ISA is a type of bus used in PCs for adding expansion cards. For example, an ISA slot may be used to add a video card, a network card, or an extra serial port. The original 8-bit version of PCI uses a 62 pin connection and supports clock speeds of 8 and 33 MHz. 16-bit PCI uses 98 pins and supports the same clock speeds. The original 8-bit version of ISA was introduced in 1981 but the technology did not become widely used until 1984, when the 16-bit version was released. An ISA slot is “Industry Standard Architecture” which is the same old IBM cloned architecture we’ve known for years. It allows for expansion cards, video cards, network cards and extra serial port cards. The PSI slots, “Peripheral Component Interconnect” slot is a connector for 32 bit computer bus for modems, network hardware, sound, video cards graphic cards, Ethernet or wireless cards, with solid state drives faster than SATA SSD speeds, and anything else to be added to a computer.

ISA may refer to any of the following:

1. Short for Industry Standard Architecture, ISA was introduced by IBM and headed by Mark Dean. ISA was originally an 8-bit computer bus that was later expanded to a 16-bit bus in 1984. When this bus was originally released, it was a proprietary bus, which allowed only IBM to create peripherals and the actual interface. However, in the early 1980s other manufacturers were creating the bus.

In 1993, Intel and Microsoft introduced a PnP ISA bus that allowed the computer to automatically detect and setup computer ISA peripherals, such as a modem or sound card. Using the PnP technology, an end-user would have the capability of connecting a device and not having to configure the device using jumpers or dip switches.

All modern computers no longer have ISA slots and instead utilizing PCI slots. Below is an example an ISA expansion card and ISA slot it connects into on the motherboard.

How can I add an ISA card if I don't have an ISA slot?

To connect an ISA card to a computer, the motherboard must have an ISA slot. As mentioned above, today's computers no longer come with ISA expansion slots and most modern operating systems no longer support ISA. If your motherboard does not have an ISA expansion slot, we recommend getting a more modern card supported by your motherboard.

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2. Short for instruction set architecture, see our instruction set definition for further information on this term.

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16-bit, Bus, Computer acronyms, EISA, Expansion slot, Hardware terms, MCA, Motherboard terms