Report of PC

Hardware Practical
CA
By Moussa Mohamed Said
Matricule:ICTU20234236
Group 3
Introduction to the Motherboard
A motherboard, also known as a mainboard or system board, is a
crucial component in a computer that serves as the main printed circuit
board (PCB). It acts as the central communication backbone,
connecting and facilitating communication between various hardware
components and external peripherals
The practical was about going
through some of the components of
the motherboard by dismanteling a
system unit and mounting it back.
After dismanteling the system unit we
were asked to identify some of the
components and give their functions
The only little problem encountered
was the difficulty to unscrew some
screws
 RAM Chip(RAM Slot)
• The RAM chip or RAM Slot is a long slim slot which contains transistors
attached to the motherboard.
• The RAM slot allows the RAM to connect to the computer system and
motherboard
• It also allow users to expand the memory capacity of their computer
system
 The Northbridge
• The Northbridge is a square black component situated near the CPU
socket on the motherboard. It is equipped of a heath sink which helps
evacuate excess heat. It is connected directly to the CPU via the front
side bus and handles high perfomance tasks and facilitates
communication between the CPU and various components of the
motherboard
• The northbridge determines the type, speed and number of
processors that can be used on the motherboard
• It also tell the type of memory that the motherboard can use
 The southbridge
• The southbridge is responsible for managing the input and output
devices connected to the motherbord. It contains the necessary
circuits to support the BIOS of the Computer. Its important to note
that with advancement of tecnology some functions of the
southbridge have been integrated into other components such as the
CPU.
• The southbridge controls the industry standard architecture(ISA) bus
for slower peripherals and the high speed PCI bus for devices like hard
disks and video cards
 CPU Chip and CPU
• A CPU chip is a square piece of crystallized silicon that is very thin and
looks like a single chip with numerous pins.
• The CPU chip connects the CPU to the motherboard and the
computer system
• The cpu interpretes and executes instructions stored in the computers
memory . It fetches instructions, decodes them and performs the
necessary operations to carry out the instructions.
 The CMOS Battery
• The cmos battery is a small shiny round battery found on the
motherboard which is responsible for providing power to the cmos
chip which stores important system information such as the date,
time, and BIOS settings.
• The cmos runs power on self tests during booting process to check
the functionality of hardware components like drives ports and RAM.
 Power supply plug
• A power supply plug is male connector that is used to connect a
power supply to an electrical outlet. It typically has pins that match
the openings and female contacts in a socket.
• The power supply plug converts the alternating current (AC) from the
wall outlet into direct current (DC) that is required by electronic
devices.
 Parallel Port
• The parallel port is a port which typically uses a DB-25 connector
which is a 25 pin female connector . This connector is commonly
found on the back of of IBM compatible computers.
• Parallel ports were commonly used to connect various peripherals
such as printers and scanners.
 Serial Port
• A serial port on a pc has typically a male 9 pin connector known as a
DE-9 D-sub connector. It allows for serial communication that is the
data is transferred sequentially one bit at a time.
• A serial port can be used as control console for diagnostics in server
computers.
 PS/2 Port
• A PS/2 port is a 6-pin mini-DIN connector used for connecting
keyboards and mice to a motherboard.
• It facilitates the transmission of data between the keyboard mouse
and computer
• It provides power to the connected devices.
 USB Port(A)
• USB ports ports come in different physical layouts and shapes.
• USB –A is the most common type. It has a flat and rectangular shape
measuring approximately 1.4 cm in length and 0.65cm in height.
• Other types of USB ports include USB-B , micro USB and USB-C
• USB-A ports are used for data transfer between various devices and
for peripheral connection to the computer.
 RJ-45 Port
• It is a rectangular in shape with 8 metal pins arranged in a row which
is commonly found on computers, network routers,switches and
Hubs.
• It is primarily used for ethernetconnections allowing devices to
connect to a Local Area Network(LAN) or the internet
• It facilitates the transmission of data signals over twisted pair cables.
 HDMI Port
• An HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) port is a digital
audio/video connection interface commonly found on televisions,
projectors, Blu-ray players, and other home entertainment devices. It
allows for the transmission of uncompressed video data and digital
audio data between HDMI-compliant devices
• The primary function of an HDMI port is to transmit high-definition
audio and video signals from one device to another.
 Audio Port
• An audio port, also known as a phone connector, is a cylindrical-
shaped electrical connector primarily used for analog audio signals. It
is commonly found on various audio devices such as headphones,
speakers, microphones, mixing consoles, and musical instruments.
• An audio port can serve as an input for connecting external audio
devices such as microphones, musical instruments, or audio sources
like CD players or MP3 players. This allows the audio signal from these
devices to be transmitted to the audio system or recording device
 VGA Port
• A VGA (Video Graphics Array) port is a commonly used video
connector that allows the transmission of analog video signals
between a computer or other video source and a monitor or display
device. It is characterized by its distinctive physical design and pin
configuration. The VGA port consists of 15 pins arranged in three
rows. The pins are numbered from left to right, top to bottom
• The VGA port serves as a connector between a computer and a
monitor or television screen, allowing the transfer of video signals.
• VGA connectors carry analog RGBHV (red, green, blue, horizontal
sync, vertical sync) video signals . These signals are responsible for
displaying the visual content on the connected display device.
 Heat Sink
• A heat sink is a passive heat exchanger that is used to dissipate or
transfer heat generated by an electronic or mechanical device to a
fluid medium, such as air or liquid coolant, in order to regulate the
device's temperature. It is commonly used in computers to cool CPUs,
GPUs, chipsets, and RAM modules, as well as in high-power
semiconductor devices and optoelectronics like lasers and LEDs
• The primary function of a heat sink is to dissipate or remove heat
generated by electronic components, such as CPUs or GPUs. Heat
sinks are designed to absorb the heat from the component and then
disperse it into the surrounding environment
 Capacitors
• Capacitors on a motherboard are small electronic components that
play a crucial role in the operation and stability of the system. They
are responsible for storing and releasing electrical energy in a
controlled manner. Here is a physical description of capacitors on a
motherboard based on the search result
• Capacitors help regulate the voltage flowing through the
motherboard. They store electrical charge and release it when
needed, ensuring a consistent and stable power supply to the various
components
 CPU Fan
• A CPU fan is a crucial component in a computer that helps keep the
central processing unit (CPU) cool, preventing overheating and
ensuring smooth performance. It works in conjunction with a heat
sink to dissipate heat generated by the CPU.
• The CPU generates a lot of heat during operation, and if this heat is
not properly managed, it can cause permanent damage to the system.
The CPU fan works by blowing air over the hot components of the
CPU to dissipate the heat and keep the temperature within a safe
range
 Jumper
• A jumper on a motherboard is a small plastic-covered pin or metal
contact that is used to configure or enable certain functions or
settings on the motherboard . It is typically a removable component
that can be placed over a set of pins to create an electrical connection
or removed to break the connection.
• Jumpers are used to configure settings on the motherboard, such as
selecting the bus speed, setting the CPU voltage, or enabling specific
hardware features
• Jumpers are often used to clear the CMOS (Complementary Metal-
Oxide-Semiconductor) settings on the motherboard
Accelerated Graphics Port(AGP)
• The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is a parallel expansion card
standard that was designed to connect a video card to a computer
system and enhance the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. AGP
slots are typically brown in color and have a distinctive shape.
• It provides a dedicated pathway between the graphics card and the
computer's motherboard, allowing for faster rendering of graphics.
 Peripheral Component
Interconnect(PCI)
• The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) is a local computer bus
that is used to attach hardware devices within a computer. It is part of
the PCI Local Bus standard and supports the functions found on a
processor bus in a standardized format that is independent of any
specific processor's native bus
• The PCI slot allows for the attachment of various hardware
components, such as network cards, modems, sound cards, disk
controllers, and other peripherals.
 Clock Generator
• A clock generator is an electronic device that produces a clock signal
used to synchronize the operation of a circuit. It consists of several
components that work together to generate and modify the clock
signal.
• The primary function of a clock generator is to produce a clock signal
that serves as a timing reference for the operation of a circuit or
system . The clock signal is typically a periodic waveform, such as a
square wave, with a specific frequency and duty cycle.
 Floppy Disk Controller(FDC)
• A floppy-disk controller (FDC) is an integral part of a computer's
motherboard that controls the reading from and writing to a floppy
disk drive . The FDC has evolved from a discrete set of components on
one or more circuit boards to a special-purpose integrated circuit (IC)
or chip.
• The FDC is responsible for converting data presented from the host
computer into the drive's on-disk format using encoding schemes like
FM encoding (single density) or MFM encoding (double density).
Thank you for
watching