications. It has been adopted as the High Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance (HANA)
standard connection interface for A/V (audio/visual) component communication and control.
Almost all modern digital camcorders have included this connection.

PS/2

The PS/2 connector is used for connecting some keyboards and mice to a PC compatible
computer system. The keyboard and mouse interfaces are electrically similar with the main
difference being that open collector outputs are required on both ends of the keyboard interface
to allow bidirectional communication. If a PS/2 mouse is connected to a PS/2 keyboard port, the
mouse may not be recognized by the computer depending on configuration.

PS/2 Ports

Devices

Removable Storage

The same kinds of CD and DVD drives that could come built-
in on your computer can also be attached externally. You
might only have a CD-ROM drive built-in to your computer
but you need a CD writer to burn CDs. You can buy an
external CD writer that connects to your USB port and acts
the same way as if it was built-in to your computer. The same
is true for DVD writers, Blu-ray drives, and floppy drives. USB Flash Drive
Flash drives have become very popular forms of removable
storage especially as the price of flash drives decreases and the possible size for them increases.
Flash drives are usually USB ones either in the form USB sticks or very small, portable devices.
USB flash drives are small, fast, removable, rewritable, and long-lasting. Storage capacities
range from 64MB to 32GB or more. A flash drive does not have any mechanically driven parts
so as opposed to a hard drive which makes it more durable and smaller usually.

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Non-removable Storage

Non-removable storage can be a hard drive that is connected externally. External hard drives
have become very popular for backups, shared drives among many computers, and simply
expaning the amount of hard drive space you have from your internal hard drive. External hard
drives come in many shapes and sizes like flash drives do. An external hard drive is usually
connected by USB but you can also have a networked hardrive which will connect to your
network which allows all computers on that network to access that hard drive.

Input

Input devices are absolutely crucial to computers. The most

common input devices are mice and keyboards which barely
every computer has. A new popular pointing device that may
eventually replace the mouse is touch screen which you can
get on some tablet notebooks. Other popular input devices
include microphones, webcams, and fingerprint readers
which can also be built in to modern laptops and desktops. A
scanner is another popular input device that might be built-in
to your printer.
Webcam
Output

There are lots of different kinds of output devices that you

can get for your computer. The absolute most common
external output device is a monitor. Other very popular
output devices are printers and speakers. There are lots of
different kinds of printers and different sizes of speakers
for your computer. Monitors are connected usually through
the HD-15 connector on your video card. Printers are
usually connected through a USB port. Speakers have their
own audio out port built-in to the sound card.
Monitor
List of computer Hardware’s :
 Motherboard  Removable Media Device
 CD
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)  DVD
 Random Access Memory (RAM)  Blu-ray
 Firmware  Flash
 Power Supply  Floppy Disk

 Hard Disk Drive

 Solid-state Drive
 Disk Array Controller
 RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Drives)

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port:
 is a physical docking point using which an external device can be connected to the
computer.
 can also be programmatic docking point through which information flows from a
program to computer or over the internet.

Characteristics

A port has the following characteristics:

 External devices are connected to a computer using cables and ports.

 Ports are slots on the motherboard into which a cable of external device is plugged in.
 Examples of external devices attached via ports are mouse, keyboard, monitor,
microphone, speakers etc.

Serial Port

 Used for external modems and older computer mouse

 Two versions : 9 pin, 25 pin model
 Data travels at 115 kilobits per second

Parallel Port

 Used for scanners and printers  Also called printer port

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 25 pin model  IEEE1284 compliant Centronics port

PS/2 Port

 Used for old computer keyboard and mouse

 Also called mouse port
 Most of the old computers provide two PS/2 port, each for mouse and keyboard
 Also known as IEEE 1284-compliant Centronics port.

Universal Serial Bus (or USB) Port

 It connect all kinds of external USB devices HDD, printer, scanner, mouse, keyboard etc.
 It was introduced in 1997.
 Most of the computers provide two USB ports as minimum.
 Data travels at 12 megabits per seconds
 USB compliant devices can get power from a USB port

VGA Port

 Connects monitor to a computer's video card.

 Has 15 holes.
 Similar to serial port connector but serial port connector has pins, it has holes.

Power Connector

 Three-pronged plug
 Connects to the computer's power cable that plugs into a power bar or wall socket

Firewire Port

 Transfers large amount of data at very fast speed.

 Connects camcorders and video equipments to the computer
 Data travels at 400 to 800 megabits per seconds
 Invented by Apple
 Three variants : 4-Pin FireWire 400 connector, 6-Pin FireWire 400 connector and 9-Pin
FireWire 800 connector

Modem Port

 Connects a PC's modem to the telephone network

Ethernet Port

 Connects to a network and high speed Internet.

 Connect network cable to a computer.

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  This port resides on an Ethernet Card.
 Data travels at 10 megabits to 1000 megabits per sec..depending upon N/W bandwidth.

Game Port

 Connect a joystick to a PC
 Now replaced by USB.

Digital Video Interface, DVI port

 Connects Flat panel LCD monitor to the computer's high end video graphic cards.
 Very popular among video card manufacturers.

Sockets

 Connect microphone, speakers to sound card of the computer.

Motherboard Component

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As shown above is a ASUS P7P55D from Asustek it is an LGA 1156 socket for intel Core™ i7 /
Core™i5 for the latest processor today. Motherboard is also called as mainboard or Systemboard
other also call it mobo, The motherboard is the central printed circuit board of the whole
computer system it is in here where you interconnect peripheral devices and other hardware
devices such as the Harddrive, Memory, Video card and the main brain of the system, the
microprocessor. It is also here where you interconnect other devices such as the printer, keyboard
and mouse. It is essential to familiarize your motherboard specially when you want to build your
own Computer or want to troubleshoot your computer for problems.

Insert your processor on this socket, this type of

A - CPU Socket for processor.
motherboard support for LGA 1156 processor
B - CPU, Chassis, and Power Fan Conect here the power connector of your CPU
Connector heatsink Fan and other fan such as the Chassis fan.
C - Memory Socket Insert here your PC Memory, this board support DDR3
memory different motherboard support different

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 memory type such as DDR, DDR2 or DDR3. Consult
your motherboard for the specific memory type it
support.
The back panel of your motherboard, Connect your
D - Back Panel keyboard, mouse, usb device,1394 port, speaker and
other external devices.
Designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP
bus standards, plug here your PCIe devices such as
E - PCI-express 1x slot
your Ethernet card, TV tuner card, sound card and
other PCIe cards.
This slots are primarily intended for PCIe video cards,
you can connect two video card with the same brand
F - PCIe 2.0 x 16 slot
and model for SLI Mode. This configuration is often
used for gaming purposes or intensive video editing.
Connects to your usb bracket at the back or front of
G - USB Connector
your PC Desktop.
Connect your Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive or
H - Serial ATA Connector Optical SATA drive such as your SATA DVD or
BLU-RAY drive.
Connect to front panel such as the HDD LED
indicator, Power Switch, Reset Switch and Power On
I - System Panel Connector LED Indicator.

Connect to your Parallel ATA hard drive or Optical

J - IDE Connector PATA drive such as your PATA DVD or BLU-RAY
drive.
K - ATX Power Connector
Connect to a 24 pin ATX power source on the power
supply.
Connect to serial port bracket at the back of your PC
L - Serial Port Connector
casing.
LED lit when connected to power supply and
M - Standby Power LED
connected to a 110/220V power source.
Connect to 12V EATX power source on the power
N - ATX Power Connector
supply.
Peripheral Component Interconnect or PCI for short.
O - PCI Slot plug here your PCI devices such as your Ethernet card,
TV Tuner Card, sound card, and other PCI Cards.
Connects to your 5.1 speaker, you can also use stereo
1 - Audio Input/Output port speaker by connecting your stereo speaker connector
jack to the green port of the Audio Input/Output port.
2 - USB Port Connect your usb devices here such as your external
hard drive or optical drive, mouse, flash drives and

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 other usb devices.
Connect to your network cable with the use of RJ45
3 - LAN Port using RJ45 connector
connector.
4 - IEEE 1394 port Connect to your firewire devices.
5 - Optical S/PDIF out port Connect to the Optical input of a speaker.
6 - Coxial S/PDIF out port Connect to the Coaxial input of a speaker.
7 - PS/2 Mouse Port Connect to a PS/2 mouse.
8 - PS/2 Keyboard Port Connect to a PS/2 keyboard

Chipset:
In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components in an integrated circuit
that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. It is usually found
on the motherboard. Chipsets are usually designed to work with a specific family of
microprocessors. Because it controls communications between the processor and external
devices, the chipset plays a crucial role in determining system performance.

\ A northbridge(NB) or host bridge is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset
architecture on a PC motherboard, the other being the southbridge(SB). Unlike the southbridge,
northbridge is connected directly to the CPU via the frontside bus (FSB) and thus responsible for
tasks that require the highest performance. The northbridge is usually paired with a southbridge,
also known as I/O controller hub. In systems where they are included, these two chips manage
communications between the CPU and other parts of the motherboard, and constitute the core
logic chipset of the PC motherboard.

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 The northbridge typically handles communications among the CPU, in some cases RAM,
and PCI Express (or AGP) video cards, and the southbridge. Some northbridges also contain
integrated video controllers, also known as a Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) in
Intel systems. Because different processors and RAM require different signaling, a given
northbridge will typically work with only one or two classes of CPUs and generally only one
type of RAM.

There are a few chipsets that support two types of RAM (generally these are available
when there is a shift to a new standard). For example, the Northbridge from the Nvidia nForce2
chipset will only work with Socket A processors combined with DDR SDRAM; the Intel i875
chipset will only work with systems using Pentium 4 processors or Celeron processors that have
a clock speed greater than 1.3 GHz and utilize DDR SDRAM, and the Intel i915g chipset only
works with the Intel Pentium 4 and the Celeron, but it can use DDR or DDR2 memory.

A graphics processing unit (GPU), also occasionally called visual processing unit
(VPU), is a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to
accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display.

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RAM - random access memory:

RAM (pronounced ramm) is an acronym for random access memory, a type of computer
memory that can be accessed randomly; that is, any byte of memory can be accessed without
touching the preceding bytes. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computers and
other devices, such as printers.There are two main types of RAM:

 DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory)

 SRAM (Static Random Access Memory).

The two types of RAM differ in the technology they use to hold data, with DRAM being the
more common type. In terms of speed, SRAM is faster. DRAM needs to be refreshed thousands
of times per second while SRAM does not need to be refreshed, which is what makes it faster
than DRAM.

DRAM supports access times of about 60 nanoseconds, SRAM can give access times as low as
10 nanoseconds. Despite SRAM being faster, it's not as commonly used as DRAM because it's
more expensive. Both types of RAM are volatile, meaning that they lose their contents when the
power is turned off.

RAM, Main Memory and ROM Explained

computer with 8MB RAM has approximately 8 million bytes of memory that programs can use.
In contrast, ROM (read-only memory) refers to special memory used to store programs that boot
the computer and perform diagnostics. Most personal computers have a small amount of ROM (a
few thousand bytes). In fact, both types of memory (ROM and RAM) allow random access. To
be precise, therefore, RAM should be referred to as read/write RAM and ROM as read-only
RAM.

How to insert RAM in your PC

Step1: shut down your computer and unplug all of the cables connected to it. Then remove
the side of the computer case so you can access the motherboard.
Step2: Before you can install the new memory you’ve purchased, you have to remove the old RAM.
Start by toggling the plastic retention clips at either end of the memory slots so you can pull out
the old RAM.
Step3: Remove any dust from the memory slots, either by blasting the area with compressed air
or by vacuuming gently. Now it’s time to put in the new RAM kit.
Note: Make sure the memory module is correctly oriented: The notch in the bottom edge of the
RAM must match up with the rise in the memory slot. If you're not filling all the available RAM
channels, read your motherboard's manual to see which specific slots you should fill first.
Placing RAM in the incorrect slots could result in some performance degradation.
Step4: seated the RAM in the slot, toggle the plastic retention levers to lock your new memory
Finally, close up your computer case, plug everything back in, and turn on your computer.

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