Page 73 - Computer - 9(A&B)

device. If you want to watch movies or play games on the computer, a dedicated video card improves the quality
of graphics up to a great extent.

Sound Card
Sound card, also known as audio card, is an electronic card that provides input and
output of audio signals to and from a computer. Nowadays, these cards are integrated
into the motherboard. Unlike the other hardware components, it is not necessary to
have a sound card in the system to make a computer work as they are required if the
computer is to be used for multimedia applications.

Ports
Ports in a computer system are used for providing interface for the external devices or the
peripherals like monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, modem, etc. These are actually the
part of motherboard and the external devices are plugged into these parts through cables.

Some of the important ports used in the computer system are:
Ports on the CPU box
Serial Port: A serial port is also known as COM (Communication) port.
A serial port can transmit one bit of data at a time. It can be used to connect devices
like mouse, gaming controllers, modems and older printers.

Parallel Port: As the name suggests, this is used to send multiple bits of data at
once. It is mainly used to connect printers and other devices that need relatively
high bandwidth.

PS/2 Port: PS/2 port was developed by IBM and is used to connect mouse or
keyboard to an IBM compatible computer. PS/2 port is round in shape and have 6
pins. In the newer systems, these ports are replaced by the much faster USB ports.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) Port: USB port is a standard cable connection for PCs and
other electronic devices. USB connected devices cover a broad range from keyboard to
mouse, music players, pen drives, etc. It may also be used to send power to some devices.
All modern computers have at least one USB port. The various USB ports are: USB 1.0,
USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB 3.1

High Defi nition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) Port: HDMI is an audio/video
interface which is used for transmitting uncompressed video and digital audio
data. It is supported by most of the multimedia components such as DVD
player, Blu-ray player, cable boxes and video game systems. While other audio/
video connections require separate cables for audio and video signals, HDMI
carries both of these together on a single cable.

Video Graphics Array (VGA) Port: VGA is a standard type of connection used to
connect video devices such as monitors and projectors. It is mainly used to transfer
analog video signals from one machine to another through VGA cable. Although these
ports are still in use but in most of the newer systems these are replaced by HDMI or
DVI ports.

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