Course Code :

BISF 1104

Course Description:
Installation and Customization
Lesson 2d : Parts of a Motherboard

Lecturer Name: Eric G Kariuki

Email: ekariuki@kcau.ac.ke
Tel: 0721487915
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I/O Cables/Connectors – Floppy Cable

Lecture 5 • The motherboard should come with one

"standard" 34-pin floppy disk cables. This
is the unusual-looking cable with 5
I N S TA L L AT I O N connectors on it (one plus two pairs), with
& a half-twist in 7 of the wires in the middle
of the cable
C U S TO M IZ ATIO N

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Lecture Outline IDE/ATA Interface Cable

• I/O Cables or Connectors • A motherboard normally comes with one

• Motherboard integrated components standard 40-pin IDE (ATA) hard disk / CD-
– Printed Circuit Board ROM cable. It should have 3 connectors on it,
– Processor Sockets/Slots but sometimes will only have 2. If you want
– Memory sockets to use two IDE channels (which is preferred
– I/O Bus Slots in most cases for performance reasons), you
– Power connectors will usually have to purchase an additional
– Ports and headers interface cable.
• Motherboard snapshot

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I/O Cables or Connectors Motherboard Integrated Components

• If your motherboard uses the ATX, LPX or NLX form – These refer to components that have
factors, it has integrated serial and parallel port
connectors. If it is AT or Baby AT style, then you
been mounted or firmly attached to the
normally should get three ribbon cables with the main board. They could be fixed or
motherboard to connect the serial and parallel soldered on the board such that they
connectors to the motherboard. The serial cables
normally have 9 wires each (even if they go to 25-pin become part of the board.
connectors) and the parallel cable has 25. These
connectors normally come pre-mounted into metal
inserts intended to be installed into the case where
expansion cards go.

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Printed Circuit Board
– Motherboards are multiple layer printed
circuit boards, also sometimes called PCBs.
The physical board that you see is actually a
sandwich of several thinner layers, each
containing some of the circuitry required to
connect the various components on the board.
At one time this was expensive, difficult-to-
manufacture technology, but time and
automation has reduced this complexity to the
point where the board itself is a minor
component of overall cost.
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Processor(s) Sockets/Slots
– The motherboard has one or more sockets or slots to
hold the processor(s). Single-processor motherboards
are by far the most common, but dual processor and
even quad processor boards are not hard to find. (Quad
boards often use special, proprietary designs employing
riser cards.) The type of socket or slot used dictates the
type of processor (and in some cases the speed) that can
be used by the motherboard. Most older Intel
processors, up to the Pentium Pro, use a square-shaped
socket for the processor. The newest processors from
Intel, starting with the Pentium II, are mounted on a
daughterboard, which plugs into an SEC ("single-edge
connector") slot to connect to the motherboard.
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Memory Sockets
• Most motherboards today come with between 2 and 8
sockets for the insertion of memory. These are usually
either SIMMs (single inline memory modules) or DIMMs
(dual inline memory modules). These can come in different
sizes
• The motherboard usually labels these sockets "SIMM0"
through "SIMM7" or "DIMM1" through "DIMM3", etc.
The sockets are almost always filled starting with the
lowest numbered socket first. Most Pentium class or higher
motherboards require SIMMs to be inserted in pairs, but
DIMMs may be inserted individually.
– Note: The maximum number of memory modules on a motherboard is
dictated by the design of the motherboard's chipset.
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I/O Bus Slots
• All motherboards have one or more system I/O
buses, that are used to expand the computer's
capabilities. The slots in the back of the machine are
where expansion cards are placed (like your video
card, sound card, network card, etc.). These slots
allow you to expand the capabilities of your machine
in many different ways, and the proliferation of both
general purpose and very specific expansion cards is
part of the success story of the PC platform.
• Three types of I/O Bus slots exist namely ISA (Industry
Standard Architecture), PCI (Peripheral Component
Interconnect) and AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port –
specifically for Monitors.
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Power Connectors
• The motherboard has a socket to attach the power
cables coming from the power supply. ATX form
factor motherboards and power supplies use a
single, keyed 20-wire motherboard power cable.
All others use a pair of 6-wire cables. The cables
are connected to the motherboard so that the black
wires (grounds) are together in the middle.
• This connector is usually found near the back
right-hand side of the motherboard, near the
power supply.
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Ports and Headers Types of Ports and Headers – Cont’d

• Ports are connectors used to connect external cables
and devices to the motherboard. In addition to the
keyboard and PS/2 mouse connectors, some types of
motherboards (such as the ATX) have on the back
edge of the motherboard integrated serial and
parallel ports.
• Motherboards that don't use integrated ports, use
headers on the motherboard instead. Headers are
groups of pins used to connect devices or ports to
the motherboard. A cable runs from the port and is
plugged into the header on the board.
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• Primary and Secondary IDE/ATA Hard Disk
Interface: Most newer motherboards have
integrated headers for two IDE channels. Each
has 40 pins.
• Floppy Disk Interface: Most newer
motherboards provide a 34-pin header for the
floppy disk cable.
• SCSI: Some motherboards have integrated SCSI
ports or headers, though they are uncommon.
They are either 50 or 68 pins in size, depending
on the flavour of SCSI implemented.
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Types of Ports and Headers

• Serial Ports: As mentioned, there are usually
two serial port headers. Each has 9 or 10 pins
(only the first 9 are used, however).
• Parallel Port: This header is used for the
external parallel port and has 26 pins (25 are
actually used).
• PS/2 Mouse Port: Some good motherboards
provide a header for a PS/2 mouse port when this
port is not already on the board. This lets you
add a PS/2 port yourself so you can enjoy its
advantages. The PS/2 mouse header has 5 pins.
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Types of Ports and Headers – Cont’d

• USB (Universal Serial Bus): A new technology,
USB is proposed to be the new standard for
connecting devices such as keyboards, mice and
external modems to the PC.
• IR (Infrared) Port: Some motherboards have a
header to allow you to run a connection for an
infrared communications port, typically used for
wireless communication to printers and similar
devices. Infrared ports are far more common on
laptop computers than desktop machines.

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