ch7_Motherboards

Question 1

What are the three important variables when considering a motherboard

Answer 1

Form Factor
Chipset
Core Functionality

Question 2

What are the main form factors

Answer 2

AT
ATX
ITX
BTX

Question 3

Give an overview of an ATX board

Answer 3

Comes in micro, mini, and flex ATX
Size 9.6 by 9.6
Rear IO panel
CPU and RAM are easily accessed

Question 4

Give an overview of an ITX board

Answer 4

Ideal for small form factors and HTPC

comes in MIni, nano, and Pico

Question 5

What is a chipset

Answer 5

determins the type of CPU and RAM and IO devices

Question 6

What is the expansion bus

Answer 6

May connect north and south bridge.Pushed by clk signal from expansion crystal to run at its own speed

Question 7

What is PCI

Answer 7

Periphrial Component Interconnect

• Self Configuring
• 32 bits wide
• 33 MHz

Question 8

What is AGP

Answer 8

Accelerated Graphics Processor

- Direct connection to north bridge

Question 9

what is PCI-x

Answer 9

PCI Extended

• Has backwards compatibility
• ran at speeds of 66, 133, 266, 533
• Used in video production machines

Question 10

What is mini-PCI

Answer 10

For latptops
Low power consumption
Lie flat

Question 11

What is PCI Express

Answer 11

Uses a Point to point serial connection
Direct connection to the north bridge
Transfers at 
- 1.x = 2.5 GTbs
- 2.x = 5 GTbs
- 3.x = 8 GTbs

Question 12

What are the three types of Motherboard failures

Answer 12

Catastrophic - no boot, no power or HDD activity
- Could happen becasue of Burn in failure (first 30 days)
Component - causes a device to not work properly
Ethereall - could be caused by faulty component, buggy driver, PSU problems