PC Hardware A Beginner’s Guide

(^500) PC Hardware: A Beginner’s Guide

Video Interfaces

Video interfaces, which are explained in more detail in Chapter 12, provide a connection in-

terface for the video adapter that provides a connection to the monitor. On most

Pentium-classPCs,aPCI-interfacevideoadapterfunctionisbuiltintothemotherboard.The

other popular video interface is the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). Two legacy architec-

turesthatareusedonoldersystemsforvideointerfacesaretheISAandVLBusinterfaces.

 Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Support for the PCI interface

bus is included in the system chipset on all Pentium-class computers. PCI is

commonly used for 2D graphics cards, sound cards, network interface cards,

and other expansion cards that attach directly to the motherboard. Of course,

a PCI card slot is required. PCI is a bus structure and as such can support a

number of different devices. PCI slots, shown in Figure 19-15, are found on

virtually all Pentium-class motherboards boards.

 Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) The AGP interface was designed specifically

for use as a video system interface. AGP, which runs twice as fast as the PCI

interface, creates a high-speed link between the video card and the PC’s processor.

The AGP interface is also directly linked to the PC’s system memory, which

makes it possible for 3D images to be stored in main memory and 2D systems

to use system RAM for some calculations. All AGP video cards require that the

motherboard have an AGP slot. AGP is a port and as such can support only a

Figure 19-14. A cordless keyboard and mouse that connects to the PC through an RF transmitter

and receiver. Photo courtesy of Logitech