Comptia Motherboard 1

Two most popular form factors

ATX( Advanced technology Extended) and ITX

Stays the same no matter the Motherboard

Power connector

Low Power Motherboards

ITX

What does Bandwidth describe

How much data we can move in and out of that expansion slot.

Clock speed

How fast data is moving. Measured in number of cycles performed in a second, a Hertz.

MHz

Megahertz. 1 million cycles a second. 1 GHz = 1000 MHz

Bus Width

How much traffic can pass throughput

PCI

Peripheral Component Interconnect. Connecting apparatus on motherboard. Used to connect Video and sound cards, modems, network hardware, etc.

PXI-x

Parallel communication. Designed for servers. Four times the clock speed.

PCIe

PCI Express. Replaced PCI, PCI-x and AGP. Communicates unidirectional(serially), faster than parallel. x1, x2, x4, x8, x32 full duplex lanes.

Expansion slots(Motherboard) use

provides additional features to a computer such as video, sound, advanced graphics, Ethernet or memory

AGP

Accelerated Graphics Port. Phased out by PCIe

Purpose of Mini PCI and PCIe mini

Laptops and wifi cards

RAM

Random Access Memory

DIMM

Dual In-Line Memory Module, Holds RAM. All memory is in-line. Electrical contacts are different on each side.

64-bit data width. DDR- 184pins DDR2/3 - 240pins

SO-DIMM

Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module: A type of memory module used in notebook computers. DDR/DDR2 - 200 pins

ZIF Socket

A special socket for inserting and securing a processor (Zero Insertion Force).

LGA Socket

Land grid array- pins on motherboard instead of chip

Northbridge

Connects the CPU to the memory and high speed graphics Card (PCIe or AGP). Newer motherboard control this with the CPU.

Southbridge

Connects the PIC interface slots, USB, ethernet, IDE, BIOS, Onboard graphics

-Serial I/O- serial port, parallel port, floppy disk, keyboard, Mouse. Newer motherboards control this with the chipset.

Modern CPU's

Most have multiple cores, memory controllers, and GPUs Integrated

Motherboard jumpers

Enable or Disable certain features. Can be used to reset BIOS

MCH

Intels name for the Northbridge. Memory Controller Hub

SATA

Serial ATA(Advanced Tech Attachment). Connects to southbridge or simply the chipst. Supports the connection of hard drived and optical drives to the Computer(transfers data) Serially(Serial) Unlike parallel IDE(integrated drive electronics).

CMOS

Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor; technology used by some RAM chips, flash memory chips, and other types of memory chips that provides high speeds and consumes little power by using battery power to retain information even when the power to a computer is off.

PGA socket

pin grid array

Socket

Electrical interface between the CPU and the motherboard. It attaches directly to the motherboard and houses the CPU

Common Intel socket types

LGA 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, 1150, 2011

Common AMD Sockets

AM3, AM3+, FM1, FM2, FM2+

Heat Sink

A piece of metal, with cooling fins, that can be attached to or mounted on an integrated chip (such as the CPU) to dissipate heat.

Trace

A wire on a circuit board that connects two components or devices.

LGA

A socket that has blunt protruding pins in uniform rows on the socket that connect with lands or pads on the bottom of the processor.

staggered pin grid array (SPGA)

A type of socket used by processors that has pins staggered over the socket in order to squeeze more pins into a small space.

ball grid array (BGA)

A connection via a processor that is soldered to the motherboard, and the two are always purchased as a unit.

chipset

A group of chips on the motherboard that controls the timing and flow of data and instructions to and from the CPU.

QuickPath Interconnect (QPI)

The technology used first by the Intel X58 chipset for communication between the chipset and the processor using 16 serial lanes similar to that used by PCI Express. Replaced the 64-bit wide Front Side Bus used by previous chipsets.

trace

A wire on a circuit board that connects two components or devices.

bus

The paths, or lines, on the motherboard on which data, instructions, and electrical power move from component to component.

system clock

A line on a bus that is dedicated to timing the activities of components connected to it. The system clock provides a continuous pulse that other devices use to time themselves.

wait state

A clock tick in which nothing happens, used to ensure that the microprocessor isn't getting ahead of slower components.

Overclocking

Definition:

Running a processor at a higher frequency than is recommended by the manufacturer, which can result in an unstable system, but is a popular thing to do when a computer is used for gaming.