Inside Your Motherboard:
This motherboard parts introduction explains the main goal of your motherboard in your computer. The most important parts are explained with only a brief introduction to the technologies behind them not to bore the newcomer who may be confused.
For those who are seeking more advanced information you will find links throughout the content and at the bottom as how to install a motherboard.
The Main Goal of Motherboard :
The main goal is to connect all the hardware together like hard drives, memory modules, CPU, etc...
A computer mother board is made of several parts, and each one has a hardware that can be connected to it. On the right, the image is showing a modern motherboard with all its parts.
If you click on the link under the image, you will find a larger image with the motherboard parts name.
Learning about your motherboard parts help to understand how upgrade able it is.
The Processor Socket :
Sockets are the home for your Central Processor Unit (CPU). Several types of socket exist, but only 2 of them are really used, and both of them are used by Intel and AMD. The Pin Grid Array (PGA) and the Land Grid Array (LGA).
CPU Socket
With the type PGA, the CPU will have pins to fit in the socket holes, but with the type LGA, the CPU will not have such pins and will just sit on the socket.
I am discussing this subject in more details in the CPU socket type guide.
To know the form of CPU your motherboard can use and the range of powers and FSBs, look in your motherboard's book. The book that comes with your motherboard has a chart about it in the socket or CPU chapter. That information will give you an idea to how far you can upgrade your CPU.
- CPU Socket Specifications
- How to install cpu step by step
Slots and Connectors :
Memory Slots :
Memory slots also call memory banks are for Random Access Memory modules (RAM). Each memory bank can receives a RAM module designed for a specific pc mother board. Ranging from 2 to 4 banks, you will encounter single and dual-channel technologies.
Memory Banks
With single-channel, you can use 1, 2 or 3 Ram modules, and it should work perfectly. On the other hand, with dual-channel technology, if you fill only 1 bank, you will lose some strength from your module.
To get the most of it, you need to fill 2 banks with the same module types, from the same manufacturer with exactly the same memory amounts.
If you want 1GB of memory, you need to use 2 512MB modules from the same manufacturer with the same technology type. This way, motherboards use the modules strength to its full capacity. Otherwise it may not work at all.
Like the socket, to find out the type, the manufacturer and the total MB or GB quantity you can use, take a look in your motherboard's book. You should be able to find everything you need.
- Introduction to Desktop Computer Memory
- How to Install Computer Memory step by step
Main Power Connector And The 4 Pins Connector :
The main power connector is uses to get the electric energy from the power supply which the motherboard require to function properly.
24 Pins Main Power Connector
There are 2 main power connector types for those motherboard parts. The 20 pins + 4 pins (2 separate connectors on the same motherboard), and the 24 pins.
Not all power supplies have the 2 types, but it is possible to work around the problem if you run into an incompatibility situation. Which will be discussed in a future power supply guide about how to install it and where to plug the connectors.
- Introduction to Computer Power Supplies
IDE, ATA And S-ATA Interface Connectors :
Many interface standards have been created throughout the years, maybe too many for discussing about all of them. I will then talk about the ATA and the S-ATA only as the IDE is the same thing as the ATA, only the name has changed. Also I will be brief because it is more a hard drive topic than anything else.
IDE/ATA And SATA Interface
The Advance Technology Attachment (ATA) interface is used to connect hard drives and optic drives. You can attach 2 drives on the same ribbon, 1 master and the other slave, and it supports almost all modern hard drives storage capacities.
Modern computer mother boards have the new interface called Serial Advance Technology Attachment (S-ATA). It is faster than the ATA and only 1 device can be attached to it. The wire is thinner than his predecessor and surely help at the cooling process inside the computer case.
I cover the topic in more details in the What Is SATA Interface guide.
Floppy Drive Connector :
Floppy Drive Connector
Plug your "3.5" floppy drive there. Not really used now, they are going to disappear completely very soon.
32 bit PCI Slots, AGP And PCIe :
32 bit slots Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) are used to install sound cards, graphic cards, Ethernet cards and modems.
PCI, AGP or PCIe Ports
The motherboard parts Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and PCI Epress (PCIe) focus on graphic cards only. AGP standards use x2, x4 or x8 technologies. AGP 8 being the best, it is highly boosting your graphics and video performances. In Comparison with his old brother PCI, it is day and night.
PCIe standard is even better than AGP standard, and mostly the only one used right now. Some like to say, PCIe is a AGP standard at x16 and it is the #1 choice for gaming machines right now.
More motherboard content will be written on it, especially for graphic cards.
Back Panel Connectors :
Back Panel Connectors
When the computer is mounted, those motherboard parts show up at the computer case back panel. They are used to plug the mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer, sound system and any other peripherals you may have.
More about Connectors and Chips :
1 - Firewire header
Firewire is also known as IEEE 1394. It is basically a high performance serial bus for digital and audio equipment to exchange data. The technology preceded USB but yet is faster than any current USB port. Often used for transferring digital video to the PC straight from a digital camera. The FireWire header onboard means you can install a FireWire port on your machine. Again these cables are often supplied as an optional extra which you will need to check with the retailer to see if they are supplied with your board.
2 - PCI Express 16x slots
Now the most common slot for Graphics cards, the PCI Express 16x slots provides 16 separate lanes or data transfer. PCI express 1.0 slots offer a data transfer rate of 250MB/s the second generation of PCI express (PCI Express 2.0) offers twice the data rate at 500MB/s. Currently in development is PCI Express 3.0 which offers 1GB/s of data transfer. PCI Express 16x slots are also the basis for both SLI and Crossfire multi graphics card setups. With the increasing demands graphics cards are putting on systems, no less than a 16 lane slot will be good enough for any modern graphics card.
3 - PCI Express 1x Slot
Like the PCI Express 16x above the 1x slot uses exactly the same system but only has a single lane of serial data transfer. These slots are used for expansion cards that do no require the same amount of data transfer that a graphics card requires. You will usually find components such as tv tuners, network cards and sound cards make use of the PCI Express 1x slot. You will also notice the difference in size between the 1x and the 16x slots. The PCI Express 1x slot is noticeably smaller and easy to spot.
4 - Chipset - North Bridge (with heatsink)
The Motherboards chipset can be described as what sets it apart from other boards in its category. Different chipsets contain different features and components. A chipset is a number of integrated circuits built onto the board to provide specific functions e.g. one part of the chipset may be an onboard component such as a modem or sound chip. Other parts may be used to control the CPU functions. Most chipsets are designed to work with only one "class" of CPU although now many older chipsets support more than one type of CPU such as socket 7 which supports the Pentium, Cyrix 686, Cyrix MII, AMD K6 and K6-2. There are certain restrictions though to what type of processor a chipset can handle because of the logic that the CPU uses to access the memory and its cache etc. Since these chips are working harder with each generation, motherboard manufacturers have started to put heatsinks and active coolers (fans) on the main parts of the chipset to disperse some of the heat. For more information on chipsets see our What does a chipset doarticle.
5 and 8 - ATX Power connector
The standard ATX power connector, the cable for this will be coming from the PSU, a clip is normally provided to make sure you get them in the correct order. As a tip, don't try to push too hard if its stuck, check to see that it is in the correct way, I have seen plenty of power connectors where the pins have pushed out some of the connectors, these can be difficult to get back into place, so its best to be careful.
6 - CPU (Central Processing Unit) socket
All the CPU "sockets look very similar, however they are different in the way they have different amount of pins and in different layouts. There are currently two major CPU socket types PGA and LGA. PGA or Pin Grad Array uses a system of pins on the CPU and holes on the socket to line up and hold a CPU in place. The introduction of the ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket for PGA types allowed the CPU's to be lined up without any pressure on the CPU until a level is pulled down. LGA or Land Grid Array uses a system of gold plated copper pads that make contact with the motherboard. It is very important to read your motherboard manual to discover what types of CPU's you motherboard supports as most motherboards are aimed at a specific type of CPU.
7 - DIMM (Double Inline Memory Module) slots
DIMM's are by far and away the most used memory types in today's computers. They vary in speeds and standards however and they need to match up to what your motherboard has been designed to take. The four standards of DIMM's being used at the moment are SDR (Single Data Rate), DDR (Double Data Rate), DDR2 and DDR3. The speeds of memory can vary between 66Mhz to 1600Mhz.
9 - Motherboard controls
Not available on all motherboards, but some allow direct control of the motherboard via simple buttons. Power switch, error checking, CMOS clearing, passwords and more features can be accessed directly on the motherboard on some models.
10 - Chipset - South Bridge
When we talk about chipsets you mainly only ever hear about the North bridge. Even those into PC technology have a hard time naming the south bridges without looking them up. Names like Nforce 2 and KT600 are North bridges. The South Bridge does an important job as well. It handles things like the PCI bus, onboard Network and sound chips as well as the IDE and S-ATA buses.
11 - Serial ATA Connector
Serial ATA or more commonly seen as S-ATA is a new way of connecting your Hard Drives to your PC. S-ATA drives have the capability of being faster than the IDE counterparts and also have smaller thinner cables which help with the airflow of the system. S-ATA hard disks are fast becoming the norm for hard drive technology. Current motherboards feature both IDE and S-ATA connectors to facilitate all types of storage hardware.
12 - USB 2.0 header
As well as having USB ports on the rear of the motherboard, motherboard manufacturers often add a couple of USB headers so you can connect optional cables for extra USB ports. These cables are often supplied and you only need to add them on if you need the extra connectivity. USB 2.0 replaced USB 1.1 as a much faster solution. It is backwards compatible meaning all USB 1.1 devices will work in these new USB 2.0 ports.
13 - Motherboard Battery
The battery gives the board a small amount of power in order to store some vital data on your machine when the power is off. Data stored is that like the time and date so you don't have to reset them every time you boot the machine up. Motherboard batteries are usually long lasting Lithium batteries. Removing this can reset all the data on your machine including the BIOS settings, however not replacing this correctly can lead to irreparable damage to the motherboard. Only remove the battery if it is dead or if you can't have access any other way to resetting the data on your machine by use of the clear CMOS jumper or something similar.
14 - PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slot
The PCI bus (not PCI express) is now an older technology and although the PCI slots are still available, they have decreased in number and are being replaced by the PCI Express 1x slots. Its unlikely that you will get a motherboard without a PCI slot at the moment due to the fact that a lot of components still use the standard PCI slot. It would be awkward to upgrade to a system without PCI slots as it may mean upgrading more components than you would like to,
15 - Floppy Drive Connector
More simple than the IDE connector you only have to remember to get the red line to pin 1 of the connector and the red line to pin 1 on the floppy drive, This port is only to be used with floppy drives. You may not have a floppy controller on your motherboard as its slowly being phased out as more people are using writable CD's and DVDs to transfer data, to store data and to use as boot up discs.
16 - IDE connector Not on Diagram
The connector to which you will insert an IDE cable (supplied with motherboard) IDE cables connect devices such as hard disks, CD Drives and DVD Drives. The current 4 standards of IDE devices are ATA 33/66/100 and 133. the numbers specify the amount of data in Mb/s in a max burst situation. In reality there is not much chance of getting a sustain data rate of this magnitude. Both the connectors and devices are backwards compatible with each other, however they will only run at the slowest rated speed between them. All IDE cables will come with a red line down one side, this red line is to show which way it should be plugged in. The red line should always connect to pin one of the IDE port. Checking your motherboard documentation should show you which end is pin one. In some cases it will be written on the board itself.
In the case of ATA 66/100/133 there is a certain order that you plug devices in, the cable is colour coded to help you get them in the correct order.
- The Blue connector should be connected to the system board
- The Black connector should be connected to the master device
- The Grey Connector should be connected to the slave device
17 - BIOS (Basic Input Output System) Chip - Not on Diagram
The BIOS holds the most important data for your machine, if configured incorrectly it could cause your computer not to boot correctly or not at all. The BIOS also informs the PC what the motherboard supports in terms off CPU etc. This is why when a new CPU is introduced that physically fits into a slot or socket you may need a BIOS update to support it. The main reason for this is that different CPU's use different logics and methods and so the BIOS has to understand certain instructions from the CPU to recognise it.
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