Group 2

Regie P. Gonzales
Cherry Mae L. Diego
Gilan Kris Nedamo
Ife Nerosa

Motherboard Form Factor

There’s one important consideration we need to be aware of when choosing the case size and that is the
size of the motherboard. They need to match. The size of the motherboard is often called the Form
Factor and there are several standards. The form factor identifies the size of the circuit board, the
location of the slots as well as the location of the faceplate that comes out the back of the computer.
The form factor also identifies the location of the holes that are used to mount the motherboard into
the system case. For example, the full tower has more than enough room to fit an ATX motherboard.
Mid-tower case can also accommodate an ATX motherboard in most cases.

 ATX Form Factor (Full ATX)

Probably the most common form factor for a motherboard is the ATX form factor. The board is
approximately 12″ x 9.6″ (30cm x 24cm).

Image 113.6 – ATX Form Factor

 Mini ATX

A mini-ATX motherboard is a slightly smaller variation of the full ATX size that measures 11.2″ x 8.2″
(28cm x 21cm). The main difference between ATX and mini-ATX is the number of buses and possibly
memory slots on the motherboard. Mounting holes for both are located in the same place, making them
interchangeable in most cases. A case that supports an ATX motherboard can also support mini-ATX
motherboard.
  Micro ATX

The micro-ATX form factor is an even smaller version of the ATX standard, with a maximum size of 9.6″ x
9.6″ (24cm x 24cm). The faceplate line up to the exact same position as in all other versions of ATX.
System case that can hold an ATX motherboard can also hold micro ATX motherboard. The smaller mid
or mini tower cases would likely be too small for a full ATX motherboard but should accommodate micro
ATX motherboard. The terms mini-ATX and micro-ATX are often used interchangeably.

Image 113.7 – Micro ATX Form Factor

 Flex ATX

The size of Flex ATX is 9” x 7.5” (22,9 cm x 19,1 cm). It is derived from Micro ATX and is used in small
computer cases.

Flex ATX Form Factor

 Mini ITX

Going down in size we have a mini ITX motherboard with a maximum size of 6.7″ x 6.7″ (17cm x 17cm).
Notice that there is a single expansion slot and the motherboard itself is considerably smaller than the
ATX and even the micro ATX. Also notice that the faceplate still line up and the hole positions still match
the ATX hole positions. Theoretically we could take this micro ITX motherboard and place it inside a full
tower case. However we usually use a small form factor case for this motherboard.
 Image 113.8 – Mini ITX Form Factor

 Em ITX

Em ITX dimensions are 17 cm x 12 cm.

Em ITX Form Factor

 Nano ITX

Measures of Nano ITX are 4.7″ x 4.7″ (12 cm x 12 cm). It is used with smaller devices like set-top boxes,
car PCs, media centers, and other embedded devices.

Nano ITX Form Factor

 Pico ITX

The size of the Pico ITX is 3.9” x 2.8” (10 cm X 7,2 cm).
 Pico ITX Form Factor

 Mobile ITX

Mobile ITX is the smallest form factor with the size of 2.4” x 2.4” (6 cm x 6 cm).

Mobile ITX Form Factor

The ATX form factor and its variations are the most common motherboard form factors.

 DTX Form Factor

DTX form factor is intended for small form factor PCs, and is backward compatible with ATX form factor
cases. Dimensions are 8” x 9.6” (20,3 cm x 24,4 cm).

DTX Form Factor

 Mini DTX
Mini DTX is a shorter version of DTX form factor. Dimensions are 8” x 6.7” (20,3 cm x 170 cm).

Mini DTX Form Factor

 SSI CEB

SSI form factors were developed by SSI (Server System Infrastructure) forum, and are intended for dual
or multi processor motherboards used in servers and or even workstations. SSI form factors were
derived from ATX specification, so they have the same rear panel, IO connector area, and mounting
holes. But, SSI form factors are larger than ATX, so SSI motherboards will not fit cases designed for
standard ATX. The computer case has to be designed for larger than standard ATX form factor.
Three SSI form factors are CEB (Compact Electronics Bay), EEB (Enterprise Electronics Bay), and MEB
(Midrange Electronics Bay). The smallest of them is SSI CEB, and the size is 12” x 10.5” (30,5 cm x
26,7cm).

SSI CEB Form Factor

SSI EEB (also called Extended ATX or E-ATX)

SSI EEB dimensions are 12” x 13” (30,5 cm x 33 cm).

 SSI EEB Form Factor

 SSI MEB

The SSI MEB size is 16.2” x 13” (41,1 cm x 33 cm). It is longer in order to provide space for two additional
CPU sockets.

SSI MEB Form Factor

 BTX Form Factor

There are a few main differences with the BTX form factor. Notice that the faceplate is on the opposite
end. Another difference is that the hole positions are different. Also, the processor socket is slightly
rotated so that it is at an angle to the system board. This rotation is to aid in the airflow across the
processor to assist in cooling the processor. The BTX motherboard will only fit within a system case that
is designed for a BTX motherboard. In many cases this means that an ATX system case will not work with
a BTX system board, although there are system cases that are able to accommodate both the ATX and
the BTX form factors. The BTX form factor has not been widely adopted despite its improvements over
ATX and related standards. As a result, the availability and variety of BTX-compatible components is
limited.
 Image 113.9 – BTX Form Factor

 NLX Form Factor

The NLX is an older style form factor that is not used very often anymore. We might see it in some older
motherboards but it’s not likely to encounter it with newer motherboards.

Image 113.10 – NLX Form Factor

NLX is an older form factor used for slimline desktop-style computers. NLX is an improvement over an
even earlier LPX form factor. Notice that this motherboard has no expansion slots for the PCI or ISA bus.
The NLX form factor is used in slim line cases that are very short.

Image 113.11 – NLX With Riser Card

Computer Cases
The most common system case type is the tower. Depending on the specific number of internal drive
bays and the height of the tower, these cases can be further classified into mini-size, mid-size and full-
size tower cases. One of the biggest considerations when choosing between case sizes is the number of
slots and the number of devices we would like to add to those cases.

 Full Tower

Full-tower cases are generally big with a height that is about or more than 30 inches (more than 76 cm).
The number of internal drive bays inside these cases can be between 6 and 10.
 Image 113.1 – Tower Computer Case

 Mid Tower

Another case that might be a step down, would be classified as a mid tower case. Mid-tower cases are
the most widely used computer cases. Mid Tower cases are about 18 to 24 (45 to 60 cm) inches high and
they usually contain 2 to 4 internal drive bays and a similar number of external bays (for CD/DVD
readers and similar).

Image 113.2 – Mid Tower Computer Case

 Mini Tower

Mini-tower usually have up to 2 or sometimes 3 internal drive bays. Mini-cases normally stand at a
height of 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 cm). Expandability is a problem with these cases.
 Image 113.3 – Mini Tower Computer Case

 Slim Line Case

Image 113.4 – Slim Line Computer Case

Slim line cases are simply tower cases turned on their sideways. They can hold a monitor on top of the
case.

 Small Form Factor (SFF) Case

Small form factor or SFF cases are custom cases that are designed to minimize the spatial volume of a
desktop computer. SFFs are available in a variety of sizes and shapes, including shoe boxes, cubes, and
book-sized PCs.
 Image 113.5 – Small Form Factor Computer Case

Motherboard overview
A motherboard provides connectivity between the hardware components of a computer, like the
processor (CPU), memory (RAM), hard drive, and video card. There are multiple types of motherboards,
designed to fit different types and sizes of computers.

Each type of motherboard is designed to work with specific types of processors and memory, so they are
not capable of working with every processor and type of memory. However, hard drives are mostly
universal and work with the majority of motherboards, regardless of the type or brand.

Below is a picture of the ASUS P5AD2-E motherboard with labels next to each of its major components.
Clicking on the image directs you to a larger and more detailed version.
 Motherboard components
1. Expansion slots (PCI Express, PCI, and AGP).

Alternatively known as a bus slot or expansion port, an expansion slot is a connection or port inside
a computer on the motherboard or riser card. It provides an installation point for a hardware expansion
card to be connected. For example, if you wanted to install a new video card in the computer, you'd
purchase a video expansion card and install that card into the compatible expansion slot.

Computer expansion slots

Below is a listing of expansion slots commonly found in a computer and the devices associated with
those slots. Clicking on any of the links below provide you with additional details.

AGP - Video card.

AMR - Modem, sound card.

CNR - Modem, network card, sound card.

EISA - SCSI, network card, video card.

ISA - Network card, sound card, video card.

PCI - Network card, SCSI, sound card, video card.

PCI Express - Video card, modem, sound card, network card.

VESA - Video card.

Many of the above expansion card slots are obsolete. You're most likely only going to encounter AGP,
PCI, and PCI Express when working with computers today. In the picture below is an example of what
expansion slots may look like on a motherboard. In this picture, there are three different types of
expansion slots: PCI Express, PCI, and AGP.

2. 3-pin case fan connectors.

Alternatively referred to as a system fan, a case fan is located inside a computer, attached to the front or
back of its case. Case fans help bring cool air into and blow hot air out of the case. They are available in a
wide variety of sizes, but 80mm, 92mm, and 120mm (12cm) with a width of 25mm are the most
common. Below is an example of how a computer case fan may look.

3. Back pane connectors.

A connection is a term that describes the link between a plug or connector into a port or jack. For
example, your monitor, mouse, and keyboard all must connect to the computer before they work.

Connections on the back of the computer

  AT  MIDI
 AUI  Modem (RJ-11 aka telephone)
 BNC  Network (RJ-45)
 Composite  PS/2 port
 DisplayPort  RCA
 DVI  S-Video
 eSATA  S/PDIF
 FireWire (IEEE-1394)  SCSI
 HDMI  Serial port (RS-232)
 M.2

 Keyboard (PS/2) - Purple

 Mouse (PS/2) - Green
 Serial - Cyan
 Printer - Violet
 Monitor (VGA) - Blue
 Monitor (DVI) - White
 Line out (headphones) - Lime Green
 Line in (microphone) - Pink
 Audio in - Grey
 Joystick - Yellow

4. Heat sink.

A heat sink is a device that incorporates either a fan or some other means to keep a hot component,
such as a processor, cooled down. There are two heat sink types: active and passive. The picture is an
example of a heat sink that has both active and passive cooling mechanisms.
Active heat sink

Active heat sinks utilize the computer's power supply and may include a fan. Sometimes these types of
heat sinks are referred to as an HSF, which is short for heat sink and fan. There are also liquid
cooling systems, which have become more popular in recent years.

Passive heat sink

Passive heat sinks are those that have no mechanical components. Consequently, they are 100%
reliable. Passive heat sinks are made of an aluminum finned radiator that dissipates heat through
convection. For passive heat sinks to work to their full capacity, there should be a steady airflow moving
across the fins.

Heat spreaders are another type of passive heat sink that are used to help dissipate the heat produced
by RAM modules.

5. 4-pin (P4) power connector.

The P4 connector is a 12V power supply cable used with motherboards that have an Intel Pentium 4 or

later processor. Today, the connector is a standard power connector and is used with both Intel
and AMD motherboards. As seen in the picture, the P4 cable has two black wires that serve as a ground,
and two yellow ones that are +12VDC. All of these wires attach to a four pin connection on the
motherboard.

6. Inductor.

Short for electromagnetic coil, a coil is conducting wire such as copper shaped in a helical form around
an iron core. The coil creates an inductor or electromagnet to store magnetic energy. Coils are often
used to remove power spikes and dips from power. The picture is an example of an inductor on a
computer motherboard.

7. Capacitor.

A capacitor is a component made of two or sets of two conductive plates with a thin insulator between
them and wrapped in a ceramic and plastic container. When the capacitor receives a DC (direct current),
a positive charge builds up on the plate (or set of plates) while a negative charge builds up on the other.
This charge, which is measured in microfarads on a computer capacitor, remains in the capacitor until it
is discharged. In the image, is an example of what a capacitor may look like on a computer motherboard.

- Another common type of capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor, which is a higher capacitance capacitor

in a smaller package. The picture to the bottom right is an example of these types of capacitors.

Like any other component in a computer, capacitors in a computer can fail, and when they do can cause
the computer or the component to fail. When a motherboard capacitor fails the computer will no longer
boot, and the capacitor needs to be replaced or a new motherboard needs to be put in the computer.
The picture below is an example of an ABIT VP6 motherboard with blown capacitors and one example of
how a capacitor may fail. Blown capacitors can be replaced, but for most users replacing the
motherboard is often the easiest solution.

8. CPU socket.

When referring to a processor, a CPU socket or processor socket is a connection that allows a

computer processor to be connected to a motherboard. For example, the Socket 370 is an example of
such a socket. The picture shows an example of what a socket may look like on a motherboard. Although
there have been computers that used the slot processor, most computers today and in the past have
used socket processors.

Computer processor sockets

 Socket 1  Socket 5
 Socket 2  Socket 6
 Socket 3  Socket 7
 Socket 4  Socket 8
  Socket 370  Socket 604
 Socket 423  Socket 939
 Socket 462  Socket A
 Socket 478  Socket AM2
 Socket 603  Socket F

9. Northbridge.

Alternatively referred to as the PAC (PCI/AGP Controller) and nb, the Northbridge is an integrated

circuit responsible for communications between the CPU interface, AGP, and the memory. Unlike the
southbridge, the northbridge is directly connected to these components. It acts as a "bridge" for the
southbridge chip to communicate with the CPU, RAM, and graphics controller. Today, the northbridge is
a single-chip that is north of the PCI bus, however, early computers may have had up to three separate
chips that made up the northbridge.

10. Screw hole.

Each motherboard has several holes to help hold the motherboard securely in place. Often the screw
holes can be easily identified because they'll have metal surrounding each hole. Some earlier
motherboards may also have holes without metal surrounding the hole. For these types of holes, the
motherboard should have included a cardboard or paper washer to place between the screws and
motherboard.

11. Memory slot.

A memory slot, memory socket, or RAM slot is what allows RAM (computer memory) to be inserted into
the computer. Most motherboards have two to four memory slots, which determine the type of RAM
used with the computer. The most common types of RAM are SDRAM and DDR for desktop computers
and SODIMM for laptop computers, each having various types and speeds. The picture below is an
example of what memory slots may look like inside a desktop computer. In this picture, there are three
open and available slots for three memory sticks.

When buying a new computer or motherboard, pay close attention to the types of RAM the memory
slots can accept. Make sure you know exactly type of RAM to buy for your computer. It is also important
to note how many available memory slots are available in your computer. It is not uncommon for
computers to have all memory slots occupied. If all slots are full and you want to upgrade the computer
memory, you need to remove some or all of the existing memory.

12. Super I/O.

Short for super input/output, or super I/O, SIO is an integrated circuit on a

computer motherboard that handles the slower and less prominent input/output devices shown below.
When the super input/output was first introduced in the late 1980s, it was found on an expansion card.
Later, this chip was embedded into the motherboard and communicated over the ISA bus. As ISA began
to no longer be used with computers, SIO communicated over the PCI bus. Today, super I/O
communicates through the Southbridge and is still used with computers to support older legacy devices.

Computer devices handled by the super I/O

 Floppy disk controller

 Game port
 Infrared
 Intrusion detection
  Keyboard and mouse (non-USB)
 Parallel port
 RTC (Real-time clock)
 Serial port UART
 Temperature sensor and fan speed

13. Floppy connection.

A floppy cable is a ribbon cable found in PC's that allow one or more floppy disk drives to be connected
to a computer. In the illustration, is a visual example of what a floppy cable may look like and where
each end of connectors connect. As can be seen, this cable allows a desktop computer to have two
floppy drives connected to one floppy controller.

Because floppy drives do not have a master or slave jumper, the drives are defined by cable
select, which can be identified by looking for the cable twist as shown in the pictures. Like an IDE cable,
most floppy cables also have a red strip along one side of the ribbon cable to indicate pin 1. Today, if any
floppy drive is in the computer it would be connected to "Drive A:" and the end cable connected to the
motherboard.

The floppy channel, FDD header, or floppy connection is where the floppy drive connects to the
computer motherboard. In the picture below, is an example of a motherboard with two IDE connections
and a floppy channel connector.
 Pin Description

PIN 1 Ground
PIN 2 Unused
PIN 3 Ground
PIN 4 Unused
PIN 5 Ground
PIN 6 Unused
PIN 7 Ground
PIN 8 Index
PIN 9 Ground
PIN 10 Motor Enable A
PIN 11 Ground
PIN 12 Drive Select B
PIN 13 Ground
PIN 14 Drive Select A
PIN 15 Ground
PIN 16 Motor Enable B
PIN 17 Ground
PIN 18 Direction (Stepper Motor)
PIN 19 Ground
PIN 20 Step Pulse
PIN 21 Ground
PIN 22 Write Data
PIN 23 Ground
PIN 24 Write Enable
PIN 25 Ground
PIN 26 Track 0
PIN 27 Ground
PIN 28 Write Protect
PIN 29 Ground
PIN 30 Read Data
PIN 31 Ground
PIN 32 Select Head 1
PIN 33 Ground
PIN 34 Ground

14. ATA / IDE disk drive primary connection.

Short for Integrated Drive Electronics, IDE is more commonly known as ATA or PATA (parallel ATA). It is a

standard interface for IBM computers that was first developed by Western
Digital and Compaq in 1986 for compatible hard drives and CD or DVD drives. IDE is different
than SCSI and ESDI (Enhanced Small Disk Interface) because its controllers are on each drive, meaning
the drive can connect directly to the motherboard or controller. IDE and its updated successor, EIDE
(Enhanced IDE), are common drive interfaces found in IBM compatible computers. Below is a picture of
the IDE connector on a hard drive, IDE cable, and the IDE channels on the motherboard.
 15. 24-pin ATX power supply connector.

An ATX style connector is a replacement for the older P8 and P9 AT style connector. It is one of the
largest connectors inside a computer. It connects a power supply to an ATX style motherboard. As
shown in the picture, the 20-pin cable is a multi-color cable and may be labeled as P1.

16. Serial ATA connections.

Short for serial AT attachment, SATA 1.0 was first released in August 2001 and is a replacement for

the parallel ATA interface used in IBM compatible computers. SerialATA is capable of delivering
1.5 Gbps (approximately 187 MBps) of performance to each drive within a disk array. It is backward-
compatible with ATA and ATAPI devices, and offers a thin, small cable solution, as seen in the "SATA
Data Cable" picture. 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.

SATA also supports external drives through External SATA more commonly known as eSATA.
eSATA offers many more advantages when compared to other solutions. For example, it is hot-
swappable, supports faster transfer speeds with no bottleneck issues like USB and FireWire, and
supports disk drive technologies such as S.M.A.R.T..
 However, eSATA does have some disadvantages such as not distributing power through the
cable like USB, which means drives require an external power source. The eSATA cable also supports a
maximum length of up to 2 meters. Because of these disadvantages don't plan on eSATA becoming the
only external solution for computers.

17. Coin cell battery (CMOS backup battery).

Alternatively referred to as a RTC (real-time clock), NVRAM (non-volatile RAM) or CMOS

RAM, CMOS is short for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor. CMOS is an onboard, battery
powered semiconductor chip inside computers that stores information. This information ranges from
the system time and date to system hardware settings for your computer. The picture shows an example
of the most common CMOS coin cell battery (Panasonic CR 2032 3V) used to power the CMOS memory.

18. RAID.
 Short for redundant array of independent disks, RAID is an assortment of hard drives connected
and set up in ways to help protect or speed up the performance of a computer's disk storage. RAID is
commonly used on servers and high performance computers. The picture of the Drobo is a good
example of a device using RAID technology. RAID uses several techniques used in RAID as explained
below.

 Spanning and software striping

 Splitting information and writing it across multiple physical disk drives. RAID 0 utilizes this
technique.
 Mirroring
 Duplication of data from one disk drive to another.
 Duplexing
 Duplicates the disk drive as well as the disk controller.
 Deferred
 Data is cached in cache memory and writes to the hard drive as the disk drive becomes
available.
 Hot swapping
 Failed disk drives can be replaced and data can be placed back onto the disk drive while the
remainder of the system is in operation.
 Hot sparing
 Disk drive is automatically initialized into the array when another fails.
 Spindle synchronization
 Synchronization of the rotation of all disk drives in the array allowing information to be written
all at once.

Versions of RAID

 RAID 0

Software stripping and block interleave (minimum 2 drives). Data is written to each drive in succession,
each block going to the next available drive (striping) for a faster operation and less chance of
overloaded. The volume can of course be much larger than any single drive. Since no redundancy is
provided, the failure of a single drive will bring the system down. RAID 0 is the fastest and most efficient
array type, but offers no fault tolerance.
  RAID 1

Disk mirroring and duplexing ( minimum 2 drives ). Drives are used in pairs and all data is written
identically to both drives. Each drive can be duplexed by being connected to its own interface controller.
The failure of one drive will not bring down the system, instead the other drive will continue to operate.
Of course, two drives are now used for the equivalent storage capacity of one drive. There is no
performance gain with this level. The array of choice for performance-critical, fault tolerant
environments. Also, RAID 1 is the only choice for fault tolerance if no more than two drives are desired.

 RAID 2

Data striping and bit interleave. Data is written across each drive in succession, one bit at a time.
Checksum data is recorded in a separate drive. RAID 2 is very slow for disk writes and seldom used today
since ECC is embedded in almost all modern disk drives.

 RAID 3

Data striping with bit interleave and parity checking. RAID 3 is similar to lever 2, but more reliable. Data
striping is done across the drives, one byte at a time. Usually, 4 or 5 drives are used providing very high
data transfer rates. One drive is dedicated to storing parity information. The failure of a single drive can
be compensated by using the parity drive to reconstruct the failed drive contents. Since the parity drive
is accessed on every write operation, the writing of data tends to be slower. The failure of two drives or
more can be a problem. RAID 3 can be used in data intensive environments with long sequential records
to speed up data transfer. However, it does not allow multiple I/O operations to be overlapped, and
requires synchronized spindle drives to avoid performance degradation with short records.

 RAID 4

Block interleave data striping with parity checking. As in level 3, RAID 4 uses a single parity drive and
block data striping like in RAID 0. The drives in this RAID level function individually, with an individual
drive reading a block of data. A failure of the controller will of course be catastrophic. Offers no
advantages over RAID 5 and does not support multiple simultaneous write operations.

 RAID 5

Block interleave, data striping with distributed check data on all drives. The one to use for NetWare.
Parity information is distributed across all drives. RAID 5 efficiency goes up as the number of disks
increases. You can use hot spares to rebuild a failed drive on "the fly". The best choice in multi-user
environments, which are not write performance sensitive. However, at least three, and more typically
five drives, are required for RAID 5 arrays.

 RAID 6

Extension to RAID 5, which adds a log structured file system providing a mapping between a disk drive's
physical sectors and their logical representation. As information is written, it is placed to sequential
physical disk sectors.

 RAID 10
Stripped array whose segments are RAID 1 arrays and containing the same fault tolerance as RAID 1.
High I/O rates are achieved by stripping RAID 1 segments. Excellent solution for those considering RAID
1 since it provides good write performance, but is an expensive solution.

 RAID 53

Implemented as striped RAID 0 array whose segments are RAID 3 arrays. RAID 53 also contains the same
fault tolerance and overhead as RAID 3. Excellent solution for those considering RAID 3 since it provides
additional write performance, but is an expensive solution and requires all drives to have the same
synchronization.

19. System panel connectors.

Alternatively referred to as the fpanel or front panel connector, the system panel connector or system

panel header controls a computer power button, reset button, and LED's. The System panel cables, as
shown in the picture are two wire cables that are color-coded to help identify where they connect to the
motherboard system panel connector. The black or white wire is the GND (ground) wire and the colored
wire is the powered wire. The cables, colors, and connections vary depending on the computer case
and motherboard you have, however, generally include the cables mentioned below.
 20. FWH.

Short for firmware hub, FWH is part of the Intel Accelerated Hub Architecture that contains both the
system BIOS and integrated video BIOS on one component. The FirmWare Hub connects directly to the
ICH (I/O controller hub) without requiring an ISA bus. The picture shows an example of an FWH chip in
a PLCC.

21. Southbridge.

The southbridge is an IC on the motherboard responsible for the hard drive controller, I/O controller and

integrated hardware. Integrated hardware can include the sound card and video card if on the
motherboard, USB, PCI, ISA, IDE, BIOS, and Ethernet.

The southbridge gets its name for commonly being South of the PCI bus. Below is a graphic illustration of
the ASUS P5AD2-E motherboard with explanations of each of the major components including the
southbridge. It is common for the northbridge and southbridge to have a heat sink. Also, the
northbridge is usually slightly larger than the southbridge.

Although the southbridge handles most of the I/O devices, less prominent input/output devices, such as
a serial port, keyboard, and non-USB mouse are handled by the SIO (super input/output).
 22. Serial port connector.

An asynchronous port on the computer used to connect a serial device to the computer and capable of

transmitting one bit at a time. Serial ports are usually identified on IBM compatible computers as COM
(communications) ports. For example, a mouse might connect to COM1 and a modem to COM2. The
picture shows the DB9 serial connector on a cable.

23. USB headers.

The 1394 header and USB header is a pin connection found on a computer motherboard that allow
additional 1394 and USB connections to be added to the computer. For example, a USB add-on could be
installed in one of the drive bays and connected to the USB header to add additional USB ports. The
picture shows an example of what the 1394 and USB headers look like on a computer motherboard.

In the picture, both the 1394 and USB headers have nine pins and closely resemble each other. Every
motherboard is different, the 1394 or USB header on your motherboard may only have four or five pins.

Other types of motherboard headers

A motherboard can have a header for any component that allows an external connection. Below is a
listing of other types of headers that you may have on your motherboard. Each of the below headers
resemble the pictures of the headers mentioned earlier.
  Audio header
 Game port and MIDI header
 Network header
 Parallel port header
 PS/2 header
 Serial port header

24. Jumpers.

Jumpers allow the computer to close an electrical circuit, allowing the electricity to flow certain
sections of the circuit board. Jumpers consist of a set of small pins that can be covered with a small
plastic box (jumper block), as shown in the illustration. Below the illustration is a picture of what the
jumpers may look like on your motherboard. In this example, the jumper is the white block covering two
of the three gold pins. Next to the pins is a silkscreen description of each of the pin settings. In the
picture jump pins 1-2 for Normal mode, 2-3 for config mode, and when open the computer is in recovery
mode.

Jumpers are used to configure the settings for computer peripherals, such as the
motherboard, hard drives, modems, sound cards, and other components. For example, if your
motherboard supported intrusion detection, a jumper can be set to enable or disable this feature.

In the past, before plug and play, jumpers were used to adjust device resources, such as
changing what IRQ the device is using. Today, most users will not need to adjust any jumpers on their
motherboard or expansion cards. Usually, you are most likely to encounter jumpers when installing a
new drive, such as a hard drive. As can be seen in the picture below, ATA hard drives have jumpers with
three sets of two pins. Moving a jumper between each two pins changes the drive
from master drive, slave drive, or cable select.
 25. Integrated circuit.

Alternatively referred to as a bare chip, monolithic integrated circuit, or microchip, IC is short

for Integrated Circuit or Integrated Chip. The IC is a package containing many circuits, logic gates,
pathways, transistors, and other components all working together to perform a particular function or a
series of functions. Integrated circuits are the building blocks of computer hardware.

The picture shows an example of several integrated circuits. Because the IC is fragile, it's often
encased in a plastic package with metal pins extending out of it to connect to a circuit board. An IC may
be packaged as SIP (single in-line package), DIP (dual in-line package), PLCC (plastic leaded chip carrier),
or another type.

26. SPDIF.

Short for Sony and Phillips Digital Interconnect Format, the S/PDIF or SPDIF interface transmits

digital audio in a compressed form between audio equipment and home theater systems. The S/PDIF
interface can utilize a coaxial cable or a fiber optic cable to transmit the audio. Common equipment to
use this interface are DVD players and CD players, connecting to a home theater system for Dolby Digital
or DTS surround sound. High quality sound cards and laptops also have this connector. The first picture
is an example of what the SPDIF connector may look like on your computer motherboard.
 The audio transmitted is through the S/PDIF interface is defined by the IEC 61937 standard. The
common formats transmitted are the 48 kHz sample rate (used in DAT) and the 44.1 kHz sample rate
(used in CD audio). The second picture is an example of a fiber optic connection on the back of audio
equipment.

27. CD-IN.

Alternatively referred to as the optical drive audio connector, the CD-IN is a four-

pin connector found on a computer's motherboard or sound card that connects an optical drive's audio.
The picture shows a black four-pin connector and an example of what this connector looks like on a
computer motherboard.

Older motherboard components

1. BIOS
Short for Basic Input/Output System, the BIOS (pronounced bye-oss) is a ROM chip found
on motherboards that allows you to access and set up your computer system at the most basic level.
The picture below is an example of what a BIOS chip may look like on a computer motherboard. The
BIOS pictured is of an early AMIBIOS, a type of BIOS manufactured by AMI.
 The BIOS includes instructions on how to load basic computer hardware. It also includes a test
referred to as a POST (Power-On Self-Test) that helps verify the computer meets requirements to boot
up properly. If the computer does not pass the POST, you will receive a combination of beeps indicating
what is malfunctioning in the computer.

Four main functions of a PC BIOS.

POST - Test the computer hardware and make sure no errors exist before loading the operating system.
Additional information on the POST is available on our POST and beep codes page.

Bootstrap Loader - Locate the operating system. If a capable operating system is located, the BIOS will
pass control to it.

BIOS drivers - Low-level drivers that give the computer basic operational control over your computer's
hardware.

BIOS setup or CMOS setup - Configuration program that allows you to configure hardware settings
including system settings such as computer passwords, time, and date.

2. Bus
When referring to a computer, the bus also known as the address bus, data bus, or local 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 with the memory. You can
think of it as a public transportation or school bus.
 The bus contains multiple wires (signal lines) that contain addressing information that describes
the memory location of where the data is being sent or where it is being retrieved. Each wire in the bus
carries a single bit of information, which means the more wires a bus has the more information it can
address. For example, a computer with a 32-bit address bus can address 4 GB of memory, and a
computer with a 36-bit bus can address 64 GB of memory.

A bus is capable of being a parallel or serial bus and 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
communication between internal components such as a video card and memory. An external bus is
capable of communicating with external components such as a USB or SCSI device.

A computer or device's bus speed is listed in MHz, e.g., 100 MHz FSB. The throughput of a bus is
measured in bits per second or megabytes per second.

3. Cache memory
Pronounced like the physical form of money, cache is a high-speed access area that can be a
reserved section of main memory or on a storage device. The two main types of cache are memory
cache and disk cache.

Memory cache is a portion of the high-speed SRAM (static random access memory) and is effective

because most programs access the same data or instructions repeatedly. By keeping as much of this
information as possible in SRAM, the computer avoids accessing the slower DRAM, making the
computer perform faster and more efficiently. Today, most computers come with L3 cache or L2 cache,
while older computers included only L1 cache. Below is an example of the Intel i7 processor and its
shared L3 cache.

4. Chipset
  A chipset is a set of electronic components on an integrated circuit that manages the transfer of
data between the CPU, RAM, storage, and I/O devices. The first chipset, the 82C206, was introduced
in 1986 by Chips and Technologies. The original 82C206 chipset included the 82284 clock generator
functions, 82288 bus controller, 8254 system timer, dual 8259 interrupt controllers, dual 8237 DMA
controllers, and the MC146818 clock. Four of the 82C206 chips were later replaced by CS8221
or NEAT (New Enhanced AT) chipset that contained only three chips. This chipset was then replaced by
the 82C836 SCAT (single-chip AT) chipset that combined all the chips in the set into one chip.

Examples of chipset manufacturers include ALi, AMD, Intel, NVidia, SiS, and VIA. These chipsets can

include instructions that help control the CPU, PCI, ISA, or USB hardware. They are often divided into a
multitiered architecture referred to as North bridge and South bridge, as well as a Super I/O chip. An
example of a recent Intel chipset is the i820 or the Intel 820 chipset.

Chipset drivers

After reinstalling Microsoft Windows or another operating system, it may be necessary to install your
motherboard chipset drivers for all components to work properly. These drivers are included on your
motherboard driver CD or can also be downloaded from the motherboard or computer manufacturer.

5. Diode

A diode is a semiconductor device that allows electrical current to flow in only one direction. A
common example is the LED (light emitting diode) used to backlight various flat-panel displays. Diodes
have numerous uses including signal limiters, voltage regulators, rectifiers, switches, modulators, and
many more.
 The device itself was first invented by John Fleming, but he called it the oscillation valve. The
name "diode" was later coined by William Eccles. A zener diode is used in circuits where the voltage is
high enough to break down the physical construct of a normal diode.

6. Dip switches
A DIP switch is a small switch in a DIP (dual in-line package) whose position changes the operating
mode of a device. DIP switches are used to configure computer peripherals such as hard
drives, modems, sound cards, and motherboards. They are often used as an alternative
to jumpers because they are easier to operate and less likely to get lost. Today, DIP switches are less
common because most computers utilize plug and play, so hardware no longer requires manual
configuration.

7. Electrolytic

Another common type of capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor, which is a higher capacitance

capacitor in a smaller package. The picture to the bottom right is an example of these types of
capacitors.

Like any other component in a computer, capacitors in a computer can fail, and when they do can
cause the computer or the component to fail. When a motherboard capacitor fails the computer will no
longer boot, and the capacitor needs to be replaced or a new motherboard needs to be put in the
computer.

8. Fuse
 Acting as a mini circuit breaker, a fuse is a resistor with a low tolerance designed to fail if
excessive current flows through an electronic device.

9. Game port and MIDI header.

The 1394 header and USB header is a pin connection found on a computer motherboard that

allow additional 1394 and USB connections to be added to the computer. For example, a USB add-on
could be installed in one of the drive bays and connected to the USB header to add additional USB ports.
The picture shows an example of what the 1394 and USB headers look like on a computer motherboard.

In the picture, both the 1394 and USB headers have nine pins and closely resemble each other. Every
motherboard is different, the 1394 or USB header on your motherboard may only have four or five pins.

Other types of motherboard headers

 Audio header
 Game port and MIDI header
 Network header
 Parallel port header
 PS/2 header
 Serial port header

10. Internal speaker

 Alternatively referred to as a PC speaker, onboard speaker, and system speaker, the internal
speaker is a basic speaker on a motherboard that creates beeps, beeping noises, and mono tones. This
speaker is very basic and is not a speaker for playing songs, music, or other complex sounds generated in
a game.

11. Keyboard controller

With IBM compatible computers, the keyboard controller or Intel 8042 keyboard controller is found
on the motherboard. The controller handles input received from the computer keyboard, A20
lines, reset, deciphering scan codes, as well as the PS/2 mouse. With later models of keyboards the 8042
was replaced with the 8742 micro-controller, which had a microprocessor, RAM, and I/O ports.

12. LCC

Short for leadless chip carrier, LCC is a method for socket designed to allow an individual to
place a chip on a circuit board. The picture shows an LCC found on a computer motherboard.

13. Obsolete expansion slots: AMR, CNR, EISA, ISA, and VESA.

  AMR - Modem, sound card.
 CNR - Modem, network card, sound card.
 EISA - SCSI, network card, video card.
 ISA - Network card, sound card, video card.
 VESA - Video card.

14. Obsolete memory slots: SIMM.

Short for single inline memory module, SIMM is a memory module developed by Wang
laboratories in 1983. The SIMM circuit board that holds six to nine memory chips per board, the
ninth chip usually an error checking chip (parity or non parity). The SIMM was used with
computers using a 486, early Intel Pentium, and compatible processors. However, because the
Pentium is 64-bit and a SIMM is only 32-bits wide, they must be installed two at a time when
used with any 64-bit processor.

15. Onboard LED
 Short for light-emitting diode, LED is a semiconductor that illuminates when an electrical
charge passes through it. LEDs are commonly green, amber, or red, but they can be an
assortment of other colors as they've become popular with case lighting. Below are examples of
how an LED could be used with a computer.

16. Parallel port header

The 1394 header and USB header is a pin connection found on a computer motherboard

that allow additional 1394 and USB connections to be added to the computer. For example, a
USB add-on could be installed in one of the drive bays and connected to the USB header to add
additional USB ports. The picture shows an example of what the 1394 and USB headers look
like on a computer motherboard.

In the picture, both the 1394 and USB headers have nine pins and closely resemble
each other. Every motherboard is different, the 1394 or USB header on your motherboard may
only have four or five pins.

17. Resistor
 One of the most commonly found components in an electronic circuit. Resistors help restrict
and impede a current flow. The picture shows examples of resistors on a motherboard. In this picture
the resistors are R92 and R93, and marked with 222.

18. RTC
Short for real-time clock, RTC is an integrated circuit on a computer's motherboard that is powered
by the CMOS battery. The RTC provides an accurate date and time, in addition to allowing a computer to
regulate the timing and speed of all its functions.

Serial port header

Screw hole aka mounting hole.

SCSI

Short for Small Computer System Interface, SCSI is pronounced as "Scuzzy" and is one of the

most commonly used interface for disk drives that was first completed in 1982. Unlike competing
standards, SCSI is capable of supporting eight devices, or sixteen devices with Wide SCSI. However, with
the SCSI host adapter located on ID number 07 and boots from the ID 00. This leaves the availability of
six device connections. In the picture below, is an example of a SCSI adapter expansion card with an
internal and external connection. Once installed in the computer, this adapter would allow multiple SCSI
devices to be installed in the computer. More advanced motherboard may also have available SCSI
connections on the motherboard.
SCSI-1 is the original SCSI standard developed back in 1986 as ANSI X3.131-1986. SCSI-1 is capable of
transferring up to eight bits a second.

SCSI-2 was approved in 1990, added new features such as Fast and Wide SCSI, and support for
additional devices.

SCSI-3 was approved in 1996 as ANSI X3.270-1996.

SCSI is a standard for parallel interfaces that transfers information at a rate of eight bits per second and
faster, which is faster than the average parallel interface. SCSI-2 and above supports up to seven
peripheral devices, such as a hard drive, CD-ROM, and scanner, that can attach to a single SCSI port on a
system's bus. SCSI ports were designed for Apple Macintosh and Unix computers, but also can be used
with PCs. Although SCSI was popular in the past, today it has largely been superseded by faster
connection types, such as SATA.

SCSI connectors

The illustrations below are examples of commonly-used SCSI connectors on computers and devices.

19. Solenoid
A solenoid can be a thin wire looped, or wrapped, around a metallic object. When electricity is
passed through the wire, a magnetic field is generated. A solenoid can also be a transducer that converts
energy in linear motion. It can be used as a switch to turn something on or off.

Computer motherboards contain solenoids and perform various functions. One important function

is to help regulate the power coming from the power supply, to minimize the chance of voltage spikes
and motherboard damage.
 20. Voltage regulator

An integrated circuit that takes an unregulated power source and adjusts its voltage to a fixed
level. For example, you could have 12V power source and using a voltage regulator, decrease that it to
5V. The picture shows an example of a voltage regulator on a computer motherboard.

21. VRM (voltage regulator module).

Alternatively referred to as a processor power module, VRM is short for voltage regulator module. It
is either embedded into the motherboard or a separate, small circuit board that regulates and supplies
the correct voltage to the processor. By using a VRM, AMD and Intel can adjust the power to the
processor instead of requiring the power supply to supply the correct current. One of the first
motherboards to have a VRM was motherboards using the Socket 7 socket.
 Motherboard form factors and types
As computers advanced, so have motherboards. Below is a list of the various motherboard form
factors and additional information about each, including ATX, which is the most common.

 AT
 ATX
 Baby AT
 BTX
 DTX
 LPX
 Full AT
 Full ATX
 microATX
 NLX

Northbridge and Southbridge Chipset

  Northbridge.

Alternatively referred to as the PAC (PCI/AGP Controller) and nb, the Northbridge is an integrated

circuit responsible for communications between the CPU interface, AGP, and the memory. Unlike the
southbridge, the northbridge is directly connected to these components. It acts as a "bridge" for the
southbridge chip to communicate with the CPU, RAM, and graphics controller. Today, the northbridge is
a single-chip that is north of the PCI bus, however, early computers may have had up to three separate
chips that made up the northbridge.

 Southbridge.

The southbridge is an IC on the motherboard responsible for the hard drive controller, I/O controller and

integrated hardware. Integrated hardware can include the sound card and video card if on the
motherboard, USB, PCI, ISA, IDE, BIOS, and Ethernet.

The southbridge gets its name for commonly being South of the PCI bus. Below is a graphic illustration of
the ASUS P5AD2-E motherboard with explanations of each of the major components including the
southbridge. It is common for the northbridge and southbridge to have a heat sink. Also, the
northbridge is usually slightly larger than the southbridge.

Although the southbridge handles most of the I/O devices, less prominent input/output devices, such as
a serial port, keyboard, and non-USB mouse are handled by the SIO (super input/output)

Motherboard Buses
 A computer sends several kinds of electronic signals back and forth among its various
components. For efficiency, separate paths on the motherboard called buses each carry only one kind of
signal; this boosts the computer's speed and simplifies its operation. While PC motherboards have
different buses for expansion cards and external devices, all computers have three fundamental buses:
Control, Instruction and Address. The whole system operates through these buses.

A computer motherboard has independent signal paths called buses.

1. Bus Architecture

Computers consist of several main functional units, including the central processor, memory and
input/output. The central processor performs basic arithmetic and logic, memory stores programs and
data, and input/output routes data to the computer's keyboard, screen and hard drive. These parts
communicate with each other. Some computer designs use a single bus shared by all parts. While
inexpensive, the system must manage its signals carefully, and some parts wait until others finish
communicating and relinquish control of the bus. Multiple buses reduce the waiting time and keep the
parts running efficiently. The layout of a computer's buses and parts is called its bus architecture. 

2. Control Bus

The motherboard's control bus manages the activity in the system. The control bus, like the other buses,
is simply a set of connections among the parts in the computer. All parts "agree to recognize" that if one
connection carries a voltage and the next one does not, it means that the central processor reads from
memory. If the connections reverse roles, the processor writes to memory. Other connections deal with
the "chunking" of data 8, 16, 32 or 64 bits at a time. Still others determine if data is being shuttled to the
central processor from memory or the keyboard. This signaling system prevents data from going to the
wrong place.

3. Data Bus
The data bus acts as a conduit for data from the keyboard, memory and other devices. It passes
information at speeds up to billions of characters per second. The central processor reads the data,
performs calculations, and moves new data back to memory, the hard drive and other locations. The
control bus determines which direction the data is moving.

4. Address Bus

The computer must be able to access every character of memory rapidly, so every character has its own
address number. The central processor specifies which addresses it wants to read or write and the
address bus carries this information to a memory controller circuit, which locates and fetches the
information. Some locations, called random-access memory, hold program instructions and temporary
calculation results. Other locations point to the hard drive, mouse and keyboard. The control bus
specifies which of these two sets of addresses become active for a particular memory operation.
References:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_form_factor?fbclid=IwAR3B0d5-
9z52GZmkw0LeFB4vG9BdO_HpsfFKCVEP3qr0827hy8m1U6Ho0do

https://www.utilizewindows.com/types-of-computer-cases-and-motherboard-factors/

https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/m/mothboar.htm?
fbclid=IwAR3Cm08paAztMFbHeikWHPTrU0LLnESUxAx7-tlP20ZqWTBe-SBxVqFmNnc

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/what-are-three-types-of-buses-on-a-motherboard?
fbclid=IwAR0tXNcL0ilY-AYeDhx81L8fnVRYX8d5-LupOxl8jrgsnJAN35b8z06QGAM