BUSINESS
MOTHERBOARDS
Vivekananth Padmanabhan
HOD IT
©2022 MSLIDES Copyright
BLUECREST UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
MSLIDES.COM
Motherboard
• Let us begin with the main role of a
motherboard. In essence, it serves two
purposes:
• Provide electrical power to the individual
components
• Provide a route to allow the components to
communicate with each other.
• A motherboard is simply a big electronic
printed circuit board (PCB) , with lots of
connectors to plug things into and hundreds
of feet of electrical traces that run between
the various sockets.
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Traces On The Motherboard
• If you look closely at the motherboard, you’ll see
that it has lines running all over it.
• These lines are very fine copper wires. Some of the
wires are carrying power for the components that
they’re connecting to.
• And some of them are carrying data signals, the
ones and zeros, around the computer.
• It’s these wires that allow the various parts of a
computer to communicate with each other.
• The wires head towards the CPU socket.
• It’s rather like a road or rail map of a country,
where all lines of communication head towards the
capital.
The wire traces of a motherboard.
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Motherboard Components
• The main components of a motherboard
include:
• The CPU socket
• The memory slots
• The expansion slots
• The storage connectors
• The power connectors
• The BIOS chip
• The Chipsets
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CPU Socket
• A CPU socket is a type of connector
that is used to attach a central
processing unit (CPU) to a motherboard.
• The CPU socket is located on the
motherboard and has a specific shape
and size that is compatible with a
specific type of CPU.
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LGA CPU and socket
CPU Socket
• Socket Compatibility:
• Each CPU socket has a specific pin layout and
electrical configuration designed to work with a
particular generation or family of processors.
• There are two main types of CPU sockets:
• LGA (land grid array): In an LGA socket, the
pins are located on the motherboard and the
CPU has a flat surface with holes in the
corresponding locations.
• PGA (pin grid array): In a PGA socket, the pins
are located on the CPU and the motherboard
has a grid of holes in the corresponding
locations.
PGA CPU and socket
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Memory Slots
RAM Slots in Desktop PCs
• A memory slot, memory socket, or RAM slot
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.
• Memory is used to store data that the CPU is
currently working on.
• We should note that RAM slots in a desktop look
different than RAM slots in a laptop.
RAM Slots in Laptops
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Why are the Memory Slots different colors?
Memory slots are often found in pairs and are
sometimes color-coded for identification.
The memory slots on a motherboard have different
colors to create channels.
A channel is like a group that allows the computer to
access the memory more efficiently. It's like dividing
the memory into teams to work together.
It indicates the memory slots are dual-channel, and
pairs of memory should be installed on the same
channel (color).
Installing memory sticks in the right slots based on
their colors ensures your computer can work with
memory more efficiently
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Expansion Slots
• Motherboard expansion slots are used to add additional hardware to a computer, such as
graphics cards, sound cards, and network adapters
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Expansion Slots
• Common expansion slot types include:
– PCIe – (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express)
offers a high bandwidth of data communication
between the device and the computer. Used for
graphics cards, network cards, and other high-speed
devices.
– PCI – (Peripheral Component Interconnect) Older,
slower version of PCIe.
– M.2 - Used for NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express)
SSDs and WiFi cards.
– RAM slots - DIMM or Dual Inline Memory Modules
slots for adding additional system memory.
– USB ports - Both internal and external USB ports.
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Do Laptops Have Expansion Slots?
• Laptops don't have expansion slots like desktop
computers do.
• A laptop may instead have a little slot on the side
that uses either PC Card (PCMCIA) or, for newer
systems, ExpressCard.
• These ports can be used similarly to a desktop's
expansion slot, like for sound cards, wireless NICs,
TV tuner cards, USB slots, additional storage, etc.
• Laptops have a video card or graphics card
without an expansion slot by soldering onto the
motherboard.. This is called an integrated
graphics card.
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How Do Expansion Slots Work?
Expansion slots have what's called data lanes, which
are signaling pairs that are used for sending and
receiving data.
Each pair has two wires, which makes a lane have a
total of four wires.
The lane can transfer packets eight bits at a time in
either direction.
The more data lanes there are, the more packets of
data can be sent and received at the same time.
This means we can transfer data faster!
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How Do Expansion Slots Work?
That's why expansion slots, like PCIe, are labeled with
an "x" followed by a number, like "x16."
The number tells us how many data lanes are
available in that slot. So, when we see "x16," it means
there are 16 data lanes available.
Video cards, which are important for gaming and
graphics, usually need to transfer a lot of data
quickly. That's why they are designed to use an
expansion slot with a higher number of lanes, like
"x16."
Simple add-in cards such as Sound-Cards don’t need
many PCIe Lanes (x1 or x4)
Well, depending on the PCIe slot you choose, your expansion card may function
differently.
Example, when you’re using high-end graphics cards, making sure that your PCIe
slot has access to 8-16 PCI Express lanes is important.
If you attempt to run your graphics card without enough PCI Express lanes, you’ll
experience reduced performance.
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The Storage Connectors
• Storage connectors play a crucial role in
connecting the computer's storage devices to the
motherboard.
• These connectors enable data transfer between the
motherboard and various storage devices like hard
drives and solid-state drives (SSDs) and optical
drives.
• There are a variety of different storage connectors
available, each with its own advantages and
disadvantages.
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Types of Storage Connectors
• SATA
•
SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment ) is the most common type
of storage connector.
•
SATA cables are used to connect SATA drives, including hard disk drives
(HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs), to the motherboard..
• SAS
•
SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) - Serial Attached Small Computer System
Interface - is a high-performance storage connector that is designed for
use in servers and other high-end systems.
•
SAS connectors offer faster data transfer rates than SATA connectors, and
they also support hot-plugging, which allows you to add or remove
storage devices without having to power down the system.
• M.2
•
M.2 is a newer type of storage connector that is designed for use in small
form factor systems.
•
M.2 connectors are available in a variety of different form factors, and
they can support a variety of different storage devices, including SATA
drives, PCIe drives, and NVMe drives.
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The Storage Connectors
• The main difference between storage connectors
on a laptop motherboard and desktop
motherboard is the number of connectors
available.
• Laptop motherboards typically have fewer storage
connectors than desktop motherboards. This is
because laptops have less space than desktop
computers, so they need to be more compact.
• Some laptops, especially those that are designed to
be thin and light, do not have SATA connectors.
• These laptops typically use a different type of
storage connector, such as M.2
M.2 connector is a common way to install SSDs in a
laptop.
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The Power Connectors
Here's where you connect the power supply cables to the
motherboard for our example build:
Every motherboard has at least one power
connector.
This connector is used to bring power from the
computer's main power supply to all of the
computer's components.
Because some of today's desktop computers
have very high power requirements, some
motherboards have additional ports for auxiliary
power connectors.
The most common connectors used to connect
the power supply to the motherboard are the 20pin and 24-pin connectors.
The 8-pin connector is also becoming
increasingly common on motherboards, and it is
required for some high-end CPUs.
Where to plug the 8 pin CPU cable (YELLOW) and 24 pin
motherboard cable (RED)
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Rear Ports
When you plug in a mouse or keyboard, attach your screen, speakers/headphones or a
microphone, or any USB device such as a printer, flash drive, external hard drive, they’re all
plugging into the motherboard.
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The BIOS Chip
The basic input/output system (BIOS) on a computer
is typically stored on a non-volatile microchip called
a BIOS chip, which is placed on the motherboard of
the computer.
This chip is integral to the proper operation of the
computer, and if it is corrupted or damaged, the
computer will likely no longer be able to start up.
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Motherboard Chipsets
The chipset is a group of integrated circuits that
coordinate the flow of data between a computer's
processor, memory, and peripheral devices.
The chipset is the backbone or central hub of the
motherboard. It determines how much you can grow
and expand the motherboard.
Chipsets determine the compatibility of various
components, such as CPUs, RAM, and expansion
cards.
They play a crucial role in the overall performance
and stability of a computer system.
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Motherboard Chipsets
The chipset is the "glue" that connects the CPU to the
rest of the motherboard and therefore to the rest of
the computer.
On older PCs, it consists of two basic parts — the
northbridge and the southbridge.
The northbridge is responsible for communicating
with the processor and memory, while the
southbridge controls all the other devices in the
computer, like the hard drive, network card, and
sound card.
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Motherboard Chipsets
Many modern motherboards have integrated
Northbridge and Southbridge into a single chipset to
reduce cost and improve performance.
Examples of integrated chipsets intel z690, AMD B650,
Gigabyte X670 , ASUS ROG Strix X670E.etc
The fully integrated chip hese are commonly referred
to as System-on-a-Chip (SoC) or Platform Controller
Hub (PCH) designs.
Instead of data requests traveling from the
southbridge to the northbridge and then to the CPU,
the PCH or SoC communicates with the CPU directly,
speeding everything up in the process.
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Types Of Motherboards
• ATX is the most popular form factor. It is large and powerful, making it ideal for high-end gaming
and multimedia PCs.
• MicroATX is a smaller and more compact version of ATX. It is ideal for smaller form factor PCs, such
as HTPCs and home theater PCs.
• Mini-ITX is the smallest form factor. It is ideal for very small form factor PCs, such as ultra-portable
laptops and mini-PCs.
• E-ATX is a larger version of ATX. It is ideal for high-end workstations and servers.
• BTX is a discontinued form factor that was designed to improve airflow and cooling. It is no longer
widely available.
• Pico-BTX is a very small form factor. It is ideal for very small form factor PCs, such as ultra-portable
laptops and mini-PCs.
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Latest Types Of Motherboards
Z690 motherboard
• Intel Z690 motherboards are the latest and
most powerful motherboards from Intel.
They support the 12th generation Intel
Core processors and DDR5 memory.
• AMD X670 motherboards are the latest
and most powerful motherboards from
AMD. They support the Ryzen 7000 series
processors and DDR5 memory.
• Intel B660 motherboards are a mid-range
option from Intel. They support the 12th
generation Intel Core processors and DDR4
memory.
• AMD B550 motherboards are a mid-range
option from AMD. They support the Ryzen
5000 series processors and DDR4 memory.
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