Installing Expansion Cards
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- In this video from ITFreeTraining, I will look at how to install an expansion card in a computer. Expansion cards provide additional features to the computer, beyond what the computer was originally designed to do. It is a very common task for a computer technician to perform and, thus, important to understand how to do it.
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Expansion Cards
0:17 To start with, let’s look at what an expansion card is. An expansion card is simply a modular board that provides extra functions to the computer. Generally speaking, an expansion card plugs into the computer’s motherboard.
Expansion cards come in many different sizes. They can be large like this graphics card or small like this network expansion card for a laptop. Generally, the expansion cards will be rectangular in shape. I have seen some in other shapes like triangular, however the most common type is rectangular.
Riser cards are also considered to be expansion cards. Riser cards meet the requirement for an expansion card, as they provide additional functions to the computer. In the case of this riser card, the riser card adds two additional expansion slots to the computer.
Generally, expansion cards plug into a slot. There are a number of different slot types available. The expansion cards themselves can vary in size. Generally, the size will start around the size of a credit card and go up to larger cards such as video cards.
Very small components that plug directly into the motherboard are not referred to as expansion cards. Generally, these are just called modules or components. For example, a Trusted Platform Module that adds security features to a motherboard is about the size of a postage stamp. It is not called an expansion card; instead, it is just referred to as a module. Also, components like memory are not referred to as expansion cards; technically they are not providing any more functions to the computer just increasing the existing memory in the computer.
To put it simply, if it adds additional functions to the computer, plugs in a slot and is rectangular in shape, it is most likely an expansion card. Let’s look at what you need to consider before purchasing an expansion card.
Compatibility
2:09 The first thing to consider is compatibility. Expansion cards are designed to be used in a particular slot and used with particular versions of that slot. In the case of the vast majority of expansion cards, they are backwards compatible. That is, an expansion card of a higher version will work in an expansion slot of a lower version. Generally, when installing an expansion card, you want to put the expansion card in a slot that supports the highest version the expansion card supports, in order to get the best performance.
There have been many different expansion slot types over the years. Shown here is a PCI slot which was popular back in the 90’s. There were other slots, however PCI was the most widely used back then. Nowadays, all the other slots have disappeared, and PCI has also become rare on motherboards, as it has been replaced by PCI Express.
PCI Express comes in many different sizes and also has a number of different versions. Shown here is a PCI Express x1 version 2 slot. The ‘by’ in the name refers to the number of lanes the slot supports. In order to have more lanes, more pins are required. Thus, to support more lanes, the slot needs to be longer. Shown here is a PCI Express by 16 version 3 slot; this is currently the largest slot supported by PCI Express. However, notice that this PCI Express slot is the same size; however, it only has eight lanes or ‘by 8’. Essentially half the pins are not connected. So, this means that if you plug a 16-lane expansion card into a by 8 slot, the expansion card will only be able to use eight of the lanes.
When installing expansion cards, you essentially just need to ensure the expansion card is designed to go into the correct slot. Once you start looking at different expansion slots, you will start to recognize them quite easily. If you are not sure, before installing it, hold it up to the expansion slot to make sure it is the same size. Expansion slots are designed is such a way so that the wrong expansion card cannot be put into the wrong slot.
Description to long for RUclips. Please see the following link for the rest of the description. itfreetraining....
References
“The Official CompTIA A+ Core Study Guide (Exam 220-1001)” Chapter 3 Position 11660-12309
“CompTIA A+ Certification exam guide. Tenth edition” Pages 223 - 225
“Expansion card” en.wikipedia.o...
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Trainer: Austin Mason ITFreeTraining.com
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I love this channel, I’ve been binge watching these videos because I really want to learn more about computer tech.
Thanks, glad we could help.
All these videos series - excellent explanation , presentation & demonstration - appreciate your effort - thanks a lot !
Glad you like them!
This is so well explained. I think you will grow rapidly.
Thanks for watching.
Excellent channel
Thank you very much!
Good stuff .THX.
Thank you.
Would you happen to know what expansion card I could use for a Gateway Essential 700S desktop computer? There is apparently a six pin black cable that plugs into the expansion card as well. Thanks.
I am guessing it is a video card. The additional power plug will need to be plugged into the video card if this is the case. If your power supply does not have that plug, you can purchase and adapter to convert other connectors to that type, for example molex connectors to EPS connector.
Actually, I picked up a Star Tech 4 port PCI 1349a Fire Wire Adapter Card (3 External & 1 Internal) from Amazon.
nice
Thanks
Day 8
Nice work. If you have any questions leave them in the comments and I try and answer them for you.
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I am not sure what you are trying to say.