NetAcadMaterial Flashcards
This is the most common power supply on the market today
ATX12V
This was originally designed for network servers but is now commonly used in high-end desktop models
EPS12V
This connects hard drives, optical drives, or other devices
Molex
This connector has two rows of three to four pins and -supplies power to internal components
6/8- pin PCIe power connector
6This is the only choice that does not allow for +3.3 V.
AT
Motherboard Components
CPU
RAM
Expansion slots
Chipset
BIOS/UEFI chip
CPU
Central Processing Unit
This is the brain of the computer
RAM
Random Access Memory
This is a temporary location to store data and applications
Expansion slots
These provide locations to connect additional components
Chipset
This consists of the integrated circuits on the motherboard that control how system hardware interacts with the CPU and motherboard. It also establishes how much memory can be added to a motherboard and the type of connectors on the motherboard.
Basic input/output system (BIOS) chip and Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) chip
BIOS is used to help boot the computer and manage the flow of data between the hard drive, video card, keyboard, mouse, and more. In modern computers BIOS has been replaced by UEFI. UEFI specifies a different firmware for boot and runtime services. Firmware is programming that allows a computer operating system to control the hardware.
Northbridge
Controls high speed access to the RAM and video card. It also controls the speed at which the CPU communicates with all of the other components in the computer. Video capability is sometimes integrated into the Northbridge.
Southbridge
Allows the CPU to communicate with slower speed devices including hard drives, Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, and expansion slots
Motherboard Form Factors
Advanced Technology eXtended (ATX)
Micro-ATX
ITX
Advanced Technology eXtended (ATX)
This is the most common motherboard form factor. The ATX case accommodates the integrated I/O ports on the standard ATX motherboard. The ATX power supply connects to the motherboard via a single 20-pin connector.
Micro-ATX
This is a smaller form factor that is designed to be backward-compatible with ATX. Micro-ATX boards often use the same Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets and power connectors as full-size ATX boards and therefore can use many of the same components. Generally, Micro-ATX boards can fit in standard ATX cases. However, Micro-ATX motherboards are much smaller than ATX motherboards and have fewer expansion slots.
ITX
The ITX form factor has gained in popularity because of its very small size. There are many types of ITX motherboards; however, Mini-ITX is one of the most popular. The Mini-ITX form factor uses very little power, so fans are not needed to keep it cool. A Mini-ITX motherboard has only one PCI slot for expansion cards. A computer based on a Mini-ITX form factor can be used in places where it is inconvenient to have a large or noisy computer.
CPU Architecture
Pin Grid Array (PGA)
Land Grid Array (LGA)
Pin Grid Array (PGA)
In PGA architecture, the pins are on the underside of the processor package and is inserted into the motherboard CPU socket using zero insertion force (ZIF). (AMD)
Land Grid Array (LGA)
In an LGA architecture, the pins are in the socket instead of on the processor. (INTEL)
Passive cooling
Heat sink
Active cooling
Fan