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PCI, or Peripheral Component Interconnect, was a standard interface on computer motherboards that allowed for the expansion of functionality by adding expansion cards, such as graphics cards, network cards, and sound cards. It acted as a high-speed bus, enabling devices to communicate directly with the system's memory and I/O ports. While original PCI used a shared bus and is now largely obsolete in modern consumer PCs, it was replaced by PCI Express (PCIe), a faster, serial, point-to-point interface still used today for high-speed components like modern GPUs and SSDs.

Key Features and Functionality

Expansion Cards: PCI slots allowed users to install various expansion cards to add new features or upgrade existing ones.

High-Speed Bus: It provided a high-speed connection for peripherals, improving performance over older, slower buses like ISA.

Direct Memory Access: PCI devices could access the system's memory directly, reducing the burden on the CPU for data transfer.

Plug-and-Play Support: The standard aimed to simplify device installation by providing standardized configuration spaces that software could use to assign necessary resources.

Shared Bus Architecture: Original PCI used a shared bus for all connected devices, which could lead to congestion compared to newer designs.