AL-Azhar University Gaza

Faculty of Engineering & Information Technology

Microprocessors Laboratory report MOTHERBOARD

Student Name: Ahmed Ali AbuNasser 20113684

Submitted To:

ENG.

Mahmoud

hassanien

Second semester 2013/2014

Contents
MOTHERBOARD .......................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................ 1 Defention ................................................................................................................................................ 1 History of Motherboard ......................................................................................................................... 1 Differences between motherboards ....................................................................................................... 1 MOTHERBOARD COMPONENTS ........................................................................................................................... 2 COMMUNICATION NETWORKS ........................................................................................................................... 6 Parallel Data........................................................................................................................................... 6 Serial Data .............................................................................................................................................. 6 Which is better? ..................................................................................................................................... 7

MOTHERBOARD
INTRODUCTION DEFENTION A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main board, system board. The motherboard contains the connectors for attaching additional boards. Typically, the motherboard contains the CPU, BIOS, memory, mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel ports, expansion slots, and all the controllers required to control standard peripheral devices, such as the display screen, keyboard, and disk drive.

HISTORY OF MOTHERBOA RD Before the invention of microprocessors, computers were built in mainframes, with components which were connected by a backplane that had countless slots for connecting wires. In old designs, wires were needed to connect card connector pins but, soon they became a thing of past with the invent of PCBs. The CPU, memory and other peripherals were all housed on the printed circuit board. During the late 1980s and 1990s, it was found that increasing the number of peripheral functions on the PCB was very economical. Hence, single Integrated Circuits (ICs), capable of supporting low-speed peripherals like serial ports, mouse, keyboards, etc., were included on the motherboards. By the late 1990s, they began to have full range of audio, video, storage and networking functions on them. Higher end systems for 3D gaming and graphic cards were also include later. With the steadily declining costs and size of integrated circuits, it is now possible to include support for many peripherals on the motherboard. By combining many functions on one PCB, the physical size and total cost of the system may be reduced; highly-integrated motherboards are thus especially popular in small form factor and budget computers.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MOTHERBOARDS All motherboards are not born equal, and you can encounter myriad differences. The most important is the type of processor t supports. In addition, there will be memory module slots; expansion slots (such as PCI, PCIe and AGP) so you can add extras like sound and graphics cards; support for the hard and CD-ROM drives; and, finally, connectors for keyboard, mouse and peripherals. Its also becoming quite common for certain models o f board to have some built-in basic sound or graphic capabilities, and even integrated networking capabilities. Some motherboards even have 2 network ports built in.

MOTHERBOARD COMPONENTS

Figure 1: schematic design for a motherboard.

1.

Chipset A chipset or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product. A chipset is usually designed to work with a specific family of microprocessors. Because it controls communications between the processor and external devices, the chipset plays a crucial role in determining system performance. Current manufacturers of chipsets for PC-compatible motherboards include NVIDIA, AMD, VIA Technologies, SIS, Intel and Broadcom. Apple computers and UNIX workstations from Sun.

2.

USB CONNECTOR USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a specification to establish communication between devices and a host controller (usually personal computers). USB is intended to replace many varieties of serial and parallel ports. USB can connect computer peripheral such as mice, keyboards, digital cameras, printers, personal media players, flash drives, and external hard drives. For many of those devices, USB has become the standard connection method. USB was designed for personal computers, but it has become commonplace on other devices such as smartphones, PDAs and video game consoles, and as a power cord between a device and an AC adapter plugged into a wall plug for charging. As of 2008, there are about 2 billion USB devices sold per year, and approximately 6 billion total sold to date. The Universal Serial Bus gives you a single, standardized, easy-to-use way to connect up to 127 devices to a computer.

3.

DIMM SOCKET A DIMM. Or dual in-line memory module, comprises a series of dynamic random access memory integrated circuits. These modules are mounted on a printed circuit board and designed for use in personal computers. Workstations and servers. DLMMs began to replace SI MMs (single in-line memory modules) as the predominant type of memory module as Intels Pentium processors began to gain market share. The main difference between SLMMs and DIMMs is that standard SIMMs have a 32-bit data path, while standard DIMMs have a 64-bit data path. Two types of DIMMs: a 168-pin SD RAM module (top) and a 184-pin DDR SDRAM module (bottom).Note that the SDRAM module has two notches on the bottom edge, while the DDR1 SD RAM module has only one. Also note that both modules have 8 RAM chips, but the lower one has an unoccupied space for a 9th .

4.

CPU socket 3

A CPU socket or CPU slot is an electrical component that attaches to a printed circuit board and is designed to house a microprocessor. It is a special type of integrated circuit socket designed for very high pin counts. A CPU socket provides many functions, including providing a physical structure to support the CPU, providing support for a heatsink, facilitating replacement (as well as reducing cost) and most importantly forming an electrical interface both with the Cpu and the PCB. CPU sockets can most often be found in most desktop and server computers (laptops typically use surface mount CPUs), particularly those based on the Intel x86 architecture on the motherboard. Function A CPU socket is often made up of plastic, a metal lever or latch and metal contacts for each of the pins or lands on the CPU. Most packages are keyed to ensure the proper insertion of the CPU. CPUs with a PGA package are inserted into the socket and the latch is closed. This has the effect of physically securing and protecting the CPU as well as causing an electrical connection between all the CPU pins and the socket. In the case of LGA the CPU is placed onto the socket and a latch is closed over the CPU, securing it. Most CPU sockets are designed to support the installation of a heatsink.

5.

BIOS Bois is a special software in order to connect between OS & motherboard. It is known as first power on software of computer. Bois task is to prepare hardware and software for working compute r. This process is known as booting. BIOS is an acronym for Basic Input Output System. It is a program that stores configuration details about your computer hardware and enables your computer to boot up. Every time your computer is switched on the BIOS loads configuration data into main memory, performs a routine diagnostic test on your hardware, then loads the operating system. The BIOS resides in a ROM chip, which is mounted on the motherboard, usually in a socket so it is removable. Bios battery Bios consist of memory part that is named EEPROM. EEPROM is the most important feature when the electricity break keeping the data. It keeps the motherboard alive when the computer is off.

6.

CMOS A lot of information is recorded in the CMOS chip. For instance which device is first boot (CDROM or floppy) which driver is installed in CMOS CHIP, POWER OPTIONS etc. A semiconductor technology that uses less power and generates less heat (enabling higher circuit density) than bipolar semiconductor technologies.

7.

Isa slot ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) it is the standard architecture of the Expansion bus. Motherboard may contain some slots to connect ISA compatible cards. Only some card that proper 16 bit system can be inserted here.

8.

PCI Slot PCI slots (peripheral component interconnect) for connecting PCI cards. PCI slots are designed 32 bit system. So, it uses more common to ISA slots because it is much faster than ISA slots. That means cards working performance is increase.

9.

ATX connector ATX connector feature is provided power supply by motherboard. As long as the user does not touch mouse and keyboard, the screen is closed automatically via ATX connector.

10. COM Ports COMs ports, where is part of computer, are motherboards external connection i s via here. 11. AGP AGP (advanced graphic slot) Slots. There is only one on the motherboard. AGP slots are created special for display card. This slot works 128 bits system near to processor, the reason is that provide faster data transfer among processor.

12. IDE connector No matter what you do with your computer, storage is an important part of your system. In fact, most personal computers have one or more of the following storage devices: Floppy drive Hard drive CD-ROM drive

Usually, these devices connect to the computer through an Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interface. Essentially, an IDE interface is a standard way for a storage device to connect to a computer. IDE is actually not the true technical name for the interface standard. The original name, AT Attachment (ATA), signified that the interface was initially developed for the IBM AT computer. There are two IDE connector on the motherboard these connector are for hard disc and CDROM. These connectors provide connection among motherboard-hard disc and motherboard-CD ROM by data cable. 13. Floppy drive connector Data transfer is provided by cables 14. Sound Cards A sound card allows a computer to create and record real, high-quality sound. Numerous factors affect a sound cards abilities to provide clear, hig h-quality sound. When shopping for a sound card, pay attention to: ADC and DAC data capacity, measured in bits. 5

Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and total harmonic distortion (THD). Frequency response, or how loudly the card can play sounds at different frequencies. Sampling rate. Output channels, such as 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound. Supported application programming interfaces (APIs). Certifications, including Dolby Master and THX.

15. Northbridge An integrated circuit (generally Intel or VIA) that is responsible for the communications between the CPU interface, AGP, PCI and the memory. The Northbridge gets its name for commonly Northbridge of the PCI bus. Below is a graphic illustration of the ASUS P5AD2-E motherboard and some basic explanations of each of the major portions of the motherboard, including the Northbridge. As shown in the below picture, its common for the Northbridge and Southbridge to have a heatsink; in addition, the Northbridge is usually slightly larger than the Southbridge.

16. Southbridge The Southbridge can usually be distinguished from the Northbridge by not being directly connected to the CPU. Rather, the Northbridge ties the Southbridge to the CPU. Through the use of controller integrated channel circuitry, the Northbridge can directly link signals from the I/O units to the CPU for data control and access.

COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

In a digital communications system, there are 2 methods for data transfer: parallel and serial. Parallel connections have multiple wires running parallel to each other (hence the name), and can transmit data on all the wires simultaneously. Serial, on the other hand, uses a single wire to transfer the data bits one at a time. PARALLEL DATA The parallel port on modern computer systems is an example of a parallel communications connection. The parallel port has 8 data wires, and a large series of ground wires and control wires. IDE harddisk connectors and PCI expansion ports are another good example of parallel connections in a computer system. SERIAL DATA The serial port on modern computers is a good example of serial communications. Serial ports have either a single data wire, or a single differential pair, and the remainder of the wires are 6

either ground or control signals. USB, FireWire, SATA and PCI Express are good examples of other serial communications standards in modern computers. WHICH IS BETTER? It is a natural question to ask which one of the two transmission methods is better. At first glance, it would seem that parallel ports should be able to send data much faster than serial ports. Let's say we have a parallel connection with 8 data wires, and a serial connection with a single data wire. Simple arithmetic seems to show that the parallel system can transmit 8 times as fast as the serial system. However, parallel ports suffer extremely from inter-symbol interference (ISI) and noise, and therefore the data can be corrupted over long distances. Also, because the wires in a parallel system have small amounts of capacitance and mutual inductance, the bandwidth of parallel wires is much lower than the bandwidth of serial wires. We all know by now that an increased bandwidth leads to a better bit rate. We also know that less noise in the channel means we can successfully transmit data reliably with a lower Signal-to-Noise Ratio, SNR. If, however, we bump up the power in a serial connection by using a differential signal with 2 wires (one with a positive voltage, and one with a negative voltage), we can use the same amount of power, have twice the SNR, and reach an even higher bitrate without suffering the effects of noise. USB cables, for instance, use shielded, differential serial communications, and the USB 2.0 standard is capable of data transmission rates of 480Mbits/sec! In addition, because of the increased potential for noise and interference, parallel wires need to be far shorter than serial wires. Consider the standard parallel port wire to connect the PC to a printer: those wires are between 3 and 4 feet long, and the longest commercially available is typically 25 feet. Now consider Ethernet wires (which are serial, and typically unshielded twisted pair): they can be bought in lengths of 100 feet, and a 300 foot run is not uncommon!