Guide to Common Computer Component Connectors
Phoenix’s Guide to Common Computer Component Connectors
(Picture credit: iDENTITi and MeltDown, but I took the S-Video pic)
Audio/Video:
Analog audio ports: These are the external round color-coded audio jacks found on the rear of many motherboards and sound cards. Orange is a digital output and an analog output for a center speaker and subwoofer in surround setups. Silver outputs to side speakers, black outputs to rear, and lime green to front speakers or headphones. Light blue is for input and pink is for a microphone input.
DVI: Digital Visual Interface. The most common form of this connector on desktops is the dual-link DVI-I interface. It is currently replacing VGA as the preferred port to connect a PC and its monitor. It has 25 pins (plus four analog pins for DVI-I) and is usually white.
S-Video: Separate Video. An older circular four-pin video input that transmits standard definition video (480i). As the name suggests, it does not carry audio. It is commonly used to output display to an SDTV.
VGA: Video Graphics Array. This connector is a 15-pin blue trapezoid-shaped port that is widely used to transmit video signals. Nearly every desktop will have this port or DVI to output video to a monitor. It uses two thumbscrews on each side to hold it in place. Modern video cards that only output DVI often include DVI-VGA adapters to use with VGA monitors. Some laptops (Apple, for example) use a mini-VGA port to reduce size.
Expansion:
AGP: Accelerated Graphics Port. An aging slot connector used to interface video cards with the motherboard. Buying a mobo with this connector is not advised as PCIe x16 has all but rendered AGP obsolete. The last update to this connector, AGP 8X, had a max throughput of 2133 Mbit/s.
DIMM Slot: Dual In-line Memory Module. This socket is used by RAM sticks to interface with the motherboard. Older DDR DIMMs used a 184 pin configuration, while current DDR2 sticks used a 240 pin array. On each end of the slot are two latches that click together when a DIMM is inserted. They must be pushed apart before insertion. There is an off-center notch in the pin arrangement to prevent reverse insertion. Physically, the DIMM slot resembles a long, grooved bar on the mobo.
PCI: Peripheral Component Interconnect. The standard motherboard slot connector used to interface most I/O cards with the mobo. Sound cards, Ethernet cards, USB and Firewire cards as well as many other cards all use PCI. In desktops, it is usually 32 bit and has a maximum transfer rate of 133 Mbytes/s. Physically, the connector is usually a white slot with a notch toward the inward end of the slot.
PCIe: Peripheral Component Interconnect express. The potential successor of PCI, this connector is serial, not parallel like PCI, meaning it transmits data one bit at a time. However, it is capable of doing this with several lanes at once. Thus, different slots for PCIe exist for different amounts of lanes; the longer the slot, the more lanes supported. Each lane carries 250 Mbytes/s in each direction. PCIe 1.1 supports x1, x2, x4, x8, x16, and x32, with x1, x4, and x16 being the most common on desktop mobos. Lanes can be left unused, the entire slot doesn’t have to be used; meaning a x4 slot could accept a x1 card, or a x16 could accept a x8 card. Naturally a slot can’t accommodate a card with more lanes than it has, the card wouldn’t physically fit in the slot. The x16 specification is nearly exclusive on high-end video cards, due to its robust throughput (4GBytes/s) and compatibility with multi-GPU applications like SLI and Crossfire. Physically, the slots resemble PCI, though lower-lane slots are shorter, while x16 and x32 will be longer. Often they are differently colored from PCI on a given motherboard to distinguish them further. Finally, the notch in PCIe faces outward, and x16 has a retaining clip to brace bulky graphics cards.
Storage:
eSATA: external Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. This is an extension of the SATA standard that interfaces with external SATA drives, and as such acts as a competitor to USB and Firewire in the peripheral storage market. It provides much better throughput for external HDDs than USB or Firewire but unlike them it cannot supply power to the external drive. Physically it's similar to the internal SATA port, however it's sides are reinforced to withstand more punishment as it is an external port.
PATA: Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment. An older, 40 pin connector used for PATA hard drives and optical drives. It is quickly falling out of favor to make way for SATA in the hard drive sector, though it is still strong in optical drives, as SATA optical drives are still uncommon. This standard uses the familiar ribbon cable. The 40 pins are arranged in two rows, with one pin missing to prevent improper connecting.
SATA: Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. The newer SATA hard drive connector which is quickly replacing EIDE (PATA) drives and connectors due to faster throughput. There are two specifications of SATA, one capable of 1.5 Gbit/s and another of 3.0 Gbit/s. Several SATA ports are common on modern motherboards, making multi-hard drive arrays like RAID possible.
Input/Output:
D-Sub: D-Subminiature. The D-Sub is a legacy connector once common for many video, audio, and input applications. Over the years it has given way to faster, smaller interfaces such as USB. Physically it is a trapezoid-shaped connector with two or more rows of pins. Thus shorter connectors resemble VGA while longer ones resemble the parallel port. When viewed sideways, the trapezoidal sheath looks like a D, hence the name.
IEEE 1394 (Firewire, iLink) : Developed by Apple, IEEE 1934 is an external port that sees common use in cable boxes and camcorders. Two forms of this connector exist. The first specification, 1394a, has six pins and transfers at 400Mbit/s. The other, 1394b, uses 9 pins and supports up to 800Mbit/s. Despite backward compatibility between the two, the physical connectors are different, requiring an adapter to interchange. A smaller 4-pin connector is commonly found on laptops. Sony calls it iLink, while Apple calls it Firewire.
Parallel Port: A legacy port dating from the 1980’s that used to interface with printers, scanners, game devices, and SCSI adapters, among other things. Could be considered the USB of its day. Many modern computers lack this port since it is all but obsolete. It has 25 pins arranged in two rows in a connector shaped like an elongated trapezoid. Like VGA, it uses two thumbscrews to stay in place.
PS/2: Personal System 2. An older interface for mice and keyboards developed by IBM in the late 1980s. The connector is round and has six pins; it somewhat resembles S-Video. The port is color coded: purple for keyboards and green for mice. USB has largely superseded this standard.
USB: Universal Serial Bus. A very common connector used to interface external components like printers, digital cameras, thumb drives, and countless other equipment. The newer 2.0 specification (High Speed) is capable of transferring at 480 Mbit/s. Previous standards transferred at 1.5 Mbit/s (Low Speed 1.0) and 12 Mbit/s (Full Speed 1.1). All are compatible, but older devices or computers only supporting 1.0 or 1.1 cannot transfer at 2.0. Modern operating systems allow it to be hot-swappable, meaning USB components can be disconnected and reconnected and the OS will recognize it properly. USB can also be used to power minor components. Standard USB is the A specification, while B is commonly used for printers. Mini and micro USB are for smaller devices, such as digital cameras and PDAs.
Networking:
Ethernet (CAT 5, RJ-45): A port used to network computers. It is used for LANs and internet access. Physically it resembles a wide phone jack (RJ-11) and clicks in much the same way. It generally supports 100 Mbit/s, but newer gigabit jacks support up to 1,000 Mbit/s.
F-Connector (Coaxial): Standard coaxial connector (usually black or white round cable) used to connect cable TV or an antenna. It also carries internet through a cable provider. Finally, it can be used to supply a signal to a TV tuner within a computer (esp. a HTPC).
Phone Jack (RJ-11): The standard phone jack commonly associated with telephones. It can also be used to connect fax machines and computers using a dial-up internet connection.
Power Connectors:
CPU Fan Power Connector: This small connector is situated near the CPU socket and is used to power the HSF on the CPU. It's quite small, usually white, and has three pins. There are three wires; red, yellow, and a black ground.
Molex: A standard four-pin power connector used to supply power to a variety of components, such as hard drives, case fans, water cooling radiators, and many other components. As such, generally a power supply will have many of these connectors. The connector is generally white, with four wires; a +12V yellow, a +5V red, and two black grounds.
Motherboard Power Connector: This 20 or 24 pin connector is used to supply power to the motherboard. A motherboard power socket has either 20 or 24 pins, however the 24 pin is essentially the same as the 20 pin with four added. Hence, many PSUs have the extra 4 pins be detachable from the other 20, allowing the connector to work with either socket. The connector looks like a long, white bar with many multi-colored wires leading back to the PSU (often sleeved or zip-tied to reduce clutter). The connector fastens with a click.
PCIe power connector: A six-pin power connector used exclusively to supply additional power to powerful graphics cards that require more power than can be supplied by the PCIe slot alone. The most powerful cards may require two of these connectors. Cards using this connector often include molex-PCIe power adapters to work with PSUs lacking PCIe power connectors. Note: The newer PCIe 2.0 specification has added an 8-pin power connector. This is a new and uncommon connector only found on newer power supplies. It is easy to confuse with the similar 8-pin CPU power connector. Currently the only video card requiring it is the HD 2900XT (along with a supplimental 6-pin connector).
Last edited by Phoenix; 09-03-2007 at 08:13 PM.
Dell Precision M4400 Laptop
Nvidia Quadro FX 770M
C2D T9550 @ 2.66 GHz
4 GB DDR2-800
320 GB HDD (7200 RPM)
1280x800 LED
Backlit Keyboard
Win 7 Pro 32-bit
and a 1 TB Seagate Expansion External HD on the side for dippin...
I like the fact that my Cal logo always matches the background.
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