System board

The main component of a personal computer. It contains the major structures thatmake up a computer system.The system board is the center of the PC-compatible microcomputer system. Itcontains the circuitry that determines the computing power and speed of the entire system.In particular, it contains the microprocessor and control devices that form the “brains” of thesystem. System boards are also referred to as

motherboards and planar boards.

A typicalATX-style system board layout is depicted in

Fig 1

The major components of interest on a PC system board are as follows:

1. Microprocessor CPU

—The “brains” of the system. This component performsmathematical and logical computations at incredible speeds.

2. Primary memory—

The system’s primary memory elements are as follows:•

RAM—

Random access memory (RAM), which is quick enough to operate directlywith the microprocessor and can be read from and written to as often as desired. RAM is avolatile

Fig 1Parts of ATX Motherboard

type of memory; its contents disappear when power is removed from the memory.•

ROM—

Read-only memory (ROM), which contains the computer’s permanentstartup programs. ROM is nonvolatile; its contents remain with or without power being applied.•

Cache memory—

An area of special high-speed RAM reserved for improvingsystem performance by holding information that the microprocessor is likely to use.Blocks of often-used data are copied into the cache area to permit faster accesstimes.

Expansion slot connectors—

Connectors mounted on the system board into which theedge connectors of adapter cards can be plugged to achieve system expansion. Theconnectors interface the adapter to the system’s I/O channel and system buses.

4. Chipset

—Microprocessor support ICs that coordinate the operation of the system.

Chipsets

North Bridge:

In Northbridge/Southbridge chipset architecture designs, the Northbridge is the chipor chips that connect a CPU to memory, the PCI bus, Level 2 cache and AGP activities. TheNorthbridge chips communicate with the CPU through the FSB.The Northbridge chip is one of two chips that control the functions of the chipset. Theother is the Southbridge. The Northbridge can consist of more than one discrete chip whilethe Southbridge is typically only one discrete chip.

South Bridge:

In Northbridge/Southbridge chipset architecture designs, the Southbridge is the chipthat controls all of the computers I/O functions, such as USB, audio, serial, the system BIOS,the ISA bus, the interrupt controller and the IDE channels. In other words, all of the functionsof a processor except memory, PCI and AGP.

Fig 1.1 Chipset Layout

The Southbridge chip is one of two chips that control the functions of the chipset. Theother is the Northbridge. The Northbridge can consist of more than one discrete chips whilethe Southbridge is typically only one discrete chip that rests on the Northbridge’s PCI bus.

PCs feature a battery-powered RAM area that holds some of the system’s advancedconfiguration information. This configuration storage area became known as

CMOS RAM

Expansion Slots

Most PCs use standardized expansion slot connectors that enable various types of peripheral devices to be attached to the system. Optional input/output devices, or their interface adapter boards, are plugged into these slots to connect the devices to the system’saddress, data, and control buses.Several different types of expansion slots are in use today. A particular system boardmay contain only one type of slot, or it may have a few of each type of expansion slot. Beaware that adapter cards are compatible with particular types of slots, so it is important toknow which type of slot is being used. The major expansion slot types are as follows:

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8-bit PC-bus slots

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16-bit AT-bus or Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus slots

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32-bit Extended ISA (EISA) and Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) slots

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32-bit Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) and

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32/64-bit Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) local bus slots

Three additional slot technologies have found their way onto Pentium-class system boards. These specializedslots are as follows:

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