Working

with the
• Types of Motherboard
• Form Factors of Motherboard
• Components of a Motherboard
• Bus Architecture
• Bus Standards
• Chipsets
• Installing a Motherboard
 TYPES OF MOTHERBOARD
Desktop Motherboards
The desktop motherboard is used in personal
computers and desktops. As it is used for applications at
home and in office, this type of motherboard is the most
basic type.
Server Motherboards
Server motherboards are more advanced than
desktop motherboards and are designed to offer high end
services. These motherboards support expansion and future
upgrades and can handle major applications. Server
motherboards also offer improved graphics and can usually
support different types of memory technology.
• Laptop Motherboards
A laptop motherboard connects to
all the different parts of a laptop system.
It is the most important part of the
laptop. These motherboards generally
have very advanced features as
compared to the desktop motherboards.
 FORM FACTORS OF
MOTHERBOARD

Advanced Technology (AT) Form

Factor
Baby AT Form Factor
Low Profi le Extended (LPX) Form
Factor
Advanced Technology Extended (A
TX)
Form Factor
New Low Profi le Extended (NLX)
 ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
(AT) FORM FACTOR
The AT form factor is also known as the full-size AT form factor.
This form factor matches the original IBM AT motherboard in
structure and layout. This type of motherboard is very large and
is about 12 inches wide and 13.8 inches deep. The AT form factor
is not used much by present-day motherboard manufacturers.
This type of motherboard does not fit into most of the popular
system cases and its size also makes installation and
troubleshooting difficult.
 Baby AT Form Factor
The baby AT form factor was the
most popular till recently. This form
factor is very much similar to the
original IBM XT motherboard
structure. The baby AT form factor
fits into most of the system cases. A
baby AT motherboard is 8.5 inches
wide and about 13 inches long. The
length of baby AT motherboards is
not fixed.
 Low Profile Extended (LPX) Form
Factor
The LPX and mini LPX form
factors are used for small Slim line or
Low Profile cases. This form factor
was developed by Western Digital,
who no longer manufactures these
motherboards. However, many
manufacturers have duplicated the
LPX form factor. The LPX form factor
has advantages like low cost and
small size. However, it is difficult to
 Advanced Technology Extended (ATX) Form
Factor
Intel invented the ATX form factor in the year
1995. The ATX and mini ATX form factors are the
most popular ones presently. The ATX form factor has
many of the best features of the LPX and AT form
factors. The ATX form factor is not compatible with
the LPX or AT form factors. As a result, new system
cases and power supplies were designed to match this
form factor. These cases and power supplies have now
become quite common. The ATX form factor makes it
easier to install and upgrade motherboards.
 New Low Profile Extended
(NLX) Form Factor

The NLX form factor is a new

addition to the motherboard form
factors. It was developed by Intel
and is similar to the LPX form
factor. The NLX form factor was
designed keeping in mind easier
assembly and reduced cost. These
motherboards are designed
 Micro ATX Form Factor

The micro ATX motherboards are small

motherboards that are 9.6” in length as well as
in width. Low end PC users generally use this
form factor. It has limited expandability and
capacity. However, it is quite popular due to its
small size and affordability.
COMPONENTS OF MOTHERBOARD

Expansion Slots
Connectors
Jumpers
On board Components
 Connectors
Network Cables connect the PC to the Internet or
any other network. There are different types of network
cables. The network cables commonly used are Shielded
Twisted Pair (STP), Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP),
Coaxial cable, and Fiber Optic cable.
System panel connector (1) - Accommodates different
front panel system functions such as system power LED,
hard disk LED.
GAME/MIDI connector (6) - Connects to a GAME/MIDI
module that can connect to MIDI devices.
Digital audio connector (3) - Connects to a module
that provides digital sound output, instead of analog.
MDC connector (4) -Connects to a modem card module
Internal audio connectors (5) - Enable connection to
CD-ROM or voice modem card.
USB headers (2) -Function as connectors for USB
module that can provide two additional USB ports, if the
Digital audio connector (3) - Connects to a module that
provides digital sound output, instead of analog.
supply
Internal audio connectors (5) - Enable connection to CD-
ROM or voice modem card.
GAME/MIDI connector (6) - Connects to a GAME/MIDI
module that can connect to MIDI devices
System Management Bus (SMBus) connector (7) - Used to
connect SMBus devices.
ATX 12V connector (8) - Connects to the ATX 12V power
supply. The power supply plug will fit these connectors only
in one orientation
ATX Power Connector (9) - Connects to the ATX power
MDC connector (4) -Connects to a modem card module
CPU and chassis fan connectors
(10) - Connect to the system cooling fans.
IDE connectors (12) - Connect to the
IDE devices.
Serial Advanced Technology
Attachment (SATA) connectors
(11) - Connect to the SATA hard disk
drives.

Serial port connector

(13) - Accommodates a second serial port.
This connector uses an optional serial port
bracket
 Expansion Slots
The expansion slots on a
motherboard enable you to connect
the expansion cards to the
motherboard. The different PCI cards
include LAN card, SCSI card and USB
card. The cards must comply with PCI
specifications. The motherboard has
an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)
slot. You can connect AGP cards that
 Jumpers

Jumpers on the motherboard are small pins that

enable you to configure settings. A jumper consists of a
pair of pins and a small shunt. The shunt can be placed
over the pins to short them. The jumper performs
different functions when it is shorted and when it is left
open, without the shunt. Jumpers vary on all
motherboards. They perform different functions, have
different settings and are positioned differently in
every motherboard. Hence, the motherboard manual is
a necessity when you deal with jumpers.
 The above motherboard has two jumper settings.
The Clear RTC RAM allows you to clear the Real
Time Clock RAM in the CMOS. By using this jumper,
you can clear the CMOS memory of date, time and
system setup parameters. You must not use this jumper
unless you want to clear RTC RAM. Removing the
cap on this jumper will lead to system boot failure.
The other jumpers on this motherboard are the USB
device wake-up jumpers. You can change the settings
on these jumpers to wake the computer from different
sleep modes using the connected USB devices. The
motherboard also has a CMOS battery that provides
back-up power to the CMOS.
 Onboard Components
CPU socket (1) – Provides the place for the CPU on the motherboard.
This socket is a Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket.
Northbridge (2) – Forms one of the most important components on the
motherboard. It is a chip that handles the communication between the
CPU, main memory, AGP Port and another very important component
known as the south bridge controller
Southbridge (3) – Handles all the operations of devices and buses that
are not controlled by the north bridge.
DDR DIMM sockets (4) – Provide support for the memory using DDR
DIMMs. This motherboard has four DDR DIMM sockets.
Super I/O controller (5) – Provides the super I/O functionality.
Standby Power LED (7) – Indicates if there is standby power on the
motherboard
Audio CODEC (8) – Enables audio playback by providing DAC
channels.
LAN controller (9) – Supports networking functions
Mouse port (10) – Connects to the PS/2 mouse.
Parallel port (11) – Connects parallel devices like printers.
RJ-45 port (12) – Enables connection to LAN
through a hub.
Line In jack (13) – Connects audio devices like a tape player.
Line Out jack (14) – Connects a speaker or a headphone.
Video port (17) – Used to connect to a VGA monitor or
another VGA compatible
device.
USB ports (16) – Enable connection to USB devices.
Microphone jack (15) – Connects a microphone
Serial port (18) – Connects the mouse or other serial devices
Keyboard port (19) – Connects the PS/2 keyboard
 Bus Architecture
The buses are like the nervous
system of the motherboard. These buses
are wires located on the motherboard
that enable transmission of data. All the
components on the system receive and
send data through buses. The buses on a
system can be classified into two main
categories:
1. System bus – Connects the CPU,
RAM and the optional buffer memory
(cache)
2. I/O buses – Connects the CPU with
 Bus Standards
Different Types of I/O buses

Video Electronics Standards

Association (VESA) Local
Bus – Was the first local bus used in
PCs. It is a 32-bit bus that runs at a
speed of 33 MHz. VLB was introduced
to address video problems in personal
computers. VLB is no longer used and
has been largely replaced by the PCI
_ Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Local Bus – Is
the most popular I/O bus. It has the same speed and width as
the VESA local bus. Some PCI buses have a width of 64 bits. It
provides much better performance as compared to the VESA
local bus. It has separate circuitry that controls it. PCI
generally supports 3 or 4 slots. You can connect video cards,
SCSI host adapters and network cards to the PCI expansion
slot.

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) Bus – Provides high

performance graphics capabilities to a system. This bus forms a
dedicated
path between the chipset and the
graphics subsystem. The AGP bus enables creation of 3D
graphics.
_ Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA) Bus – Is a
widely used standard even though it has remained
unchanged since its creation. The ISA bus can support
a wide range of devices. It has a bus width of 8 or 16
bits.
Extended Industrial Standard Architecture (EISA)
Bus – Compatible with ISA cards and with a bus
width of 32 bits. This standard is rarely found on
desktop systems.
Microchannel Architecture (MCA) Bus
– Incompatible with older cards and has a bus speed of
16 or 32 bits. IBM created this standard in the 1980s.
This standard is not used nowadays
 Chipsets
The term chipset means a set of
chips, as the name suggests. It is a
group of integrated circuits and
microprocessors. The chipset on a
motherboard
Intel Chipsets-Intel determines its
is the leading
functionality.
manufacturer of chipsets worldwide. You can
choose from a wide range of Intel chipsets for
your system. Some of the Intel Chipsets with
their characteristics are listed below.
 Installing a Motherboard
Best Practice
1. Turn off the system and remove the
power cord from the socket.
2. If you uninstall any component, never
place it on the ground. You must always
place it on an antistatic pad or in the bag
that was provided with the component.
3. Do not connect power to the system if
you suspect any damaged parts on the
motherboard.
Precautions

1. Ensure that the motherboard

power supply is switched off or that
the power cord is detached from the
power supply before you add or
remove any components on the
motherboard. If the motherboard
power supply is switched on during
installation, it will cause severe
damage to the motherboard