Here’s What All Those Connectors On Your PC Do
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Published 2024-06-14
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Need a quick overview of the ports and connectors on the back of your computer? Let us de-mystify things for you.
Leave a reply with your requests for future episodes.
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All Comments (21)
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Now do mobo headers
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I once told an office person if the connector doesn’t fit it doesn’t fit. That person took it seriously but in the wrong way. She plugged an USB into an ethernet port. It does fit surprisingly but it doesn’t do anything 🤦
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You forgot to mention a small but important detail about PS/2: it doesn't support hot-plugging like USB, so mice/keyboards only work when you connect them before turning on the device (or rebooting). Having the port still available is nice for people who still want to use "eternal" keyboards like the legendary IBM model M. Those were still built in a way that will probably last several decades and not just a few years like many modern keyboards...
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This topic really deserves a "tech longer", there is so much history and curiosities behind connectors and peripherals, a longer more in depth video before everything turns into USB would be great!
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Thank you, I've always wondered what the wacky colorfully ports on the back of my pc were for.
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I remember the days when the PS/2 ports weren't color coded or labeled and you had to guess which one was the correct one, kind of like the USB-A insertion uncertainty principle
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An extra video is a must for obsolete & forgotten ports.
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Worth adding that some gamers explicitly use PS2 for the latency. From what I've heard, it has a faster latency return than USB, though in practice, very few people will probably notice the difference.
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A PS/2 keyboard can sometimes be the difference between getting into the BIOS and not getting into the BIOS on some systems. I don't think that is usually an issue these days but it used to be the case for a while. And the USB to PS/2 adapters you can get won't always work with USB keyboards. So keeping an old PS/2 keyboard around if you occasionally encounter older hardware can be extremely useful to have.
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PS2 connectors had the nice advantage they were directly linked to the CPU, while USB controller was sometimes linked to the chipset and needed drivers. Back in the day, if you wanted to start and jump into the BIOS, PS2 was the only way to use a keyboard, as the USB drivers were not loaded yet (BIOS comes before the OS, in the startup sequence).
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would be nice to see a part two with some more obscure ports on slightly older hardware that some still use, like eSATA or smth ^^
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You forgot the IEC 60320 (C14) port. I somehow can't get my system to run without having something plugged into it. What does it do? I've always wondered about this.
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It is nice that modern motherboards still have PS/2 connector. And if some people don't use them but have a motherboard which does not have many USB ports on the back, it is good to have this feature and fill the empty space with this connector. It is not plug and play but if it is connected it always works. And I never had driver problems... unlike USB drivers on Windows 11 causing the input to lag.
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Once you go DP, you'll never go back... ...to HDMI.
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When you're the go to guy for friends and family, this is a great video covering the basics.
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A note about HDMI/Display port - due to the amount of data each can support, you Can connect a cord with both form factors as Display port From the source (computer) To HDMI on the output device (monitor) but NOT the other way around. Display port can potentially output more data that HDMI can support, so you can only find cables that support the one-way traffic, even if they have both ends.
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Thank you, for sharing this
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1:00 Sometimes 'TOSLink' is called 'optical', but the plug is the same. It is called TOSLink because it was invented by TOShiba
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This is a great refresher, i always forget the names of the older ports.
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@1:00 wait, how is there light coming out of BOTH ends??
