Motherboard Components
A conventional motherboard comprises of varied components like
- Expansion slots
- CPU(Main Processor)
- Coprocessor
- Memory
- BIOS and
- Support circuits of chipset for interrupt, DMA etc.
Expansion Slots :
The expansion slots are long thin connectors on the motherboard, near the backside of the pc . Various expansion cards are connected to the motherboards through data, address and control lines/buses on these slots.
One can connect various expansion cards like display card, disk drive controller, sound card, network card, modem card etc. on these slots. When an adapter card is connected to the slot , it's actually connected to the info , address and control bus on the motherboard.
What is a Bus?
A bus is an electronic path on which signals are sent from one a part of the pc to a different .
These buses are categorizes consistent with the amount of BINARY DIGITS (bits) that thety can transfer at a time.
One can connect various expansion cards like display card, disk drive controller, sound card, network card, modem card etc. on these slots. When an adapter card is connected to the slot , it's actually connected to the info , address and control bus on the motherboard.
What is a Bus?
A bus is an electronic path on which signals are sent from one a part of the pc to a different .
These buses are categorizes consistent with the amount of BINARY DIGITS (bits) that thety can transfer at a time.
- If the info bus is 8 bit wide then it can transfer 8 bits of data at a time and called an 8 bit bus.
- On a 8 bit data bus transferring 16 bit data requires two data transfers Another quite common term while talking about bus is , its “ bandwidth”.
- The bandwidth of a bus is that the measure of knowledge which will slot in the bus at a given time.
You can increase the info movement through a bus either by increasing the bus width( from 8 bit to 16 bit) of by increasing the bus bandwidth (8 Mhz to twenty Mhz).
This is almost like the way you'll increase water output from a pipe, either you'll increase the pipe diameter otherwise you can increase the water flow.
Data Bus : may be a set of wires or tracks on the motherboard. Data bus is employed to transfer data from one a part of the pc to a different part. Address Bus : may be a set of wires or tracks on the motherboard computer circuit Board(PCB) which is employed to specify address of a memory location.
Depending on the width and therefore the technology, the slot bus are often divided into the subsequent categories.
This is almost like the way you'll increase water output from a pipe, either you'll increase the pipe diameter otherwise you can increase the water flow.
Data Bus : may be a set of wires or tracks on the motherboard. Data bus is employed to transfer data from one a part of the pc to a different part. Address Bus : may be a set of wires or tracks on the motherboard computer circuit Board(PCB) which is employed to specify address of a memory location.
Depending on the width and therefore the technology, the slot bus are often divided into the subsequent categories.
- 8 bit ISA
- 16 bit ISA
- MCA
- EISA
- VESA local bus or VL bus
- PCI local Bus
CPU (Main Processor) :
The main component of any motherboard is that the main processor chip which controls all the inner functions of the system. The CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT(CPU) functions because the brain of each PC.
It is usually inserted into the socket and isn't soldered onto the motherboard as many other chips are normally done, this makes its replacement, just in case of any problem, very easy.
Some of the common CPU chips are inter 8088,8086,80286,80386,80486, Pentium, Pentium MMX, Pentium –II, Pentium III, Pentium – IV etc.
Coprocessor :
Coprocessor may be a special purpose microprocessor, which is employed to spped up main processor job by taking up a number of the most processors work. commonest sort of coprocessor may be a math coprocessor.
Some of the common CPU chips are inter 8088,8086,80286,80386,80486, Pentium, Pentium MMX, Pentium –II, Pentium III, Pentium – IV etc.
Coprocessor :
Coprocessor may be a special purpose microprocessor, which is employed to spped up main processor job by taking up a number of the most processors work. commonest sort of coprocessor may be a math coprocessor.
Coprocessor chips are wont to help the most processor in completing its various functions.
A math coproessor helps main processor in performing mathematical calculations Older system (XT, AT, AT-386) required a coprocessor chips to be inserted into special socket on the motherboard, but the present feneration of CPU’s have math coprocessor built inside the most processor itself.
Memory :
Memory is that the place where computer stores the program(set of instructions telling ehe computer what to do), and data that help the program in completing its operations.
For example, a marks sheet printing program would require students rollnumber, name and marks obtained in various subjects etc. as data. there's basically two sort of memory utilized in a computer.
A math coproessor helps main processor in performing mathematical calculations Older system (XT, AT, AT-386) required a coprocessor chips to be inserted into special socket on the motherboard, but the present feneration of CPU’s have math coprocessor built inside the most processor itself.
Memory :
Memory is that the place where computer stores the program(set of instructions telling ehe computer what to do), and data that help the program in completing its operations.
For example, a marks sheet printing program would require students rollnumber, name and marks obtained in various subjects etc. as data. there's basically two sort of memory utilized in a computer.
- RAM memory
- ROM memory
RAM memory :
RAM or random access memory may be a read/write sort of memory which is employed by the processor to stay program, data and intermediate results during program executions.
It is VOLATILE sort of memory, which lose ists content when the facility supply thereto is transitioned.
The physical installation of RAM memory on the motherboard can happen in various ways.
Bit may be a digit that's either 0 or 1.
Nibble is collection of 4 bits.
Byte is collection of 8 bits.
Kilobyte is 1024 bytes
Megabyte is 1024 Kilobytes
Gigabyte is 1024 Megabytes
- DIP(dual In-line Pin) memory chips were used on initial motherboards.
- Later SIMM ( single inline memory modules) became common.
- Currently DIMM(dual inline memory modules) are commonest memory module.
Bit may be a digit that's either 0 or 1.
Nibble is collection of 4 bits.
Byte is collection of 8 bits.
Kilobyte is 1024 bytes
Megabyte is 1024 Kilobytes
Gigabyte is 1024 Megabytes
Read Only Memory(ROM) :
ROM or Read Only Memory, as its name suggest may be a read only sort of memory it can't be written. Data is written into it by the manufacturer.
- On major advantage with the ROM is, ROM is Non-Volatile sort of memory i.e it doesn't lose its content when the facility supply thereto is transitioned .
- A motherboard normally contains one or more of those ROM chips.
- The memory capacity of a ROM varies from one sort of system to a different .64 KiloByte (KB) was normally sufficient for a XT system,whereas as AT system requires 256KB of ROM.
BIOS is an abbreviation if Basic Input Output System. it's one among the foremost important program stored within the ROM.
BIOS program lets your application and therefore the hardware like diskette , hard disk, video adapter etc. communicate with one another . it's pronounced “bye-os”.
The BIOS also contains a program called Power-On-Self-Test or POST. This post program checks the motherboard and other devices connected to the pc during the system power-on time.
IBM made the first BIOS for his or her copyright product, but many compatible BIOS program BIOS program are available from Award, Phoenix, American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) etc. various manufacturers.
Cache Memory :
A small amount (normally but 1MB) of high-speed memory residing on or on the brink of the CPU. Cache memory supplies the processor with the foremost frequently requested data and directions . Level 1 cache (primary cache) is that the cache closest to the processor. Level 2 cache (secondary cache) is that the cache second closest to the processor and is typically on the motherboard.
Support Chips/Chipsets :
Apart from the processor chip and therefore the memory, Motherboard also contains many controller chips and other devices which everything together.
Large-scale integration along side high –capacity memory chips has let to even fewer components on a PC’s motherboard.
The BIOS also contains a program called Power-On-Self-Test or POST. This post program checks the motherboard and other devices connected to the pc during the system power-on time.
IBM made the first BIOS for his or her copyright product, but many compatible BIOS program BIOS program are available from Award, Phoenix, American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) etc. various manufacturers.
CMOS(Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Memory :
In old IBM XT or compatible system, BIOS, with the assistance of jumpers, detected what all components are connected to the pc system.- IBM AT and better systems don't contain these jumper switches and instead use a CMOS memory to store the system configuration, date, and time etc. information.
- This CMOS memory receives power from A battery accompanying it, this battery helps it retains the knowledge stored in it even when the system is transitioned.
Cache Memory :
A small amount (normally but 1MB) of high-speed memory residing on or on the brink of the CPU. Cache memory supplies the processor with the foremost frequently requested data and directions . Level 1 cache (primary cache) is that the cache closest to the processor. Level 2 cache (secondary cache) is that the cache second closest to the processor and is typically on the motherboard.
Support Chips/Chipsets :
Apart from the processor chip and therefore the memory, Motherboard also contains many controller chips and other devices which everything together.
- A typical system required interrupt controller, DMS controller, Timer chip, Clock chip, Bus controller chip, I/O peripheral interface chip etc, to form the pc work as an entire unit.
- The IBM PC, XT, AT, Pentium etc. use standard Inter chips intended for any computer built around an Intel CPU.
- Modern developments in electronics have made it possible to supply VERY LARGE SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS(VLSIC), and now just two or three of those VLSIC chips can do the work which were previously performed by dozens of various chips.
- These set of VLSIC chips are called ‘CHIPSETS’.
- A typical chipset contains in one or two VLSIC chips all the support logic required by the processor to function as an entire system.
- Many of those chipset maker include serial and parallel ports, floppy and hard disc controllers, USB support, LAN and audio support, and display adaptor on the chipset itself.
Large-scale integration along side high –capacity memory chips has let to even fewer components on a PC’s motherboard.
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