TYPES OF MOTHERBOARDS

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	Did You Know? Most computer dealers say they build their computers. If they carry a 3 year warranty they are built by someone else or the warranty is out of their back pocket. Very few parts outside of monitors carry anything pass one year, a few motherboards and even less hardrives carry a 3 year warranty.   Integrated Motherboard: A motherboard where some or all of the internal input or output devices are soldered into it.   Motherboard was the original name of the what is now called "main board." The difference is that motherboards had "daughter boards" plugged into them. These "daughter boards" later became simply "cards." Most brands of "main boards" have no cards, some don't even have plug-in slots for such.   Integrated motherboards cause problems when wanting to upgrade your computer, also, LOTS more money. EXAMPLE: Most Compaq /HPs, Dells, Gateways, IBMs have only three pieces usable in an upgrade: the CD ROM ($25 new), hard drive (usually too small to be used, $65-$95 new) and the 3.5" drive ($10 new).   The motherboard is the main board in a computer that supports the processor (CPU) and all internal input and output devices. Input and output devices are the video, modem, sound card, hard drive and floppy controllers, memory (RAM), network cards. All modern PCI motherboards, thanks to Intel, contain integrated floppy and IDE hard drive controllers. Again thanks to Intel & Via almost all motherboard now have integrated sound also. Luckily we can disable the on-board sound and put in a real Sound Blaster sound card.   Compaq/HP, Gateway, Acer, IBM, Pionex, Dell, NEC, Sony and Packard Bell computers make good landfill after crushing. That is if they have biodegradable motherboards. A case of Samsung and most Maxtor hard drives make fair boat anchors.  Types of PC Motherboards The motherboard inside the pc is sometimes called the main board, or the system board. It is made up from several components including the central processing unit (CPU), the memory slots, a video section, and some others but these ones are the main parts to be able to get the pc working. Every component on the motherboard deals with a specific activity. Motherboards are divided into the following two main categories. Integrated motherboards Integrated motherboards come with all the essential components built in to them. The major advantage of this type of motherboard is that all major functions This means that all the functions that your pc needs are all ready from the getgo on a single circuit board. As the price of pc technoligy has dropped over the years, there has been a big push towards intergrating allmost every aspect of a pc onto the motherboard. Although the only drawback is that if one of the components breaks you will have to replace the whole motherboard. However, this rarely happens. Another drawback i have found though than can be a challenge is that sometimes the expansion slots for future upgrades of the motherboard or new components can be limited. Non-integrated motherboards Non-integrated motherboards don't have most of the main components built into them, but they normally have more expansion slots to allow you to add your own. This can be preferable for high performance PC users. They may want a more advanced soundcard, or a top of the range network card, or video card if you are a serious pc gamer. The downside of this type of motherboard is that you need a larger case, and experiance pluggin components into the mainboard. Designs of the Motherboard Form Factors are the design of the motherboard. It is how the components of the mainboard are laid out, and especially what what type of case they fit into, and so what power supply they will be using. ATX ATX stands for Advanced Technology Extended. ATX was designed by Intel to allow easier expansion, and a higher degree of compatability amoung component manufacturers, while still allowing the main components of a pc intergrated into the motherboard. Its like the best of both intergrated and non intergrated motherboards. There is specific design changes that have taken place over the yearws in motherboards and since the ATX is one of the most recent, you can see that the journey of motherboards has sometimes been drastic difficulties, including where the expansion slots are in relationship to the processor. It used to be that some motherboards couldn't have new components added to them, as there was no room becuase of other parts of the board. The power supply connector for an ATX board is a 20-pin, and can support soft power off. Micro ATX The Micro ATX Form Factor motherboard is much smaller than ATX. The maximum motherboard size is 9.6" × 9.6". Micro ATX uses a compact design, which is favoured by pc manufacturers, who like to focus on space saving pc's and designs for their customers. Typically their custoemrs are not pc enthuasats who prefer to get their hands dirty. This is the reason and shift from a few years ago when a pc was an enourmous tower, to the slimline versions that you see now. Normally the board will have more USB peripherial slots to allow external devices to be connected. There is also an even smaller version of the Micro ATX which is called the flex atx. This is a motherboard at the size of 9.6" × 7.5". Don't expect to be able to add a pumping hot hardcore graphics card to motherboards like this. BTX The BTX Form Factor is the smoothest and quietiest of motherboard designs. It was designed to make sure that heat that is generated from the components is not concentrated in one place, and the motherboard can be kept cool by the primary airflow from the pc power supply. NLX NLX or New Low Profile Extended Form Factor, was the first effort of motherboard manufacturers at fitting slimline cases. The way they done this was to add riser exapnsion slots, which meant that the components would be parrarell against the motherboard. This style was not popular amoungst consumer of manufacturers, and quickly became replaced. Thats the reason you have probably never heard of it. However the concept may return in the future, once the issues of heat, and expansion are solved. It certainly is a good way to compact components into a small amount of space.                                                                TIPS CPU Compatible There are a wide variety of different types of CPU Sockets and Slots. When looking at purchasing a motherboard ensure it is compatible with the CPU you have or that it will be compatible with the CPU you plan on purchasing. Upgrade Upgrading a motherboard on the computer allows for new improved hardware to be added into the computer. Upgrade Upgrading a motherboard on the computer will speed up the overall performance of the computer. May not be noticeable. P4 System Optimization During Installation When you install OS (other than WinXP) on an Intel 845 or 850 chipset based Pentium4 system, you need to install the chipset driver before any other drivers, such as video card and sound card. Here's the installation order. OS (Win2000, 9x, Me) Service Pack (if necessary) Chipset Driver (usually in the CD that comes with your motherboard) Drivers for Other Devices It makes difference in performance, especially for video. ASUS P4T + 1GB RDRAM + Win9X/Me = Not Good Currently, ASUS P4T motherboards with 1GB of populated RDRAM will not work within a Windows 9X/Me environment. This is not much of a tragedy since there is no particular reason to have 1GB of RAM on a Win9X/Me system -- they only offer performance gains up to 512MB. However, this may cause problems for people intending to do dual-boot systems, so be aware. General P4 Guidelines P4 systems currently require RDRAM memory (Rambus, RIMM..). The P4 platform will supposedly support SDRAM by the end of 2001. General P4 Guidelines Boxed CPUs come with 2 x 64MB (total of 128MB) RIMM. These are not ECC. Intel may begin packaging 2 x 128MB RIMMs in the future. General P4 Guidelines RDRAM can be PC600, 700 or 800. The modules that come with the CPU are PC800, the fastest type. General P4 Guidelines Memory has to be installed as a pair. That's why the CPU comes with 2 x 64MB, instead of 1 x 128MB. The pair of the memory has to be the same size, type (ECC or non-ECC) and speed (PC600 or PC800). General P4 Guidelines The case has to have 4 specific holes to support a big heatsink. An Antec case (#A58) and a mid tower case (#A51) have the holes. The new aluminum cases do as well. General P4 Guidelines P4 motherboards have a new 12V connection. In order to use P4 with a regular power supply (without the 12V connector), you need to use a PC Power&Cooling 12VATX adapter. This will convert the regular power connection to 12VATX connection. Or, you can replace the power supply with one that already has the 12VATX connection. Microsoft Windows 2000 Patch for AGP Applications on AMD Athlon and AMD Duron Processors AMD says, "An issue has been identified that could result in the corruption of video data shared between AGP graphics adapters and AMD Athlon or AMD Duron processors when running Microsoft Windows 2000. This issue is independent of system chipset and has been observed when running Ziff-Davis 3D Winbench 2000 and Mad Onion 3DMark 2000 in benchmarking mode. AMD and Microsoft have worked together to identify a patch that involves adding a key to the registry. To add the key run the registry key installation file below or add the registry key as detailed in Microsoft KnowledgeBase article Q270715. AMD recommends that AMD Athlon and AMD Duron users with AGP graphics adapters running Windows 2000 install this patch.

MOTHERBOARD

WHAT IS A MOTHERBOARD

The motherboard is the main circuit board inside your PC. Every components at some point communicates through the motherboard, either by directly plugging into it or by communicating through one of the motherboards ports. The motherboard is one big communication highway. Its purpose inside your PC is to provide a platform for all the other components and peripherals to talk to each other.

Types of Motherboards

The type of motherboards depends on the CPU it was designed for. You can therefore categories motherboards by which socket type they have. e.g. Socket A, Socket 478 etc. The Type of motherboard you buy is very important, as it will need to house your CPU, and they are not interchangeable. When buying a motherboard, it will always tell you what socket type it has.

When Buying a Motherboard

As everything you have on the PC at some point needs the motherboard, you need to consider these components when buying a motherboard. Foe example, if you have a lot of devices with a PCI interface that you wish to use, there is little point buying a motherboard that only offers you 3 PCI slots. Like wise with memory, you have to make sure that there are enough slots for the amount of memory you have or wish to have.
The motherboard also needs the correct type of interface for your Memory, Graphics card, Hard disks and other items as well. You will find that most motherboards offer everything you need however it needs checking on when buying. Its especially important to pay detail to your motherboard if you want to use older components, which a new motherboard may or may not support.
The major difference between motherboards that support the same CPU is the model of the chipset (more on the chipset later). Different chipsets offer different performance and different features in terms of memory support, AGP port speed, Multiplier numbers, Bus speeds and much more.

 

Rear of a motherboard

 

Speed of a Motherboard

Motherboards have got to be one of the hardest components to measure the speed of. Performance can really only be measured by benchmarking using the same components in several motherboards of the same type. You often find that motherboards with the same chipset have roughly the same performance in real world tests. The minor differences that do occur are down to the quality of the materials used and the quality of the manufacturing.
The Motherboards speeds that are quoted on the box are maximum supported speeds for other components. For example motherboards will quote the maximum FSB (Front Side Bus) speed. However without a CPU that also supports this speed, it will never be reached. Likewise when it quotes the maximum memory speed. The memory of this speed has to be present.

What is a Motherboard Chipset?

A motherboard chipset controls all the data that flows through the data channels (buses) of the motherboard. The primary function of the motherboard chipset is to direct this data to the correct area's of the motherboard, and therefore the correct components.

Components of a Motherboard

The motherboard contains many connections for all type of components. Motherboards contain expansion slots such as the ISA, PCI, AGP and DIMM sockets. It also contains external connections for your onboard sound card, USB ports, Serial and Parallel ports, PS/2 ports for your keyboard and mouse as well as network and Firewire connections.
So the motherboard has a massive part to play in the workings of your PC. Components that you buy all rely on the motherboard to have the correct connections are available and working. Its best to buy a decent motherboard especially if you plan on buying extra's in the future. If you want to know more about motherboards, read on the topic 'Types of motherboards'.