Motherboards

CI ROHIT YADAV

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 Introduction to PC
Motherboards

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 Designing of Main Board
The designing of main board can be
classified on the basis of
– Single Board based approach
– Back Planes Approach

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 Single Board Based Systems
• A system in which single motherboard
contains all the primary system
components in it, is known as single board
based system.

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 Block- Diagram of Motherboard

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 Main Components of Motherboard
• CPU Socket & Memory Slots
• ISA, PCI & AGP Expansion Slots
• CMOS Battery
• Power Connectors
• Memory Slots
• Chipset
• Serial/ Parallel/ USB etc ports.

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 Industry Standard Architecture
(ISA)

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 ISA Contd…
• First open system bus architecture.
• IBM introduced this 8-bit bus architecture
in 1981. It had transfer rate of 4 MB/sec.
• in 1984, with the release of the 286 data
processor which used a 16-bit data path,
the ISA bus was expanded to 16 bits, with
data rate 8MB/Sec.
• A major disadvantage of this bus was that
IRQs had be manually defined through
jumpers .
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Peripheral Component Interconnect
(PCI Slots)

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 PCI Contd..
• Introduced by Intel in 1992. Widely in use
today.
• Requires an additional bridge chip to
connect to the I/O of the CPU.
• Operates on 33MHz, & capable of
transferring data at 132 MB/sec.

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 PCI Contd..
• Important feature of PCI is the model for
the PNP (Plug-n-Play) specification, which
means that PCI cards could be configured
via software, rather than through jumpers
as was the case with ISA cards.

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 Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)

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 AGP Contd..
• The AGP port is a dedicated graphics port
based on PCI.
• It’s a dedicated point-to-point channel that
enables the graphics controller to access
main memory, bypassing the bottleneck of
the PCI bus.
• It allows textures to be stored in main
memory rather than video memory.

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 AGP Contd..
• The AGP channel is 32 bits wide and
• Runs at 66 MHz, giving a bandwidth of
266 MB/sec.
• AGP also supports two optional faster
modes, giving throughputs of 533 MB/sec
and 1.07 GB/sec.

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Random Access Memory (RAM)

Old 72-pin SIMM-type memory sockets

168-pin DIMM-type memory sockets

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 RAM CHIPS

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 Single In-line Memory Module
(SIMM)
• A SIMM is a small circuit board designed
to hold a set of RAM chips.
• Two types of SIMM's have been in general
use. 30-pin SIMM's and 72-pin SIMM's.
• 30-bit SIMM's have 8-bit data buses; 72-
pin SIMM's have 32-bit data buses.

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 Dual Inline Memory Module
(DIMM)
• DIMMs have separate electrical contacts
on each side of the module.
• DIMMs have a 64-bit data path.

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 Enhanced Integrated Drive
Electronics (EIDE slot)

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 EIDE Contd..
• Enhanced (sometimes "Expanded") IDE is
a standard electronic interface between
your computer and its mass storage
drives.
• Makes it possible to address a hard disk
larger than 528 Mbytes.
• EIDE also provides faster access to the
hard drive, support for Direct Memory
Access (DMA), and additional drives,
including CD-ROM
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Analog Audio Input Connectors

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 Analog Audio Input Connectors
• These are typically used for CD ROM
drives. Since the CD ROM drive can
deliver audio via the 40-pin IDE
connection, the analog audio connectors
are not generally needed. If you have a
video capture card, you may need to use
the analog audio input to get the sound
into the computer.

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 front panel switches and LEDs

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 front panel switches and LEDs
• There are typically 4 connections (hard
drive LED, power/message LED, power
switch and reset switch).
• The LED connections are polarity sensitive
(if connected in reverse, the LEDs will not
work).
• The colored wire is generally positive and
the white/black wire is negative.
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 I/O Ports

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 Mouse & Keyboard Connectors

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 AT motherboard Power Supply

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 ATX Power

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 ATX Power

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 Chipset
• A chipset or chip set refers to a group of
integrated circuits, or chips, that are
designed to work together.
• The chipset is the heart of the computer
and is the hub for all data transfer. It
determines how fast components like the
processor, memory, keyboard and various
plug-ins can function in relation to each
other

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 Chipset

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 Northbridge
• The actual function of a chipset is to
communicate between all components of
the modern PC.
• The Northbridge usually contains the CPU
interface and the memory controller,
sometimes the graphics unit is also on the
Northbridge.

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 Southbridge
• The southbridge mainly deals with Input
Output devces.
• The Southbridge contains at least a PCI
controller, floppy/ IDE/ hard disk
controllers, serial and parallel ports, USB
support and power management functions.

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 BIOS

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 BIOS
• A BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is an
electronic set of instructions that a
computer uses to successfully start
operating.
• A main function of the BIOS is to give
instructions for the power-on self test
(POST).
• It gives the computer basic information
about how to interact with some critical
components, such as drives and memory
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 ZIF Socket

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 ZIF Contd..
• ZIF is an acronym for zero insertion
force, a concept used in the design of IC
sockets, invented to avoid problems
caused by applying force upon insertion
and extraction.

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 ZIF Contd..

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 ZIF Contd..

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 CPU Fan Connector

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 CPU Fan Connector

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 Backplanes Style System
• No major chips on-board.
• Only CPU, RAM, BIOS etc are on board.
• Other devices like video adapter, disk
drive controllers, CD controllers, sound
board etc are connected to adjacent slots.

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 Motherboard Form Factor
• It determines the specifications for
motherboard’s general shape and size.
• It also specifies what type of case and
power supply will be supported,
• the placement of mounting holes, and
• the physical layout and organization of the
board. 

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 Common Form Factors
• XT (Extended Technology)
• AT (Advance Technology)
• Baby-AT
• ATX (Advance Technology Extended)
• Micro-ATX
• NPX
• NLX
• BTX (Balanced Technology Extended )
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 XT (Extended Technology)

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 XT (Extended Technology)
• When IBM came out with its first PC, there
were no standards and the motherboard
tended to be a little on the larger size.
• Within a short time, they had developed
their Extended Technologies computer
(XT), reducing the size of the
motherboard.
• The XT quickly became a standard for
motherboards.
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 Advance Technology (AT)

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 AT Contd..
• Computers quickly became more and
more powerful with more system memory
installed on the board, faster CPUs, and
features that required more circuitry and
components. IBM had to increase the size
of their boards to accept all these
components and developed the AT
motherboard. At 13.5" X 12", this form
factor soon became another standard.
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 AT Cont..
• Advancements were tower design and
power switch on front panel.
• It comes with keyboard connector only. All
other ports (com, LPT, USB etc.) need to
be plugged in separately.

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 Baby AT

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 Baby AT
• As technology advanced, circuits and
components became smaller and more
integrated. Many companies decided to
reduce the size of the motherboard.
• Because the AT had been standard for so
many years they retained the placement of
the expansion slots and the screw
positioning on a 13" X 8.5 or 9" board

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 ATX (Advance Technology Extended)

• ATX was developed as an evolution of the

Baby AT form factor and was defined to
address four areas of improvement:
– enhanced ease of use,
– better support for current and future I/O,
– better support for current and future
processor technology,
– and reduced total system cost.

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 ATX (Advance Technology Extended)

• The ATX is basically a Baby AT rotated 90

degrees and providing a new mounting
configuration for the power supply.
• The processor is relocated away from the
expansion slots, allowing them to hold full
length add-in cards.

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 ATX (Advance Technology Extended)
• The longer side of the board is used to
host more on-board I/O.
• The ATX power supply, rather than
blowing air out of the chassis, as in most
Baby AT platforms, provides air-flow
through the chassis and across the
processor.
• Another improvement is that it has a new
type of power connector with 20 pins
instead of the earlier 12.
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 ATX (Advance Technology Extended)

• First motherboard to include IO ports and

place all the connectors directly soldered
onto the motherboard.

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 ATX (Advance Technology Extended)

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 ATX (Advance Technology Extended)

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 Micro-ATX
• This form factor was developed as a
natural evolution of the ATX form factor to
address new market trends and PC
technologies. Micro-ATX supports:
• Current processor technologies
• The transition to newer processor
technologies
• AGP high performance graphics solutions
• Smaller motherboard size
• Smaller power supply form factor
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 Micro-ATX

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 LPX (Low Profile eXtension)

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 LPX
• LPX is an older form factor (8.67" x 9.25")
that has been replaced by NLX.
• The LPX form factor is usually found in
desktop model PCs.
• The LPX case is a slim-line, low-profile
case with a riser card arrangement for
expansion cards.

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 LPX

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 LPX
• This means that expansion boards
are parallel to the motherboard.
• This allows for smaller cases, but
limits the number of expansion slots,
usually to two or three.
• LPX motherboards often have the
video adapters integrated onto the
motherboard, and they may have
integrated sound as well.
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 LPX
• This can provide a high-quality product at
low cost, but can make upgrading or repair
difficult.
• It is not always possible to disable the
built-in video adapter cards to allow for an
upgrade.
• LPX motherboards also usually come with
serial, parallel, and mouse connectors
attached to them, like ATX.
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 LPX
• The LPX case and motherboard design
are not designed for a home PC builder,
as they can be cramped and difficult to
work in, as well as being non-standard.
• They also offer poor expandability, poor
upgradability, poor cooling, and difficulty of
use for the home PC builder.

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 LPX

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 Riser Card

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 NLX (New Low Profile Extended)
• NLX is a new form factor designed to improve
upon today’s low profile form factors. NLX does
the following:
• Supports current and future processor
technologies
• Supports new Accelerated Graphics Port
(A.G.P.) high performance graphics solutions
• Supports tall memory technology
• Provides more system level design and
integration flexibility.
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 NLX Motherboard

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 NLX Riser

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 NLX
• Several major PC vendors world-wide
worked jointly to define the NLX form
factor and to incorporate flexibility to
accommodate the best designs for current
and future PCs. NLX is a public
specification intended for widespread use
in many types of systems.

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 Another NLX example

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 BTX

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 BTX (Balanced Technology
Extended)
• BTX is a form factor for motherboards,
originally slated to be the replacement for
the aging ATX motherboard.
• It has been designed to alleviate some of
the issues that arose from using newer
technologies (which often demand more
power and create more heat) on
motherboards

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 BTX-Enhancements
• Low-profile - With the push for ever-
smaller systems, a redesigned backplane.
• Thermal design - The BTX layout
establishes a straighter path of airflow with
fewer obstacles, resulting in better overall
cooling capabilities.

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 BTX-Enhancements
• Structural design - The BTX standard specifies
different locations for hardware mounting points,
thereby reducing latency between devices and
also reduces the physical strain imposed on the
motherboard by heat sinks, capacitors and other
components dealing with electrical and thermal
regulation. For example, the Northbridge and
Southbridge chips are located near each other
and to the hardware they control.

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 BTX

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