Chapter

M OTHERBOARD A ND I TS C OMPONENTS
[16 Marks]

Chapter Details
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Introduction Chipset Basics Architecture of Intel Chipsets Buses on Motherboard (Expansion OR I/O Slot) Logical Memory Organization Cache Memory Overview and Features of Main Memory - SDRAM, DDR, DDR2, DDR3 Features of Intel Processors Processor Modes BIOS Basics Motherboard Selection Criteria

1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11

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Computer Architecture and Maintenance

Graphical and Statistical representation of questions asked from this chapter in previous years MSBTE Question Papers

Statistical Analysis MSBTE paper S-2010 W-2010 S-2011 Total marks questions asked in this chapter 10 18 22

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1.1

INTRODUCTION

A computer is a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve and process data. The architecture of computer is the conceptual design and fundamental operational structure of a computer system, whereas computer maintenance is the practice of keeping computers in a good state. The basic fig. 1.1. structure of the computer is shown in

Computer with its components

ROM PCI slots BIOS chip

CMOS battery

(Spk-out/Mic-in/Line-in/MIDI/Game port) Built-in audio connectors Serial and parallel ports AMR slot AGP slot

USB ports

PS/2 connectors

Fan connector

CPU slot

CPU socket

ATX power connector

ISA slot Northbridge Motherboard chipset EIDE port Southbridge DIMM sockets memory slots

Floppy disk port Front panel connectors Power LED, HD LED, Power switch, Reset and Speaker

Figure 1.1: Components of motherboard

Based on these structures different Personal Computers (PCs) are designed. The different components and peripherals in a modern PC system are: 1. Motherboard 2. Processor 3. Memory (RAM/ROM) 4. Interface cards/daughter boards. 5. SMPS

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Computer Architecture and Maintenance

Input unit

Control unit

Output unit

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Hard disk drive CD-ROM drive Keyboard Mouse Monitor

Memory unit CPU

Motherboard and Its Components

The most important component in any PC is the motherboard, also called as system board. It houses a microprocessor, memory and slots for expansion, of the system. Some motherboards also contain the drive interface logic, printer interface logic and serial interface logic integrated on it. Motherboard comes in different sizes, shapes and models. The height and width of the motherboard is known as motherboard form factor. The main functional blocks of a motherboard are as follows: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. CPU BIOS RAM Cache memory Bus expansion slots On-board IO connectors On-board IDE connectors.

Form Factor
The shape and size of mother board

i.

ii.

iii.

iv.

CPU: The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the brain of the computer in which majority of the computing tasks are performed. The CPU may have a heat sink installed on it, to dissipate heat generated by the CPU. BIOS (Basic Input Output System): BIOS is a ROM chip. It contains programs that are necessary for the PC to boot and to access the various system components. BIOS also contains the programs for POST (Power On Self Test). RAM (Random Access Memory): RAM is used for storing programs temporarily. Generally RAM is located on SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) or DIMM (Dual Inline Memory Module). Cache Memory: The cache is the fastest memory which lies between CPU and RAM. The CPU can access the frequently required data from cache more rapidly than from RAM. Bus Expansion Slots/I/O Slots: System expansion is possible using the bus expansion slots in which the adapters are installed. The different types of slots such as ISA, VESA, PCI are available on motherboard.

v.

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On-board I/O Connectors: In recent systems one or two serial ports (com1, com2) and parallel ports (LPT1, LPT2) are present on motherboard. On-board IDE Connectors: Similar to serial and parallel parts the motherboard may have IDE connectors for connecting. Floppy Disk Drives (FDD), Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and CD Drives.

1.2

CHIPSET BASICS

Chipset
Set of two or three chips with integrated logics to support processor.

To reduce the number of chips on the motherboard, the logics around the processor are integrated into two or three chips. These chips work in conjunction with processor. These chips contain more than one logic like DMA logic, timer logic, interrupt logic and peripheral interface logic. Hence these chips are called as chipset. Processor is the brain the In PC, the chipset represents the connection between the chipset is the central processor and everything else. The processor cant talk to the nervous system of computer. memory, adapter boards, devices without going through the chipset/ If processor is the brain, the chipset is spine and central nervous system of computer. The chipset manufacturers are Intel, Acer Labs, Silicon Integrated System (SIS) and AMD etc. To maximize performance of a motherboard picks up a proper microprocessor and a good chipset.

1.2.1

Chipset Architecture

Intel has used two different chipset architectures: i. North/South bridge architecture ii. Hub architecture. All the chipsets introduced from the 800 series onwards, use the hub architecture.

1.2.2

North/South Bridge Architecture

Most of Intels earlier chipsets are broken into a multi-tiered architecture, consisting North and South Bridge components as well as a Super I/O Chip. Fig. 1.2 shows North/South Bridge architecture. i. The North Bridge: North bridge is the connection between the high-speed processor bus and the slower AGP and PCI buses. Sometimes, it is referred as the PAC (PCI/AGP Controller). It is the main component of the motherboard which is placed beside the processor. It runs at full motherboard (processor bus) speed.

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Computer Architecture and Maintenance

ii.

iii.

Most of the modern chipsets use a single chip North bridge, however older ones consist of up to three different chips. The South Bridge: South bridge is the connection between the PCI bus and the slower ISA bus. It is the lower speed component in the chipset and has always been a single individual chip. The south bridge connects to the 33 MHz PCI bus and contains the interface or bridge to the 8 MHz ISA bus. It also contains dual IDE hard disk controller interfaces, one to two USB interfaces and even CMOS RAM and real-time clock functions. It contains all the components that make up the ISA bus, including the interrupt and DMA controllers. The Super I/O Chip: It is connected to the 8 MHz ISA bus and contains all the standard peripherals that are built into a motherboard such as serial ports, parallel ports, floppy controller, keyboard and mouse interface. Some motherboards have a super south bridge containing south bridge and super I/O functions into a single chip.
CPU Clock generator Graphics card slot High-speed graphics (AGP or PCI express) Chipset Front-side bus

Memory slots Memory bus

Northbridge (Memory controller hub) Internal bus Southbridge (I/O controller hub)

PCI bus

Onboard graphics controller

PCI bus

IDE SATA USB Ethernet Audio codec CMOS memory

Cables and port leading off-board

PCI slots Super I/O LPC bus Flash ROM (BIOS) Serial port Parallel port Floppy disk Keyboard Mouse

Figure 1.2: Architecture of north/south bridge

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1.2.3

Hub Architecture

The newer chipsets from Intel use hub architecture. In hub architecturem, North bridge chip is called as Memory Controller Hub (MCH) and South bridge chip is called as I/O Controller Hub (ICH). Systems that include integrated graphics use a Graphics Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) instead of MCH. The standard South/North bridges are connected through PCI bus, but here they are connected via a dedicated hub interface that is at least twice as fast as PCI. This design allows a much greater throughput for PCI devices because there is no south bridge chip using the PCI bus. There are two main variations in the hub interface: i. ii. AHA (Accelerated Hub Architecture): It is used by 8 series of chipsets. It has twice the throughput of PCI. DMI (Direct Media Interface): It is used by 9 and 3 series chipsets. DMI is basically a dedicated 4 bit wide PCI Express connection allowing 1 GBps in each direction.

Following fig. 1.3 shows hub architecture:

Intel* Pentium 4 processor supporting HT technology 6.4 GB/s Intel* GMA 900 graphics 82915G GMCH PCI Express* 16 graphics 8.0 MB/s 2 GB/s DMI Intel high definition audio 4 PCI Express* 1 500 MB/s 60 MB/s BIOS supports HT technology
Figure 1.3: Hub architecture / architecture of Intel Chipset 915 G

DDR/DDR2 8.5GB/s DDR/DDR2

150 MB/s ICH6R 133 MB/s

4 serial ATA ports 6 PCI Intel* matrix storage technology

8 Hi-speed USB 2.0 ports

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Computer Architecture and Maintenance

ARCHITECTURE OF INTEL CHIPSETS

As Intel develops new processor, it develops chipsets and motherboards simultaneously. Here we are going to study architecture of Intel chipset 915 G and 945 G.

1.3.1

Intel Chipset 915 G

The Intel 915 chipset family was introduced in 2004. This family has six members - 910 GL, 915 PL, 915 P, 915 G, 915 GV and 915 GL, all of which support the 90 mm Pentium-4 prescott core. These chipsets are the first to support the socket 775 processor interface. This chipset model support the Hyper Threading (HT) Technology feature built into most recent Pentium 4 processors. It supports bus speed upto 800 MHz. It supports dual channel DDR memory upto 400 MHz and PCI - Express X1 and PCI version 2.2 expansion slots. This also supports the new DDR2 memory standard at speed upto 533 MHz. The 915 G has a PCI express X16 slot as well as integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900. All 915 series MCH/GMCH chips use the new ICH6 family of South Bridge replacements. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Features of Intel 915 G Chipset (refer fig. 1.3 ) Code Name Port Number Bus Speeds : : : Grandsdale - G 828915 G 800 / 533 MHz Pentium IV, Celeron, Celeron-D No DDR 333 / 400, Dual Channel DDR2 4GB 2 PCI Expres-X1, X16, PCI 2.2 33MHz/32 bit Yes No Extreme Graphics 3 ICH6 family

Supported Processor : SMP (dual CPUs) Memory Types Maximum Memory : : :

Memory banks : PCI Support : PCI Speed/Width : PCI Express X-16 Video: AGP slot : Integrated Video : South Bridge (Hub) :

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1.3.2

Intel Chipset 945 G

The Intel 945 Express Chipset family was released in 2005. It includes 3 members 945 G, 945 P and 945 PL. This chipset is the first to support Intels new dual core Pentium D processors. It also supports Pentium-4 Hyper Threading (HT) Technology processors using socket 775. The 945 G is aimed as the Performance PC. It offers Front Side Bus (FSB) speed up to 1,066 MHz. It supports up to 4GB of dual-channel DDR2 memory (2 pairs) running at upto 667 MHz. It features PCI Express X16 support and also incorporates Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 integrated graphics. All members of the 945 family support the ICH7 family of I/O controller hub chips. The ICH7 family differs from ICH6 in the following ways: i. ii. iii. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. It has support for 300 MBps serial ATA. It has support for SATA RAID 5 and Matrix RAID. It has support for two additional PCI-Express X1 ports. Features of Intel 945 G Chipset Code Name Port Number Bus Speed : : : Lakeport GG 82945 G 1066 / 800 / 533 MHz Pentium-D, Pentium-4 with HT Technology No DDR2 667/533/400 MHz dual channel DDR2 4GB 2 PCI Expres-X1, X16, PCI 2.3 33MHz/32 bit Yes No GMA 900 ICH7 family

Supported Processors : SMP (Dual CPUs) Memory Types Maximum Memory Memory banks PCI Support PCI Speed/Width : : : : : :

PCI Express X-16 Video: AGP slot Integrated Video South Bridge (Hub) : : :

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Computer Architecture and Maintenance

Intel Pentium*D processor Support for media expansion card Intel GMA 950 graphics 82945G GMCH PCI Express* 16 graphics 8.0 GB/s 2 GB/s DMI Intel high definition audio 8 Hi-speed USB 2.0 ports 4 PCI Express* 60 MB/s 500 MB/s each 82801GR ICH7R 133 MB/s 1 LPC or SPI BIOS supports 3GB/s each 4 serial ATA ports Intel matrix storage technology 6 PCI 8.5 GB/s

DDR2 10.7GB/s DDR2

Intel PRO/1000 LAN Intel active management technology

Figure 1.4: Architecture of Intel Chipset 945 G

1.4
Bus is a group of wires through which CPU communicates with memory and other peripherals.

BUSES ON MOTHERBOARD (EXPANSION OR I/O SLOT)

The heart of any motherboard is the various buses that carry signals between the components. Bus is a group of wires through which the CPU communicates with memory, coprocessor, keyboard and other ICs in the motherboard. The PC has a hierarchy of different buses as the processor bus and I/O buses. The processor bus is also called as Front Side Bus (FSB). It is the communication pathway between the CPU and motherboard chipset. This bus runs at the full motherboard speed.

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The I/O bus enables your CPU to communicate with peripheral devices. It enables you to add devices to your computer to expand its capabilities. The different I/O buses on motherboard are as follows: i. iii. v. ISA PCI-Xpress AGP ii. iv. vi. PCI-X PCMCIA Processor Bus (FSB)

1.4.1

ISA (Industry Standard Architecture)

ISA is the 8 bit bus architecture that was used in IBM-PC in 1981. It was later expanded to 16 bits. It is a very slow speed bus which is ideal for certain slow speed or older peripherals such as plug-in modems, sound cards etc. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. Features of 8 bit ISA Bus It provides 8 data lines. It has four DMA channels. It has eight IRQ levels. 20 addressing lines. 8 bit ISA slot handles 1 MB of memory. 8 bit version ran at 4.77 MHz It provides Bandwidth 4.17 MBps. Features of 16 bits ISA Bus

Types of ISA slots

It was introduced as 16 bit ISA bus used in IBM PC/AT in 1984. It has 16 data lines. 24 address lines 8-DMA channels Interrupt requests Backward compatible with 8 bit TSA bus. Ran at 8.33 MHz. Bandwidth 8.33 MBps

1.4.2

EISA (Extended ISA)

This architecture support 32 bit buses with much higher data transfer rates upto 33 MBps. It provides backward compatibility to 8 bit and 16 bit ISA cards.

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Features i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

Computer Architecture and Maintenance

32 bit data bus It handles 4GB of memory. 8.33 MHz clock speed Bandwidth 33 MBps Backward compatible with 8 bit and 16 bit ISA cards. Support 64 kB T10 addresses.

PCI is a high speed bus used to connect high performance peripherals. e.g., Video, network, sound adapters.

1.4.3

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)

PCI slots

PCI is the acronym for Peripheral Component Interconnect. It is a high speed bus that connects high performance peripherals like video adapters, drive adapters and network adapters to the chipset, processor and memory. PCI bypasses the standard I10 bus. IT uses the system bus to increase the bus clock speed and take full advantage of the CPUs data path. The most recent motherboards usually provide 4 or 5 PCI slots. The 1 PCT bus can be either 32 bits or 64 bits wide. Information is transferred across the bus at 33 MHz and 32 bits at a time. The Bandwidth is 133 MBps. PCI with 64 bits of 66.66 MHz provides bandwidth 533 MBps. These variations are used only on server or workstation types boards.

1.4.4

PCI-X (Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended)

PCI X and PCI Express slots

It is standard designed computer bus or expansion slot advanced to PCI. PCI-X is faster version of PCI running at twice the speed of PCI. PCI-X was developed by IBM, HP and Compaq. PCI X doubles the clock speed from 66 MHz to 133 MHz and hence amount of data exchanged between the computer processor and peripherals. Standard PCI supports up to 64 bit at 66 MHz.