Chapter 7: Motherboards

Front 1

Motherboard

Back 1

Foundation of the PC. Every device in a PC connects directly or indirectly.

Front 2

Traces

Back 2

Wires that make up the buses of the system. Electronic circuits embedded in a circuit board.

Front 3

Form factor

Back 3

Physical size of the motherboard and general position of components.

Front 4

Chipset

Back 4

Type of processor and RAM supported. Northbridge and southbridge.

Front 5

AT

Back 5

Obsolete IBM made form factor. X86 based. Early 80’s through mid-90’s. Minimal external ports.

Front 6

ATX

Back 6

’95. Many ports (mini-DIN PS/2). CPU and RAM easier access. CPU & Northbridge relocated. Most common form factor that replaced AT.

Front 7

microATX

Back 7

Generally smaller, uses the same power supply, and retains all functionality of the original ATX. 9.6” x 9.6”.

Front 8

flexATX

Back 8

’99. Smallest mobos in ATX. 9” x 7.5”. Obsolete.

Front 9

ITX

Back 9

’01. SFF (small form factor) mobo. This version was not a success.

Front 10

Mini-ITX

Back 10

Largest and most popular of ITX mobos. Competes with the virtually identical mircroATX. 6.7” x 6.7”.

Front 11

Nano-ITX

Back 11

4.7” x 4.7”.

Front 12

Pico-ITX

Back 12

3.8” x 2.8”.

Front 13

Riser cards

Back 13

AKA daughter boards. Inserted into a motherboard to change the orientation of expansion cards and allow for slimline PCs.

Front 14

Super I/O chip

Back 14

A third chip that handled communication between CPU and devices. A currently obsolete part of the chipset.

Front 15

Expansion slots

Back 15

Connectors on a motherboard that allow the addition of optional components to a system.

Front 16

Expansion bus

Back 16

Traces going from the expansion slots to the CPU governed by the expansion bus crystal.

Front 17

Expansion bus crystal

Back 17

Controls the speed the expansion bus.

Front 18

PCI (peripheral component interconnect

Back 18

Local bus standard. Moves data 32 to 64 bits at time.

Front 19

AGP (accelerated graphics port)

Back 19

Older 32/64 bit expansion slot for video cards. 66MHz. 254 Mbps.

Front 20

PCI-x (PCI extended)

Back 20

64 bits wide. Seen in servers and high end systems. Currently obsolete.

Front 21

mini-PCI

Back 21

Specialized form for use in laptops.

Front 22

PCIe (PCI express)

Back 22

Currently the most popular and fastest. May use any number of lanes but x1 lane and x16 lanes are most common.

Front 23

Transfer rate

Back 23

Rate of data between 2 devices especially over the expansion bus.

Front 24

Device drivers

Back 24

Used by the OS to allow communication between the CPU and peripherals.

Front 25

Windows hardware certification program

Back 25

Microsoft’s rigorous testing that must be passed before drivers can be digitally signed.

Front 26

Unsigned drivers

Back 26

32-bit windows will accept these drivers. 64-bit windows will generate an error message but the driver can still be installed.

Front 27

Motherboard book

Back 27

Resource that lists the specifications i.e. type of memory and CPU for a mobo.

Front 28

Standoffs

Back 28

Mechanical separators used to mount a mobo.

Front 29

Catastrophic failure

Back 29

A failure in which a component or entire system will not boot. May be caused by manufacturer's defect, overheating or physical damage.

Front 30

Burn-in failure

Back 30

Critical failure usually associated by manufacturer’s defects.

Front 31

Component failure

Back 31

Occurs when a system’s device fails due to defect.

Front 32

PCB (printed circuit board)

Back 32

Copper etched onto a non-conductive material then coated with epoxy.

Front 33

Distended capacitors

Back 33

Failed capacitors on a mobo during the mid-2000’s.

Front 34

Proprietary form factors

Back 34

Mobos that only work with a manufacturer’s case.