MOTHERBOARD

AND ITS
COMPONENTS
[16 Marks]












Chapter 1



Chapter Details

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Chipset Basics
1.3 Architecture of Intel Chipsets
1.4 Buses on Motherboard
(Expansion OR I/O Slot)
1.5 Logical Memory Organization
1.6 Cache Memory
1.7 Overview and Features of Main
Memory - SDRAM, DDR, DDR2,
DDR3
1.8 Features of Intel Processors
1.9 Processor Modes
1.10 BIOS Basics
1.11 Motherboard Selection Criteria



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Computer Architecture and Maintenance


Graphical and Statistical representation of questions asked from this chapter
in previous years MSBTE Question Papers






Statistical Analysis
MSBTE paper Total marks questions asked in this chapter
S-2010 10
W-2010 18
S-2011 22




1-3 Motherboard and its Components

1.1 INTRODUCTION
A computer is a programmable electronic device that can
store, retrieve and process data. The architecture of computer
is the conceptual design and fundamental operational
structure of a computer system, whereas computer
maintenance is the practice of keeping computers in a good
state.
The basic structure of the computer is shown in
fig. 1.1.

Computer with its
components
(Spk-out/Mic-in/Line-in/MIDI/Game port)
Built-in audio connectors
Serial and
parallel ports USB ports
PS/2 connectors
Fan connector
CPU slot
CPU socket
ATX power
connector
DIMM sockets
memory slots
Floppy disk port EIDE port
Northbridge
Motherboard
chipset
Southbridge
Front panel
connectors
ISA slot
Power LED, HD LED, Power switch, Reset and Speaker
AGP slot
AMR slot
CMOS
battery
ROM
BIOS chip
PCI slots

Figure 1.1: Components of motherboard
Based on these structures different Personal Computers (PCs) are designed.
The different components and peripherals in a modern PC system are:
1. Motherboard
2. Processor
3. Memory (RAM/ROM)
4. Interface cards/daughter boards.
5. SMPS


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Computer Architecture and Maintenance


ALU
Control
unit
Memory
unit
Output
unit
Input
unit
CPU



Form Factor
The shape and size of
mother board


6. Hard disk drive
7. CD-ROM drive
8. Keyboard
9. Mouse
10. Monitor
Motherboard and Its Components
The most important component in any PC is the motherboard,
also called as system board. It houses a microprocessor,
memory and slots for expansion, of the system. Some
motherboards also contain the drive interface logic, printer
interface logic and serial interface logic integrated on it.
Motherboard comes in different sizes, shapes and models. The
height and width of the motherboard is known as motherboard
form factor.
The main functional blocks of a motherboard are as follows:
i. CPU
ii. BIOS
iii. RAM
iv. Cache memory
v. Bus expansion slots
vi. On-board IO connectors
vii. On-board IDE connectors.
i. CPU: The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the brain of the computer in which
majority of the computing tasks are performed. The CPU may have a heat sink
installed on it, to dissipate heat generated by the CPU.
ii. BIOS (Basic Input Output System): BIOS is a ROM chip. It contains programs that
are necessary for the PC to boot and to access the various system components.
BIOS also contains the programs for POST (Power On Self Test).
iii. RAM (Random Access Memory): RAM is used for storing programs temporarily.
Generally RAM is located on SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) or DIMM
(Dual Inline Memory Module).
iv. Cache Memory: The cache is the fastest memory which lies between CPU and
RAM. The CPU can access the frequently required data from cache more rapidly
than from RAM.
v. Bus Expansion Slots/I/O Slots: System expansion is possible using the bus
expansion slots in which the adapters are installed. The different types of slots such
as ISA, VESA, PCI are available on motherboard.


1-5 Motherboard and its Components
vi. On-board I/O Connectors: In recent systems one or two serial ports (com1, com2)
and parallel ports (LPT1, LPT2) are present on motherboard.
vii. On-board IDE Connectors: Similar to serial and parallel parts the motherboard
may have IDE connectors for connecting. Floppy Disk Drives (FDD), Hard Disk
Drives (HDD) and CD Drives.
1.2 CHIPSET BASICS
To reduce the number of chips on the motherboard, the logics
around the processor are integrated into two or three chips.
These chips work in conjunction with processor. These chips
contain more than one logic like DMA logic, timer logic,
interrupt logic and peripheral interface logic. Hence these
chips are called as chipset.
In PC, the chipset represents the connection between the
processor and everything else. The processor cant talk to the
memory, adapter boards, devices without going through the
chipset/
If processor is the brain, the chipset is spine and central
nervous system of computer.





The chipset manufacturers are Intel, Acer Labs, Silicon Integrated System (SIS) and
AMD etc.
To maximize performance of a motherboard picks up a proper microprocessor and a good
chipset.
1.2.1 Chipset Architecture
Intel has used two different chipset architectures:
i. North/South bridge architecture
ii. Hub architecture.
All the chipsets introduced from the 800 series onwards, use the hub architecture.
1.2.2 North/South Bridge Architecture
Most of Intels earlier chipsets are broken into a multi-tiered architecture, consisting
North and South Bridge components as well as a Super I/O Chip. Fig. 1.2 shows
North/South Bridge architecture.
i. The North Bridge: North bridge is the connection between the high-speed
processor bus and the slower AGP and PCI buses. Sometimes, it is referred as the
PAC (PCI/AGP Controller). It is the main component of the motherboard which is
placed beside the processor. It runs at full motherboard (processor bus) speed.
Chipset
Set of two or three chips
with integrated logics to
support processor.
Processor is the brain the
chipset is the central
nervous system of
computer.


1-6
Computer Architecture and Maintenance
Most of the modern chipsets use a single chip North bridge, however older ones
consist of up to three different chips.
ii. The South Bridge: South bridge is the connection between the PCI bus and the
slower ISA bus. It is the lower speed component in the chipset and has always been
a single individual chip. The south bridge connects to the 33 MHz PCI bus and
contains the interface or bridge to the 8 MHz ISA bus. It also contains dual IDE
hard disk controller interfaces, one to two USB interfaces and even CMOS RAM
and real-time clock functions. It contains all the components that make up the ISA
bus, including the interrupt and DMA controllers.
iii. The Super I/O Chip: It is connected to the 8 MHz ISA bus and contains all the
standard peripherals that are built into a motherboard such as serial ports, parallel
ports, floppy controller, keyboard and mouse interface.
Some motherboards have a super south bridge containing south bridge and super
I/O functions into a single chip.
CPU
Northbridge
(Memory
controller hub)
Southbridge
(I/O controller
hub)
IDE
SATA USB
Ethernet
Audio codec
CMOS memory
Internal
bus
Flash ROM
(BIOS)
Super I/O
Serial port
Parallel port
Floppy disk
Keyboard
Mouse
Onboard
graphics
controller
Cables and
port leading
off-board
LPC
bus
Chipset
Front-side
bus
PCI
bus
PCI
bus
PCI slots
High-speed
graphics
(AGP or PCI
express)
Graphics
card slot
Memory slots
Memory
bus
Clock
generator

Figure 1.2: Architecture of north/south bridge


1-7 Motherboard and its Components
1.2.3 Hub Architecture
The newer chipsets from Intel use hub architecture. In hub architecturem, North bridge
chip is called as Memory Controller Hub (MCH) and South bridge chip is called as I/O
Controller Hub (ICH). Systems that include integrated graphics use a Graphics Memory
Controller Hub (GMCH) instead of MCH.
The standard South/North bridges are connected through PCI bus, but here they are
connected via a dedicated hub interface that is at least twice as fast as PCI.
This design allows a much greater throughput for PCI devices because there is no south
bridge chip using the PCI bus.
There are two main variations in the hub interface:
i. AHA (Accelerated Hub Architecture): It is used by 8 series of chipsets. It has
twice the throughput of PCI.
ii. DMI (Direct Media Interface): It is used by 9 and 3 series chipsets. DMI is
basically a dedicated 4 bit wide PCI Express connection allowing 1 GBps in each
direction.
Following fig. 1.3 shows hub architecture:
Intel* Pentium 4
processor supporting
HT technology
82915G
GMCH
2 GB/s DMI
BIOS supports
HT technology
DDR/DDR2
DDR/DDR2
8.5GB/s
4 serial
ATA ports
ICH6R
150
MB/s
6
PCI
133
MB/s
Intel* matrix
storage technology
Intel* GMA
900 graphics
PCI Express*
16 graphics
8 Hi-speed
USB 2.0 ports
4 PCI
Express* 1
500
MB/s
60
MB/s
8.0
MB/s
6.4 GB/s
Intel high
definition audio

Figure 1.3: Hub architecture / architecture of Intel Chipset 915 G


1-8
Computer Architecture and Maintenance
1.3 ARCHITECTURE OF INTEL CHIPSETS
As Intel develops new processor, it develops chipsets and motherboards simultaneously.
Here we are going to study architecture of Intel chipset 915 G and 945 G.
1.3.1 Intel Chipset 915 G
The Intel 915 chipset family was introduced in 2004. This family has six members - 910
GL, 915 PL, 915 P, 915 G, 915 GV and 915 GL, all of which support the 90 mm Pentium-4
prescott core.
These chipsets are the first to support the socket 775 processor interface. This chipset
model support the Hyper Threading (HT) Technology feature built into most recent
Pentium 4 processors.
It supports bus speed upto 800 MHz. It supports dual channel DDR memory upto 400
MHz and PCI - Express X1 and PCI version 2.2 expansion slots. This also supports the
new DDR2 memory standard at speed upto 533 MHz.
The 915 G has a PCI express X16 slot as well as integrated Intel Graphics Media
Accelerator 900.
All 915 series MCH/GMCH chips use the new ICH6 family of South Bridge
replacements.
Features of Intel 915 G Chipset (refer fig. 1.3)
1. Code Name : Grandsdale - G
2. Port Number : 828915 G
3. Bus Speeds : 800 / 533 MHz
4. Supported Processor : Pentium IV, Celeron, Celeron-D
5. SMP (dual CPUs) : No
6. Memory Types : DDR 333 / 400, Dual Channel DDR2
7. Maximum Memory : 4GB
8. Memory banks : 2
9. PCI Support : PCI Expres-X1, X16, PCI 2.2
10. PCI Speed/Width : 33MHz/32 bit
11. PCI Express X-16 Video: Yes
12. AGP slot : No
13. Integrated Video : Extreme Graphics 3
14. South Bridge (Hub) : ICH6 family


1-9 Motherboard and its Components
1.3.2 Intel Chipset 945 G
The Intel 945 Express Chipset family was released in 2005. It includes 3 members 945 G,
945 P and 945 PL.
This chipset is the first to support Intels new dual core Pentium D processors. It also
supports Pentium-4 Hyper Threading (HT) Technology processors using socket 775.
The 945 G is aimed as the Performance PC. It offers Front Side Bus (FSB) speed up to
1,066 MHz.
It supports up to 4GB of dual-channel DDR2 memory (2 pairs) running at upto 667 MHz.
It features PCI Express X16 support and also incorporates Intel Graphics Media
Accelerator 950 integrated graphics.
All members of the 945 family support the ICH7 family of I/O controller hub chips. The
ICH7 family differs from ICH6 in the following ways:
i. It has support for 300 MBps serial ATA.
ii. It has support for SATA RAID 5 and Matrix RAID.
iii. It has support for two additional PCI-Express X1 ports.
Features of Intel 945 G Chipset
1. Code Name : Lakeport GG
2. Port Number : 82945 G
3. Bus Speed : 1066 / 800 / 533 MHz
4. Supported Processors : Pentium-D, Pentium-4 with HT Technology
5. SMP (Dual CPUs) : No
6. Memory Types : DDR2 667/533/400 MHz dual channel DDR2
7. Maximum Memory : 4GB
8. Memory banks : 2
9. PCI Support : PCI Expres-X1, X16, PCI 2.3
10. PCI Speed/Width : 33MHz/32 bit
11. PCI Express X-16 Video: Yes
12. AGP slot : No
13. Integrated Video : GMA 900
14. South Bridge (Hub) : ICH7 family


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Computer Architecture and Maintenance
Intel Pentium*D
processor
82945G
GMCH
2 GB/s DMI
BIOS supports
DDR2
DDR2
10.7GB/s
4 serial
ATA ports
82801GR
ICH7R
3GB/s
each
6 PCI
133
MB/s
PCI Express*
16 graphics
8 Hi-speed
USB 2.0 ports
4 PCI
Express* 1
500
MB/s
60
MB/s
8.0
GB/s
8.5 GB/s
Intel high
definition audio
Intel GMA
950 graphics
Support for media
expansion card
Intel
PRO/1000 LAN
Intel active
management technology
Intel matrix
storage technology
each 1 LPC or SPI

Figure 1.4: Architecture of Intel Chipset 945 G




Bus is a group of wires
through which CPU
communicates with
memory and other
peripherals.



1.4 BUSES ON MOTHERBOARD
(EXPANSION OR I/O SLOT)
The heart of any motherboard is the various buses that carry
signals between the components. Bus is a group of wires
through which the CPU communicates with memory,
coprocessor, keyboard and other ICs in the motherboard.
The PC has a hierarchy of different buses as the processor
bus and I/O buses.
The processor bus is also called as Front Side Bus (FSB). It is
the communication pathway between the CPU and
motherboard chipset. This bus runs at the full motherboard
speed.


1-11 Motherboard and its Components
The I/O bus enables your CPU to communicate with peripheral devices. It enables you to
add devices to your computer to expand its capabilities.
The different I/O buses on motherboard are as follows:
i. ISA ii. PCI-X
iii. PCI-Xpress iv. PCMCIA
v. AGP vi. Processor Bus (FSB)
1.4.1 ISA (Industry Standard
Architecture)
ISA is the 8 bit bus architecture that was used in IBM-PC in
1981.
It was later expanded to 16 bits.
It is a very slow speed bus which is ideal for certain slow
speed or older peripherals such as plug-in modems, sound
cards etc.

Types of ISA slots
Features of 8 bit ISA Bus
i. It provides 8 data lines.
ii. It has four DMA channels.
iii. It has eight IRQ levels.
iv. 20 addressing lines.
v. 8 bit ISA slot handles 1 MB of memory.
vi. 8 bit version ran at 4.77 MHz
vii. It provides Bandwidth 4.17 MBps.
Features of 16 bits ISA Bus
It was introduced as 16 bit ISA bus used in IBM PC/AT in 1984.
i. It has 16 data lines.
ii. 24 address lines
iii. 8-DMA channels
iv. Interrupt requests
v. Backward compatible with 8 bit TSA bus.
vi. Ran at 8.33 MHz.
vii. Bandwidth 8.33 MBps
1.4.2 EISA (Extended ISA)
This architecture support 32 bit buses with much higher data transfer rates upto
33 MBps. It provides backward compatibility to 8 bit and 16 bit ISA cards.


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Computer Architecture and Maintenance
Features
i. 32 bit data bus
ii. It handles 4GB of memory.
iii. 8.33 MHz clock speed
iv. Bandwidth 33 MBps
v. Backward compatible with 8 bit and 16 bit ISA cards.
vi. Support 64 kB T10 addresses.


PCI is a high speed bus
used to connect high
performance peripherals.
e.g., Video, network,
sound adapters.

PCI slots



PCI X and
PCI Express slots

1.4.3 PCI (Peripheral Component
Interconnect)
PCI is the acronym for Peripheral Component Interconnect. It
is a high speed bus that connects high performance
peripherals like video adapters, drive adapters and network
adapters to the chipset, processor and memory.
PCI bypasses the standard I10 bus. IT uses the system bus to
increase the bus clock speed and take full advantage of the
CPUs data path.
The most recent motherboards usually provide 4 or 5 PCI
slots.
The 1 PCT bus can be either 32 bits or 64 bits wide.
Information is transferred across the bus at 33 MHz
and 32 bits at a time. The Bandwidth is 133 MBps.
PCI with 64 bits of 66.66 MHz provides bandwidth
533 MBps. These variations are used only on server or
workstation types boards.
1.4.4 PCI-X (Peripheral Component
Interconnect Extended)
It is standard designed computer bus or expansion slot
advanced to PCI.
PCI-X is faster version of PCI running at twice the speed of
PCI. PCI-X was developed by IBM, HP and Compaq. PCI X
doubles the clock speed from 66 MHz to
133 MHz and hence amount of data exchanged between the
computer processor and peripherals. Standard PCI supports
up to 64 bit at 66 MHz.