Motherboard

• A motherboard is one of the most essential parts

of a computer system.
• It is a sheet of plastic that holds all circuitry to
connect the various components of the computer
system.
• Thin layers of copper or aluminum foil, referred
to as traces, are printed onto this sheet.
• It’s a motherboard which contains a number of
sockets and slots to connect the other
components.
 Function of Motherboard
• it is also responsible to distribute power to the various components of the
computer.
• the role of the motherboard is to allow the components to communicate
with each other.
• it is responsible for managing traffic of information within the computer
system, which it does by means of the motherboard chipset.
• the function of motherboard chipset is to direct the flow of data that the
computer components require.
Types of Motherboard
 AT Motherboard

• An AT motherboard is a motherboard which has dimensions of

the order of some hundred millimeters, big enough to be
unable to fit in mini desktops. The dimensions of this
motherboard make it difficult for the new drives to get
installed. The concept of six pin plugs and sockets is used so
as to work as the power connectors for this type of
motherboards.
• The hard to distinguish power connector sockets make it
difficult for many users to easily make the proper connections
and thus leading to the damage of the device.
• Produced in the mid 80’s, this motherboard lasted a good
span from the Pentium p5 to the times when Pentium 2 had
been started to be used.
ATX Motherboard

• Advanced technology extended, or popularly known as the ATX,

are the motherboards which were produced by the Intel in mid
90’s as an improvement from the previously working
motherboards such as AT.
• This type of motherboards differ from their AT counterparts in
the way that these motherboards allow the interchangeability
of the connected parts. Moreover the dimensions of this
motherboard are smaller than the AT motherboards and thus
proper place for the drive bays is also allowed.
• Some good changes were also made to the connector system of
the board. The AT motherboards had a keyboard connector and
on the back plates extra slots were provided for various add-
ons.
LPX Motherboard

• The low profile extension motherboards, better known as LPX

motherboards, were created after the AT boards in the 90’s.
• The major difference between these and previous boards is
that the input and output ports in these boards are present at
the back of the system. This concept proved to be beneficial
and was also adopted by the AT boards in their newer versions.
The use of a riser card was also made for the placement of
some more slots. But these riser cards also posed a problem
that the air flow was not proper.
• Also, some low quality LPX boards didn’t even have real AGP
slot and simply connected to the PCI bus. All these unfavored
aspects led to the extinction of this motherboard system and
was succeeded by the NLX.
BTX Motherboard

• BTX stands for Balanced Technology extended.

• BTX was developed to reduce or avoid some of the issues that came up while
using latest technologies. Newer technologies often demand more power and
they also release more heat when implemented on motherboards in
accordance with the circa-1996 ATX specification. The ATX standard and the
BTX standard, both were proposed by Intel. The first company to use, or to
be precise, implement BTX was Gateway Inc, followed by Dell and
MPC. Apple’s MacPro uses only some of the elements of the BTX design
system but it is not BTX compliant. This type of motherboard has some
improvements over previous technologies:
• Thermal design – The BTX design provides a straighter path of airflow with
lesser difficulties, which results in better overall cooling capabilities. Instead
of a dedicated cooling fan, a large 12 cm case-fan is mounted, that draws its
air directly from outside the computer and then cools the CPU through an air
duct. Another feature of BTX is the vertical mounting of the motherboard on
the left-hand side. This kind of feature results in the graphics card heat sink
or fan facing upwards, rather than in the direction of the adjacent expansion
card.
Pico BTX Motherboard

• Pico BTX is a motherboard form factor that is meant to

manufacture even smaller size BTX standard. This is smaller
than many current “micro” sized motherboards, hence the
name “Pico” has been used. Various computer cases for
instance, the Cooler Master Series (Stackers) were released to
support a wide range of motherboard standards such as ATX,
BTX, Mini-ATX and so on, in order to simplify motherboard
development without buying a new case; however, all
connector and slot standards are identical, including PCI(e)
cards, processors, RAM, hard drives, etc.
• BTX power supply units can be exchanged with latest ATX12V
units, but not with older ATX power supplies that don’t have
the extra 4-pin 12V connector.
Mini ITX Motherboard

• Mini-ITX is a 17 × 17 cm (6.7 × 6.7 in) low-

power motherboard form factor. It was designed by VIA
Technologies in year 2001. These are largely used in small
form factor (SFF) computer systems. Mini-ITX boards can also
be cooled easily because of their low power consumption
architecture. Such an architecture makes them widely useful
for home theater PC systems or systems where fan noise can
diminish the quality or worth of cinema experience.
 HISTORY OF
MOTHERBOARD
1981 The first motherboard, originally called a
"planar," was used in the IBM Personal
Computer.

1984 The AT, or Full AT, motherboard form factor was

introduced by IBM in August 1984.

1985 IBM introduced the Baby AT

motherboard form factor in 1985.
1987 The LPX motherboard form
factor was developed by Western 1995 Intel released the first
Digital in 1987. version of the ATX specification for
motherboards in July 1995.

1997 Intel, in a joint effort with

DEC and IBM, developed the NLX
form factor in March 1997.
1997 The first motherboards with
AGP support are released in August
1997 by Intel and November 1997 by
FIC.
1997 The microATX motherboard and
specification was introduced by Intel in
December 1997.

1998 Intel introduced the WTX

motherboard form factor in
September 1998.
1999 Intel introduced the Flex
ATX motherboard form factor in
1999. 2000 Kontron introduced the ETX
motherboard specification in early
2000.

2001 The UTX motherboard form

factor was introduced by TQ-
Components in 2001.
2001 The Mini-ITX form factor was
developed and introduced to the 2003 The PCI Express standard is
market by VIA Technologies in introduced in 2003 by the PCI-SIG.
November 2001. Motherboards with a PCI Express slot
were released later the same year.

2003 The Nano-ITX form factor

for motherboards was introduced
in March 2003.
2004 NVIDIA introduced their SLI 2004 Intel released the BTX form factor
technology in 2004, allowing the and specification for motherboards in
ability to link two video cards February 2004. The microBTX and
together on a motherboard. PicoBTX form factors were also released
the same year.

2004 The Mobile-ITX form

factor for motherboards was
introduced in March 2004.
2005 The PICMG, a group of over
150 companies, introduced the 2005 The XTX motherboard form factor
COM Express form factor in 2005. and specification was released in 2005.

2006 Using two video cards with a

microATX motherboard became
possible in 2006 for computer
gamers.
2006 Supermicro released the 2007 The Pico-ITX form factor for
SWTX motherboard form factor in motherboards was introduced in April 2007.
2006.

2007 AMD developed the DTX form factor

in January 2007. AMD also developed and
released the Mini-DTX form factor in 2007.
2010 EVGA released the HPTX
motherboard form factor in 2010.
 PARTS OF
MOTHERBOARD
Reporters: Ebajo, Bonete, and Saturinas
 (RAM Slots)

(Input/Output
(CPU Slot)
Ports)
(Power Connectors)

(BIOS and CMOS)

(Expansion card
slots)
(IDE and SATA
connector)

(Cabinet
Connections)
BIOS(Basic Input Output System) Chip
• This is where all the information and settings of the motherboard are
stored. It can be accessed, updated, and modified via the BIOS mode.

• It is a firmware stored in a chip on your computer's motherboard. It is

the first program that runs when you turn on your computer.
CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-
semiconductor) battery
• Is what’s responsible for keeping all the information intact when
the entire system is shut down.
• CMOS chip is volatile and to maintain the settings, you need the
CMOS Battery. Because CMOS chip needs constant power to
maintain its content or settings
Input/Output Ports
• Is a socket on a computer
that a cable is plugged into.

• I/O port is a memory

address used by software to
communicate with hardware
on your computer
 IDE(Integrated Drive Electronics) and SATA(Serial
Advanced Technology Attachment connector (Storage
Device Connectors)

• IDE- is used to hook up disk drives, floppy disks, and HDD. This is a 40-
pin male connector that connects the HDD.
• SATA- is the latest connector with a 7-pin interface. Despite having 33
fewer pins, this is faster than the IDE connectors.
Power Connectors
• The ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) connector (found in more
recent motherboards) has 20 or 24-pin female connectors. This is the
largest connector on the motherboard as this draws out the needed
power directly from the power supply.
• The SMPS, or switched-mode power supply, then utilizes this electricity
to power the motherboard and keep it running.
Cabinet Connections

• This is where you connect the Power Switch, the LED

power indicator, the Reset Switch, the HDD LED. The
front audio port and front USB are also connected
here. These connections are also usually located at
the bottom part of the motherboard.
CPU Socket

• The CPU socket is where your CPU, or processor, sits. This is where
the processing and transfer of data happens. Your CPU is one of
the most important parts of your computer, so you often choose
your motherboard based on compatibility with the CPU you intend
to use should be compatible with the motherboard’s socket in
order for it to work.
Expansion Card Slots

• If you’re going to add a new component to the motherboard, or in

case you wish to upgrade to a dedicated graphics card from an
integrated graphics card, the expansion card slots let you do just
that. Here are the types of expansion card slots you will usually
find on a motherboard:
• Video card slot
• Network card slot
• Modem card slot
• Audio card slot
RAM (Memory) Slots

• RAM, or Random Access Memory, slots are one of the most

important parts on a motherboard.
• The RAM slots are, unsurprisingly, where you place the RAM
modules. There is the SIMM slot (Single in-line memory module)
that only supports 32-bit bus and there is the DIMM slot (Dual
inline memory module) that can simultaneously run with a 64-bit
bus.