Expansion Cards - CompTIA A+ 220-1201 - 3.5

Our modern computers are designed to be modular. We have ways to extend the functionality of our computer by adding additional hardware onto the motherboard itself. We're able to do this through the use of expansion cards. These are cards that provide additional functionality that's not already available on the motherboard itself. So, we can get a generic motherboard and

then customize it to do exactly what we need it to do. We've designed these expansion cards to be installable by the end user. So, you don't have to take your computer back to the manufacturer to have these installed. You can open up the top of your computer and install the cards yourself. And the process is relatively simple.

You can install the hardware in your computer, turn it on, and most of the time your operating system will automatically identify the card, install the proper device drivers that you need, and you're immediately able to use your new hardware. A good example of an expansion card you might add to your system is one for

audio. This is a sound card, and it can provide audio output that is far superior to what you might have on your motherboard. This might include specialized hardware to give you higher quality audio, or it may have additional output functions that you can plug in a home theater with multiple speakers and a subwoofer.

These audio cards might also provide input. So, you might want to plug in multiple audio sources from different devices. You might have musical instruments you'd like to plug in, or there may be multiple microphones. Here's a sound card that supports a number of different inputs, outputs, and formats. We have audio output on left