[HARDWARE:] Lecturer D.

Butts
ODCSE1 Motherboard

MotherBoard
The spine of the computer is the motherboard, otherwise known as the system
board or mainboard. This is the printed circuit board (PCB), which is a conductive
series of pathways laminated to a nonconductive substrate that lines the bottom of
the computer and is often of a uniform color, such as olive, brown, or blue. It is the
most important component in the computer because it connects all of the other
components together. Figure 1.1 shows a typical PC system board, as seen from
above. All other components are attached to this circuit board. On the system
board, you will find the central processing unit (CPU), underlying circuitry,
expansion slots, video components, random access memory (RAM) slots, and a
variety of other chips.

System Board Form Factors

System Board Form Factors System boards are classified by their form factor
(design), such as ATX, micro ATX, and ITX. Exercise care and vigilance when
acquiring a motherboard and case separately. Some cases are less accommodating
than others, and they might not be physically compatible with the motherboard you
choose.
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ATX
Advanced Technology Extended Intel developed the Advanced Technology
Extended (ATX) motherboard in the mid‐1990s to improve upon the classic AT‐
style motherboard architecture that had ruled the PC world for many years. The
ATX motherboard has the processor and memory slots at right angles to the
expansion cards. This arrangement puts the processor and memory in line with the
fan output of the power supply, allowing the processor to run cooler. And because
those components are not in line with the expansion cards, you can install full‐
length expansion F I GU R E 1.1 A typical system board Identifying Components
of Motherboards 7 cards—adapters that extend the full length of the inside of a
standard computer case—in an ATX motherboard machine. ATX (and its
derivatives) is the primary motherboard in use today. Standard ATX motherboards
measure 12" × 9.6" (305mm × 244mm).
Micro ATX
Micro ATX A form factor that is designed to work in standard ATX cases, as well
as its own smaller cases, is known as micro ATX (also referred to as μATX).
Micro ATX follows the ATX principle of component placement for enhanced
cooling over pre‐ATX designs but with a smaller footprint. Some trade‐offs come
with this smaller form. For the compact use of space, you must give up quantity;
that is, quantity of memory slots, motherboard headers, expansion slots, and
integrated components. You also have fewer micro ATX chassis bays, although the
same small‐scale motherboard can fit into much larger cases if your original
peripherals are still a requirement. Be aware that micro ATX systems tend to be
designed with power supplies of lower wattage in order to help keep power
consumption and heat production down. This is generally acceptable with the
standard, reduced micro ATX suite of components. As more off‐ board USB ports
are added and larger cases are used with additional in‐case peripherals, a larger
power supply might be required. Micro ATX motherboards share their width,
mounting hole pattern, and rear interface pattern with ATX motherboards but are
shallower and square, measuring 9.6" × 9.6" (244mm × 244mm). They were
designed to be able to fit into full‐size ATX cases. Figure 1.2 shows a full‐size
ATX motherboard next to a micro ATX motherboard.

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ITX
ITX The ITX line of motherboard form factors was developed by VIA as a low‐
power, small form factor (SFF) board for specialty uses, such as home‐theater
systems and embedded components. ITX itself is not an actual form factor but a
family of form factors. The family consists of the following form factors:
■ Mini‐ITX—6.7" × 6.7" (170mm × 170mm) ■ Nano‐ITX—4.7" × 4.7" (120mm ×
120mm)
■ Pico‐ITX—3.9" × 2.8" (100mm × 72mm)
■ Mobile‐ITX—2.4" × 2.4" (60mm × 60mm)

The mini‐ITX motherboard has four mounting holes that line up with three or four
of the holes in the ATX and micro ATX form factors. In mini‐ITX boards, the rear
interfaces are placed in the same location as those on the ATX motherboards.
These features make mini‐ITX boards compatible with ATX chassis. This is where
the mounting compatibility ends because despite the PC compatibility of the other
ITX form factors, they are used in embedded systems, such as set‐top boxes, and
lack the requisite mounting and interface specifications. Figure 1.3 shows the three
larger forms of ITX motherboard.
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System Board Components

Now that you understand the basic types of motherboards and their form factors,
it’s time to look at the components found on the motherboard and their locations
relative to each other. Many of the following components can be found on a typical
motherboard: ■ Chipsets
■ Expansion slots and buses
■ Memory slots and external cache
■ CPUs and their sockets
■ Power connectors
■ Onboard disk drive connectors
■ Keyboard connectors
■ Integrated peripheral ports and headers
■ BIOS/firmware
■ CMOS battery
■ Front‐panel connectors
In the following sections, you will learn about some of the most common
components of a motherboard, what they do, and where they are located on the
motherboard. We’ll show what each component looks like so that you can identify
it on most any motherboard that you run across.
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Chipsets
A chipset is a collection of chips or circuits that perform interface and peripheral
functions for the processor. This collection of chips is usually the circuitry that
provides interfaces for memory, expansion cards, and onboard peripherals, and it
generally dictates how a motherboard will communicate with the installed
peripherals. Chipsets are usually given a name and model number by the original
manufacturer. Chipsets can be divided into two major functional groups, called
Northbridge and Southbridge
Northbridge
The Northbridge subset of a motherboard’s chipset is the set of circuitry or chips
that performs one very important function: management of high‐speed peripheral
communications. The Northbridge is responsible primarily for communications
with integrated video using PCIe, for instance, and processor‐to‐memory
communications.
Southbridge
The Southbridge subset of the chipset is responsible for providing support to the
slower onboard peripherals (PS/2, parallel ports, serial ports, Serial and Parallel
ATA, and so on), managing their communications with the rest of the computer
and the resources given to them. Most motherboards today have integrated PS/2,
USB, LAN, analog and digital audio, and FireWire ports for the Southbridge to
manage. The Southbridge is also responsible for managing communications with
the slower expansion buses, such as PCI, and legacy buses. Figure 1.4 is a photo of
the chipset of a motherboard, with the heat sink of the Northbridge at the top left,
connected to the heat‐spreading cover of the Southbridge at the bottom right.

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BUS
A bus is a common pathway through which information flows from one computer
component to another. This pathway is used for communication purposes and it is
established between two or more computer components. We are going to check
different computer bus architectures that are found in computers.
Different Types of Computer Buses

Functions of Buses in Computers

Data sharing - All types of buses found in a computer transfer data between the
computer peripherals connected to it. The buses transfer or send data either in the
serial or parallel method of data transfer. This allows for the exchange of 1, 2, 4 or
even 8 bytes of data at a time. (A byte is a group of 8 bits). Buses are classified
depending on how many bits they can move at the same time, which means that we
have 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit or even 64-bit buses.
Addressing - A bus has address lines, which match those of the processor. This
allows data to be sent to or from specific memory locations.
Power - A bus supplies power to various peripherals connected to it.
Timing - The bus provides a system clock signal to synchronize the peripherals
attached to it with the rest of the system.
The expansion bus facilitates the easy connection of additional components and
devices on a computer such as a TV card or sound card.
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Bus Terminologies
Computers have two major types of buses:
System bus:- This is the bus that connects the CPU to the main memory on the
motherboard. The system bus is also called the front-side bus, memory bus, local
bus, or host bus.
A number of I/O Buses, (I/O is an acronym for input/output), connecting
various peripheral devices to the CPU. These devices connect to the system bus via
a ‘bridge’ implemented in the processors' chipset. Other names for the I/O bus
include “expansion bus", "external bus” or “host bus”.