Ex2.1 How Motherboards Work CISCO

Motherboards
How Motherboards Work
IT Essentials: PC Hardware and

Software v4.0
NITC - kufranjah knowledge station - islam khatatbeh
Motherboards
• Introduction To Motherboards
• Form Factor
• Sockets and CPUs
• Chipsets
• Bus Speed
• Memory
• Motherboard Power Connector.
• Slots And Ports On Motherboard.
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Motherboard
• The motherboard is the main printed
circuit board and contains the buses, or
electrical pathways, found in a computer.
These buses allow data to travel between
the various components that comprise a
computer.
• A motherboard is also known as the
system board, the backplane, or the main
board.
Motherboard
• The motherboard accommodates the
central processing unit (CPU), RAM,
expansion slots, heat sink/fan assembly,
BIOS chip, chip set, and the embedded
wires that interconnect the motherboard
components. Sockets, internal and
external connectors, and various ports are
also placed on the motherboard .

Motherboard
Specifications
Form Factor: Micro ATX, uATX
Processor Socket: Intel
Processor Interface: LGA1156
Processors Supported:
 Intel Core
i7 Intel Core i5

Motherboard
Specifications
•Form Factor : ATX .
• Processor Socket: Intel
•Processor interface : socket 775
• Processors Supported:
 Intel Pentium D
 Intel Pentium EE
Intel Core 2 Duo
 Intel Core 2 Extreme
 Intel Core 2 Quad
 Intel Pentium Dual Core
 Intel Penryn
Motherboards Form Factor
• The form factor of motherboards pertains to the
size and shape of the board.
• It also describes the physical layout of the
different components and devices on the
motherboard.
• The form factor affects where individual
components go and the shape of the computer's
case. There are several specific form factors that
most PC motherboards use so that they can all
fit in standard cases.

Various Form Factors Exist For Motherboards
– AT – Advanced Technology
– ATX – Advanced Technology Extended
– Mini-ATX – Smaller footprint of ATX
– Micro-ATX – Smaller footprint of ATX
– LPX – Low-profile Extended
– NLX – New Low-profile Extended
– BTX – Balanced Technology Extended

Motherboards Form Factor
The form factor is just one of the many standards that apply to
motherboards. Some of the other standards include:
• The socket for the microprocessor determines what kind of
Central Processing Unit (CPU) the motherboard uses.
• The chipset is part of the motherboard's logic system and is usually
made of two parts -- the northbridge and the southbridge. These two
"bridges" connect the CPU to other parts of the computer.
• The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) chip controls the most
basic functions of the computer and performs a self-test every time
you turn it on. Some systems feature dual BIOS, which provides a
backup in case one fails or in case of error during updating.
• The real time clock chip is a battery-operated chip that maintains
basic settings and the system time.

Sockets and CPUs
Socket 775
LGA 1156 Socket

Sockets and CPUs
• The central processing unit (CPU) is considered
the brain of the computer. It is sometimes
referred to as the processor.
• Most calculations take place in the CPU. the
CPU is the most important element of a
computer system.
• CPUs come in different form factors, each style
requiring a particular slot or socket on the
motherboard. Common CPU manufacturers
include Intel and AMD

Sockets and CPUs
• The CPU socket or slot is the connector that
interfaces between the motherboard and the
processor itself.
• Most CPU sockets and processors in use today are
built around the pin grid array (PGA) architecture, in
which the pins on the underside of the processor are
inserted into the socket, usually with zero insertion
force (ZIF).
• ZIF refers to the amount of force needed to install a
CPU into the motherboard socket or slot. Slot-based
processors are cartridge-shaped and fit into a slot
that looks similar to an expansion slot.
Sockets and CPUs
LGA 1156 Socket
Motherboard spcification :
Form Factor: Micro ATX, uATX
Processor Socket :Intel
Processor Interface :LGA1156
Processors Supported : Intel Core i7
Intel Core i5
Sockets and CPUs
Socket 775
Motherboard spcification :
Processors Supported:
•Form Factor : ATX . Intel Pentium D , Intel Pentium EE
• Processor Socket: Intel Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Extreme
•Processor interface : socket 775 Intel Core 2 Quad , Intel Pentium Dual
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Intel Penryn
Sockets and CPUs
PGA 370 Processor
The Socket 370 processor socket, a ZIF type PGA socket

False
Sockets and CPUs

• The newest Intel CPU does not have a PGA. It has an
LGA.
• LGA stands for Land Grid Array. An LGA is different from
a PGA in that the pins are actually part of the socket, not
the CPU.
• Anyone who already has a specific CPU in mind should
select a motherboard based on that CPU. For example,
if you want to use one of the new multi-core chips made
by Intel or AMD, you will need to select a motherboard
with the correct socket for those chips. CPUs simply will
not fit into sockets that don't match their PGA.
• The CPU communicates with other elements of the
motherboard through a chipset. We'll look at the chipset
in more detail next
Chipsets
• An important set of
components on the
motherboard ,The chip
set is composed of
various integrated
circuits attached to the
motherboard that
control how system
hardware interacts
with the CPU and Intel x58
motherboard. chipest

Chipsets
• The chip set of a motherboard allows the CPU to
communicate and interact with the other components of
the computer, and to exchange data with system
memory, or RAM, hard disk drives, video cards, and
other output devices.
• The chip set establishes how much memory can be
added to a motherboard. The chip set also determines
the type of connectors on the motherboard.
• Most chip sets are divided into two distinct components,
Northbridge and Southbridge.
• Northbridge controls access to the RAM, video card,
and the speeds at which the CPU can communicate with
them. The video card is sometimes integrated into the
Northbridge.
• Southbridge, in most cases, allows the CPU to
communicate with the hard drives, sound card, USB
ports, and otherNITCI/O
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- kufranjah knowledge station - islam khatatbeh 18
Northbridge, Southbridge
• The northbridge connects directly to the processor via the front side
bus (FSB). A memory controller is located on the northbridge, which
gives the CPU fast access to the memory. The northbridge also
connects to the AGP or PCI Express bus and to the memory itself.
• The southbridge is slower than the northbridge, and information from
the CPU has to go through the northbridge before reaching the
southbridge. Other busses connect the southbridge to the PCI bus,
the USB ports and the IDE or SATA hard disk connections .
• Chipset selection and CPU selection go hand in hand, because
manufacturers optimize chipsets to work with specific CPUs.
• The chipset is an integrated part of the motherboard, so it cannot be
removed or upgraded. This means that not only must the
motherboard's socket fit the CPU, the motherboard's chipset must
work optimally with the CPU.
Northbridge
Southbridge Front side
High speed bus ( FSB )
graphic bus
( AGP,PCI express) Memory
Slot
Memory
Bus
PCI PCI Bus

slots

Bus Speed
• A bus is simply a circuit that connects one
part of the motherboard to another. The
more data a bus can handle at one time,
the faster it allows information to travel.
The speed of the bus, measured in
megahertz (MHz).

Busses Found On Motherboard
front side bus (FSB),

back side bus .
The memory bus
The IDE or ATA bus connects
The AGP bus connects
The PCI bus connects

• front side bus (FSB) OR CPU Bus is the bus that
carries data between the CPU and the northbridge.
• Depending on the processor used, some computers
may also have a back-side bus that connects the
CPU to the cache. This bus and the cache
connected to it are faster than accessing the system
memory via the front side bus.
• The amount of data that a CPU can process at the
one time depends on the size of the front side bus
(FSB). The wider the processor data bus width, the
more powerful the processor is. Current processors
have a 32-bit or a 64-bit processor data bus .

• back side bus connects the CPU with the level
2 (L2) cache, also known as secondary or
external cache. The processor determines the
speed of the back side bus.
• memory bus connects the northbridge to the
memory.
• IDE or ATA bus connects the southbridge to the
disk drives.
• AGP bus connects the video card to the memory
and the CPU. The speed of the AGP bus is
usually 66 MHz.
• The PCI bus connects PCI slots to the
southbridge. On most systems, the speed of the
PCI bus is 33 MHz. Also compatible with PCI is
PCI Express, which is much faster than PCI but
is still compatible with current software and
operating systems. PCI Express is likely to
replace both PCI and AGP busses.
• The faster a computer's bus speed, the faster it
will operate, A fast bus speed cannot make up
for a slow processor or chipset.

Memory
• The speed of the chipset and busses controls how
quickly it can communicate with other parts of the
computer. The speed of the RAM connection directly
controls how fast the computer can access instructions
and data, and therefore has a big effect on system
performance. A fast processor with slow RAM is going
nowhere.
• The amount of memory available also controls how
much data the computer can have readily available.
RAM makes up the bulk of a computer's memory. The
general rule of thumb is the more RAM the computer
has, the better.

Memory
• Much of the memory available today is dual
data rate (DDR) memory. This means that
the memory can transmit data twice per
cycle instead of once, which makes the
memory faster. Also, most motherboards
have space for multiple memory chips, and
on newer motherboards, they often connect
to the northbridge via a dual bus instead of
a single bus. This further reduces the
amount of time it takes for the processor to
get information from the memory.
Memory
• A motherboard's memory slots directly
affect what kind and how much memory is
supported. Just like other components, the
memory plugs into the slot via a series of
pins. The memory module must have the
right number of pins to fit into the slot on
the motherboard.

Slots And Ports On Motherboard
• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)- is 32-bit or
64-bit expansion slot , PCI is standard slot currently used
in most computer, connections for video, sound and
video capture cards, network cards.
• Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) - is 32-bit expansion
slot , AGP is designed for video card .
• Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) - interfaces for the
hard drives , IDE, also called Advanced Technology
Attachment (ATA) is an early drive controller interface
that connects computers and hard disk drives. An IDE
interface uses a 40-pin connector.
• Memory slots .

• PCI Express Peripheral Component Interconnect
Express), is a computer expansion card standard
designed to replace the older PCI, and AGP standards.
Introduced by Intel in 2004, PCIe is the latest standard
for expansion cards, express is backward compatible
with PCI slot , PCI-express has x1,x4,x8,x16 slot .
• serial ATA, or SATA computer bus, is a storage-
interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass
storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical
drives. The SATA host adapter is integrated into almost
all modern consumer laptop computers and desktop
motherboards.

• parallel port on a computer is a standard Type A DB-25
female connector .
• SCSI port can transmit data at rates in excess of 320
Mbps and can support up to 15 devices.
• USB Ports and Cables
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a standard interface
that connects peripheral devices to a computer. It was
originally designed to replace serial and parallel
connections.
• serial port can be either a DB-9, or a DB-25 male
connector. Serial ports transmit one bit of data at a time.
To connect a serial device, such as a modem or printer.
• FireWire Ports .FireWire is a high-speed, hot-
swappable interface that connects peripheral devices to
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Chapter 1 NITC - kufranjah knowledge station - islam khatatbeh 31
• network port, also known as an RJ-45 port,
connects a computer to a network.
• PS/2 port connects a keyboard or a mouse to a
computer. The PS/2 port is a 6-pin mini-DIN female
connector. The connectors for the keyboard and
mouse are often colored differently .
• Audio Ports
An audio port connects audio devices to the
computer .
• Video Ports and Connectors
A video port connects a monitor cable to a compute
• Gameport/MIDI – Connects to a joystick or MIDI-
interfaced device
Type Of Video Ports and Connectors
• Video Graphics Array (VGA) – VGA has a 3-row 15-pin
female connector and provides analog output to a monitor.
• Digital Visual Interface (DVI) – DVI has a 24-pin female
connector or a 29-pin female connector and provides a
compressed digital output to a monitor. DVI-I provides both
analog and digital signals. DVI-D provides digital signals only.
• High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMi) – HDMi has a
19-pin connector and provides digital video and digital audio
signals.
• S-Video – S-Video has a 4-pin connector and provides
analog video signals.
• Component/RGB – RGB has three shielded cables (red,
green, blue) with RCA jacks and provides analog video
signals.
PCI
Express
slots
PCI slot
• PCI Express slots (from top to bottom: x4 , x16, x1 and

x16), compared to a traditional 32-bit PCI slot (bottom).
PCI slots
• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)- is 32-bit or 64-bit

expansion slot , PCI is standard slot currently used in most
computer, connections for video, sound and video capture cards,
network cards…
AGP
slot
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) - is 32-bit expansion

slot , AGP is designed for video card .
Parallel
ATA
(PATA)
Parallel ATA (PATA) is an interface standard for the

connection of storage devices such as hard disks, and
CD-ROM drives in computers. An IDE interface uses a
40-pin connector.
First-generation
(1.5 Gbit/s) SATA
ports on a
motherboard
SATA – Serial ATA refers to the serial version of the ATA drive
controller interface. A SATA interface uses a 7-pin connector

Memory Slots
SDRAM DIMM slots
Dual inline memory module ( DIMM) is a circuit board that hold

SDRAM,DDR SDRAM and DDR2 SDRAM CHIPS there are 168-pin
SDRAM Dimm and 184-pin DDR SDRAM Dimms ,and 240-pin DDR2
SDRAM Dimms

Memory Slots
Ram bus inline memory module ( RIMM) is a circuit board that

hold RDRAM CHIPS a typical RIMM has 184-pin configuration .

Memory Slots
DIMM Slots using Dual

Channel 240-pin DDR2 with
a total capacity of up to
8GB-64bit. You can install
DDR2 533/667/800MHz
Memory .

Memory Slots
4 DDR3 Memory Slot
Memory Type: DDR3

Memory Supported : 2000MHZ DDR3
1600MHZ DDR3

Motherboard Power Connector
Modern motherboards with socket 775 cpus get their input voltage
from a 24-pin ATX12 connector. This is the only way to obtain the
necessary power required.
An additional connector for a 12-Volt supplementary input

voltage for the motherboard is provided
AUX power
connector
8- pin AUX power connector found on the motherboard

Firewire
Firewire
PORT
Cable
FireWire is a high-speed, hot-swappable interface that connects

peripheral devices to a computer. A single FireWire port in a
computer can support up to 63 devices. Some devices can also be
powered through the FireWire port, eliminating the need for an
external power source. FireWire uses the IEEE 1394 standard and is
also known as i.Link.

Parallel
port
Parallel ports can transmit 8 bits of data at one time and use the
IEEE 1284 standard. To connect a parallel device, such as a printer.

SCSI port -BD 25 PIN

CN50 - 50 pin Centronics
SCSI port -BD 50 PIN

SCSI
port
A SCSI port can transmit data at rates in excess of 320 Mbps and can
support up to 15 devices.
NOTE : Some SCSI connectors resemble parallel connectors. Be
careful not to connect the cable to the wrong port
USB port
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a standard interface that connects peripheral
devices to a computer. It was originally designed to replace serial and parallel
connections. A USB hub is used to connect multiple USB devices. A single USB
port in a computer can support up to 127 separate devices with the use of multiple
USB hubs .
USB 1.1 allowed transmission rates of up to 12 Mbps in full-speed mode and 1.5
Mbps in low speed mode.
USB 2.0 allows transmission speeds up to 480 Mbps. USB devices can only
transfer data up to the maximum speed allowed by the specific port.
serial port
serial port can be either a DB-9, or a DB-25 male connector. Serial

ports transmit one bit of data at a time. To connect a serial device,
such as a modem or printer.

Network port
RJ 45
network port, also known as an RJ-45 port, connects a computer to

a network. The connection speed depends on the type of network
port. Standard Ethernet can transmit up to 10 Mbps, Fast Ethernet
can transmit up to 100 Mbps, and Gigabit Ethernet can transmit up to
1000 Mbps .
PS/2 port
PS/2 port connects a keyboard or a mouse to a computer. The PS/2

port is a 6-pin mini-DIN female connector. The connectors for the
keyboard and mouse are often colored differently .

Audio Ports
An audio port connects audio devices to the computer. The following audio
ports are commonly used :
Line In – Connects to an external source, such as a stereo system
Microphone – Connects to a microphone
Line Out – Connects to speakers or headphones
DVI port
Digital Visual Interface (DVI) – DVI has a 24-pin female connector or a 29-
pin female connector and provides a compressed digital output to a monitor.
DVI-I provides both analog and digital signals. DVI-D provides digital signals
only.
AVG port
Video Graphics Array (VGA) – VGA has a 3-row 15-pin female connector
and provides analog output to a monitor .

HDMI PORT
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMi) – HDMi has a 19-pin

connector and provides digital video and digital audio signals.

S-VIDEO
PORT
S-Video – S-Video has a 4-pin connector and provides analog video

signals

RCA jacks
Component/RGB – RGB has three shielded cables (red, green, blue) with
RCA jacks and provides analog video signals.

Ports On Motherboard

EVGA P55 Motherboard
Specifications
 Form Factor: ATX
 Processor Socket: Intel
 Processor Interface: LGA1156
 Processors Supported:Intel Core i7
Intel Core i5
 Northbridge: Intel P55 express
 Number of Slots: 4
 Number of Pins: 240-Pin
 Maximum Memory Supported: 4GB -
32bit , 16GB - 64bit
 Memory Type: DDR3
 MemorySupported: 1066MHz DDR3
1333MHz DDR3
1600MHz DDR3
2200+ MHz DDR3

Specifications
 Max. Memory Supported Per Slot: 4GB
 LAN Type: 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit
 PCI Express X16 Slots:
 1 - (PCIe 2.0)
2 - (PCIe 2.0 x8 mode)
 PS/2 Keyboard Connectors: 1
 USB Ports: 12
 USB Rear Panel Ports: 6
 USB Onboard Headers: 3 - (expandable to
6 USB ports)
 FireWire Ports: 1
 LAN Ports: 2
 Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s Headers: 6, 2-External
 ATX Power Connectors: 1
 PC Power Connectors: 2 - 8 Pin


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Motherboards

How Motherboards Work

IT Essentials: PC Hardware and

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LGA 1156 Socket

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LGA 1156 Socket

PGA 370 Processor

The Socket 370 processor socket, a ZIF type PGA socket

Sockets and CPUs

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PCI PCI Bus

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front side bus (FSB),

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• PCI Express slots (from top to bottom: x4 , x16, x1 and

• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)- is 32-bit or 64-bit

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) - is 32-bit expansion

Parallel ATA (PATA) is an interface standard for the

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SDRAM DIMM slots

Dual inline memory module ( DIMM) is a circuit board that hold

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Ram bus inline memory module ( RIMM) is a circuit board that

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DIMM Slots using Dual

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4 DDR3 Memory Slot

Memory Type: DDR3

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An additional connector for a 12-Volt supplementary input

8- pin AUX power connector found on the motherboard

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FireWire is a high-speed, hot-swappable interface that connects

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SCSI port -BD 25 PIN

SCSI port -BD 50 PIN

serial port can be either a DB-9, or a DB-25 male connector. Serial

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network port, also known as an RJ-45 port, connects a computer to

PS/2 port connects a keyboard or a mouse to a computer. The PS/2

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High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMi) – HDMi has a 19-pin

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S-Video – S-Video has a 4-pin connector and provides analog video

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