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peripherals to a computer’s motherboard. PCI encompasses both integrated
motherboard components (such as built-in graphical processors) and
peripherals that fit into an expansion card slot, such as a separate graphics
card. PCI replaced the older ISA and VESA bus standards, and was itself
superseded by the AGP standard for the main graphics card bus.
PCI Express® (PCIe™)
The successor standard to the PCI and AGP bus standards, with a
significantly faster serial communications system, further opening up
bandwidth for more communications between such peripherals as graphics
cards and the computer’s CPU. PCIe cards can come in several physical
configurations, the fastest currently being X16, which is typically used for
graphic cards, and X1, typically used for other peripherals, such as separate
multimedia cards.
Pipeline
In relation to computer graphic processors, refers to the number of separate
arithmetic units available for rendering the output on a display. In general,
more pipelines available on a graphical processor means there are more 3D
rendering capabilities available, increasing overall 3D performance.
Pixel
All computer images are made up of tiny dots. Each individual dot is called
a pixel, a word created from the term “picture element.” A pixel is the
smallest indivisible unit of a digital image and can be only a single color.
The size of the pixel depends on how the display resolution has been set.
The smallest size a pixel can be is determined by the display’s dot pitch,
which is measured in millimeters (mm).
Pulldown
Pulldown is a telecine technique used to transfer motion picture film shot
at one frame rate to a video format at a different frame rate. Typical NTSC
video contains more frames per second than motion picture film for even
division between frames, so that every 4 frames of film can be reproduced
as 5 separate NTSC frames, the “extra frame” created by interlacing
interpolated frames. This feature produces a smoother NTSC video image
from a motion picture film source, and can be used for better edge image