What are PCI Cards?

PCI cards are expansion cards which enhance and add features such as video cards, sound cards, modems, network interface cards (NICs), etc. to your computer system.

These cards use the PCI (Peripheral Component Internconnect) bus which is the standard Input/Output (I/O) bus used by the two major CPU manufacturers - Intel and AMD.

The standard PCI bus uses a 32-bit data path and runs at 33 MHz while the system board runs at 66 MHz.

There was an upgrade to the specifications named PCI-X which enabled the PCI to run at 133 MHz.

An advantage of the PCI bus is that devices connected to it can run at one speed while the CPU runs at a different speed.

These cards have now replaced the older ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) cards which used 8 and 16-bit data paths.

These chip-covered cards referred to as adapter cards, expansion cards, add-in cards and plug-in boards plug into the motherboard and do everything the motherboard doesn't.

They provide different services such as allowing you to view information on your monitor, listen to audio and connect to the Internet.

Sometimes your PC's motherboard might have insufficient expansion ports (slots) that are not fast enough and adding expansion cards will greatly enhance your system.

All in all, these ports (slots) share a data 'super highway' referred to as the bus which is a direct electrical pathway to the PC's CPU and main memory. The bus enables fast and direct access to your PC's main resources such as RAM (Memory).

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