Chapter 6 - Motherboards Flashcards
Form Factors
Broad standards for motherboards and cases, and power supply
I/O area
the area of the motherboard inputs/connectors for devices.
ATX
ATX Form Factor biggest common form factor. a motherboard that measures in 12inches x 9.6 inches
MicroATX
motherboard that measures by 9.6 inches x 9.6 inches
Mini-ITX
most common small form factor.
ITX
Larger version of the Mini-ITX.
What are the four Main Form Factors
ATX, Micro-ATX, ITX, Mini-ITX
I/O Shield
Every motherboard comes with an I/O shield that goes over the I/O area. I/O are form factor standardized to fit all motherboards.
Chipsets
Are chips that handle multiple jobs. And is the most important part to defining what a motherboard can do.
What are the different chipsets
Northbridge and Southbridge and you need both
Northbridge handles what?
interface for the CPU, handled memory, handles high speed expansion buses. The Faster chip
Southbridge handles what?
Interconnection to the slower devices. Handles USB ports
Today/Modern Chipsets are what?
Southbridge the CPU took over the job of the Northbridge chipset.
SATA Cables
Are for Hard Drives. Used to connect hard drives to the motherboard.
Power Connectors
Connector used to connect primary power source to the motherboard.
Capacitors/Voltage regulators
Work very hard break down the voltage from the power supply to the correct voltage for the CPU and other devices.
Broken or Bubbled up capacitors mean?
a dead motherboard.
PCIe Expansion Slots
PCIe are the dominant type of expansion bus slots that use serial connections. Used to connect devices like a video card to the motherboard, along with other PCIe cards.
x16 lane PCIe connector
Biggest PCIe lane/slot, commonly used for video cards
PCI
Is the precursor to PCIe. that was invented back in the 90’s
Parallel vs. Serial
Serial is sending data on one wire. and Parallel is sending data on 32 wires.
Single Lane
PCIe lane for smaller devices, but you can also connect this smaller devices into a larger PCIe lane.
x4-lane PCIe
a little larger than the single lane PCIe slot
USB Connectors
Used to connect Dongles to your motherboard
Dongles
a piece of hard that plugs into the motherboard/Connectors with cables that plug into the motherboard.
VGA Connector
Used to support on board graphics
Standout are what and used for what?
Standardized mounts located inside that case, that allow various motherboard form factors to be mounted to the case.
Pass Throughs or Push throughs
Are rubber pass ways on the case that allow you to connect cables to the motherboard to help with cable management.
What is an Optical Drive?
An Optical Drive is a disk reader.
Fan connectors are usually what?
3 or 4 pin connectors
