What is a Motherboard?

The motherboard is the main circuit board inside your PC. Every components at some point communicates
through the motherboard, either by directly plugging into it or by communicating through one of the
motherboards ports. The motherboard is one big communication highway. Its purpose inside your PC is to
provide a platform for all the other components and peripherals to talk to each other.

Types of
Motherboards
The type of motherboards
depends on the CPU it was
designed for. You can
therefore categories
motherboards by which socket
type they have. e.g. Socket A,
Socket 478 etc. The Type of
motherboard you buy is very
important, as it will need to
house your CPU, and they are
not interchangeable. When
buying a motherboard, it will
always tell you what socket
type it has.

When Buying a
Motherboard
As everything you have on the PC at some point needs the motherboard, you need to consider these
components when buying a motherboard. Foe example, if you have a lot of devices with a PCI interface that
you wish to use, there is little point buying a motherboard that only offers you 3 PCI slots. Like wise with
memory, you have to make sure that there are enough slots for the amount of memory you have or wish to
have.
The motherboard also needs the correct type of interface for your Memory, Graphics card, Hard disks and
other items as well. You will find that most motherboards offer everything you need however it needs
checking on when buying. Its especially important to pay detail to your motherboard if you want to use older
components, which a new motherboard may or may not support.
The major difference between motherboards that support the same CPU is the model of the chipset (more
on the chipset later). Different chipsets offer different performance and different features in terms of memory
support, AGP port speed, Multiplier numbers, Bus speeds and much more.

Speed of a
Motherboard
Motherboards have got to be
one of the hardest components
to measure the speed of.
Performance can really only be
measured by benchmarking
using the same components in
several motherboards of the
same type. You often find that
motherboards with the same
chipset have roughly the same
performance in real world
tests. The minor differences
that do occur are down to the
quality of the materials used
and the quality of the
manufacturing.
The Motherboards speeds that are quoted on the box are maximum supported speeds for other
components. For example motherboards will quote the maximum FSB (Front Side Bus) speed. However
without a CPU that also supports this speed, it will never be reached. Likewise when it quotes the maximum
memory speed. The memory of this speed has to be present.

What is a Motherboard Chipset?

A motherboard chipset controls all the data that flows through the data channels (buses) of the motherboard.
The primary function of the motherboard chipset is to direct this data to the correct area's of the
motherboard, and therefore the correct components.

Components of a Motherboard
The motherboard contains many connections for all type of components. Motherboards contain expansion
slots such as the ISA, PCI, AGP and DIMM sockets. It also contains external connections for your onboard
sound card, USB ports, Serial and Parallel ports, PS/2 ports for your keyboard and mouse as well as
network and Firewire connections.
So the motherboard has a massive part to play in the workings of your PC. Components that you buy all rely
on the motherboard to have the correct connections are available and working. Its best to buy a decent
motherboard especially if you plan on buying extra's in the future.

Serial Port:

In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which

information transfers in or out one bit at a time (contrast parallel port).[1] Throughout
most of the history of personal computers, data transfer through serial ports connected the
computer to devices such as terminals and various peripherals.
While such interfaces as Ethernet, FireWire, and USB all send data as a serial stream, the
term "serial port" usually identifies hardware more or less compliant to the RS-232
standard, intended to interface with a modem or with a similar communication device.

VGA port:
A video card, video adapter, graphics accelerator card, display adapter, or graphics
card is an expansion card whose function is to generate output images to a display. Many
video cards offer added functions, such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D
graphics, video capture, TV-tuner adapter, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, FireWire, light
pen, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors (multi-monitor). Other
modern high performance video cards are used for more graphically demanding purposes,
such as PC games

Introduction to motherboards
The primary component of a computer is the motherboard (sometimes called the
"mainboard"). The motherboard is the hub which is used to connect all of the computer's
essential components.

As its name suggests, the motherboard acts as a "parent" board, which takes the form of a
large printed circuit with connectors for expansion cards, memory modules, the
processor, etc.

Characteristics
There are several ways in which a motherboard can be characterised, in particular the
following:

the form factor,

the chipset,
the type of processor socket used,
the input-output connectors.

Motherboard form factor

The term "form factor" is normally used to refer to the motherboard's geometry,
dimensions, arrangement, and electrical requirements. In order to build motherboards
which can be used in different brands of cases, a few standards have been developed:

AT baby/AT full format is a format used in the earliest 386 and 486 PCs. This
format was replaced by the ATX format, which shape allowed for better air
circulation and made it easier to access the components;
ATX: The ATX format is an upgrade to Baby-AT. It was intended to improve ease
of use. The connection device on an ATX motherboard is designed to make
plugging in peripherals as easy as possible (for example, the IDE connectors are
located beside the disks.) What's more, motherboard components are arranged in
parallel, so as to improve heat removal.
o ATX standard: The ATX standard format is traditionally 305x244 mm. It
includes an AGP connector and 6 PCI connectors.
o micro-ATX: The microATX format is an upgrade to ATX, which has the
same primary advantages in a smaller format (244x244 mm), with a lower
cost. Micro-ATX includes an AGP connector and 3 PCI connectors.
o Flex-ATX: FlexATX is an expansion of microATX which offers
manufacturers greater flexibility when designing their computers. It
includes an AGP connector and 2 PCI connectors.
o mini-ATX: miniATX is a compact alternative to the format microATX
(284x208 mm), and includes an AGP connector and 4 PCI connectors
instead of 3 that come with microATX. It is mainly intended for mini-PCs
(barebone computers).
BTX: The BTX format (Balanced Technology eXtended), supported by Intel, is a
format designed to improve upon the arrangement of components, so as to
optimise air circulation, acoustics, and heat dissipation. The various connectors
(memory slots, expansion slots) are aligned in parallel, in the direction in which
air circulates. Additionally, the microprocessor is located in the front end of the
case, by the air intake, where the air is freshest. The BTX power cord is the same
as with ATX power supplies. The BTX standard defines three formats:
o BTX standard, with standard dimensions of 325x267 mm;
o micro-BTX, with small dimensions (264x267 mm);
o pico-BTX, with much smaller dimensions (203x267 mm).
ITX: The ITX format (Information Technology eXtended), supported by Via, is an
extremely compact format designed for miniature configurations such as mini-PC.
There are two major ITX formats:
o mini-ITX, with small dimensions (170x170 mm) and a PCI slot;
o nano-ITX, with extremely small dimensions (120x120 mm) and a
miniPCI slot. For this reason, the choice of the motherboard (and its form
factor) depends on which case is chosen. The table below summarises the
characteristics of the various form factors.

Form factor Dimensions

Slots
ATX
305 mm x 244 mm AGP / 6 PCI
microATX 244 mm x 244 mm AGP / 3 PCI
FlexATX
229 mm x 191 mm AGP / 2 PCI
Mini ATX 284 mm x 208 mm AGP / 4 PCI
Mini ITX 170 mm x 170 mm 1 PCI
Nano ITX 120 mm x 120 mm 1 MiniPCI
BTX
325 mm x 267 mm
7
microBTX 264 mm x 267 mm
4
picoBTX
203 mm x 267 mm
1

Integrated components
The motherboard includes some on-board components, meaning that they are integrated
into its printed circuitry:

The chipset, a circuit which controls the majority of resources (including the bus
interface with the processor, cache memory and random-access memory,
expansion cards, etc.)
The CMOS clock and battery,
The BIOS,
The system bus and the expansion bus.

What's more, recent motherboards generally include a number of onboard multimedia and
networking devices which can be disabled:

integrated network card;

integrated graphics card;
integrated sound card;
upgraded hard drive controllers.

The chipset
The chipset is an electronic circuit whose job is to coordinate data transfers between the
various components of the computer (including the processor and memory). As the
chipset is integrated into the motherboard, it is important to choose a motherboard which
includes a recent chipset, in order to maximise the computer's upgradeability.

Some chipsets may include a graphics or audio chip, which means that it is not necessary
to install a graphics card or sound card. However, it is sometimes advised to disable them
(whenever possible) in the BIOS setup and to install high-quality expansion cards in the
appropriate slots.

The CMOS clock and battery

The real time clock (or RTC for short) is a circuit which synchronises system signals. It
is made from a crystal which, as it vibrates, gives off pulses (called timer ticks) in order
to keep the system elements running on the same time. The timer frequency (expressed in
MHz) the number of times the crystal vibrates each second, i.e. the number of timer ticks
per second. The higher the frequency, the more information the system can process.
When the computer is turned off, the power supply stops providing electricity to the
motherboard. When the computer is turned on again, the system is still on the right time.
An electronic circuit, called the CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxyde Semiconductor,
sometimes called the BIOS CMOS), saves some system information, such as the time, the
system date, and a few essential system settings.
The CMOS is kept powered by a battery (a button battery), or a battery located on the
motherboard. Information on the hardware installed in the computer (such as the number
of tracks or sectors on each hard drive) are stored in the CMOS. As the CMOS is a form
of slow storage, certain systems sometimes recopy the CMOS's content into the RAM
(fast storage); the term "memory shadow" is used to describe this process of copying the
data into RAM.
The "complementary metal-oxide semiconductor" is a transistor manufacturing
technology, the latest in a long line which includes the TTL ("Transistor-transistorlogic"), the TTLS (TTL Schottky) (faster), or the NMOS (negative channel) and PMOS
(positive channel).
The CMOS allows many complementary channels to run on a single chip. Compared
with TTL or TTLS, CMOS is much slower, but it consumes far less energy, which is why
it is used in computer clocks, which run on batteries. The term CMOS is sometimes
incorrectly used to refer to computer clocks.
When the system time keeps getting reset, or the clock runs late, all that is usually
necessary is to change the battery.

The BIOS
The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is the basic program used as an interface between
the operating system and the motherboard. The BIOS is stored in ROM (read-only
memory, which can not be rewritten), so it uses data contained within the CMOS to find
out what the system's hardware configuration is.

The BIOS can be configured using an interface (named the BIOS setup), which can be
accessed when the computer is booting just be pressing a key (usually the DEL key. In
reality, the BIOS setup is only used as an interface for configuration; the data is stored in
the CMOS. For more information, check your motherboard's manual.)

The processor socket

The processor (also called the microprocessor) is the computer's brain. It runs programs
using a set of instructions. The processor is characterised by its frequency, the rate at
which it executes instructions. This means that an 800 MHz processor can carry out 800
million operations per second.
The motherboard has a slot (sometimes several, for multi-processor motherboards) into
which the processor is inserted, called the processor socket or slot.

Slot: A rectangular connector into which the processor is mounted vertically.

Socket: In addition to being the general term, it also refers more specifically to a
square-shaped connector with many small connectors into which the processor is
directly inserted.

Within these two large families, there are different versions used, depending on the type
of processor. Whatever slot or socket is used, it is essential that the processor be inserted
gently, so that none of its pins are bent (it has hundreds of them). To make inserting them
easier, a concept called ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) has been created. ZIF sockets have a
small lever, which, when lifted, allows the processor to be inserted without applying any
pressure, and when lowered, it holds the processor in place.
The processor generally includes some sort of foolproof device, in the form of a notched
corner or coloured markings, which must be aligned with the corresponding markings on
the socket.

Since the processor releases heat, it is necessary to dissipate it, to keep the circuits from
melting. This is why it is generally mounted atop a heat sink (sometimes called a cooler
or radiator), which is made of a metal which conducts heat well (copper or aluminium) in
order to increase the microprocessor's heat transfer surface. The heat sink includes a base
in contact with the processor and fins in order to increase the heat transfer surface. A fan
generally accompanies the cooler in order to improve air circulation around it and to
improve the heat transfer. The unit also includes a fan which vents hot air from the case
and let fresh air come in from outside.

RAM connectors
RAM (Random Access Memory) is used to store data while the computer is running;
however, its contents are wiped out as soon as the computer is switched off or restarted,
as opposed to mass storage devices such as hard drives, which keep information safe
even while turned off. This is why RAM is called "volatile."
Why, then, is RAM used at all, when hard drives cost less per byte stored? The answer is
that RAM is extremely fast when compared to mass storage devices like hard drives. It
has a response time on the order of a few dozen nanoseconds (about 70 for DRAM, 60
for EDO RAM, and 10 for SDRAM; as little as 6 ns for DDR SDRAM) as opposed to a
few milliseconds for a hard drive.
RAM comes in the form of modules which plug into motherboard connectors.

Expansion slots
Expansion slots are compartments into which expansion cards can be inserted. These are
cards which give the computer new features or increased performance. There are several
types of slots:

ISA slots (Industry Standard Architecture): For inserting ISA slots. The slowest
ones are 16-bit.
VLB slots (Vesa Local Bus): Bus formerly used for installing graphics cards.
PCI slot (Peripheral Component InterConnect): used for connecting PCI cards,
which are much faster than ISA cards and run on 32 bits
AGP slot (Accelerated Graphic Port): A fast port for a graphics card.
PCI Express slot (Peripheral Component InterConnect Express): Faster bus
architecture than AGP and PCI buses.
AMR slot (Audio Modem Riser): This type of slot is used for connecting minicards to PCs which are built for it.

the input-output connectors.

The motherboard has a certain number of input/output sockets found on the rear panel.

Most motherboards have the following connectors:

A serial port, for connecting old peripherals;

A parallel port, mainly for connecting old printers;
USB ports (1.1, low-speed, or 2.0, high-speed), for connecting more recent
peripherals;

RJ45 connector (called LAN or ethernet port) used for connecting the computer
to a network. It corresponds to a network card integrated into the motherboard;
VGA connector (called SUB-D15), for connecting a monitor. This connector
interfaces with the built-in graphics card;
Audio plugs (Line-In, Line-Out and microphone), for connecting sound speakers
or a hi-fi system, as well as a microphone. This connector interfaces with the
built-in sound card;

Inside Processor:
The CPU uses cache memory to store instructions that are repeatedly required to run programs,
improving overall system speed.

The Level 1 cache, or primary cache, is on the CPU and is used for temporary storage of
instructions and data organised in blocks of 32 bytes. Primary cache is the fastest form of
storage. Because it's built in to the chip with a zero wait-state (delay) interface to the
processor's execution unit, it is limited in size.
Level 1 cache is implemented using Static RAM (SRAM) and until recently was
traditionally 16KB in size
To optimize overall performance, the best result is obtained by having the smallest, fastest cache most
immediate to the CPU itself, followed by a slightly larger pool of L2 cache, and an even larger pool of
L3 cache. The idea is to keep the most frequently used instructions in L1, with L2 cache holding the
next most likely needed bits of data, and L3 following suit

SD RAM and DDR RAM:

DDR standards for "Double Data Rate". DDR can transfer data on both the rising and
falling edge of the clock signal, whereas standard SD ram can onle transfer data on one or
the other. This means data throughput on DDR memory is twice as fast, hence the name
"Double Data Rate".
Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory(SDRAM)