From Shane McGlaun,
Your Guide to Computer Peripherals.
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What is a PC Expansion Card?

A PC expansion card is an add in card that is typically internally connected that extends, or adds, functionality to a computer. There are many different types of expansion cards that serve different functions depending on the need of the computer user.

Perhaps the most common type of PC expansion cards are graphics or video cards. Graphics and video cards are added to computers to improve the computers ability to render 3D graphics and video. Graphics and video cards are most important and commonly associated with gaming computers, but also are important to graphic design and video editing applications.

Graphics cards can fit into several different expansion slots inside a computer such as PCI, AGP and PCI Express slots.

Sound cards are also common types of PC expansion cards. Sound cards are dedicated to processing music and sound effects data and are commonly seen in both gaming computers and media center computers. Sound cards give computers without the ability to process HIFI sound and surround sound signals as they were built the ability to do so.

Network cards or NIC's are also very common PC expansion card. A network card is the physical interface between the computer and the wires or network to which it is connected, such as the Internet. Without a network card, your computer would not be able to communicate with other computers on the web or in the office.

Of all the expansion slots used in computers, PCI or peripheral component interconnect are the most common. Newer systems are replacing PCI slots with PCI Express slots, which have faster data transfer rates and are more appropriate for high usage PC expansion cards, such as graphics cards. AGP or Accelerated Graphics Ports are rapidly being replaced by PCI Express ports. The AGP port is exclusively used for graphics cards.

Just as a bit of trivia, you may still run across old computers that have ISA slots or Industry Standard Architecture slots, these slots are obsolete and were replace by the standard PCI slot. Soon PCI slots will follow ISA slots into extinction as the PCI slot is replaced with the PCI Express slot.