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CompTIA A+ 901 > Modul3 3 - Motherboards, Buses, and Interfaces > Flashcards

Modul3 3 - Motherboards, Buses, and Interfaces Flashcards

1
Q

List the six motherboard form factors we need to know:

A
  1. AT (Advanced Technology)
  2. ATX (Advanced Technology Extended)
  3. MicroATX
  4. BTX (Balanced Technology Extended)
  5. NLX (New Low-profile Extended)
  6. Mini-ITX
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2
Q

Identify the following motherboard type:

A

Advanced Technology

  • Brown slots are ISA bus slots, very old and slow.
  • The only connection exposed outside the case was the DIN-5 keyboard connector
  • Featured two identically-shaped power connectors that could be installed correctly. (should be installed so black wires are next to each other).
  • Wall current (110-120 volts AC) was brought directly to the power switch inside, creating internal shock hazard
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3
Q

Identify the following motherboard type:

A

ATX (Advanced Technology Extended)

  • Uses one power connector, designed to be installed only one way.
  • AC voltage no longer brought in the case.
  • Provides AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) or PCI Express
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4
Q

Identify the following motherboard type:

A

Micro ATX

  • Typically uses the same chipset as full-size ATX boards
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5
Q

Identify the following motherboard type:

A

Mini-ITX

  • Passively-cooled for use in smalls spaces
  • Many built-in components, especially video and audio
  • Generated much less heat than full-size boards
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6
Q

Identify the following motherboard type:

A

BTX (Balanced Technology Extended)

  • Better cooling by lining up heat-producing components between intake vents and exhaust vans
  • Improved acoustic and system performance.
  • Never widely accepted
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7
Q

Identify the following motherboard type:

A

NLX (New Low-profile Extended)

  • Intel designed in 1997
  • For slimmer desktop computer cases
  • Very often proprietary to the OEM vendor, such as HP or Dell
    *
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8
Q

Things to keep in mind when replacing mother boards:

A
  • If cost is an issue, replace with an exact duplicate if possible.
  • Make sure form factor matches case and power supply. AT, ATX, and BTX form factors are not compatible.
  • If upgrading to a better motherboard, check to see that CPU and RAM are compatible with newer one.
  • Consider updating BIOS if the new motherboard BIOS is significantly older than the latest version.
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9
Q

What size fans are most popular for computer cases?

A

80 mm

92mm

120mm

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10
Q

What type of cooling system is this?

A
  • Negative Pressure System
  • Air wants to get in.
  • Can build-up dust inside the case unless filters are used.
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11
Q

What type of cooling system is this?

A
  • Positive Pressure Cooling
  • Air wants to get out.
  • Air will try to escape out any opening in the case, graphics cards that exhaust air our of chassis will work more efficiently.
  • Dust is less prevalent
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12
Q

What is this?

A

I/O Shield

  • Thin rectangular piece of aluminum with cutouts for external ports of the motehrboard.
  • Fits on back of case and is specific to the motherboard installed.
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13
Q

What is a bus?

A
  • A pipeline that supports the transfer of data between components inside a computer or between a computer and external components.
  • Can logically connect several peripherals over the same set of wires.
  • In addition to data, can also carry control signals, addresses of devices, power.
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14
Q

Parallel Communications

A
  • Uses multiple wires to carry multiple bits of data, like a multilane highway.
  • Typical data widths of 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 bits, although some internal buses can be much wider.
  • Design flaws:
    • Simplex communication
    • Clock skew
    • Crosstalk
  • Largely fading from use in favor of serial transmission.
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15
Q

Simplex communication

A

Can only transmit in one direction at a time, thus limiting speed.

(A design flaw of parallel communications.)

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16
Q

Clock skew

A

Causes some bits to arrive early and som late. Receiving device must wait for all bits to be received before continuing.

(A design flaw of parallel communications)

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17
Q

Crosstalk

A

A condition that allows bits to jump from one wire to the wire next to it.

(A design flaw of parallel communications)

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18
Q

What is soft power?

A

A feature introduced with ATX that allows software to shut down the computer.

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19
Q

What connectors were introduced with ATX?

A

Introduced PS/2 keyboard and mouse (DIN-6 or mini-DIN connector)

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20
Q

What voltage DC power is brought into ATX motherboard via 20 or 24-pin ATX/P1 connector?

A
  • 3.3
  • 5
  • 12 volts DC power
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21
Q

What are the dimensions of the ATX motherboard?

A

12 x 9.6 inches

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22
Q

Is Micro ATX backwards compatible with ATX mounting hardware?

A

Yes, it is smaller but the connection points line up.

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23
Q

What size power connector does the Micro ATX use?

A

Uses standard 20 or 24-pin power connector with same voltages as ATX.

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24
Q

How many expansion slots in MicroATX motherboard?

A
  • no more than 4 (Reduced number of expansion slots from ATX)
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25
Q

What is the only motherboard design not introduced by Intel?

A

Mini-ITX

VIA Corp introduced in 2001

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26
Q

What are the dimensions of the Mini-ITX motherboard?

A

6.7 x 6.7 inches

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27
Q

Is Mini-ITX compliant with ATX mounting?

A

Not compliant with ATX.

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28
Q

What size power connector does Mini-ITX use?

A

20 or 24 pin power connector with same voltages as ATX

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29
Q

What are the dimensions of the BTX motherboard?

A

12.8 x 11.34 inches

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30
Q

When was BTX motherboard introduced?

A

Intel introduced in 2004

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31
Q

What motherboard uses specialized “riser card” or “daughter card”

A

NLX (New Low-profile Extended)

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32
Q

How does serial transmission work?

A

One bit at a time, similar to one vehicle after another on a street.

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33
Q

What is “full duplex” in regards to serial communications?

A

Means transmission can occur in both directions at the same time (provided there is a transmit pair of wires and a receive pair of wires)

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34
Q

Where is the clock signal in serial communications?

A

Imbedded in the transmission.

Therefore serial communication does not need to be synchronized like parallel transmission.

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35
Q

T/F - Generally speaking, serial buses are much faster than parallel buses.

A

True.

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36
Q

Name five buses that use serial communications:

A

PCI Express

USB

Firewire

SATA

Serial SCSI

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37
Q

What is clock speed?

A

A computer bus has a clock that provides the frequency for the bus, typically measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).

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38
Q

What does hertz mean?

A

A term that specifies one cycle per second.

A bus that runs 33 MHz runs at 33 million cycles per second.

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39
Q

T/F - Generally speaking, the faster the clock the faster that data moves on the bus.

A

True

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40
Q

T/F - Some activities, also known as operations or transactions, can take several clock cycles to complete.

A

True

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41
Q

What is the bandwidth/peak transfer rate of a bus?

A

The maximum amount of bits or bytes that the bus can transport during a second of time.

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42
Q

What is the bandwidth for a PCI bus?

A

133 megabytes per second (MB/s)

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43
Q

What is the bandwidth for USB 2.0 bus?

A

480 megabits per second (Mb/s)

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44
Q

What is the actual transfer rate or throughput, bit rate, or data rate?

A

The actual peak transfer rate, which may be equal to the bandwidth but is usually less because of other factors.

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45
Q

What are some factors that effect bandwidth or actual transfer rate?

A
  • devices in use on the bus,
  • amount of data being transmitted
  • transmitting speed of the device connected to the bus.
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46
Q

How do you calculate bandwidth?

A

Multiply the clock rate by the data width, in bytes.

Ex. If clock speed is 33.33 MHz and data width is 4 bytes (32 bits), or:

33.33 x 4 = 133.32 MB/s

Usually rounded off, so clock speed would be 33 MHz and bandwidth would be 133 MB/s.

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47
Q

What is an expansion slot?

A

A connector on a motherboard that accepts expansion/add-in cards, such as sound, network, video cards, etc.

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48
Q

What was the order that expansion slots were added?

A
  1. First ISA slots only
  2. Then PCI
  3. Then AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port)
  4. PCI Express (PCIe) was final, as all others were eliminated because PCIe is magnitudes faster.
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49
Q

What does PCI stand for?

A

Peripheral Component Interconnect

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50
Q

What type of communications does PCI use?

(Parallel or Serial)

A

Parallel

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51
Q

What is the data width of PCI buses?

A

Typically 32 bits (4 bytes)

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52
Q

What volts are used PCI buses?

A
  • 3.3 volts originally
  • 5 volts later
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53
Q

Where is the slot on a 5-volt PCI slot?

A

Right side

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54
Q

Identify the PCI card types in the photo:

A

Top = Universal

Middle = 3.3 volts

Bottom = 5 volts

55
Q

Where are Mini PCI slots found?

A
  • In laptops, they are about 1/4 the size of normal PCI slot.
  • They are placed parallel to the motherboard, not perpendicular as in desktop computers.
56
Q

What is the following?

A

PCI Bus, specifically 5-volt slots.

57
Q

What is PCI-X bus?

A

A faster version of PCI, running at twice the speed.

58
Q

What are the turquoise slots below?

What are the white slots?

A

PCI-X bus (turquoise)

PCI bus, 5-volt (white)

59
Q

How wide is the PCI-X bus interface?

A

64 bits (8 bytes)

60
Q

What are the typical clock speeds of PCI-X bus?

A

66 and 133 MHz

61
Q

What are the througput speeds of PCI-X bus?

A
  • 533
  • 1064
  • 2128
  • 4264 MB/s
62
Q

What is AGP?

A

Accelerated Graphics Port

63
Q

What is AGP used for?

A

Attaching video cards only to the motherboard.

64
Q

T/F - AGP cards have a clip that engages the slot when inserted

A

True - to preven the card from creeping out of slot.

65
Q

What is the data width of AGP buses?

A

Typically 32 bits, but 64 bit was proposed and not widely adopted.

66
Q

What are the speeds of the following AGP versions?

  • 1x
  • 2x
  • 4x
  • 8x
A
  • 1x = 266 MB/s (66 MHz clock)
  • 2x = 533 MB/s (133 MHz clock)
  • 4x = 1066 MB/s (266 MHz clock)
  • 8x = 2133 MB/s (533 MHz clock)
67
Q

What is the following expansion slot?

A

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port)

68
Q

What are the following expansion slots?

A

PCIe (PCI Express)

Top = x4

Second = X16

Third = X1

Last = PCI Slot (5-volt)

69
Q

What are the varying lengths of PCI Express slots?

A

Stated in number of channels:

x1

x4

x8

x16

70
Q

T/F - A PCIe slot can hold any card of equal or lesser length.

A

True, e.g. an x1 card will fit in an x1, x4, x8, or x16 slot

71
Q

What size power supply do PCIe video cards usually require?

A

12V supplied by power supply

72
Q

What is the following image?

A

PCIe power connector with six pins in 3x2 configuration

73
Q

What are bandwidths for version 3.0 PCIe?

  • x1
  • x4
  • x8
  • x16
A
  • x1 = 1000 MB/s
  • x4 = 4000 MB/s
  • x8 = 8000 MB/s
  • x16 = 16000 MB/s
74
Q

T/F - Most motherboards feature interfaces that are resident or built-in to the motherboard.

A

True

75
Q

What controls the resident interfaces on motherboards?

A

Either the main chipsets of the motherboard or dedicated microprocessors soldered onto motherboard.

76
Q

Name some resident interfaces on typical motherboards?

A
  • Keyboard and mouse
  • Audio and video
  • LAN
  • HDMI
  • USB
  • Firewire
  • IDE, SATA, SAS
  • RAID Controllers
77
Q

What is the following:

A

Header Pins

  • Exposed pins on motherboard that provide an interface for a cable, typically USB or IEEE 1394.
78
Q

What is the following?

A

Header Pins on Motherboard

  • Exposed pins that provide an interface for a cable, typically USB or IEEE 1394.
79
Q

When was USB 1.0 introduced?

A. 1990

B. 1995

C. 1998

D. 2000

A

B. 1995

  • Collaboration of Intel, Microsoft, Phillips, and US Robotics.
80
Q

Which USB was called Low Speed?

A

USB 1.0

81
Q

Which USB was called Full Speed?

A

USB 1.1

  • Introduced shortly after USB 1.0
82
Q

Which USB was called High Speed?

A

USB 2.0

83
Q

When was USB 2.0 introduced?

A

April 2000

84
Q

Which USB is called Super Speed?

A

USB 3.0

85
Q

What does USB stand for?

A. Universal Search Bus

B. Universal Serial Bus

C. Unicode Sensory Bus

D. United Serial Base

A

B. Universal Serial Bus

86
Q

What OS first supported USB?

A

Windows 98

(Windows 95SE needed an updated driver)

87
Q

How many wires does USB 3.0 use?

A

8 Wires

(4 Wires for USB 1.x/2.x, plus 4 wires for send/receive communications at full duplex)

88
Q

How many wires are in USB 1.x/2.x?

A. 3 Wires

B. 5 Wires

C. 4 Wires

D. 2 Wires

A

C. 4 Wires

(Some 5-wire implementations exist, with the 5th wire tied to ground.)

89
Q

Identify the following USB types:

A
  • USB 1.x = White
  • USB 2.x = Black
  • USB 3.x = Blue
  • Always-active USB = Red
90
Q

What duplex communications do the following use?

  • USB 1.x
  • USB 2.x
  • USB 3.x
A
  • half-duplex
  • half-duplex
  • full duplex

In half-duplex, send/receive activity cannot occur simultaneously.

91
Q

What is the maximum number of devices that can be connected to a single USB port?

A

127 devices

92
Q

What is the speed of USB 1.0?

A

1.536 Mbps

93
Q

What is the speed of USB 1.1 (full speed)?

A

12 Mbps

94
Q

What is the speed of USB 2.0?

  • 250 Mbps
  • 375 Mbps
  • 480 Mbps
  • 550 Mbps
A

480 Mbps

95
Q

What is the speed of USB 3.0 (Super Speed)?

  • 2 Gbps
  • 2.5 Gbps
  • 3.5 Gbps
  • 5 Gbps
A

5 Gbps

(5000 Mb/s or 625 MB/s)

96
Q

What is the speed of USB 3.1 (SuperSpeedPlus)?

A

10 Gbps

97
Q

What is the maximum number of USB hubs that can be chained together?

  • 2
  • 4
  • 3
  • 5
A

Answer: 5

98
Q

What is the power supplied by USB 1.x/2.x?

  • Volts
  • milliamps
A
  • 5 Volts
  • Initial 100mA upon detection, then
  • 500 mA after device is recognized.
99
Q

What is the power supplied by USB 3.0?

  • Volts
  • milliamps
A
  • 5 Volts
  • 150 mA at onset
  • 900 mA once recognized

Many USB 3.0 devices can run without the need for its own power adapter.

100
Q

What type of USB is the following?

A

USB Series B

101
Q

What type of USB is shown below?

A

USB Series A

102
Q

What type of USB is shown below?

A

USB Mini A

103
Q

What type of USB is shown below?

A

USB Mini B

104
Q

What type of USB is shown below?

A

USB 3.0

105
Q

What type of USB is shown below?

A

USB 3.0 Mini-B

106
Q

What type of USB is shown below?

A

Dual power USB cable.

Provides additional 5 volts to attached device.

107
Q

T/F - USB 1.1 devices can plug into USB 2.0 ports

A

True, but will be limited to their 12 Mb/s speed.

108
Q

T/F - USB 2.0 devices can plug into 3.0 ports

A

True, but will be limited to 480 Mb/s

109
Q

What is the max cable length for USB 1.1?

A

3 meters

110
Q

What is the max cable length for USB 2.0?

A

5 Meters

111
Q

What is the max cable length for USB 3.0?

A

Not specified, but best not to esceed 5 meters for Hi speed devices.

112
Q

Name four reasons for the following error message:

This device can perform faster if you conenct it to a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port

A

Reason/Fix

  1. Wrong USB driver/install right one
  2. Using 2.0 device on a 1.x port / upgrade hardware
  3. OS doesn’t support it/ upgrade OS
  4. Old firmware on USB device / update firmware
113
Q

Name one reason for the following error message:

Device cannot be stopped right now.

A
  1. Open files on USB device or a program is using it / close files or program
114
Q

Name two reasons for the following error message:

Device not recognized

A
  1. OS, BIOS, drivers, program, not up to date
  2. Port failure, try another port or another computer.
115
Q

What is the common name for IEEE 1394 interface?

A

Firewire

116
Q

What does IEEE stand for?

  • Institute of Electrical and Elegant Engineers
  • Institute of Electoral and Electrical Engineers
  • Institute of Electroscopy and Endoscopic Engines
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
A

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

117
Q

When was Firewire introduced?

  1. 1990
  2. 1992
  3. 1995
  4. 1998
A
  1. 1995
118
Q

What interface is shown below?

A

Firewire 400 (1394a) Ports

119
Q

What is the speed of Firewire 400?

A

400 Mb/s

(approx 50 MB/s)

120
Q

What interface is shown below?

A

Firewire 800 (1394b)

121
Q

What is the speed of Firewire 800 (1394b)?

A

800 Mb/s

(Approx 100 MB/s)

122
Q

What is 1394c?

A
  • Also known as S800T
  • Supports Firewire over CAT5e or better network cable.
  • 800 Mb/s (same as 1394b)
123
Q

What is Sony’s name for its 4-pin 1394a port?

A

i-Link

124
Q

How many pins (or wires) does the standard 1394a cable use?

A
  • 6 pins
  • 4 data and 2 power (up to 30 volts)
125
Q

How many pins (or wires) does the standard 1394b cable use?

A
  • 9 pins (provides extra grounds for twisted wire pins)
126
Q

T/F - All 1394 cables have ends that are male.

A

True, and pins are located inside the connector housing.

127
Q

What is the maximum number of different devices that can be connected via 1394?

A

63 devices

128
Q

What is the interface shown below and does it carry power?

A

Firewire Mini Connector (4-pin)

Does not carry power

129
Q

What is the following port?

A

USB 2.0

130
Q

What is the following port?

A

USB 3.0

131
Q

What is the following port?

A

Firewire 800 (1394b)

132
Q

What does the following symbol mean?

A

Firewire (IEEE 1394)

133
Q

What does the following symbol mean?

A

USB 2.0

134
Q

What does the following symbol mean?

A

USB 3.0

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