Lesson 3:

Motherboard
Motherboard
• Is the primary board and foundation of a
computer that is also known as mboard, mobo,
mainboard, modb, base board, backplane board,
system board, planar board, or main circuit
board.
• On Apple computers, it is called a logic board.
Motherboard
• The CPU, memory RAM expansion slots, ROM,
USB ports, and PCI slots are attached to the
motherboard in the computer.
• It provides connectivity between the RAM, CPU,
and all other hardware components.
• Also, it contains controllers for devices such as a
keyboard, mouse, hard drive, and DVD drive.
Motherboard
• Each motherboard has chipset, which is the
collection of controllers and chips.
• Every new motherboard uses a new chipset at
the time they are developed.
• Although these motherboards are usually faster
and more efficient as compared to their
predecessors, the older components often do not
work with new chipsets.
Motherboard
Motherboard
• Has a software component called BIOS(basic
input/output system) or UEFI (Unified Extensible
Firmware Interface.
• This software acts as a way for manufacturer to
correct small bugs and add to add functionality in
the future.
B.I.O.S.
Motherboard
• In 1981, the first motherboard was used in the
IBM personal computer.
• At the time, IBM gave it the name of 'planar'
instead of a motherboard.
Planar Motherboard
Components of Motherboard
○ Heat sink ○ CPU socket
○ Parallel port ○ 3-pin case fan connectors
○ Back panel connectors ○ System panel connectors
○ Capacitor ○ Serial port connector
○ Northbridge ○ USB headers
○ Southbridge ○ Memory slot
○ Jumpers ○ Serial ATA connections
○ Integrated circuit ○ Super Input/Output
○ PCI slot ○ IDE
○ 4-pin power connector
Heat Sink
• It is a device that is designed with built-in fans to
keep hot components, such as processor at an
appropriate temperature.
• It is attached to the processor and made by metal
like copper or aluminum alloy.
• The active and passive are two types of the heat
sink.
Types of Heat Sink
• Active Heat Sink
• An active heatsink refers to a heatsink with a means of
moving air, usually a fan.

• Passive Heat Sink

Active
Passive
Liquid Cooling
• Liquid cooling is the
reduction of heat in
electronic and
mechanical devices
through exploiting
the properties of
liquids.
All in One (AIO) Liquid Cooler
• AIO (All In One) liquid cooling solutions, also
called Closed-Loop liquid coolers, are sealed
coolers.
• Meaning they don't require any maintenance at
all since they can't be refilled in the first place.
• But because water can evaporate through the
tubing, some AIO coolers are built to be user-
refillable.
All in One (AIO) Liquid Cooler
Parallel Port
• Most of the old printers are used parallel port to
connect.
• It uses more than one wire to send or receive a
collection of bits of data in one go where serial
port uses one wire.
• Additionally, a 25-pin female DB connector is
used by parallel ports.
Parallel Port
Back Panel Connectors
• It is a connection that specifies a link between
a connector and a plug into a jack or port.
• For example, a mouse, keyboard, monitor, all
must be connected to the computer before
being used.
Back Panel Connectors
Capacitor
• It is a two-terminal
electrical component
that is used to store
energy
electrostatically in an
electric field. It is
originally known as
condenser.
Capacitor
Northbridge
• It is an integrated circuit within the chipset on
the motherboard that is responsible for
providing a connection between AGP, CPU
interface, and memory.
• Unlike southbridge, it is directly connected to
the CPU interface, AGP, and memory.
• The primary task of northbridge is to provide
communication between CPU and external
devices via buses.
Southbridge
• It is an integrated circuit on the motherboard
that is designed for a single function and
manufactured as a single unit.
• It is important for input and output (I/O)
controller, hard drive controller, and integrated
hardware.
Northbridge and Southbridge
Jumpers
• It is a tiny metal
connector that allows
the computer to close
an electrical circuit,
by which electricity
can flow to the
certain areas of the
circuit board.
Integrated Circuit
• It is a small chip that is also known as a
monolithic integrated circuit, microchip, or a
bare chip.
• It acts as an oscillator, amplifier,
microprocessor, or even memory.
• It includes multiple circuits, pathways, logic
gates, and other components that perform
together for a specific function.
Integrated Circuit
PCI Slot
• It allows users to add internal components to a
desktop computer.
• In 1992, it was designed and introduced by
Intel.
• It stands for Peripheral Component Interface
that is used to connect the addition of PCI
devices such as modems, sound cards, video
cards, and network hardware cards.
PCI Slot
4-Pin Power Connector
• Is a 12V power supply cable used with
motherboards that have an Intel Pentium 4 or
later processor.
• Today, the connector is a standard power
connector and is used with both Intel and AMD
motherboards.
4-Pin Power Connector
4-Pin Power Connector
• As seen in the picture, the cable has two black
wires that serve as a ground, and two yellow
ones that are +12VDC.
• All of these wires attach to a four-pin
connection on the motherboard.
CPU Socket
• A CPU socket uses a series of pins to connect
a CPU’s processor to the PC’s motherboard.
• If a CPU is connected via a CPU socket, it is
not soldered and can therefore be replaced.
• CPU sockets are more common with desktop
gaming PCs than they are on laptops.
CPU Socket
3-Pin/4-Pin Case Fan Connectors
• A motherboard fan connector is a small three
or four-pin connector located on the
motherboard.
• The fan will have one set of cables (bundled
together) that will connect into the connector on
the motherboard.
3-Pin/4-Pin Case Fan Connectors
Memory Slot
• A memory slot allows computer memory (RAM)
to be inserted into the computer.
• Most of the motherboards include two to four
memory slots that specify the type of RAM with
the computer.
• The most common types of RAM for desktop
computers are DDR SDRAM, and SODIMM for
laptop computers, including different types and
speeds.
Memory Slot
USB headers
• It is a collection of
pins located on a
motherboard that
allows additional
USB ports to be
inserted to the
computer.
Super I/O
• It is an integrated circuit that started to be used
on the motherboards of a personal computer.
• It was found on an expansion card and
introduced in the late 1980s.
• Later, it was embedded into the motherboard,
and it combines interfaces for a variety of low-
bandwidth devices.
Super I/O
• It handles the less
prominent computer
input/output devices
such as Serial port
UART, Intrusion
detection, Game
port, Infrared,
Floppy disk
controller, etc.
Serial ATA Connections
• It is a replacement for the parallel ATA
interface that was used in IBM compatible
computers, which stands for serial AT
attachment.
• The first version 1.0 of SATA was introduced in
August 2001.
• Within a disk array, it has the ability to provide
1.5 Gbps of performance to each drive.
Serial ATA Connections
• It provides a small cable that helps to make
cable routing an easier way.
• Furthermore, it provides better airflow as
compared to older ribbon cables used with ATA
drives.
Serial ATA Connections
System Panel Connectors
• It is commonly referred to as a fpanel or front panel
connector that controls a computer reset button,
power button, case speaker, key lock, and LED’s.
• It includes two color-coded wire cables that help to
recognize where they need to connect with the
motherboard front panel.
• There are different types of system panel cables,
such as HDD LED, PLED, PWR LED, Reset SW,
Speaker, etc.
System Panel Connectors
Serial Port Connector
• An asynchronous port on the computer used to
connect a serial device to the computer and
capable of transmitting one bit at a time.
• Serial ports are usually identified on IBM
compatible computers as COM
(communications) ports.
• For example, a mouse might connect to COM1
and a modem to COM2.
Serial Port Connector
IDE
• Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) is a standard
interface for connecting a motherboard to
storage devices such as hard drives and CD-
ROM/DVD drives.
• The original IDE had a 16-bit interface that
connected two devices to a single-ribbon cable.
IDE
• This cost-effective
IDE device carried its
own circuitry and
included an
integrated disk drive
controller. Prior to
IDE, controllers were
separate external
devices.
Motherboard form
Factors
Motherboard form Factors
• A motherboard form factor is a specification for its
general shape and size.
• It helps to prevent incompatibilities between
many hardware manufactures.
• It also determines the types of power supply,
supported case, the physical layout and
organization of the board, and the placement of
mounting holes.
Motherboard form Factors
Full AT
• Commonly referred to as AT and full-size AT, the
Full AT is a motherboard form factor introduced
by IBM in August 1984, and was widely used in
the 1980s.
• The Full AT is 12" wide x 13.8" deep and only fits
into a full size AT tower case.
• Today, this form factor is rarely found or used
and was replaced by ATX and Baby AT.
Full AT
Baby AT
• A replacement for the Full AT motherboard and
sometimes referred to as BAT, the Baby AT is a
motherboard form factor introduced by IBM in
1985.
• It is used with the 286, 386, 486, and Pentium
computers up until the early 1990s.
Baby AT
• The Baby AT is 8.57" wide x 13.04" deep, which
is almost the same as the original IBM XT
motherboard but with different screw hole
positions to fit into AT-style case.
• The Baby AT is now considered obsolete and
was replaced by ATX.
Baby AT
BTX
• Short for Balanced Technology eXtended, BTX is
a motherboard form factor first announced by
Intel on September 17, 2003 as a replacement for
ATX.
• BTX was later revised to 1.0a, which was
released in February 2004.
BTX
DTX
• A form factor for motherboards.
• It is a variation of the ATX form factor that was
originally developed by AMD in January 2007,
designed for smaller computers like home theater
PCs (media center computers).
DTX
• With physical dimensions of 8.0-inches by 9.6-
inches, a DTX motherboard allowed for two
expansion slots.
• A somewhat smaller version was also developed,
called the Mini-DTX, having dimensions of 8.0-
inches by 6.7-inches.
DTX
LTX
• Also known as Low Profile eXtension, is a
motherboard form factor developed by Western
Digital in 1987, that was used in the late 1980s
and throughout the 1990s.
• An LPX motherboard is 9" wide x 13" deep, uses
a riser card, and has different placement of the
video, parallel, serial, and PS/2 ports compared
to other motherboards.
LTX
NLX
• Stands for New Low Profile Extended.
• In the late 1990s, the NLX motherboard came to
the market.
• In March 1997, it was developed and finalized by
Intel.
• These motherboards can be removed easily, and
it was developed to replace the nonstandard LPX
design
NLX
ATX
• Stands for Advanced Technology eXtended, ATX
is a specification used to outline motherboard
configuration and dimensions to improve
standardization.
• First released in July 1995 by Intel, ATX has
since had many revisions.
• The first was version 2.01 in February 1997, then
2.03 in May 2000, 2.1 in June 2002, and 2.2 in
February 2004.
ATX
Micro ATX
• A standard motherboard form factor introduced in
December 1997. The maximum size of a
microATX motherboard is 9.6 × 9.6 in (244 × 244
mm).
• microATX allows dual-graphics card and quad-
channel memory configurations.
Mini ATX
• Mini-ATX motherboards were designed with
MoDT (Mobile on Desktop Technology), which
adapts mobile CPUs for lower power
requirements and less heat generation
• Mini-ATX motherboards are no longer used, due
to MicroATX surpassing its features, and
manufacturers no longer produce motherboards
in this form factor.
Resource(s)
• [Link]
• [Link]
[Link]
Unit 1, Lesson 3:
Motherboard