expansion card

noun

: a circuit board connecting to a motherboard which expands the capabilities of a computer

Examples of expansion card in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Two ports have higher power consumption when used with a USB-A expansion card. Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 29 Jan. 2024 Cooler Master The rear of the Framework/Cooler Master case, with fan intake, expansion card slots (and button release), rubberized kickstand, and VESA mounts. Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 7 Aug. 2023 Also connected via the chipset are a PCIe 4.0 x4 slot and two smaller PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, giving you plenty of places to put expansion cards. Joe Shields, PCMAG, 3 Sep. 2023 There's no mention of a 2TB expansion card from Western Digital, but no doubt it will be introduced if the company sees demand for such a card. Matthew Humphries, PCMAG, 6 June 2023 Xbox Owners will be glad to hear Seagate finally has some competition for storage expansion cards, and Western Digital is undercutting its rival on price. Matthew Humphries, PCMAG, 6 June 2023 Plug it directly into the expansion card slot on the back of either console to immediately increase storage—particularly handy for titles optimized for the new Xbox machines, as the systems don't support installing games via USB drives, SSD, or HDD, due to comparatively slower transfer speeds. Stephanie Mlot, PCMAG, 5 Apr. 2023 Best Buy’s listing (which has now been removed) of the Western Digital C50 1TB expansion card is $40 less than the Seagate model. Tom Warren, The Verge, 2 Apr. 2023 Slightly lower power use is a good thing, but this new RTX 3050 card still requires up to 115 W of power, which is well above the 75 W max amount of power that can be provided to any expansion card through a PCI Express slot without requiring an extra power connector. Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 27 Dec. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'expansion card.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1982, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of expansion card was in 1982

Dictionary Entries Near expansion card

Cite this Entry

“Expansion card.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expansion%20card. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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