The document discusses the motherboard, which is the main circuit board inside a computer. It contains connectors for the CPU, BIOS, memory, storage interfaces, ports, and expansion slots. It also contains controllers that control peripheral devices like the display, keyboard, and hard drive. The motherboard's chipset collectively refers to all these chips. Motherboards come in different form factors and socket types to support different CPUs. Key components discussed include the CPU, memory slots, PCI and AGP slots, and power connections.
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Motherboard: - Chip Set
The document discusses the motherboard, which is the main circuit board inside a computer. It contains connectors for the CPU, BIOS, memory, storage interfaces, ports, and expansion slots. It also contains controllers that control peripheral devices like the display, keyboard, and hard drive. The motherboard's chipset collectively refers to all these chips. Motherboards come in different form factors and socket types to support different CPUs. Key components discussed include the CPU, memory slots, PCI and AGP slots, and power connections.
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MOTHERBOARD
• Main circuit board inside your
computer is called a motherboard. • The motherboard contains the connectors for attaching additional boards, such as the CPU, BIOS, memory, mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel ports, expansion slots and all the controllers that are required to control standard peripheral devices such as the display screen, keyboard, and hard drive. • Chip Set Collectively, all these chips that reside on the motherboard are known as the motherboard's chipset. MOTHERBOARD • Motherboards are divided into categories based on what type of socket it has. Socket 478, for example, is used for Intel Pentium 4 and the Celeron series CPUs. Socket 939 is used for the AMD64 range of processors. It's important to ensure any motherboard you buy will support the type of CPU you want to use in the system. If you already have a CPU you'll need to purchase a motherboard that will accept that same processor. For those building or upgrading a system, you can also invest in a motherboard & CPU combo, which is often cheaper than buying the two components separately and it also ensures compatibility. MOTHERBOARD • The form factor determines the size and shape of the mainboard and also dictates what kind of case it will fit into. • Listed below are the different types of form factors. • PC/XT - Although it wasn't the first PC, it had many features that were not available with previous PC designs. One such feature was that it was the first computer to have a hard drive. • It also had a large computer motherboard that was installed into a full size horizontal or desktop case. • Full-Size AT - The full-size AT mainboards were large in order to accommodate a lot of circuitry and could be installed in full-size AT desktop and tower cases. At present, full-size AT motherboards are no longer produced. • Baby-AT - Between 1983 to 1986, Baby-AT form factor became the most popular computer motherboard because it was able to fit into a number of different case designs. Today, you may still be able to get motherboards of this design. MOTHERBOARD • In 1996, the Baby-AT was replaced by the ATX design. • LPX - This board was a semi-proprietary motherboard design which was difficult to repair and upgrade. Also, replacement parts for upgrades were expensive thus making it more economical to purchase a brand new non-proprietary design. • ATX - This design improved upon the Baby-AT and the LPX designs. Its physical dimensions are approximaely 12" x 9.6". This design is not compatible with AT designs because the motherboard is turned sideways in the case and has a different power supply connector. • Micro ATX - This is a smaller version of the ATX form factor. Its physical dimensions are approximately 9.6" x 9.6". • All form factors that precede the ATX are now obsolete. A new form factor called BTX is now emerging. There will be three basic sizes: • picoBTX - 7.9" x 10.4". microBTX - 10.3" x 10.4". BTX - 12.7" x 10.4". • NOTE: Today, the ATX is the most popular design of the newer motherboards and it is easily upgradeable. • Computer motherboard designs are constantly changing. Listed below are the major components of the motherboard: MOTHERBOARD • 1) CPU 2) Memory Slot 3) PCI Slot 4) AGP Slot 5) Power Supply Plugin 6) CMOS Battery 7) ISA Slot 8) IDE controller (hard drive, CD-ROM) 9) CPU fan plug-in 10) PS/2 Port (keyboard/mouse) 11) USB 12) Parallel Port (Printer) CPU • On personal computers and small workstations, the CPU is housed in a single chip called a microprocessor. • The CPU itself is an internal component of the computer. Modern CPUs are small and square and contain multiple metallic connectors or pins on the underside. The CPU is inserted directly into a CPU socket, pin side down, on the motherboard. Each motherboard will support only a specific type or range of CPU so you must check the motherboard manufacturer's specifications before attempting to replace or upgrade a CPU. Modern CPUs also have an attached heat sink and small fan that go directly on top of the CPU to help dissipate heat. CPU • Two typical components of a CPU are the following: • The arithmetic logic unit (ALU), which performs arithmetic and logical operations. • The control unit (CU), which extracts instructions from memory and decodes and executes them, calling on the ALU when necessary. CPU • Processors come in three basic categories: • Low End - This is used for simple computing like word processing and other business software. These include Intel Celeron, Intel Pentium 4, AMD Athlon XP and AMD Sempron. • Average - These processors are used for light video processsing and gaming. They include the Intel Pentium D and the Athlon 64 which run at speeds in excess of 1 GHz. • High End - These processors are the top of the line and are used for more CPU intensive programs. In this group of computer parts are the Dual Core chips such as Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Extreme, Intel Quad Core, AMD Athlon 64 X2 and AMD Athlon 64 FX which range upwards of 2.0 GHz. • The processor (CPU) that you will need for your system is a matter of personal choice but I would recommend a high-end processor (CPU) such as the AMD Athlon 64 FX-74. MEMORY SLOTS • This is the total number of memory upgrade slots (sockets) followed by their configuration. Banks are the way a system addresses memory. A bank must be completely filled with memory modules of the same size and type in order for the system to recognize and address the memory. i.e. : 3 (3 banks of 1) This indicates that there are 3 memory slots. These are divided into 3 banks, and each bank consists of one memory slot. So you can add memory one piece at a time for the system to use. • 4 (2 banks of 2) This indicates that there are 4 memory slots. These are divided into 2 banks, and each bank consists of two memory slots. So you must add memory two pieces at a time (they must be the same size and type of memory) in order for the system to benefit from the upgrade. • 12 (3 banks of 4) This indicates that there are 12 memory slots. These are divided into 3 banks, and each bank consists of four memory slots. So you must add memory four pieces at a time (and they must be the same size and type of memory) in order for the system to benefit from the upgrade. PCI SLOT • PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect ) SLOTS are used for peripherals like video cards, sound cards, internal modems, etc. it is a local bus standard developed by Intel Corporation.and replaces the ISA (Industry Standard Architecture bus), the bus architecture used in the IBM PC/XT and PC/AT. PCI is a 64- bit bus, though it is usually implemented as a 32- bit bus. It can run at clock speeds of 33 or 66 MHz. At 32 bits and 33 MHz, it yields a throughput rate of 133 MBps. PCI Express • An I/O interconnect bus standard (which includes a protocol and a layered architecture) that expands on and doubles the data transfer rates of original PCI. AGP SLOTS • Short for Accelerated Graphics Port, an interface specification developed by Intel Corporation. AGP is based on PCI, but is designed especially for the throughput demands of 3-D graphics. Rather than using the PCI bus for graphics data, AGP introduces a dedicated point-to-point channel so that the graphics controller can directly access main memory. The AGP channel is 32 bits wide and runs at 66 MHz. This translates into a total bandwidth of 266 MBps, as opposed to the PCI bandwidth of 133 MBps. AGP also supports two optional faster modes, with throughputs of 533 MBps and 1.07 GBps. In addition, AGP allows 3-D textures to be stored in main memory rather than video memory. AGP has a couple important system requirements: • The chipset must support AGP. • The motherboard must be equipped with an AGP bus slot or must have an integrated AGP graphics system. • The operating system must be the OSR 2.1 version of Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0. And currently, many professional Macintoshes support AGP. AGP SLOTS • An AGP slot is shorter that a PCI slot, usually brown in colour and located in line and beside the bank of PCI slots. POWER SUPPLY PLUGIN • If the computer already has the motherboard installed into it, the power leads from the power supply need to be plugged in. Most modern motherboard use the large ATX power connector that gets plugged into the socket on the motherboard. Some motherboards require an additional amount of power through a 4-pin ATX12V connector. Plug this in if required. CMOS • complementary metal oxide semiconductor. Pronounced see-moss, CMOS is a widely used type of semiconductor. CMOS semiconductors use both NMOS (negative polarity) and PMOS (positive polarity) circuits. Since only one of the circuit types is on at any given time, CMOS chips require less power than chips using just one type of transistor. This makes them particularly attractive for use in battery-powered devices, such as portable computers. Personal computers also contain a small amount of battery- powered CMOS memory to hold the date, time, and system setup parameters. 15 IDE CONTROLLER • No matter what you do with your computer, storage is an important part of your system. In fact, most personal computers have one or more of the following storage devices: • Floppy drive • Hard drive • CD-ROM drive • Usually, these devices connect to the computer through an Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interface. Essentially, an IDE interface is a standard way for a storage device to connect to a computer. IDE is actually not the true technical name for the interface standard. The original name, AT Attachment (ATA), signified that the interface was initially developed for the IBM AT computer. • PS/2 PORTS • A type of port developed by IBM for connecting a mouse or keyboard to a PC. The PS/2 port supports a mini DIN plug containing just 6 pins. Most PCs have a PS/2 port so that the serial port can be used by another device, such as a modem. The PS/2 port is often called the mouse port. PARALLEL PORTS Chips • A chip refers to a physical integrated circuit (IC) on a computer. A chip in the context of this document refers to an execution unit that can be single- or multi-core technology. Sockets • The socket refers to a physical connector on a computer motherboard that accepts a single physical chip. Many motherboards can have multiple sockets that can in turn accept multi- core chips.