We examine those matrix rings whose entries lie in periodic rings equipped with some additional properties. Specifically, we prove that the famous Diesl's question whether or not R being nil-clean implies that M n (R) is nil-clean for all n ≥ 1 is paralleling to the corresponding implication for (Abelian, local) periodic rings. Besides, we study when the endomorphism ring E(G) of an Abelian group G is periodic. Concretely, we establish that E(G) is periodic exactly when G is finite as well as we find a complete necessary and sufficient condition when the endomorphism ring over an Abelian group is strongly m-nil clean for some natural number m thus refining an "old" result concerning strongly nil-clean endomorphism rings. Responding to a question when a group ring is periodic, we show that if R is a right (resp., left) perfect periodic ring and G is a locally finite group, then the group ring RG is periodic, too. We finally find some criteria under certain conditions when the tensor product of two periodic algebras over a commutative ring is again periodic. In addition, some other sorts of rings very close to periodic rings, namely the so-called weakly periodic rings, are also investigated.