Anjuman-i-Islam’s

M. H. SABOO SIDDIK COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

8, Saboo Siddik Polytechnic Road, Byculla, Mumbai-400008
DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
For Journal [15 Marks]

Class: SE SEM IV
Subject Name: Microprocessor Lab
Subject Code: ITL403

Practical No: 01

Title: STUDY OF PC MOTHERBOARD

TECHNOLOGY (SOUTH BRIDGE AND NORTH

BRIDGE),INTERNAL COMPONENTS AND

CONNECTION USED IN COMPUTER SYSTEM

Date of
Performance:
Date of Submission:
Roll No:
Name of the
Student:

Evaluation:

Sr.No Rubric Marks

On time Submission & Completion (3)
2 Knowledge (5)
Performance(5)
4 Discipline (2)
Total

Signature of the Teacher

Date:
 EXPERIMENT NO:1

AIM: Study of PC Motherboard Technology (South Bridge And North

Bridge),Internal Components and Connection Used in Computer System

THEORY:

Mother-Board Architecture
Description of Motherboard
The motherboard is mounted inside the case and is securely attached via
small screws through pre-drilled holes. Motherboard contains ports to
connect all of the internal components. It provides a single socket for
CPU, whereas for memory, normally one or more slots are available.
Motherboards provide ports to attach the floppy drive, hard drive, and
optical drives via ribbon cables. Motherboard carries fans and a special
port designed for power supply.
There is a peripheral card slot in front of the motherboard using which
video cards, sound cards, and other expansion cards can be connected to
the motherboard.
On the left side, motherboards carry a number of ports to connect the
monitor, printer, mouse, keyboard, speaker, and network cables.
Motherboards also provide USB ports, which allow compatible devices
to be connected in plug-in/plug-out fashion. For example, pen drive,
digital cameras, etc
1. Memory Slots
These are the long slots attached to the motherboard to install DIMM
chips on the computer. DIMM stands for Dual Inline Memory Module,
which consists of DRAM integrated circuits. The Dynamic Random
Access Memory (DRAM) is a volatile memory that stores the data and
files being executed by the CPU. Many variants of DRAM exist like
DDR, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4, and more recently DDR5.
Mostly, RAM slots are designed in such a way that you can only insert
the memory chip in one particular orientation.
For reference, earlier machines between the 1980s and late 1990s used
SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) type memory modules.
2. Sockets
You might’ve heard terms like LGA 1150 or AM3+. Getting the correct
socket type for a processor is a common dilemma faced when we
assemble a computer, for example, a desktop machine. So, what exactly
is a socket? A socket is a place where the microprocessor or CPU sits on
the motherboard. Due to the socket, a microprocessor doesn’t need to be
soldered to the motherboard. We can remove it anytime, as per our will.
The type of sockets commonly used are:
 LGA (Land Grid Array) – In this, the pins are present on the socket.

 PGA (Pin Grid Array) – In this, the pins are present on the CPU
chip.
 ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) – In this, while inserting the CPU chip,
the contacts on the socket are made loose by lifting a lever.

3. Chipset
It is an IC present on the motherboard that is responsible for creating a
communication channel between the CPU and various components like
memory, and peripheral devices connected to the motherboard. Without
a chipset, all the different parts will not be able to talk to the central
processing unit, and this will directly affect the performance of the
computer. The chipset consists of two parts: – the Northbridge (NB) and
Southbridge (SB).
 South Bridge and North Bridge

NORTH BRIDGE
Northbridge is connected directly to the CPU via the front-side bus
(FSB) and is thus responsible for tasks that require the highest
performance. The northbridge is usually paired with a southbridge, also
known as I/O controller hub.
The northbridge was also named external memory controller hub (MCH)
or graphics and memory controller hub (GMCH) is equipped with
integrated graphics.
The overall trend in processor design has been to integrate more
functions into fewer components, which decreases overall motherboard
cost and improves performance. The memory controller, which handles
communication between the CPU and RAM, was moved onto the
processor die by AMD beginning with their AMD64 processors and by
Intel with their Nehalem processors. One of the advantages of having the
memory controller integrated on the CPU die is to reduce latency from
the CPU to memory.
The northbridge plays an important part in how far a computer can be
overclocked, as its frequency is commonly used as a baseline for the
CPU to establish its own operating frequency.

 SOUTH BRIDGE
The southbridge typically implements the slower capabilities of the
motherboard in a northbridge/southbridge chipset computer architecture.
In systems with Intel chipsets, the southbridge is named I/O Controller
Hub(ICH), while AMDhas named its southbridge FusionController Hub
(FCH) since the introduction of its FusionAMD Accelerated
ProcessingUnit(APU).
It’s basic functionality is to control the PCI Bus, ISA or LPC Bridge,
SPI Bus, SMBus, DMA Controller, Mass Storage, Real-time Clock,
BIOS, Audio. It also controls all I/O Ports of a computer.
4. Storage Connectors
1) IDE connectors or PATA connectors: IDE full form is Integrated
Device Electronics. It supports IDE devices, such as Hard disks
and CD and DVD drives. Most drives today come with SATA
connections.
2) SATA Connections: SATA full form is Serial Advanced
Technology Attachment. These are connected with serial ATA
devices, such as Hard disk drives and CD or DVD drives.

5. Power Connectors
Computers have a main power supply unit, but it’s not possible to
deliver power to all the components directly from it. Hence, power
connectors are used to distribute the power from the main supply to
various components like RAM, CPU, chipset, and expansion cards.
Some modern expansion cards like the high-end graphics cards require
more power, which can’t be provided by the main power connectors of
the computer. So, these graphics cards come with their own power
connectors to get the right amount of electrical power.
Motherboards also have Flash ROM, which is a non-volatile memory
chip used to store the BIOS of the system. Apart from these, additional
components like the USB (Universal Service Bus), disk controllers,
ethernet controllers, etc. exist on the motherboard. Modern
motherboards also have integrated graphic chips (like Intel HD
Graphics) and sound cards that are directly soldered on them. The
internal graphics cards are capable of handling the basic graphics
processing of the machine and provide video output through VGA and
HDMI ports.
6. Basic Input/output System (BIOS)
The Basic Input/ Output System (BIOS) may be referred to as the
System BIOS or ROM (Read Only Memory) BIOS. The BIOS holds the
motherboard’s firmware which is nothing more than a set of
instructions. It is the first software run when the computer is powered
on.
The fundamental purpose of the BIOS is to initialize and test the
system’s hardware components and to load the operating system. The
BIOS provides a consistent way for applications and the operating
system to interact with I/O devices like the keyboard, mouse, display,
and other connected devices.

7. Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)

Working with the BIOS is a chip known as the complementary metal–
oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The CMOS holds the settings you
selected in the BIOS. CMOS is volatile in nature. That means it must be
supplied with continuous power that is supplied by a battery. If the
battery runs down settings will be lost.

8. Bus Structures
A bus can be defined as a channel or path between components. The
speed of the bus has a lot to do with the speed of the computer.

There are two key buses in a computer: the system bus and the shared
bus. The system bus is also called the local bus or front-side bus. This
bus connects the CPU to the system memory. It is one of the most
important buses in the system. The faster the processors can move
information in and out of the memory, the faster computers operate.
When selecting a motherboard, find one with the fastest system bus
possible.
 The shared bus connects the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA),
Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA), PCI, and PCIe,
USB, and Firewire buses together. This is done through bridges,
which are part of the computer’s chipset. This bridge acts as a traffic
cop, integrating the data from the other buses into the system bus.

This bridge lets multiple devices access the same path to the CPU and
system memory.

9. Front Panel Connectors

Front panel connectors are used to connect the power LED (light-
emitting diode) light on the front of the case to a hard drive, a small
internal speaker for testing, the power button, and the reset button.
There may also be additional LED lights for USB, Firewire, and audio
devices. All of the front panel connectors from the case get plugged
into tiny pins on the motherboard. The layout of the pins varies from
motherboard to motherboard, although they are usually grouped
together and color-coded. Sometimes the power LED has a blank pin
between the two wires. It is important to note that the reset jumper
must be attached to the pins, in the correct order, before the computer
will start. If nothing happens when the computer is turn on for the first
time, check that the reset jumper was attached correctly
There are several connections used in computer systems:

1) PCI SLOT (Peripheral Component Interconnect): PCI slots are

used to Insert or install Add-on cards, such as LAN cards, Sound
cards, Capture cards and TV tuner cards. There are usually anywhere
from 1 to 6 PCI slots available on the motherboard (above board has
2 PCI slots), they have decreased in number and are being replaced
by the PCI Express 1x slots.

2) PCI-E 16x Slot: The most common slot for Graphics cards, the PCI
Express 16x slots provides 16 separate lanes or data transfer. These
are the 16x speed versions, which are currently the fastest. PCI-E16x
allows up to 4 GB/s of peak bandwidth per direction, and up to 8
GB/s concurrent bandwidth.
3) PCI-E 1x Slot: Single slot - In the PCIe 1.x generation, each lane
(1x) carries 250 MB/s compared to 133 MB/s for the PCI slots. These
can be used for expansion cards such as Sound Cards, or Ethernet
Cards.
4) ATX 12V 2X and 4 Pin Power Connection: This is one of two
power connections that supply power to the motherboard. This
connection will come from your Power Supply.

5) CPU-Fan Connection: This is where the CPU fan will connect.

Using this connection over one of the power supply will allow the
motherboard to control the speed of the fan, based on the CPU
temperature.
6) Socket: This is where the CPU will plug in. The orange bracket that
is surrounding it is used for high end heat sinks. It helps to support
the weight of the heat sink.
7) DIMM slots: DIMM's are by far and away the most used memory
types in today's computers. They vary in speeds and standards
however and they need to match up to what your motherboard has
been designed to take. The four standards of DIMM's being used at
the moment are SDR (Single Data Rate), DDR (Double Data Rate),
DDR2 and DDR3. The speeds of memory can vary between 66Mhz
to 1600Mhz.

8) ATX Power Connector: This is the second of two power

connections. This is the main power connection for the motherboard,
and comes from the Power Supply.

9) IDE connectors or PATA connectors : IDE full form is Integrated

Device Electronics. it supports IDE devices, such as Hard disks and
CD and DVD drives. Most drives today come with SATA
connections.
10) SATA Connections: SATA full form is Serial Advanced Technology
Attachment. These are connected with serial ATA devices, such as
Hard disk drives and CD or DVD drives.

11) Front Panel Connections: this is where we will hook in the

connections from the case. These are mostly the different lights on the
case, such as power on, hard drive activity etc.

12) FDD Connection: The FDD is the Floppy Disk controller. Floppy
Drive Connector is used to connect floppy drives. It supports two
floppy drives.
  Latest motherboard
● Maximus XII Hero

ROG Maximus XII Hero is the perfect foundation to the Republic of

Gamers. It's a motherboard that packs substantial power, smart cooling
and faster memory support under a stealthy skin. Loaded with renowned
ROG features, from AI overclocking and AI cooling to attention-
grabbing Aura Sync illumination, Maximus XII Hero is ready to perform
and crafted for customization. Intelligent Motherboard
Our ROG engineers developed and extensively-tested intelligent software
solutions to ensure your system stays in optimal condition.
AI Overclocking
Tuning is now faster and smarter than ever before. AI Overclocking
profiles the CPU and cooling to predict the optimal configuration for
each system.
AI Cooling
AI Cooling automatically manages and controls motherboard connected
fans, ensuring the most efficient settings depending on the current
system load and temperature.
 AI Networking
GameFirst VI optimizes and organizes network bandwidth, effectively
reducing jitter and eliminating spike lag to ensure smooth online
gameplay.

PERFORMANCE
The Intel Comet Lake processor features 10 cores and a peak single-core
Turbo speed that exceeds 5.3 GHz right out of the box. To cope with this
increased demand on the system, Maximus XII
Hero takes advantage of its intelligent VRM design and uses quality
components to ensure the best gaming and daily productive computing
experience.
COOLING
Maintaining system stability is paramount under high load, so Maximus
XII Hero employs large VRM and chipset heatsinks that strike the right
balance between surface area and mass.
The extra- large armor heatsinks also cover multiple M.2 slots. Featuring
premium components and multiple fan headers, Maximus XII
Hero is fully armed to provide the best foundation for gaming systems
– enabling higher performance at lower temperatures.

Optimization
Maximus XII Hero is packed with intuitive and flexible tools to allow
customization across all system parameters to deliver the performance
you want.
 CONNECTIVITY
ROG Maximus XII Hero offers advanced connectivity, including WiFi 6
(AX201) and dual Ethernet with intel® 1Gb and Marvell® 5Gb Ethernet
port to eliminate bottlenecks so you can enjoy exceptionally smooth
online and LAN play. Additionally, the M.2 supports Intel® OptaneTM
Memory technology to maximize the speed of your SSD for faster load
times, and SupremeFX on-board audio provides superb sound, while
saving a PCIe slot.
Personalize

In addition to extraordinary performance, Maximus XII Hero provides

extensive styling and customization options to let you build a system that
truly stands apart.

Aorus X570 Master:

1. Supports AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen™/ 2nd Gen Ryzen™/ 2nd Gen
Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics/ Ryzen™ with Radeon™
Vega Graphics Processors
2. Dual Channel ECC/ Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
3. Direct 14 Phases Infineon Digital VRM Solution with PowIRstage
4. Advanced Thermal Design with Fins-Array Heatsink and Direct
Touch Heatpipe
5. Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with Triple Thermal
Guards
6. Intel® WiFi 6 802.11ax 2T2R & BT 5
 7. Rear 125dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with ALC1220-VB & ESS
SABRE 9118 DAC with WIMA Audio Capacitors
8. Realtek® 2.5GbE + Intel® Gigabit LAN with cFosSpeed
9. USB TurboCharger for Mobile Device Fast Charge Support
10. RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light
Show Design, Supports Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
11. Smart Fan 5 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan
Headers with FAN STOP and Noise Detection
12. Front & Rear USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C™ Headers
13. Integrated Base Plate & I/O Shield Armor
14. Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS Without Installing CPU, Memory and
Graphics Card

Conclusion:
Hence we studied the PC Motherboard Technology (South Bridge and
North Bridge).Internal Components and Connections used in computer
system.