Motherboards

The Main Board on a PC

Installed Motherboard

Principal Components
CPU connector BIOS Chipset Data Buses Expansion Slots Keyboard and Mouse connections Video Cache Ethernet Sound Power connector

How Motherboards Work

A Motherboard is a multi-layered printed circuit board Think of a motherboard as a scale model of a futuristic city with many modular plug-in buildings, each using power from a common electrical system. Multiple-lane highways of various widths transport data between the buildings. The motherboard is the data and power infrastructure for the entire computer. Various circuit cards performing various functions all plug into many similar sockets on a common circuit board.

How Motherboards Work (Circuits)

A motherboard is a multi-layered printed circuit board Copper circuit paths called traces that resemble a complicated roadmap carry signals and voltages across the motherboard. Layered fabrication techniques are used so that some layers of a board can carry data for the BIOS, processor and memory buses while other layers carry voltage and ground returns without the paths short-circuiting at intersections. The insulated layers are manufactured into one complete, complex sandwich. Chips and sockets are soldered onto the motherboard.

How Motherboards Work

Chipset Northbridge The North Bridge is so named because it is the connection between the high-speed processor bus (66/100/133/200/266/400MHz) and the slower AGP (66/133/266/533MHz) and PCI (33/66MHz) busses. The North Bridge is what the chipset is named after, meaning that, for example, what we call the 440BX chipset is actually derived from the fact that the actual North Bridge chip part number is 82443BX.

How Motherboards Work

Chipset - Southbridge The South Bridge is the bridge between the PCI bus (33/66MHz) and the even slower ISA bus (8MHz).

How Motherboards Work

The Super I/O is a separate chip attached to the ISA bus that is really not considered part of the chipset and often comes from a third party, such as Winbond, National Semiconductor or Standard MicroSystems (SMS). The Winbond 83977TF Multi I/O supports IrDA and floppy interfaces, one SPP/EPP/ECP parallel port and two 16550 UART compatible serial ports.

Traces (Data Paths)

AMD CPU Connectores

Socket 7 Socket A

Pentium Socket Connectors

Form-factors
1. 2. 3. 4. AT ATX Baby-AT LPX

Typical AT Form-factor Layout

Notice the layout Connectors are on the short edge.

Typical AT Form-factor Layout

Look for the big hole

BABY AT or BAT
The Baby AT (BAT) format reduced the dimensions of the motherboard to a typical 9in wide by 10in long BAT motherboards are generally characterised by their shape,
AT-style keyboard connector soldered to the board Serial and parallel port connectors which are attached using cables between the physical ports mounted on the system case corresponding connectors located on the motherboard.

LPX
The LPX format is a specialised variant of the Baby-AT used in low profile desktop systems and is a loose specification with a variety of proprietary implementations. Expansion slots are located on a central riser card, allowing cards to be mounted horizontally. This arrangement can make it difficult to remove the motherboard, and the more complex engineering required adds to system costs. As the riser card prevents good airflow within the system case, additional chassis fans are almost always

ATX
The Intel Advanced/ML motherboard, launched in 1996, was designed to solve these issues and marked the beginning of a new era in motherboard design. Its size and layout are completely different to the BAT format, following a new scheme known as ATX. The dimensions of a standard ATX board are 12in wide by 9.6in long; mini ATX variant is typically of the order 11.2in by 8.2in. The ATX design gets round the problem by moving the CPU socket and the voltage regulator to the right-hand side of the expansion bus. Room is made for the CPU by making the card slightly wider, and shrinking or integrating components such as the Flash BIOS, I/O logic and keyboard controller. This means the board need only be half as deep as a full size Baby AT, and there's no obstruction whatsoever to the six expansion slots (two ISA, one ISA/PCI, three PCI).

ATX
The ATX uses a new specification of power supply that can be powered on or off by a signal from the motherboard. This allows notebook-style power management and software-controlled shutdown and power-up. A 3.3V output is also provided directly from the power supply. Accessibility of the processor and memory modules is improved dramatically, and relocation of the peripheral connectors allows shorter cables to be used. This also helps reduce electromagnetic interference. The ATX power supply has a side vent that blows air from the outside directly across the processor and memory modules, allowing passive heatsinks to be used in most cases, thereby reducing system noise.

Typical ATX Form-factor Layout

Notice the layout Connectors are on the long edge

Typical ATX Form-factor Layout

ATX Back Panel-2 small holes

ATX power connections

ATX

NLX
NLX Intel's NLX design, introduced in 1997, is an improvement on the LPX design for low-profile systems, with an emphasis on ease of maintenance. The NLX format is smaller, typically 8.8in wide by 13in long, so well suited for low-profile desktop cases. All expansion slots, power cables and peripheral connectors are located on an edge-mounted riser card, allowing simple removal of the main motherboard, which is mounted on rails in the chassis. It uses a full-width I/O shield to allow for different

MICRO ATX
MicroATX Introduced in the late 1990s, the MicroATX is basically a smaller version of Intel's ATX specification, intended for compact, low-cost consumer systems with limited expansion potential. The maximum size of the board is 9.6in square, and its designed to fit into either a standard ATX case or one of the new micro-tower desktop designs.

 The double-decker I/O shield is the same as that on the ATX design, but there's only provision for up to four expansion slots as opposed to the seven that ATX allows. The microATX also allows use of a smaller power supply, such as the SFX design, which is reduced in both size and power output.

FlexATX
FlexATX The FlexATX is a natural evolution of the Intel's microATX form factor which was first unveiled in late 1999. The FlexATX addendum to the microATX specification addresses the requirements of only the motherboard and not the overall system solution It does not detail the interfaces, memory or graphics technologies required to develop a successful product design. These are left to the implementer and system designer. The choice of processor is, however, limited to socket-only designs.

FlexATX
The principal difference between FlexATX and microATX is that the new form factor reduces the size of the motherboard - to 9in x 7.5in. Not only does this result in lower overall system costs, it also facilitates smaller system designs. The FlexATX form factor is backwards compatible with both the ATX and micro-ATX specifications Use of the same motherboard mounting holes as both of its predecessors avoids the need to retool existing chassis.

The table below compares the dimensions of the microATX, FlexATX and ITX form factors
Form Factor microATX FlexATX ITX Max. Width (mm) 244 229 215 Max. Depth (mm) 244 191 191

Motherboard Connections
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Power IDE devices Floppy Expansion Slots Front panel USB Miscellaneous External Connectors

IDE Connectors

IDE Cable End

IDE Connector Pin 1

IDE Cable Connected to Motherboard

Floppy Controller

Connecting Devices to Motherboard

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. PCI ISA Firewire USB AGP IR IDE controllers Sound devices

Hard drive Jumpers

IDE Device Configuration

CD\CDR Identification

CD Connections

IDE Device Configuration

Name the parts.

Power

Configuring the motherboard

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Jumpers and Dip Switches Bus Speed CPU speed Multipliers Jumperless Motherboards Introduction to BIOS

Jumpers

Jumpers and Shunts

Front Panel

IDE devices review

1. 2. 3. 4. Master Slave configuration Motherboard IDE controller Pin 1 orientation IDE config in BIOS

POST Screen

AGP, PCI, AMR

Installing the PCI cards

FIC 2013 Socket 7 ATX Board

Gigabyte GA-6VX7-4X

CMOS Chip (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor)

64 Bytes of Information Stores BIOS software Has Independent power source (Battery)

Name Socket 1 Socket 2

Interface 169-pin 238-pin

Description Found on 486 motherboards, operated at 5 volts and supported 486 chips, plus the DX2, DX4 OverDrive. A minor upgrade from Socket 1 that supported all the same chips. Additionally supported a Pentium OverDrive. Operated at 5 volts, but had the added capability of operating at 3.3 volts, switchable with a jumper setting on the motherboard. Supported all of the Socket 2 chips with the addition of the 5x86. Considered the last of the 486 sockets. The first socket designed for use with Pentium class processors. Operated at 5 volts and consequently supported only the low-end Pentium-60/66 and the OverDrive chip. Beginning with the Pentium-75, Intel moved to the 3.3 volt operation. Operated at 3.3 volts and supported Pentium class chips from 75MHz to 133MHz. Not compatible with later chips because of their requirement for an additional pin. Designed for use with 486 CPU's, this was an enhanced version of Socket 3 supporting operation at 3.3 volts. Barely used since it appeared at a time when the 486 was about to be superseded by the Pentium. Introduced for the Pentium MMX, the socket had provision for supplying the split core/IO voltage required by this and later chips. The interface used for all Pentium clones with a 66MHz bus. Used exclusively by the Intel Pentium Pro, the socket proved extremely expensive to manufacture and was quickly dropped in favour of a cartridge-based design. The circuit board inside the package had up to 512KB of L1 cache on it - consisting of two 256KB chips - which ran at half the CPU speed. Used by Intel Pentium II, Pentium III and Celeron CPUs.

Socket 3

237-pin

Socket 4 Socket 5 Socket 6 Socket 7 Socket 8 Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot A Socket 370 Socket A Socket 423

273-pin 320-pin 235-pin 32-pin 387-pin 242-way connector 330-way connector 242-way connector 370-pin 462-pin 423-pin

Similar to Slot 1, but with the capacity to hold up to 2MB of L2 cache running at the full CPU speed. Used on Pentium II/III Xeon CPUs.
AMD interface mechanically compatible with Slot 1 but which using a completely different electrical interface. Introduced with the original Athlon CPU. Began to replace Slot 1 on the Celeron range from early 1999. Also used by Pentium III Coppermine and Tualatin CPUs in variants known as FC-PGA and FC-PGA2 respectively. AMD interface introduced with the first Athlon processors (Thunderbird) with on-die L2 cache. Subsequently adopted throughout AMD's CPU range. Introduced to accommodate the additional pins required for the Pentium 4's completely new FSB. Includes an Integral Heat Spreader, which both protects the die and provides a surface to which large heat sinks can be attached. The connector for Pentium 4 Xeon CPUs. The additional pins are for providing more power to future CPUs with large on-die (or even off-die) L3 caches, and possibly for accommodating inter-processor-communication signals for systems with multiple CPUs. Introduced in anticipation of the introduction of the 0.13-micron Pentium 4 Northwood CPU at the beginning of 2002. It's micro Pin Grid Array (PGA) interface allows both the size of the CPU itself and the space occupied by the socket on the motherboard to be significantly reduced.

Socket 603

603-pin

Socket 478

478-pin

Comprando Un Motherbaord