What is a Heat Sink?

A heat sink is a device that incorporates a fan or another mechanism to reduce the temperature of a hardware component (e.g., processor). There are two heat sink types: active and passive. The picture is an example of a heat sink with both active and passive cooling mechanisms.

Active heat sink-

Active heat sinks utilize the computer's power supply and may include a fan. Sometimes these types of heat sinks are called an HSF, which is short for heat sink and fan. There are also liquid cooling systems, which have become popular in recent years.

Passive heat sink-

Passive heat sinks are those that have no mechanical components. Consequently, they are 100% reliable. Passive heat sinks are made of an aluminum finned radiator that dissipates heat through convection. For passive heat sinks to work at their full capacity, there should be a steady airflow moving across the fins.

What are heat spreaders?

Heat spreaders are another type of passive heat sink used to help dissipate the heat produced by RAM modules.

What devices in a computer use a heat sink?

The components that generate the most heat in your computer is the CPU (central processing unit), video card (if your computer has one), and the power supply. They always have some cooling, usually a fan. Other components that may have a heat sink include the north bridge, south bridge, and memory. It is also not uncommon to find heat sinks on other expansion cards and hard drives.

AGP-

Short for accelerated graphics port, AGP is an advanced port designed for video cards and 3D accelerators. Developed by Intel and introduced in August 1997, AGP introduces a dedicated point-to-point channel that allows the graphics controller direct access to the system memory. Below is an illustration of what the AGP slot may look like on your motherboard.

The AGP channel is 32-bits wide and runs at 66 MHz, a total bandwidth of 266 MBps and much greater than the PCI bandwidth (up to 133 MBps). AGP also supports two optional faster modes, with a throughput of 533 MBps and 1.07 GBps. It also allows 3-D textures to be stored in main memory rather than video memory.

AGP is available in three different versions, the original AGP version mentioned above, AGP 2.0 that was introduced in May 1998, and AGP 3.0 (AGP 8x) that was introduced in November 2000. AGP 2.0 added 4x signaling and was capable of operating at 1.5V, and AGP 3.0 was capable of double the transfer speeds.

Where is AGP on the motherboard?

A computer with AGP support has one AGP slot next to all other expansion slots or an onboard AGP video. If you needed more than one video card in the computer, you can have one AGP video card and one PCI video card or use a motherboard that supports SLI.

What is AGP Pro?

AGP Pro is an AGP interface extension specification for advanced workstations. This specification delivers additional power to video cards, includes an extended connector, thermal envelope, mechanical specifications, I/O bracket, and motherboard layout requirements.

What is a Connection?

A connection is a term that describes the link between a plug or connector into a port or jack. For example, your monitor, mouse, and keyboard must connect to the computer before they work.

Different forms of the word connect-

There are different ways the word "connect" can be used when describing a connector and how it connects. Below is a list of all forms of the word with further information about each.

Connect and connected, and connection - The description of two or more devices successfully sending and receiving information. For example, if you are reading a web page, your computer connects to the Internet and has a good connection.

If the connection were interrupted at your home or office, nothing on the Internet would work. If the connection could not be established with the server hosting the web page, you would be unable to view the web page, but everything else on the Internet would still work.

Connecting - Describes connecting a plug, wire, or another device to the computer. For example, I'm connecting my monitor to my computer to get a picture and see what's happening.

Connecting also describes two or more devices establishing a connection. For example, when a Dial-up Modem connects to an ISP, you'll hear the phone dialing the number and then handshaking.

The handshake (heard by playing the above audio file) is the two computers communicating and establishing a connection. Once the connection is established, the noise is no longer heard.

Connections - An overall description of all available expansion slots, ports, and jacks (more than one) on a computer or another device. For example, my USB hub has three available USB connections.

Connector - The description of the end of the cable that joins a cable to a port. Centronics, DB, DIN, mini-plug, and USB are all examples of connectors.

Examples of computer connections-

Below is a picture of the back of a desktop computer and each of the connections and ports. Although your desktop computer's layout may differ, this diagram gives you a better understanding of where everything connects.

Below are related pages for each of the connections shown above and some related terms. Clicking each link gives you more information about each connection and related information.

Connections on the back of the computer-

• AT
• BNC
• Composite
• DisplayPort
• DVI
• eSATA
• FireWire (IEEE-1394)
• HDMI
• MIDI
• Modem (RJ-11 aka telephone)
• Network (RJ-45)
• Parallel port
• PS/2 port
• RCA
• S-Video
• S/PDIF
• SCSI
• Serial port (RS-232)
• Sound card (sound out or line out, sound in or line in, microphone, and MIDI (joystick).
• USB
• VGA/SVGA

Why are the colors on connections different?

Connections on the back of a computer may be color-coded to help locate the appropriate port for a peripheral device. The list below includes many ports and their associated colors-

• Keyboard (PS/2) - Purple
• Mouse (PS/2) - Green
• Serial - Cyan
• Printer - Violet
• Monitor (VGA) - Blue
• Monitor (DVI) - White
• Line out (headphones) - Lime Green
• Line in (microphone) - Pink
• Audio in - Grey
• Joystick - Yellow

Internal connections-

• ATA
• Expansion slots
• IDE/EIDE
• SATA
• SCSI

How do I check connections?

Computer Hope or another technician may tell you to "check your connections" when troubleshooting a problem. This suggestion refers to verifying a cable is connected correctly on both ends of the cable. For example, with monitor troubleshooting, you'd verify the cables on the back of the monitor and computer are connected correctly. If all cables are firmly connected, it's also a good idea to disconnect a cable, verify nothing looks wrong with the cable or port, and reconnect the cable.

What connection connects computers?

Today, the most common method of connecting computers to each other is over a network. To connect to a network, a computer uses a network interface card to either connect using a cable like a Cat 5 cable or wirelessly using Wi-Fi.