Css  The form factor of motherboards

pertains to the board’s size and shape.

THE MOTHERBOARD It also describes the physical layout of
the different components and devices
The motherboard on the motherboard. Motherboards
have various form factors:
 accommodates
the central Advanced
processing unit Technology
(CPU), RAM,
expansion
(AT)
slots, heat sink/fan assembly, BIOS
 Advanced
chip, chip set, and the embedded wires
Technology
that interconnect the motherboard
(AT). Prior to
components. Sockets, internal and
1997, IBM
external connectors, and various ports
computers
are also placed on the motherboard.
used large
 The motherboard is the main printed
circuit board. It contains the buses, or
electrical pathways, found in a
computer. These buses allow data to motherboards. After that, however, the
travel between the various components size of the motherboard was reduced
that comprise a computer. A and boards using the AT (Advanced
motherboard is also known as the Technology) form factor was released.
system board, backplane, or main The AT form factor is found in older
board. computers (386 class or earlier). Some
of the problems with this form factor
Block diagram of a modern motherboard mainly arose from the physical size of
the board, which is 12" wide, often
causing the board to overlap with
space required for the drive bays.

MOTHERBOARD FORM FACTOR

 Advanced Technology Motherboards the keyboard, mouse, I/O, and video
have PGA (Pin Grid Array) Socket, SD connectors, in the mid 1990's the ATX
Ram slots, 20pin power connector, PCI form factor was introduced. The ATX
slots and ISA slots. Example is Pentium form factor brought about many
III. chances in the computer. Since the
 Following the AT form factor, the expansion slots were put onto separate
Baby AT form factor was introduced. riser cards that plugged into the
With the Baby AT form factor the width motherboard, the overall size of the
of the motherboard was decreased computer and its case was reduced. The
from 12" to 8.5", limiting problems ATX form factor specified changes to
associated with overlapping on the the motherboard, along with the case
drive bays' turf. Baby AT became and power supply. Some of the design
popular and was designed for specification improvements of the ATX
peripheral devices — such as the form factor included a single 20-pin
keyboard, mouse, and video — to be connector for the power supply, a
contained on circuit boards that were power supply to blow air into the case
connected by way of expansion slots on instead of out for better air flow, less
the motherboard. Example is Pentium overlap between the motherboard and
III and IV. drive bays, and integrated I/O Port
connectors soldered ideal for home
theatre PC (HTPC) and car PC for
Baby AT
consumer and application PC for
 was not without problems however. industrial. Mini ATX is a 15 x 15 cm (or
Computer memory itself advanced, and 5.9 x 5.9 inches) motherboard.
the Baby AT form factor had memory
sockets at the front of the Smaller footprint than Advanced
motherboard. As processors became
Technology
larger, the Baby AT form factor did not
allow for space to use a combination of Extended (Micro-
processor, heat sink, and fan. The ATX ATX).
form factor was then designed to
overcome these issues.  Micro ATX
(sometimes
Advanced Technology Extended referred to as
(ATX). µATX, mATX
or uATX) is a
 With the standard for
need for a motherboards
more that was
integrated introduced in
form factor December 1997 to be backwards-
which defined standard locations for compatible with existing systems but
 provide a smaller form factor. The as the basis for small form factor and
maximum size of a micro ATX media centre PCs.
motherboard is 244 mm × 244 mm (9.6
in × 9.6 in), but some microATX boards
can be as small as 171.45 mm × 171.45
mm (6.75 in × 6.75 in). Micro ATX is
designed to be used with small
computer cases as a personal
Low-Profile
computer. MicroATX was explicitly
designed to be backward-compatible Extended
with ATX. (LPX)
 The mounting points of microATX 
motherboards are a subset of those
Motherboard
used on full-size ATX boards, and the
form
I/O panel is identical. Thus, microATX
factor
motherboards can be used in full-size
originally
ATX cases. Furthermore, most
microATX motherboards generally use
the same power connectors as ATX
motherboards, thus permitting the use
developed by Western Digital when it
of full-size ATX power supplies with
was making motherboards that was
micro ATX boards. Micro ATX boards
used in the 1990s. The LPX
often use the same chipsets
motherboard is 9" wide x 13" deep,
(northbridges and southbridges) as full-
uses a riser card, and has different
size ATX boards, allowing them to use
placement of the video, parallel, serial,
many of the same components.
and PS/2 ports on the back. The LPX
However, since microATX cases are
form factor is found in low-profile cases
typically much smaller than ATX cases,
(desktop model as opposed to a tower
they usually have fewer expansion
or mini-tower). While this can make for
slots. Most modern ATX motherboards
a low-cost and space saving product
have five or more PCI or PCI-Express
they are generally difficult to repair due
expansion slots, while microATX
to a lack of space and overall non-
boards typically have only four (four
standardization. The LPX form factor is
being the maximum permitted by the
not suited to upgrading and offer poor
specification). In order to conserve
cooling.
expansion slots and case space, many
manufacturers produce microATX
New Low-Profile Extended (NLX)
motherboard with a full-range of
integrated peripherals (especially
integrated graphics), which may serve
  Boards based on the NLX form factor hit controllers
the market in the late 1990's. This and it is
"updated LPX" form factor offered smaller than
support for larger memory modules, microATX
tower cases, AGP video support and systems.
reduced cable length. In addition, The BTX
motherboards are easier to remove. form factor
The NLX form factor, unlike LPX is an provides the
actual standard which means there is industry
more component options for push to
upgrading and repair. tower size
Many systems that were formerly systems with an increased number of
designed to fit the LPX form factor are system slots.
moving over to NLX. The NLX form  One of the most talked about features
factor is well-suited to mass-market of the BTX form factor is that it uses in-
retail PCs. NLX motherboards measure line airflow. In the BTX form factor the
8 to 9” x 10 to 13.5” (20.3 to 22.9 cm x memory slots and expansion slots have
25.4 to 34.5 cm). switched places, allowing the main
components (processor, chipset, and
Balanced graphics controller) to use
technology the same airflow which
reduces the number of fans
Extended
needed in the system;
(BTX) thereby reducing noise. To
assist in noise reduction BTX
 The BTX, or
system level acoustics have
Balanced
been improved by reduced
Technology
air turbulence within the in-
Extended
line airflow system.
form
 Initially there will be three
factor,
motherboards offered in
unlike its
BTX form factor. The first,
picoBTX will offer four
predecessors is not an evolution of a mounting holes and one expansion slot,
previous form factor but a total break while microBTX will hold seven
away from the popular and dominating mounting holes and four expansion
ATX form factor. BTX was developed to slots, and lastly, regularBTX will offer 10
take advantage of technologies such as mounting holes and seven expansion
Serial ATA, USB 2.0, and PCI Express. slots. The new BTX form factor design
Changes to the layout with the BTX is incompatible with ATX, with the
form factor include better component exception of being able to use an ATX
placement for back panel I/O power supply with BTX boards.
  Today the industry accepts the ATX
form factor as the standard; however  The southbridge, in most cases, allows
legacy AT systems are still widely in use. the CPU to communicate with the hard
Since the BTX form factor design is drives, sound card, USB ports, and other
incompatible with ATX, only time will input/output (I/O) ports.
tell if it will overtake ATX as the industry
standard. Back Panel of the Motherboard

An important set of components on the

motherboard is the chip set.

 The chip set is composed of various

integrated circuits attached to the
motherboard that control how system
hardware interacts with the CPU and
motherboard.

 The CPU is installed into a slot or

socket on the motherboard. The socket
on the motherboard determines the
type of CPU that can be installed.

 The chip set of a motherboard allows

the CPU to communicate and interact
COMPONENTS AND INTERFACES OF
with the computer’s other components A MOTHERBOARD
and to exchange data with system
memory (RAM), hard-disk drives, video
cards, and other. output devices. The PCI-E 1x Slot
ATX 8-Pin
chip set establishes how much memory Power
can be added to a motherboard. The PCI-E 16x Slot Connection

chip set also determines the type of PCI Slot

connectors on the motherboard. CPU Socket

Most chip sets are divided into two distinct External

Northbridge
Front Panel USB CMOS
components, northbridge and southbridge. Connections
Connections battery
SATA
IDE Connection
CPU-Fan
FDD Connection
Southbridge
Connections ATX 24-Pin
Connection
 In general the northbridge controls Chipset Power
Memory Slots
Connection
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.
  A computer motherboard diagram is motherboard to control the speed of your fan,
very useful for when you need to based on the CPU temperature.
replace motherboard, do motherboard
upgrades, troubleshoot motherboard, G. CPU Socket - This is where your CPU will
or build your own computer. Once you plug in. The orange bracket that is surrounding
know what you are looking at, you can it is used for high end heat sinks. It helps to
recognize the components on any support the weight of the heat sink.
motherboard layout.
H. Memory Slots - These are the slots for
A. PCI Slot - This board has 2 PCI slots. These your RAM. Most boards will have 4 slots, but
can be used for components such as Ethernet some will only have 2. The color coding you see
cards, sound cards, and modems. on the motherboard diagram is used to match
up RAM for Dual-Channel. Using them this way
B. PCI-E 16x Slot - There are 3 of them on will give your memory a speed boost.
this motherboard diagram, blue and white.
These are used for your graphics card. With two I. ATX 24-Pin Power Connection - This
of them on-board, you can run 3 graphics cards is the second of two power connections. This is
in SLI. You would only need this if you are a the main power connection for the
gamer, or working with high end video / motherboard, and comes from the Power
graphics editing. These are the 16x speed Supply. This is also called main power
versions, which are currently the fastest. connection.

C. PCI-E 1x Slot - Single slot - In the PCIe 1.x J. IDE Connection - The IDE (Integrated
generation, each lane (1x) carries 250 MB/s Drive Electronics) is the connection for your
compared to 133 MB/s for the PCI slots. These hard drive or CD / DVD drive. Most drives today
can be used for expansion cards such as Sound come with SATA connections, so you may not
Cards, or Ethernet Cards. use this.

D. Northbridge - This is the Northbridge for K. Southbridge Chipset - This is the

this motherboard. This allows communication controller for components such as the PCI slots,
between the CPU and the system memory and on-board audio, and USB connections.
PCI-E slots.
L. SATA Connections - These are 3 of the 6
E. ATX 8-Pin Power Connection - This is SATA connections on the motherboard. These
one of two power connections that supply will be used for hard drives, and CD / DVD
power to the motherboard. This connection will drives.
come from your Power Supply. This is also
called auxiliary power connection. M. Front Panel Connections - This is
where you will hook in the connections from
F. CPU-Fan Connection - This is where your case. These are mostly the different lights
your CPU fan will connect. Using this connection on your case, such as power on, hard drive
over one from your power supply will allow the activity etc.
N. FDD Connection - The FDD is the Floppy
Disk controller. If you have a floppy disk drive in
your computer, this is where you will hook it up.

O. External USB Connections - This is

where you will plug in external USB connections
for your case or USB bracket.

P. CMOS battery - This is the

motherboard's battery. This is used to allow the
CMOS to keep its settings of your computer
such as current date and time.

Q. BIOS Chip - The BIOS (Basic

Input/Output System) is a ROM chip located on
all motherboards that allows you to access and
set up your computer system at the most basic
level.