KENYA METHODIST UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT; COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GROUP MEMBERS NJOROGE GACHUMI DANIEL TIMOTHY

OTHY MWANGI CHEGE NJOGU FOZIA NYAMBURA ####### CAROLINE ###### ASSIGNMENT; COMPUTER MOTHERBOARD LECTURER; TIMOTHY ##### DUE DATE; 28TH MARCH 2012

MOTHERBOARD
A motherboard is the underlying circuit board of a computer. It is main circuit board of a microcomputer it is also the central processing unit (CPU) where Random Access Memory (RAM), hard drive, disk drives and optical drives are all plug The motherboard contains the connectors for attaching additional boards, the CPU, BIOS, memory, mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel, expansion slots, and all the controllers required to control standard outlying devices, such as the display screen, keyboard, and disk drive into interfaces on the motherboard The early pioneers of motherboard manufacturing were Micronics, Mylex, AMI, DTK, Hauppauge, Orchid Technology, Elite group, DFI, and a number of Taiwan-based manufacturers

TYPES OF MOTHERBOARD There are primarily two types of motherboards AT motherboard (Advanced Technology) ATX motherboard(Advanced Technology Extended)

FORM FACTORS From ATX to BTX(balanced technology extended) The form factors of a motherboard determine the specification for its general shape and size. What differentiates form factors of motherboards is their size, arrangement of components on the boards, and other details. Cases and power supplies are also classified into the same form factors; they all have to match to some extent for the components to fit properly into the case. AT & Baby AT Prior to 1997, IBM computers used large motherboards, the size of the motherboard was reduced and boards using the AT form factor was released.

The AT form factor is found in older computer, some of the problems with this form factor mainly arose from the physical size of the board, which is 12" wide, often causing the board to overlap with space required for the drive bays. With the Baby AT form factor the width of the motherboard was decreased from 12" to 8..5", regulating problems making it popular and was designed for peripheral devices to be contained on circuit boards connected by way of expansion slots on the motherboard. ATX (Advanced Technology Extension) With the need for a more integrated form factor which defined standard locations for the keyboard, mouse, I/O, and video connectors, in the mid 1990's the ATX form factor was introduced.

 Since the expansion slots were put onto separate riser cards that plugged into the motherboard, the overall size of the computer and its case was reduced. Some of the design improvements included, a single 20-pin connector for the power supply, a power supply to blow air into the case instead of out for better air flow, less overlap between the motherboard and drive bays, and integrated I/O Port connectors soldered directly onto the motherboard. Micro-ATX MicroATX followed the ATX form factor and offered the same benefits but improved the overall system design costs through a reduction in the physical size of the motherboard. This was done by reducing the number of I/O slots supported on the board.

 LPX (low profile extension) The LPX form factor is found in low-profile cases with a riser card arrangement for expansion cards where expansion boards run parallel to the motherboard. By saving space the products are generally difficult to repair due to a lack of space and overall non-standardization. The LPX form factor Is not suited to upgrading and offer poor cooling. NLX Boards based on the NLX form factor hit the market in the late 1990s. This "updated LPX" form factor offered support for larger memory modules, tower cases, AGP video support and reduced cable length. In addition, motherboards are easier to remove. In NLX there is more component option for upgrading and repair and well-suited to mass market retail PCs

 BTX (Balanced Technology Extended) The BTX , unlike its predecessors is not an evolution of a previous form factor but a total break away from the popular and dominating ATX form factor. Changes to the layout with the BTX form factor include better component placement for back panel I/O controllers and it is smaller than MicroATX systems It provides the industry push to tower size with an increased number of system slots.

DIFFERENCE The AT and ATX motherboards differ in the form factor AT motherboards are older Full AT is 12" wide x 13.8" deep, and Baby AT is 8.57" wide x 13.04" deep whereas Full-ATX is 12" wide x 9.6" deep and Mini-ATX is 11.2" wide x 8.2" deep AT has 5-pin large keyboard power supply connector whereas ATX has 6-pin mini connector AT has single row two connectors +/-5V, and +/-12V, whereas ATX motherboard has double row single connector providing +/-5V, +/-12V, and +3.3V

COMPONENTS OF MOTHERBOARD

Central Processing Unit (CPU) Socket This socket is the home for your computer's processor. There are 2 types of sockets that are commonly used by the major processors (Intel and AMD), these are Pin Grid Array (PGA) and the Land Grid Array (LGA). ADVANTAGES They allow the simple swapping (Move a piece of a program into memory)of processors inside a machine, and this allows computer users to really enhance the versatility of their computer.

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Motherboard Battery Compartment The compartment is present on the surface of your motherboard. RAM slots (DIMM and SIMM) These are the slots that hold the RAM (random access memory)chips of your computer They are usually of two types, DIMM (Double Inline Memory Module) SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) Memory chips of different sizes can be attached here so as to increase the efficiency of the machine, and to make it more comfortable to work on multiple programs at a time.

 Power Connector The motherboard requires the power to function properly and this power supply comes from the main power connector. There are usually two main types of connectors; 20 + 4 pins (when there are two connectors on the same motherboard), and the 24 pins. PS/2 Connectors Every motherboard contains two PS/2 connectors, one for the keyboard and one for the mouse. These are color coded ports (purple is for the keyboard and green is for the mouse) and have been around ever since computers showed up in the 80's. Today these ports are being edged out by USB ports, but they are still prevalent.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) Port They are used for connecting external devices like USB flash drives, external hard disks, iPods, MP3 players and cameras Game Port This port is mostly used to connect the devices that are used for gaming purposes. Gamepads, joysticks and other gaming accessories can be attached to the machine through this port and this flexibility is something that many users and gamers find highly useful. Display Connector This port is used to connect the computer monitor of the machine to the back panel. This is the primary connection between the monitor and the CPU itself, so there is no question of this part being absent in any desktop computer.

 Sound card connector Sound devices like headphones and microphones are connected here. Most computers have inbuilt sound cards. The most common use of this connector is for multimedia purpose.