Mehul Enterprise: Driven by knowledge, powered by nature.

The motherboard is the main circuit board of the computer. It is connected to all critical hardware that runs the computer. It is central to all computer components; this includes processors, BIOS, memory modules, expansion cards, and so on. It acts as a direct channel for the various components to interact and communicate with each other. It is essential to understand the features it supports and what it does not before choosing the right motherboard. None of the add-ons can happen unless a motherboard supports it. Motherboards come on essentially three levels. The entry-level motherboards meet a no-frill consumer’s need and usually come with onboard audio and video. They have restricted processor support and do not over clock well. These boards are cheaper and are often sound in pre-built computers since the user is never expected to upgrade. The enthusiast-level motherboards come with a single processor slot, the ‘Enhanced Integrated Data Electronic’ (EIDE) controller, etc. Some have inbuilt audio and video, although many do not, expecting hardware enthusiasts would buy these up. These boards support a wide range of processors, and with more voltage and multiplier settings, they over clock better. The professional-level motherboards are the dual processor boards, often with the ‘Network Interface Card’ (NIC) and the ‘Small Computer System Interface’ (SCSI) onboard, and a large number of ‘Peripheral Component Interconnect’ (PCI) slots. These are more for networked workstations than desktops. Processors before the INTEL PENTIUM-2 were mostly designed around a 66 MHz bus speed, which grew to 100 MHz as processors moved to INTEL PENTIUM-2 and beyond. Newer INTEL PENTIUM-3 and AMD ATHLON processors use 133 MHz bus speed. A motherboard should support the processor’s speed as well as the multiplier used to generate the speed. For a 1 GHz processor, a multiplier may run at 10 times 100 MHz bus speeds equalling 1 GHz or 7.5 times 133 MHz. A motherboard supporting bus speeds higher than the processor’s default are helpful, since they can be over clocked, a process of running the processor at a speed higher than what it is rated at. The motherboard must support the processor’s voltage requirements. Voltage settings are also important. The motherboard must support the voltage that the processor runs at. In addition, if it is being over clocked, a wide variety of voltage setting may be helpful to get the processor to at the speed it is being aimed for. The motherboard must support the processor connection. Different processors have different connectors. An INTEL PENTIUM-3 ‘Flip Chip Pin Grid Array’ (FCPGA) processor has a Socket-370 processor connection. An INTEL PENTIUM-3 ‘Single Edge Contact Cartridge’ (SECC) processor has a Slot-1 processor connection. INTEL PENTIUM-4 processors use Socket-423 and newer ones use Socket-478. AMD ATHLON processors require a Socket-A connection and the older AMD processors used Slot-A connections. Socket motherboards are becoming more common than slotted motherboards. However, a socket processor can be connected to a slotted motherboard by using a SLOTKET adapter. The chipset contains all of the motherboard’s basic instructions and also determines many of the motherboard’s features. It is one of the most important considerations of a motherboard. Most hardware support is determined by the chipset. Another thing to consider is whether the motherboard comes with a cooling fan on the chipset. As speeds increase and chipsets become more complex, having good cooling become more important. While this is not one of the most important things to consider, it is another sign of a good motherboard. The chipset is the hub of the motherboard and is fully responsible for what hardware, the motherboard will support now and in future. It controls everything. A motherboard must be accompanied with a good manual. Unbranded boards that do not have manuals can put the business in jeopardy. Often, assemblers get stuck with manuals of unbranded motherboards written by someone in Taiwan. Always insist on a manual, which can be understood or buy a branded motherboard. A motherboard contains a number of slots for memory expansion, as well as ‘Peripheral Component Interconnect’ (PCI), ‘Industry Standard Architecture’ (ISA), and ‘Accelerated Graphics Port’ (AGP) slots. If a motherboard has only a few PCI slots, avoid it. Most new motherboards have no ISA slots since this standard will soon be eliminated, and the PCI will take over completely. Hence, if there are too many ISA slots, avoid the motherboard. Look for at least three ‘Dual Inline Memory Module’ (DIMM) slots for memory in a newer motherboard. Also look for ‘Universal Serial Bus’ (USB) connectors as these many come in handy for connecting peripherals. USB 2.0 is now a sought-after feature in a motherboard. The onboard components on the motherboard like audio and video can come integrated into the board, but they take up the ‘Interrupt Request’ (IRQ) meant for other devices. Upgrading the motherboard could become a problem. The casing must support the motherboard. This is very essential. The form factor or dimensions of the motherboard can be the ‘Advanced Technology’ (AT) or the ‘Advanced Technology Extended’ (ATX). Most new motherboards have the ATX form factors. The ATX boards are larger and have different power supply connectors and design from the AT boards. Many brands have proprietary motherboard and case designs. When making a choice, buy the motherboard that lasts awhile. The cost will depend mainly on the chipset being used. Look at upgrade ability. INTEL PENTIUM-3 motherboards cannot be upgraded to include INTEL PENTIUM-4 processors. So, it is best to recommend an INTEL PENTIUM-4 motherboard. It is best to wait before investing in a motherboard of a new chipset. The motherboard has always been the key element in defining the performance and shape of a system. As the design specification, operational speeds and number of add-on cards increase, so has the shape of the motherboard. Though the characteristic rectangular box shape of the motherboard has evolved very little over the last two decades, the intrinsic parts have changed considerably. The various form factors are as follows. Up until recently, the full AT and the baby AT form factor in the motherboard world. These two various differ primarily in width; the older full AT board is 12 inches wide, and did not typically fit into the commonly used desktop cases. There are very few new motherboards in the market that use the full AT size. It is fairly common in older machines, 386 class or earlier. The baby AT motherboard was, through 1997, the most common form factor on the market. A baby AT motherboard is 8.5 inches wide and nominally 13 inches long. The baby AT motherboard is distinguished by its shape, and usually by the presence of a single, full-sized keyboard connector soldered onto the board. The AT form factor could not cope with the increase in the add-ons that were flocking the computer market, so INTEL in February 1997 launched the ATX motherboard. Inspired by the baby AT design, the ATX form factor boasted of major improvements over its predecessor. The major improvements were re-location of processor, customized power supply and integrated audio and video chipset. Re-location of processor freed up space for full-size PCI, ISA, and AGP add-on cards. Customized power supply is the power supply with side vents allowed direct cooling of processors and add-on cards. Increased physical size was justified by integration of onboard audio and video chipsets. Many companies were of the opinion that the ATX increased initial costs and wasted valuable shelf space. So INTEL in December 1997 released the micro ATX form factor. The only notable difference in the Micro ATX form factor was its reduced height, the full ATX has 12” x 9.6” in dimensions, where as the micro ATX has 9.6” x 9.6” in dimensions. For smaller systems, designed the flex ATX. A 25 percent reduction in size as compared to the micro ATX, the flex ATX has only 9” x 7.5” in dimensions. The flex ATX has been popular mainly because on-tech companies such as banking, government offices, etc. do not require expansion slots and bays. This helps reduce total cost of ownership and space. Conventionally used in mass produced branded system, the ‘Laptop Portable Extended’ (LPX) motherboard form factor goes into small slim-line cases. The primary design goal behind the LPX form factor is reducing space usage and cost. INTEL introduced the ‘Notebook Laptop Extended’ (NLX) form factor in late 1996. One of the first and probably the last dock-able type motherboard, the NLX form factor provides an easy access to the upgradeable components. Aimed primarily to support current and future technologies, provide support for AGP cards, memory modules and DIMM technology, it was an all-in-one solution. Not only did the NLX make upgrade ability easier, it also reduce the total cost of ownership. It let the user watch a favourite VCD on the computer and playing games. Most users buy a motherboard just once and than expand the needs. A motherboard that is compatible with future devices always yields rich dividends in terms of performance and pays off. When expanding, sockets and slots play a vital role for upgrading processors and installing add-on cards. The slot is a small rectangular opening on the motherboard that accepts another circuit board, thus providing expansion capabilities to the computer. The expansion slots can be identified as specific rectangular blocks that rise up on the motherboard in which one can plug-in and plug-out the expansion cards without the bother of messy wires and connectors. These slots are used to attach the display cards, the sound cards, the network interface cards, and the graphics cards for hardware acceleration. All desktop computers have expansion slots for adding extra graphic cards, memory and horsepower. When slots were first designed, they could only transfer 8-bit data at a time; hence called the 8-bit slots or the half-size slots. However, as data transfer rates increased to 16-bit, these slots were replaced with the full-size or the 16-bit slots. The 16-bit slots were designed keeping the 8-bit slot design under consideration, thus allowing for backward compatibility. The ISA was one of the most popular 8-bit expansion slot standards. The sound cards and the network interface cards were the first expansion cards to be inserted in these ISA slots. At the time, it was mandatory to know the make, manufacturer and model of the card. However, working on this problem in 1993, INTEL and MICROSOFT introduced a new ISA specification the ‘Plug And Play’ (PNP). Though this technology was nowhere near perfection, it served as a stepping-stone toward PNP enabled devices. IBM introduced the ‘Micro Channel Architecture’ (MCA) in 1987, and the MCA replaced the older AT Bus. While it first served to fill IBM machines, this technology was later applied to APPLE MACINTOSH computers. The MCA slots were increasingly used in the old IBM PS/2. Due to their limited speed capabilities and the popularity of the ISA architecture, the MCA slowly became obsolete. Though, these did not become popular expansion slots, they did evolve to become the most popular PS/2 ports for keyboards and mice. ‘Extended Industry Standard Architecture’ (EISA) is a 32-bit expansion slot designed to work in tandem with INTEL 80386, INTEL 80486 and INTEL PENTIUM microprocessors. The architecture was developed by the gang of nine; AST, COMPAQ, EPSON, HP, NEC, OLIVETTI, TANDY, WYSE, and ZENITH to provide competition to IBM’s proprietary MCA standard. Since, the EISA was backward compatible with the ISA bus, it had an upper hand against the MCA, which was incompatible with the ISA. The increasing differences between the MCA and the EISA made way for another industry standard slot, the PCI. Developed by INTEL, the PCI is a 64-bit slot with a throughput of 133 ‘Megabytes Per Second’ (MBPS), and improvement over the conventional 32-bit slots. In addition, it could be used on the new versions of APPLE MACINTOSH computers. INTEL, taking a leaf out of past experiences, decided not to keep the scope of the PCI restricted to only one processor type. It is primarily because of this, that even today the PCI slots are popular. Most PCI cards are PNP compatible and do not require jumper settings. The configuration is handled on detection by the ‘Operating System’ (OS) and through software. The ‘Video Electronics Standard Association’ (VESA) is a very fast interface made up mainly for fast new video cards. All of those fancy videos and graphics require much speed. The VESA local bus is connected straight to the processor’s internal bus. Hence the name local, this bus can transfer data at 133 MBPS. The VESA bus is basically an ISA slot with an extra slot on the end. Mostly, the ‘Personal Computer Memory Card International Association’ (PCMCIA) cards are used for the laptop machines, but many computer vendors have added PCMCIA sockets to their desktop machines. There are three types of computer cards. The Type-1 slots are 3.3 millimetres thick and hold items such as the ‘Random Access Memory’ (RAM) and the flash memory. The Type-1 slots are most often seen in palmtop machines or other handheld devices. The Type-2 slots are 5 millimetres thick and the ‘Input Output’ (I/O) capable. These are used for the I/O devices such as the modems and the network adapters. The Type-3 slots are 10.5 millimetres thick and used mainly for the add-on ‘Hard Disk Drive’ (HDD). Developed by INTEL in 1997, on the lines of the PCI, the AGP slots were designed to provide faster throughput for the ‘Three Dimension’ (3D) graphics and games. The AGP uses dedicated point-to-point communications path, making it possible for the graphics controller to directly access the main memory. This increases the overall throughput rate and frees up the PCI bus, as it does not use it for the graphics and the data. The USB is a hot and innovative technology, not just because it can support up to 127 devices, but because it also reduces a lot of cabling, no daisy chaining, does away with separate power consumption, and allows data transfer speeds of up to 12 MBPS. The devices like the scanners and the external drives traditionally were connected using the parallel and the SCSI ports, but since the advent of the USB, more of these devices are being offered in the USB variations. The USB is faster than data transfer across the parallel ports, but still slower than blazing SCSI speeds. But what gives the USB, the edge is the capacity to link other devices and have them up and running without a system restart or shutdown. Most of the digital cameras available in the market today are built around the USB support. All MICROSOFT WINDOWS OS offer the full USB support. The earlier versions of MICROSOFT WINDOWS OS do not offer support for the USB devices. The USB is the solution that allows instant, no-hassle way to connect a new digital joystick, a scanner, a set of digital speakers, a digital camera, or a computer telephone to a computer. Adding an old fashioned peripheral device can be a scary proposition, requiring a ton of computer savvy and a certain amount of luck. It should be figured out which port to use from a bewildering array of possibilities. Then, in most cases, the computer must be opened to install and add-in the cards and set switches. Then, there are those touchy IRQ settings to configure, not to mention other alphabet soup. It is enough to deter most users from even thinking about adding a new peripheral. The USB makes adding peripheral devices so easy that anyone can do it. First, the USB replaces all different kinds of serial and parallel port connectors with one standardized plug and port combination. With the USB compliant computers and peripherals, plug them in and turn them on. The USB makes the whole process automatic. It’s like adding instant new capabilities to the computer. There is no need to open the computer, and no need for the add-in cards, the switch settings, or the IRQ. The USB hot swapping allows live changing of the peripherals, without needing to shutdown and restart the computer. The computer automatically detects the peripheral and configures the necessary software. This feature comes useful for the users of the multi-player games, as well as the business and the notebook computer users who want to share the peripherals. The USB allows many peripherals to connect at one time. Many USB computers come with two USB ports. And special peripherals called the USB hubs have additional ports that allow users to daisy chain multiple devices together. Today, several products are available that are already the USB compatible. These include the USB digital cameras, the computer telephony products, the digital speakers, the digital gaming devices, and even a new USB peripheral that protects the security by scanning the fingerprints. The fire-wire or the IEEE-1394 is a relatively new bus technology, which can handle data transfer rates up to 400 MBPS, which can easily sustain the consistent flow of large chunks of audio and video information without choking up the processor. 63 different devices can be connected either by a dedicated IEEE-1394 interface or by a PCI adapter card slot on the motherboard. Apart from camcorders and videocassette recorders with digital video capability, there are not too many products that support the fire-wire technology and hence it still does not feature as a part of standard architecture on today's motherboards. The video controller on the motherboards with built-in motherboard features borrows memory from the system RAM to display images, text, and colour on the screen. Purchasing the motherboards with built-in audio or video capabilities saves from investing money in a separate sound or graphics card. This also helps to free the ISA and the PCI slots for other expansion cards on the motherboard. Although the motherboard with built-in audio and video capabilities save some money, they are not recommended for serious game enthusiasts, the demanding animators, or the professional sound editors as it cannot be increased the dedicated memory by installing the add-on memory modules. In fact, some of the standalone sound and graphics processors boast of circuitry and processing power, more intricate and powerful than the system microprocessor itself, with the dedicated memory of up to 64 MB RAM. Identifying a motherboard is essential knowledge for the user, and involves patience, determination, and a little common sense in most cases. About 80 percent for requests for the motherboard identification can be answered in a few seconds by doing a search using the information supplied by the poster and a good search engine such as GOOGLE. There is no doubt that the provision of a ‘Basic Input Output System’ (BIOS) identification string makes the job fairly easy and this string usually brings results very quickly when entered into a search engine. If no result is forthcoming, at least use the string to identify the chipset used and the manufacture, a quick search of the manufacturers site can usually locate the boards using that particular chipset. Some provide the images and the specification of their boards online that can be a big help or else download manuals. The model numbers or the part numbers are the next most useful information, although it will not always bring a satisfactory response. Most manufacturers provide very little information about their boards on their sites and even when they do it is difficult to locate. In many cases, the motherboard is blamed for problems that are really the work of another piece of the hardware. The actual motherboard failure is rare, so the best thing to do is to look for an error that is not a true motherboard failure. Check the connections and other hardware connected to the motherboard. A bare-bone working system includes a motherboard, a processor, and a full bank of memory, a video card, and a drive to boot off. If these things are not connected properly, it will not work. Try removing everything else one by one and try to narrow down the problem. Correctly set the jumpers, the processor type, the speed, the voltage, the bus speed, etc. Consult the manual. If the BIOS are streamlined, return all settings to the default. If newer components are added more to an old system, the power supply might not be powerful enough. A mainstream power supply is either 250 or 300 watts. Troubleshoot other hardware in the computer. Check the manufacturer’s website to see if there is a known bug on a particular motherboard and if there are any updates for it.