Specialized Cards

Specialized Cards

Specialized  cards are cards that are plugged into the motherboard that allow it to do more things such as display graphics and play sound.

Sound card

Description of purpose: The sound card is an adapter card that allows the computer to
have extended sound capabilities, and for sound components to be used, for
example headphones.

How it communicates with other components: The sound card translates analogue- to-digital waves to make the
sound heard on the computer, some sound cards use a coder/decoder chip also
called a CODEC which performs both functions

Graphics Card

Description of purpose: The graphics card is an adapter card that allows the computer to show graphics on the monitor.

How it communicates with other components: The images that are shown on the monitor are made of tiny dots
called pixels. A screen displays over a million pixels and the computer has to
decide what to do with everyone in order to create an image, to do this it needs
graphics capability and that’s not possible without a graphics card, the
graphics card decides how to use the pixels on the screen to create an image and
then sends information to the monitor through the cable.

Network interface card

Description of purpose: The network interface card allows the computer to connect to a
network and access it wirelessly, It uses radio signals to do so. It is
connected to the computer circuit board and provides a full-time wireless
connection to either a LAN (local area network) or WAN (wide area
network)

How it communicates with other components: It converts the data sent by the computer into a form which can
be used by the network cable, and then translates the data coming from the cable
into bytes so that the computer CPU can read it. Network interface card is very
important to link computers so data can be sent and receive via the LAN this is
basically the Ethernet card and will be installed in the computers slot.

Fiber Optic

Fiber Optic

Fiber optic is fast way to send information using pulses of light. Fiber optic is best used over long distances and when high bandwidth is needed. Fiber optic is commonly used to transmit internet communications, television signals and telephone signals. Fiber optic can carry as much as 9000 TV channels, making it fast and high capacity. This makes it ideal for internet communication, as it needs to be fast and needs to deliver lots of information at one time.

Optical fibers are typically the backbone of companies and are used to transmit information between them.

A downside to fiber optic is that it is expensive. If you were to transmit information through fiber optic over a long distance, it would cost a lot.

Power Supply

Power Supply

Power supplies take the AC current (alternating current) that household plugs output and converts it to DC (direct current). The power supply provides power to the PC components and allows it to function. They can be turned on and off  from a signal sent out from the motherboard.

Peripherals

Peripherals

Peripherals are devices that are not the computer's core architecture involved in memory and processing. Peripherals include input hardware, output hardware and storage devices.

A typical desktop computer could include:

• inputs - mouse, keyboard, webcam, games controller
• outputs - screen, printer, speakers, headphones
• storage - hard drive

Inputs

Input devices including camera, mouse, keyboard and scanner. Input devices send signals into the computer that have to be interpreted by the operating system using drivers. Some of the most common input devices include: 

Keyboard - used to enter characters and data into computers. A QWERTY keyboard uses the standard layout for English-speaking countries. The Dvorak keyboard layout is an alternative and was designed to avoid awkward key combinations. Keys on a keyboard send binary information into the computer which is interpreted using the ASCII or Unicode character sets. 

Mouse - used to control a pointer on the screen of a computer. 

Trackball - similar to a mouse, this is used where extreme accuracy is needed - for example, in CAD, sound and video editing, and some medical imaging applications (such as MRI scans). 

Graphics tablet - a physical pad, similar in size to a mouse mat, which can be touched with a stylus or fingertips to allow highly-accurate movements on the screen. The graphics tablet is very popular with graphic designers, who can use it in a similar way to a drawing pad. 

Games controller - use a combination of buttons and mini thumb-controlled joysticks. 

Digital camera/web cam - used to capture and create images. 

Scanners - used to copy physical printed materials into the computer. Scanners are often incorporated into printers.

Outputs

There are thousands of different output hardware devices. Some of the most common examples include: 

Printer - used to print photographs, images and text onto paper and card. There are three main categories of printer: ink-jet, dot-matrix and laser. 3D printers print out very thin layers of plastic one layer at a time to build up a 3D object. 3D printing has been used in heart surgery and space technology research. 

Screen - used to give us access to the programs and the file system through a command line interface or a graphical user interface. Most screens make use of LED or LCD technology.