Jimma Institute of Technology

Faculty of Informatics and Computing

Course Title: Computer Maintenance and

Technical Support
 Chapter 7
Bus and Cards

Compiled by Ermiyas T.
 Objective

After completing this chapter you will be able to

• Define Bus

• Recognize Types of Buses.

• Understand expansion cards.

• Identify types of expansion cards like:

 The Video Card

 The Sound Card

 Network card
7.1 Buses

• When referring to a computer, bus is a data connection between two or

more devices connected to the computer. For example, a bus enables a
computer processor to communicate with the memory or a video card to
communicate with the memory.

• The PC's buses are the fundamental "data highways" on the system
board. The "first" bus is the system bus, which connects the CPU with
RAM. In older designs it was a local bus. In newer designs this bus is
called the Front Side Bus (FSB).

• The purpose of buses is to reduce the number of "pathways" needed for

communication between the components, by carrying out all
communications over a single data channel. This is why the metaphor of
a "data highway" is sometimes used.
• The bus has various component parts of a microcomputer connected by
a number of different wires, which usually appear in the form of tracks on
a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). These wires can be classified into four
functional groups: power, address, data and control.

• Today all computers utilize two bus types, an internal bus or local bus
and an external bus, also called the expansion bus.

 An internal bus enables a communication between internal

components such as a computer video card and memory and

 An external bus is capable of communicating with external

components such as a USB.
Characteristics of Bus

• A bus is characterized by the amount of information that can be

transmitted at once. This amount, expressed in bits, corresponds to the
number of physical lines over which data is sent simultaneously.

• A 32-wire ribbon cable can transmit 32 bits in parallel. The term "width" is
used to refer to the number of bits that a bus can transmit at once.

• Additionally, the bus speed is also defined by its frequency (expressed in

Hertz), the number of data packets sent or received per second. Each
time that data is sent or received is called a cycle.
• It is possible to find the maximum transfer speed (Throughput (bps or
MB/s)) of the bus, the amount of data which it can transport per unit of
time, by multiplying its width by its frequency. A bus with a width of 16 bits
and a frequency of 133 MHz, therefore, has a transfer speed equal to:

= 16 bits × 133*106 Hz

= 2128 × 106 bits/second

= 266 × 106 bytes/second

= 266 × 103 KB/s => 266 MB/s

Types of bus and its architecture

• The address bus (sometimes called the memory bus) transports

memory addresses which the processor wants to access in order to read
or write data. It is a unidirectional bus.

• The data bus transfers instructions coming from or going to the

processor. It is a Bidirectional bus. It is used to send data from one
device to another. Data is passed in parallel or serial manner. I.e. parallel
will normally pass in a multiple of eight bits at a time but serial passes
one bit at a time.

• The control bus (or command bus) transports orders and

synchronization signals coming from the control unit and travelling to all
other hardware components. It is a bidirectional bus, as it also transmits
response signals from the hardware.
The primary buses

There are generally two buses within a computer:

• The internal bus (sometimes called the Front side bus, or FSB for
short). The internal bus allows the processor to communicate with the
system's central memory (the RAM).

• The expansion bus (sometimes called the input/output bus) allows

various motherboard components (USB, serial, and parallel ports, cards
inserted in PCI connectors, hard drives, CD•ROM and CD•RW drives,
etc.) to communicate with one another. However, it is mainly used to add
new devices using what are called expansion slots connected to the
input/output bus.
FSB (Front Side Bus)

• FSB is also known as the Processor Bus, Memory Bus, or System Bus
and connects the CPU (chipset) with the main memory and L2 cache.
The FSB can range from speeds of 66 MHz, 133 MHz, 100 MHz, 266
MHz, 400 MHz, and up.

• The FSB is now another important consideration when looking at

purchasing a computer Motherboard or a new computer.

• The FSB speed can be set either using the system BIOS or with jumpers
located on the computer motherboard. While most motherboards allow
you to set the FSB to any setting, ensure that the FSB is properly set
unless you plan to overclock the computer.

• Keep in mind that improper settings may cause issues such as hardware
lockups, data corruption, or other errors may arise with older hardware.
Chipset

• A chipset is the component which routes data between the computer's

buses, so that all the components which make up the computer can
communicate with each other.

• The chipset originally was made up of a large number of electronic chips,

hence the name. It generally has two components:

• The Northbridge (also called the memory controller) is in charge of

controlling transfers between the processor and the RAM, which is why it
is located physically near the processor. It is sometimes called the
GMCH, for Graphic and Memory Controller Hub.

• The Southbridge (also called the input/output controller or expansion

controller) handles communications between peripheral devices. It is also
called the ICH (I/O Controller Hub). The term bridge is generally used to
designate a component which connects two buses.
Expansion Buses

• Over the years many different buses have been developed. Let us see
them as follows:

The ISA Bus (Industry Standard Architecture Bus):

• Which is an old low speed bus, soon to be excluded from the PC design.
When this bus was originally released it was a proprietary bus to IBM,
which allowed only IBM to create peripherals and the actual interface.

PCI Bus (Peripheral Component Interconnect Bus)

• The PCI Bus emerged as the answer to the performance bottleneck. The
PCI bus is being used to address all of the problems faced by video, disk
(SCSI and IDE), network, etc. However, it is a high performance bus that
is used for peripherals requiring CPU-like performance
Advanced Technology Attachment
SATA vs PATA
ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment)

• ATA was first approved May 12, 1994, under the ANSI document number
X3.221-1994 and is an interface used to connect such devices as hard
drives, CD-ROM drives, and other Disk Drives.

• The first ATA interface is now commonly referred to as PATA, which is

short for Parallel AT Attachment after the introduction of SATA. Today,
almost all home computers use the ATA interface, including Apple
computers, which use SATA.
Cont’d

• The ATA standard is backwards compatible, which means new ATA drives
(excluding SATA) can be used with older ATA interfaces.

• Additionally, any new feature introduced is also found in all future

releases. For example, ATA-4 has support for PIO modes 0, 1, 2, 3, and
4, even though these were first introduced in ATA-1 and ATA-2.

• Below is a listing of each of the ATA, IDE, and EIDE standards to help
provide a better understanding of the history behind this interface, as well
as an understanding of each interface's capabilities.

ATA, ATA-1, and IDE

• ATA was first developed by Control Data Corporation, Western Digital,

and Compaq and first utilized an 8-bit or 16-bit interface with a transfer
rate of up to 8.3MBps, and support for PIO modes 0, 1, and 2. Today, ATA
and ATA-1, are considered obsolete.
ATA-2, EIDE, Fast ATA, Fast IDE, and Ultra ATA

• ATA-2, more commonly known as EIDE, and sometimes known as Fast

ATA or Fast IDE, is a standard approved by ANSI in 1996 under
document number X3.279-1996. ATA-2 introduces new PIO modes of 3
and 4, transfer rates of up to 16.6MBps, DMA modes 1 and 2, LBA
support, and supports drives up to 8.4GB. Today, ATA-2 is also
considered obsolete.

ATA-3, and EIDE

• ATA-3 is a standard approved by ANSI in 1997 under document number

X3.298-1997.

• ATA-3 added additional security features and the new S.M.A.R.T feature.
ATA-4, ATAPI-4, and ATA/ATAPI-4

• ATA-4 is a standard approved by ANSI in 1998 under document NCITS

317-1998. ATA-4 includes the ATAPI packet command feature, introduces
UDMA/33, also known as ultra-DMA/33 or ultra-ATA/33, which is capable
of supporting data transfer rates of up to 33MBps.

ATA-5 and ATA/ATAPI-5

• ATA-5 is a standard approved by ANSI in 2000 under document NCITS

340-2000. ATA-5 adds support for Ultra-DMA/66, which is capable of
supporting data transfer rates of up to 66MBps, and has the capability of
detecting between 40 or 80-wire cables.
ATA-6 and ATA/ATAPI-6

• ATA-6 is a standard approved by ANSI in 2001 under document NCITS

347-2001. ATA-6 added support for Ultra-DMA/100 and has a transfer
rate of up to 100MBps.

ATA layout

• ATA interfaces on a 3.5-inch disk drives have a 40-pin connector and are
capable of supporting up to two drives per interface. Note: 2.5-inch hard
drives use a 50-pin connector and PCMCIA utilizes a 68-pin connector
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)

• Short for Integrated Drive Electronics or IBM Disc Electronics, IDE is

more commonly known as ATA or Parallel ATA (PATA) and is a standard
interface for IBM compatible hard drives.

• IDE is different from the Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) and
Enhanced Small Device Interface (ESDI) because its controllers are on
each drive, meaning the drive can connect directly to the motherboard or
controller.

• IDE and its updated successor, Enhanced IDE (EIDE), are the most
common drive interfaces found in IBM compatible computers today.
SATA (Serial ATA)

• SATA 1.0 was first released in August 2001 and is a replacement for the
Parallel ATA interface used in IBM compatible computers.

• SATA is capable of delivering 1.5Gbps (1500MBps) of performance to

each drive within a disk array, offers backwards compatibility for existing
ATA and ATAPI devices, and offers a thin, small cable solution. This cable
helps make a much easier cable routing and offers better airflow in the
computer when compared to the earlier ribbon cables used with ATA
drives.

• In addition to being an internal solution SATA also supports external

drives through External SATA more commonly known as eSATA. eSATA
offers many more advantages when compared to other solutions.
• Unfortunately, however, eSATA does have some disadvantages such as
not distributing power through the cable like USB, which means drives
will require an external power source and it only supports a maximum
cable lengths of up to 2m.

• Because of these disadvantages don't plan on eSATA becoming the only

external solution for computers.
Comparison Table Between SATA and PATA

Parameters of SATA PATA

Comparison
Full-Form SATA stands for Serial PATA stands for Parallel
Advanced Technology Advanced Technology
Attachment. Attachment.
Use SATA is currently in use. PATA is currently not in use.
Therefore, it is outdated.
Connection SATA is hot-pluggable. PATA is not hot-pluggable.
Speed The speed capacity is faster in The speed capacity is slow in
SATA. The average speed is PATA, with an average speed
3Gbps. of 133MBps.
Interface SATA provides an external PATA provides an internal
interface. interface.
Cable Size The size of the cable of SATA is The size of the cable of PATA
small. is larger as compared to
SATA.
Bit Rate The bit rate of SATA is 150 The bit rate of PATA is 16
MB/s – 600 MB/s. MB/s – 133 MB/s
7.2 Cards

• Reading Assignment