CONNECTORS AND POINTS

Elizabeth Viverette

20-PIN P1

Main power connector for early ATX motherboards

24-PIN P1 CONNECTOR

Today’s main motherboard power connector

20+4 PIN P1 CONNECTOR

Has four pins removed so it can fit into a 20-pin

connector

4-PIN AUXILIARY MOTHERBOARD

CONNECTOR

Provides extra power to the processor

8-PIN AUXILIARY

Provides extra power to the processor, more than

the older 4-pin connection

4-PIN MOLEX

Connects to IDE/PATA drives

15-PIN SATA

Connects to SATA drives

4-PIN BERG

Used for floppy disk drives

6-PIN PCIE

Provides extra power for high end video cards that

are using PCI express

First model

8-PIN PCIE

Provides extra power to powerful video cards using

PCI express

2nd Model

6-PIN PLUS 2-PIN

Used to provide extra power to high end video

cards

Can be attached to either a 6-pin connector or an

8-pin connector

VGA

Video Graphics Array

15 pin female

Transmits analog video

S-VIDEO PORT

4-pin or 7-pin round video port

Used to connect to a television

DVI

Digital Video Interface

Transmits digital or analog video

HDMI

High-Definition-Multimedia Interface

Transmits digital video and audio

Often used to connect to a home theater

DISPLAYPORT

Transmits digital video and audio

Replacing VGA and DVI ports on PCs

THUNDERBOLT

Transmits video and data

Compatible with DisplayPort devices

NETWORK/ETHERNET PORT

RJ-45 port

Used to connect to a wired network

SOUND PORTS

Audio ports

With a microphone, audio in, audio out, and stereo

audio out

D/PDIF

Sony-Philips Digital Interface

Connects to home theater audio systems

USB

Universal Serial Bus

Multi-purpose Input/Output port used by multiple

devices

FIREWIRE

IEEE1394 port (I-triple-E 1394 port)

Used for multimedia devices with higher speeds

EXTERNAL SATA

Used by external hard drives

Faster than FireWire

PS/2

Mini-DIN

Round 6-pin port

Used by keyboards and mouse

Not interchangeable

SERIAL PORT (DB9)

9-pin male port

Replaced by USB ports

PARALLEL PORT

25-pin female port

Used in older printers

Replaced by USBs

MODEM PORT (RJ-11)

Connects dial-up lines to computers

Looks similar to a modem port