This document provides an overview of motherboard components and characteristics. It begins by stating the objectives of describing motherboard functions, types, and components. It then discusses what a motherboard is and its main functions. The document outlines different types of motherboards, including integrated vs. non-integrated, desktop vs. laptop vs. server, and form factors like ATX. It identifies the major components of a motherboard such as the chipset, CPU socket, RAM slots, BIOS, connectors, and considers factors for purchasing a motherboard.

2. PPT Objectives
 Describe the function of the motherboard.
 Identify the different types of motherboards
and their characteristics.
 Identify the main components of the
motherboard.
 Considerations when purchasing a
motherboard.
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Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.

3. Introduction
 A motherboard, also known as the primary circuit inside the computer,
and where the central processing unit(CPU), Memory slots, drives and
other peripherals.
 A motherboard provides the electrical connections by which the other
components of the system communicate. it also connects the central
processing unit and hosts other subsystems and devices.
 An important component of a motherboard is the microprocessor's
supporting chipset, which provides the supporting interfaces between
the CPU and the various buses and external components. This chipset
determines, to an extent, the features and capabilities of the
motherboard.

4. MOTHERBOARD PICTURE

5. MOTHERBOARD
 a printed circuit board (PCB) found in all
modern computers which holds many of the
crucial components of the system, such as
the central processing unit (CPU)
and memory, and provides connectors for
other peripherals.
 The foundation of a computer

6. MOTHERBOARD(2)
 Multi-layered printed circuit board
 Copper circuit paths called traces carry
signals and voltages across the
motherboard
 Some layers carry data for input/output
while other layers carry voltage and
ground returns

7. FUNCTIONS OF MOTHERBOARD
 The motherboard acts as the central backbone of a
computer on which other modular parts are installed
such as the CPU, RAM and hard disks.
 The motherboard also acts as the platform on which
various expansion slots are available to install other
devices / interfaces.
 The motherboard is also responsible to distribute
power to the various components of the computer.
 They are also used in the coordination of the various
devices in the computer and maintain an interface
among them.

8. Motherboard &
It’s classification

9. TYPES OF MOTHERBOARD
 INTEGRATED MOTHERBOARD
 NON INTEGRATED MOTHERBOARD
 DESKTOP MOTHERBOARD
 LAPTOP MOTHERBOARD
 SERVER MOTHER BORD

 AT MOTHERBOARD
 ATX MOTHERBORD

10. Types of motherboard based on
devices they support
 Integrated motherboard
 Non integrated motherboard

11. An integrated system board has multiple components integrated into the
board itself. These may include the CPU video card , sound card and
various controller cards.

12. Non integrated system board uses installable components and
expansion cards. For example, non integrated system board may
allow you to upgrade the video card by removing the old one and
installing a new one. Non integrated motherboard typicaly have
several PCI expansion slots as well.

13. The form factor determines the general layout,
size, and feature placement on a motherboard.
Different form factors usually require different
style cases.
1. AT
2 . ATX
3. Micro ATX

14. AT : AT MOTHERBOARD IS A MOTHERBOARD WHICH HAS
DIMENSIONS OF THE ORDER OF SOME HUNDRED MILLIMETERS, BIG
ENOUGH TO BE UNABLE TO FIT IN MINI DESKTOP.

15. ATX : ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY EXTENDED,OR POPULARLY KNOWN
AS THE ATX, ARE THE MOTHERBOARD WHICH WERE PRODUCED BY
THE INTEL IN MID 90`S AS AN IMPROVEMENT FROM THE PREVIOUSLY
WORKING MOTHERBOARD SUCH AS AT.

16. 16
Typical ATX Motherboard

17. 17
Typical AT Motherboard

18. microATX motherboard
• Laptop computers generally use
highly integrated, miniaturized and
customized motherboards. This is
one of the reasons that laptop
computers are difficult to upgrade
and expensive to repair.
• Often the failure of one laptop
component requires the
replacement of the entire
motherboard, which is usually
more expensive than a desktop
motherboard due to the large
number of integrated components.

19. 1. Desktop motherboard
2. laptop Motherboard
3. server motherboard

20. Desktop motherboard
 Desktop motherboard are used in personal or
desktop computer. As it is used for application at
home and in office, this type of motherboard is the
most basic type

21. Laptop motherboard
 Laptop motherboard is used to connect
different parts of a laptop system. These
motherboard generally have very
advanced features as compared to the
desktop motherboard and most of the
functions have been integrated into the
laptop motherboard

23. Server motherboard
 Server motherboard are more advanced
then desktop motherboard and are
designed to offer high -end service which
are more reliable and ready to operate in
24*7 environments.

25. Manufacturers of
motherboard
Motherboard are available in various sizes and
configurations. Some motherboard support 32
and 64 bit processor as well operating system.
It is manufacturers by many companies such
as.
1. Asus
3. Intel
3. MSI
4. Gigabyte.

26. COMPONENTS OF MOTHERBOARD
Back Panel Connectors & Ports :
Connectors and ports for connecting the computer
to external devices such as display ports, audio
ports, USB ports, Ethernet ports, PS/2 ports etc.

28. Expansion Slot ( PCI )
 Expansion slot or Expansion bus is the slot that enable the
user to add the adapter card for additional function to the
system
Example.
 Sound card or Multimedia
 LAN card.
 SCSI controller card.
 Internal Modem card.
 TV tuner card.
 Additional hard disc controller card.

29. PCI Slots PCI: Peripheral Component Interconnect
Slot for older expansion cards such as
sound cards, network cards, connector
cards. See image below for a close-up
view.

30. PCI Express x1 Slots
Slot for modern expansion cards such as sound
cards, network cards (Wi-Fi, Ethernet,
Bluetooth), connector cards (USB, FireWire,
eSATA) and certain low-end graphics cards.
See image below for a close-up view

32. PCI Express x16 Slot
Slot for discrete graphic cards and high
bandwidth devices such as top-end
solid state drives. See image below for
a close-up view

33. AGP SLOT
 AGP slots are used to insert
or install AGP Cards.
 AGP full form is Accelerated Graphics
Port. This slot is for graphics and 3d
gaming purpose. it is always beside the
PCI slots

34. CHIPSET
A chipset is a group of small circuits that
coordinate the flow of data to and from key
components of a PC. This includes the
CPU itself, the main memory, the
secondary cache and any devices situated
on the buses. The chipset also controls
data flow to and from hard disks, and other
devices connected to the IDE channels. A
computer has got two main chipsets:
 Northbridge
 Southbridge

35. Northbridge
Also known as Memory Controller Hub (MCH).
Chipset that allows the CPU to communicate
with the RAM and graphics card.
Beginning from Intel Sandy Bridge in 2011, this
motherboard component is no longer present
as it has been integrated within the CPU itself.

36. Southbridge
Also known as the Input/output Controller Hub
(ICH).Chipset that allows the CPU to communicate
with PCI slots, PCI-Express x 1 slots (expansion
cards), SATA connectors (hard drives, optical
drives), USB ports (USB devices), Ethernet ports
and on-board audio.

38. CPU SOCKET
 Another vital motherboard component is
the CPU socket usually being located
near the centre of the motherboard. which
is used to install the processor on the
motherboard. This allows CPU to be
replaced and placed without soldering.
CPU is a part that controls the activities of
a computer. It is the brain of the computer,
and it is responsible for fetching, decoding
and executing program instructions as well
as performing mathematical and logical
calculations.

39. CPU SOCKET(2)
The type of sockets used are:
 LGA (Land Grid Array) – In this, the pins are
present on the socket.
 PGA (Pin Grid Array) – In this, the pins are present
on the CPU chip.
 ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) – In this, while inserting
the CPU chip the contacts on the socket are made
loose by lifting a lever. Thus, the CPU gets fitted
easily.
The LGA type sockets are mainly used by Intel
whereas, AMD uses the PGA-ZIF type sockets.

40. BIOS
The BIOS(basic input/output
system) chip contains the basic
code needed to take your computer
through the boot process, up to the
point where the operating system
takes over.
Most people know the term BIOS
by another name—device drivers.
BIOS is essentially the link between
hardware and software in a system.

41. BIOS(2)
 The system BIOS is a ROM chip on the
motherboard used by the computer during
the start up routine (boot process) to check
out the system and prepare to run the
hardware. The BIOS is stored on a ROM
chip because ROM retains information
even when no power is being supplied to
the computer.
 the BIOS contains all the code required to
control the keyboard, display screen, disk
drives, serial communications, and a
number of miscellaneous functions.

42. CMOS BATTERY
The battery or a cell is a
3.0 Volts lithium type cell.
The cell is responsible for
storing the information in
BIOS and the full form is
Complementary Metal
Oxide Semi-Conductor.
Supplies power to bios
settings and keep the real
time clock running.

43. CMOS RAM
 Motherboards also include a small separate block of memory
made from CMOS RAM chips which is kept alive by a battery
(known as a CMOS battery) even when the PC’s power is off.
This prevents reconfiguration when the PC is powered on.
 CMOS devices require very little power to operate.
 The CMOS RAM is used to store basic Information about the
PC’s configuration for instance:-
 Floppy disk and hard disk drive types
 Information about CPU
 RAM size
 Date and time
 Serial and parallel port information
 Plug and Play information
 Power Saving settings
 Other Important data kept in CMOS memory is the time and
date, which is updated by a Real Time Clock (RTC).

44. RAM SLOTS
 A memory slot, memory socket, or RAM slot is
what allows computer memory (RAM) to be inserted
into the computer.
 Also called as Dual Inline Memory Module(DIMM).
Depending on the motherboard, there may be 2 to
4 memory slots (sometimes more on high-end
motherboards).
The most common types of RAM are SDRAM
and DDR for desktop computers
and SODIMM for laptop computers, each having
various types and speeds.

45. RAM SLOTS(2)
 Random access memory or RAM most commonly refers
to computer chips that temporarily store dynamic data
when you are working with your computer to enhance the
computer performance.
 Random access memory is volatile memory, meaning it
loses its contents once power is turned off
 When a computer shuts down properly, all data located in
random access memory is returned back to permanent
storage on the hard drive or flash drive. At the next boot-
up, RAM begins to fill with programs automatically loaded
at start up, and with files opened by the user a process
called booting.

46. Storage device connectors
Motherboards are equipped with connectors
for attaching storage devices like
magnetic hard drives, optical drives.
Some of connectors are
IDE connectors :
IDE Integrated Drive Electronics, is a
standard type of connection for storage
devices in a computer. IDE is more commonly
known as ATA (Advance Technology
Attachment ) or Parallel ATA (PATA).
Connects to older hard drive disks and optical
drives for data transfer
 Have been replaced over by SATA
connectors

47. Storage device connectors(2)
Serial Advance Technology
Attachment(SATA) :
Connects to modern hard disk drives, solid
state drives and optical drives for data
transfer.
These are 4 of the 6 SATA connections on
the motherboard
Advantages of SATA over PATA :
Increased data transfer rate -
The maximum speed of PATA is 133MB/s
while SATA is 600mbps.
SATA uses smaller cables than PATA

48. POWER CONNECTORS
Computers have a main power supply unit but it is
not possible to deliver power to all the
components directly from it. Hence, power
connectors are used to distribute the power from
the main supply to various components like RAM,
CPU, chipset, and expansion cards.
ATX connector. (Advanced Technologies
Extended)The latest in the series of power
connectors
ATX Power Connector -
Connects to the 24-pin ATX power cable of a
power supply unit which supplies power to the
motherboard.
ATX 12v power connector - Connects to the 4-pin
power cable of a power supply unit which supplies
power to the CPU

49. FAN HEADER
Supplies power to the CPU heat sink fan
and computer case fans.
The heat sink is attached securely to the
CPU, and is used to draw the heat out of
and away from the CPU. In turn, a fan is
then attached to the heat sink to draw the
heat from the CPU via the heat sink.
Without these, the CPU would most
certainly burn out. For the purpose of
monitoring capabilities, the CPU fan is
connected directly to special motherboard
pins,

50. Floppy Drive Connector
Floppy Drive Connector is used to
connect floppy drives. It supports
two floppy drives. so that A and B drives are
reserved for two floppy drives in My computer.
it has 32 pins.

51. Front Panel Connectors
Connects to the power switch, reset switch,
power LED, hard drive LED and front audio
ports of a computer case. See image above for
a close-up view.

52. Power & Reset Button
The reset button would typically kick off a soft
boot, instructing the computer to go through the
process of shutting down, which would clear
memory and reset devices to their initialized state.
Contrary to the 'Power Button', which would simply
remove power immediately.

53. MOTHERBOARD

54. Considerations When Selecting a MOTHER
BOARD
 Processor support
 FORM FACTOR/SIZE
 RAM support.
 SATA support
 Expansion Slots and Port
 BRAND
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Copyright © Texas Education Agency, 2011. All rights reserved.

56. ANY QUERIES?