Lab 02 – Introduction to Computing (EC-102)

Lab 02
Objective:
™ Identify the different types and features of motherboards
™ Understand Computer I/O ports and their functions.

1 Motherboard
The motherboard is a printed circuit board and foundation of a computer that is the
biggest board in a computer chassis. It allocates power and allows communication to and
between the CPU, RAM, and all other computer hardware components.

A motherboard provides connectivity between the hardware components of a computer, like the
processor (CPU), memory (RAM), hard drive, and video card. There are multiple types of
motherboards, designed to fit different types and sizes of computers.
Each type of motherboard is designed to work with specific types of processors and memory, so
they are not capable of working with every processor and type of memory. However, hard drives

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Lab 02 – Introduction to Computing (EC-102)

are mostly universal and will work with the majority of motherboards, regardless of the type or
brand.

1.1 Motherboard components

x Expansion slots (PCI Express, PCI, and AGP)
x 3-pin case fan connectors
x Back pane connectors
x Heat sink
x 4-pin (P4) power connector
x Inductor
x Capacitor
x Northbridge
x Screw hole
x Memory slot
x Super I/O
x Floppy connection
x ATA / IDE disk drive primary connection
x 24-pin ATX power supply connector
x Serial ATA connections
x Coin cell battery (CMOS backup battery)
x System panel connectors
x FWH
x Southbridge
x Serial port connector
x Jumpers
x Integrated circuit
x 1394 headers
x SPDIF
x CD-IN
x Bus

1.1.1 Expansion slot

Alternatively referred to as a bus slot or expansion port, an expansion slot is a
connection or port located inside a computer on the motherboard or riser card. It provides an
installation point for a hardware expansion card to be connected. For example, if you wanted to
install a new video card in the computer, you'd purchase a video expansion card and install that
card into the compatible expansion slot.
Some of the expansion slots commonly found in IBM compatible computers, as well as other
brands of computers and the devices commonly associated with those slots.
o AGP - Video card.
o AMR - Modem, sound card.
o CNR - Modem, network card, sound card.

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Lab 02 – Introduction to Computing (EC-102)

o EISA - SCSI, network card, video card.

o ISA - Network card, sound card, video card.
o PCI - Network card, SCSI, sound card, video card.
o PCI Express - Video card, modem, sound card, network card.
o VESA - Video card.

1.1.2 Case fan

A case fan is located inside a computer, attached to the
front or back of its case. Case fans help bring cool air into and blow
hot air out of the case. They are available in a wide variety of sizes,
but 80mm, 92mm, and 120mm (12cm) with a width of 25mm are
the most common. Below is an example of how a computer case
fan may look.

1.1.3 Back pane Connection

A motherboard might also have several on-board ports
and internal connectors. Ports coming directly off the
motherboard are called on-board ports or integrated components.
Almost all motherboards have two or more USB ports and sound
ports. Boards might also offer a network port, modem port,
FireWire (IEEE 1394) port, video port, keyboard port, mouse port,
parallel port, serial port, one or more eSATA ports (for external
SATA hard drives), and a port for a wireless antenna.

1.1.4 Heat sink

A heat sink is a device that incorporates either a fan or
some other means to keep a hot component, such as a processor,
cooled down. There are two heat sink
o Active heat sink
Active heat sinks utilize the computer's power supply
and may include a fan. Sometimes these types of heat sinks are
referred to as an HSF, which is short for heat sink and fan
o Passive heat sink
Passive heat sinks are those that have no mechanical
components. Consequently, they are 100% reliable. Passive heat
sinks are made of an aluminum finned radiator that dissipates heat
through convection.

1.1.5 Power Connector (P4)

The P4 connector is a 12V power supply cable used
with motherboards that have an Intel Pentium 4 or later processor.
Today, the connector is a standard power connector and is used
with both Intel and AMD motherboards. The P4 cable has two black

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wires that serve as a ground, and two yellow ones that are +12VDC. All of these wires attach to
a four pin connection on the motherboard.

1.1.6 Inductor
A coil is conducting wire such as copper shaped in a
helical form around an iron core. The coil creates an inductor or
electromagnet to store magnetic energy. Coils are often used to
remove power spikes and dips from power. The picture is an
example of an inductor on a computer motherboard.

1.1.7 Capacitor
A capacitor is a component made of two or sets of two
conductive plates with a thin insulator between them and wrapped
in a ceramic and plastic container. When the capacitor receives
a DC (direct current), a positive charge builds up on one of the
plates (or set of plates) while a negative charge builds up on the
other. This charge, which is measured in microfarads on a
computer capacitor, remains in the capacitor until it is discharged.
Another common type of capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor,
which is a higher capacitance capacitor in a smaller package. The
picture to the bottom right is an example of these types of
capacitors.
Like any other component in a computer, capacitors in a computer
can fail, and when they do can cause the computer or the
component to fail. When a motherboard capacitor fails the
computer will no longer boot, and the capacitor needs to be
replaced or a new motherboard needs to be put in the computer.

1.1.8 Northbridge
Northbridge is an integrated circuit responsible for
communications between the CPU interface, AGP, and
the memory. Northbridge is directly connected to these
components. It acts as a "bridge" for the southbridge chip to
communicate with the CPU, RAM, and graphics controller. Today,
the northbridge is a single-chip that is north of the PCI bus,
however, early computers may have had up to three separate chips
that made up the northbridge.

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1.1.9 Screw hole

Sometimes referred to as a standoff and spacer, standouts are small metal or plastic
screws that attach to a computer case and hold the motherboard in place.
Standouts also help keep a motherboard from touching the
computer case. If the motherboard, specifically the solder points or
other metal pieces touches the metal computer case, it can cause a
short to occur in the motherboard. A short can cause the computer
to not start up or it can cause damage to the motherboard. Using
standouts is critical to prevent shorts from occurring and preventing
damage to the motherboard.

1.1.10 Memory slot

A memory slot, memory socket, or RAM slot is what
allows RAM (computer memory) to be inserted into the computer.
Depending on the motherboard, there may be two to four memory
slots (sometimes more on high-end motherboards) and are what
determine the type of RAM used with the computer. The most
common types of RAM are SDRAM and DDR for desktop computers
and SODIMM for laptop computers, each having various types and
speeds.

1.1.11 Super I/O

It is an integrated circuit on a computer motherboard that
handles the slower and less prominent input/output devices shown
below. When the super input/output was first introduced in the late
1980s it was found on an expansion card, later this chip was
embedded into the motherboard and communicated over
the ISA bus. As ISA began to no longer be used with computers, SIO
communicated over the PCI bus. Today, super I/O communicates
through the Southbridge and is still used with computers to support
older legacy devices.
Computer devices handled by the super I/O
o Floppy disk controller
o Game port
o Infrared
o Intrusion detection
o Keyboard and mouse (non-USB)
o Parallel port
o RTC (Real-time clock)
o Serial port UART
o Temperature sensor and fan speed

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1.1.12 Floppy cable

A floppy cable is a ribbon cable found in PC's that allow
one or more floppy disk drives to be connected to a computer. This
cable allows a desktop computer to have two floppy drives
connected to one floppy controller.
Because floppy drives do not have a master or slave jumper, most
floppy cables also have a red strip along one side of the ribbon cable
to indicate pin 1. Today, if any floppy drive is in the computer it
would be connected to "Drive A:" and the end cable connected to
the motherboard.
The floppy channel, FDD header, or floppy connection is where the
floppy drive connects to the computer motherboard

1.1.13 ATA / IDE disk drive primary connection

Integrated Drive Electronics, IDE is more commonly
known as ATA or PATA (parallel ATA). It is a standard interface for
IBM computers that was first developed by Western
Digital and Compaq in 1986 for compatible hard drives and CD or
DVD drives. IDE is different than SCSI and ESDI (Enhanced Small Disk
Interface) because its controllers are on each drive, meaning the
drive can connect directly to the motherboard or controller. IDE and
its updated successor, EIDE (Enhanced IDE), are common drive
interfaces found in IBM compatible computers.

1.1.14 ATX power supply connector

An ATX style connector is a replacement for the older P8
and P9 AT style connector. It is one of the largest connectors inside
a computer. It connects a power supply to an ATX
style motherboard. ATX cable connector has a small clip on the top,
which snaps and holds the cable in place. This cable is also keyed,
meaning it only connects in one direction.
A power supply with a 24-pin connector can be used on a
motherboard with a 20-pin connector by leaving the four additional
pins disconnected. However, if you have a 24-pin connection on
your motherboard all 24-pins need to be connected.

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1.1.15 Serial ATA connections

Serial AT attachment, SATA 1.0 was first released in
August 2001 and is a replacement for the parallel ATA interface used
in IBM compatible computers. Serial ATA is capable of delivering
1.5 Gbps (approximately 187 MBps) of performance to each drive
within a disk array. It has the benefit of being backward-compatible
with ATA and ATAPI devices, and offers a thin, small cable solution,
as seen in the photo on the right. This cable helps make a much
easier cable routing and offers better airflow in the computer when
compared to the earlier ribbon cables used with ATA drives.
SATA also supports external drives through External SATA more
commonly known as eSATA.

1.1.16 Coin cell battery (CMOS backup battery)

Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor. CMOS is an
onboard, battery powered semiconductor chip inside computers
that stores information. This information ranges from the system
time and date to system hardware settings for your computer.

1.1.17 System panel connector

System panel connector or system panel header controls a
computer power button, reset button, and LED's. The System panel
cables, are two wire cables that are color coded to help identify
where they connect to the motherboard system panel connector. The
black or white wire is the GND (ground) wire and the colored wire is
the powered wire. The cables, colors, and connections vary
depending on the computer case and motherboard you have,
Types of system panel cables
o HDD LED (IDE LED)
o PLED (Power LED)
o PWRSW (Power SW)
o Reset SW
o Speaker

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1.1.18 FWH
Firmware hub, FWH is part of the Intel Accelerated Hub
Architecture that contains both the system BIOS and integrated video BIOS
on one component. The Firmware Hub connects directly to the ICH (I/O
controller hub) without requiring an ISA bus.

1.1.19 Southbridge
Southbridge is an IC on the motherboard responsible for the hard drive controller, I/O
controller and integrated hardware. Integrated hardware can include the sound card and video
card if on the motherboard, USB, PCI, ISA, IDE, BIOS, and Ethernet.

1.1.20 Serial port

An asynchronous port on the computer used to connect a serial
device to the computer and capable of transmitting one bit at a time. Serial
ports are usually identified on IBM compatible computers as COM
(communications) ports.

1.1.21 Jumper
Jumpers allow the computer to close an electrical circuit, allowing
the electricity to flow certain sections of the circuit board. Jumpers consist
of a set of small pins that can be covered with a small plastic box (jumper
block) as shown in the illustration to the right. Below the illustration, is a
picture of what the jumpers may look like on your motherboard. In this
example, the jumper is the white block covering two of the three gold pins.
Next to the pins is a silkscreen description of each of the pin settings.

1.1.22 IC
Integrated Circuit or Integrated Chip. The IC is a package
containing many circuits, logic gates, pathways, transistors, and other
components all working together to perform a particular function or a series
of functions. Integrated circuits are the building blocks of
computer hardware.

1.1.23 1394 header and USB header

The 1394 header and USB header is a pin connection found on a
computer motherboard that allow additional 1394 and USB connections to
be added to the computer. For example, a USB add-on could be installed in
one of the drive bays and connected to the USB header to add additional
USB ports.

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1.1.24 S/PDIF
Sony and Phillips Digital Interconnect Format,
the S/PDIF or SPDIF interface transmits digital audio in a compressed
form between audio equipment and home theater systems. The
S/PDIF interface can utilize a coaxial cable or a fiber optic cable to
transmit the audio. Common equipment to use this interface
are DVD players and CD players, connecting to a home theater system
for Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound. High quality sound
cards and laptops also have this connector.

1.1.25 CD-IN
Optical drive audio connector, the CD-IN is a four-
pin connector found on a computer's motherboard or sound card that
connects an optical drive's audio

1.1.26 Bus
Bus, is a data connection between two or more devices
connected to the computer. For example, a bus enables a
computer processor to communicate with the memory or a video
card to with the memory. You can think of it as a public transportation
or school bus.
The bus contains multiple wires (signal lines) that contain addressing
information that describes the memory location of where the data is
being sent or where it is being retrieved. Each wire in the bus carries
a single bit of information, which means the more wires a bus has the
more information it can address. For example, a computer with a 32-
bit address bus can address 4 GB of memory, and a computer with a
36-bit bus can address 64 GB of memory.

1.2 Motherboard Form Factor

1.2.1 ATX (Advanced Technology Extended)

Designed as an evolution of the Baby AT form factor, ATX marks a profound change in
the architecture of the motherboard and other components such as the cabinet and the power
supply. Within the motherboard there are significant changes such as the location of the CPU
socket, which is now placed near the power supply, thus allowing the flow of air caused by the
fan of the source and not to be interfered with by any element as it happened with the
technology Baby AT.
Another change was the connection between the sources of the feed. Which is now a single
connector, unlike the AT which were two. Some of the most important improvements for ATX
and benefits are:

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x Integrated input and output ports

x Slots of expansion without interference
x Start Control by software
x 3 Vol. from the source (reduces hardware cost, energy consumption, and heat)
x A better airflow
x Less interference in access to drive bays.
The ATX motherboard dimensions are 12 × 13 in. A variation of the ATX is the Mini ATX, which is
essentially a reduced-size version of ATX but more reduced in terms of its shape, its
measurements are 11.2 × 8.2 inches.
This form factor is the most used today, especially on desktop computers, and after this
technology was released several other factors where based on it. Such as the Mini-ITX, Mini-ATX,
Micro-ATX, Nano ITX, and Pico-ITX.

1.2.2 Micro ATX

It is an evolution of ATX. Its measures are 9.6 × 9.6 inches. The Micro-ATX supports up
to four expansion slots that can combine freely with ISA, PCI, PCI / ISA shared, and AGP. Mounting
holes changed from the Standard ATX, since the measurements are different, but they are also
compatible with most ATX cabinets.
This type of motherboard form factor supports both Intel and AMD processors. It is commonly
used on Small Form Factor Desktop Computers.

1.2.3 Mini-ITX
Mini ITX is a low-power consumption motherboard format of 6.7 × 6.7 inches. Its
dimensions are the most characteristic factor of this type of form factor. Although this type of
motherboard was designed with the aim of empowering teams of low consumption, at present
there are no limits and they have grown by giant steps in terms of benefits.
Since the Mini-ITX was introduced they have expanded in all kinds of applications, thanks to their
open standard factor. Mini ITX is a standard format for all types of equipment, such as vehicle
embedded computers, industrial applications, and IoT. The Mini-ITX is the first standard system
of reduced format that is popularized, reaching all types of projects and any equipment where it
may be necessary.

1.2.4 Nano-ITX
The Nano-ITX is another type of motherboard form factor that measures 4.7 × 4.7 in.
Nano-ITX are fully integrated boards designed to consume very low power. This type of
motherboard can be used in many applications, but it was specially designed for smart
entertainment, like PVRs, media centers, smart TVs, in-vehicle devices, and more.

1.2.5 Pico-ITX
The Pico-ITX is the smallest type of motherboard form factor in this list. Its
measurements are 3.9 × 2.8 in and it is 75% smaller than the Mini-ITX. This motherboard was
designed and developed by VIA, to open up innovation for smaller and smarter devices.

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The Pico-ITX with an x86-based-platform and low-power consumption board is a great choice for
embedded systems applications, such as industrial automation, in-vehicle computers, digital
signage, and more.

2 I/O Ports
CPU and the main memory are having speed faster compared to the
electromechanical input or output devices like printers, mouse etc. In such a case it is essential
that the data lines of the computer should not kept engaged for a long time during
communication with input/output (I/O) devices. Otherwise as an effect, the overall speed of the
computer system comes down drastically. So I/O devices are connected to a computer through
I/O ports.
For example, to get a document printed by the printer, phase wise printer will get required
information from the CPU to carry out the printing process. After transferring a block of
information to the printer, the CPU will keep itself busy for other important work. And thus CPU
performance will get least affected. After fining the printing against the transferred block of
information, the printer will ask for further block (if any) to get printed.
A port is a physical docking point using which an external device can be connected to the
computer. It can also be programmatic docking point through which information flows from a
program to the computer or over the Internet.

2.1.1 Characteristics of Ports

A port has the following characteristics −
o External devices are connected to a computer using cables and ports.
o Ports are slots on the motherboard into which a cable of external device is plugged in.
Examples of external devices attached via ports are the mouse, keyboard, monitor,
microphone,speakers,etc.

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2.1.2 Serial Port

o Used for external modems and older computer mouse
o Two versions − 9 pin, 25 pin model
o Data travels at 115 kilobits per second

2.1.3 Parallel Port

o Used for scanners and printers
o Also called printer port
o 25 pin model
o IEEE 1284-compliant Centronics port

2.1.4 PS/2 Port

o Used for old computer keyboard and mouse
o Also called mouse port
o Most of the old computers provide two PS/2 port, each for the mouse and keyboard

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o IEEE 1284-compliant Centronics port

2.1.5 Universal Serial Bus (or USB) Port

o It can connect all kinds of external USB devices such as external hard disk, printer,
scanner, mouse, keyboard, etc.
o It was introduced in 1997.
o Most of the computers provide two USB ports as minimum.
o Data travels at 12 megabits per seconds.
o USB compliant devices can get power from a USB port.

2.1.6 VGA Port

o Connects monitor to a computer's video card.
o It has 15 holes.
o Similar to the serial port connector. However, serial port connector has pins, VGA port
has holes.

2.1.7 Power Connector

o Three-pronged plug.
o Connects to the computer's power cable that plugs into a power bar or wall socket.

2.1.8 Firmwire Port

o Transfers large amount of data at very fast speed.
o Connects camcorders and video equipment to the computer.
o Data travels at 400 to 800 megabits per seconds.
o Invented by Apple.
o It has three variants − 4-Pin FireWire 400 connector, 6-Pin FireWire 400 connector, and
9-Pin FireWire 800 connector.

2.1.9 Modem Port

o Connects a PC's modem to the telephone network.

2.1.10 Ethernet Port

o Connects to a network and high speed Internet.
o Connects the network cable to a computer.
o This port resides on an Ethernet Card.
o Data travels at 10 megabits to 1000 megabits per seconds depending upon the network
bandwidth.

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Lab 02 – Introduction to Computing (EC-102)

2.1.11 Game Port

o Connect a joystick to a PC
o Now replaced by USB

2.1.12 Digital Video Interface, DVI port

o Connects Flat panel LCD monitor to the computer's high-end video graphic cards.
o Very popular among video card manufacturers.

2.1.13 Sockets
o Sockets connect the microphone and speakers to the sound card of the computer.

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Review Questions:
Q: Write the parts names of motherboard?

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Lab 02 – Introduction to Computing (EC-102)

Q: What is the CPU socket?

Motherboards are subcategorized by the type of processor socket they have. The processor
socket (also called a CPU socket) is the connector on the motherboard that houses a CPU and
forms the electrical interface and contact with the CPU. Processor sockets use a pin grid array
(PGA) where pins on the underside of the processor connect to holes in the processor socket.
Computers based on the Intel x86 architecture include socket processors

Q: What are the differences between the Northbridge and Southbridge?

Q: What is meant by chipset?

A chipset is a group of interdependent motherboard chips or integrated circuits that

control the flow of data and instructions between the central processing unit (CPU) or
microprocessor and external devices. A chipset controls external buses, memory cache and
some peripherals. A CPU is unable to function without impeccable chipset timing.

A chipset includes the circuit board layout/functionality and circuit mechanisms. Varieties
include microprocessors and modem card chipsets. In addition, a CPU has several different
chipsets that vary according to architecture.

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Q: What is the functionality of Control Bus?

A control bus is a computer bus that is used by the CPU to communicate with devices that
are contained within the computer. This occurs through physical connections such as cables
or printed circuits.

The CPU transmits a variety of control signals to components and devices to transmit
control signals to the CPU using the control bus. One of the main objectives of a bus is to
minimize the lines that are needed for communication. An individual bus permits
communication between devices using one data channel. The control bus is bidirectional
and assists the CPU in synchronizing control signals to internal devices and external
components. It is comprised of interrupt lines, byte enable lines, read/write signals and
status lines

Q: What are the standards for USB ports?

The data transfer rates of USB 1.1 are defined as:

Low speed: 1.5 Mbps
Full speed: 12 Mbps
The cable length for USB 1.1 is limited to 5 metres, and the power consumption specification
allows each device to take up to 500mA, although this is limited to 100mA during start-up.

USB 1.1 does not allow extension cables or the inclusion of pass-through monitors (due to
timing and power limitations).
USB 2.0: The USB 2.0 standard is a development of USB 1.1 which was released in April 2000.
The main difference when compared to USB 1.1 was the data transfer speed increase up to a
"High Speed" rate of 480 Mbps. However it should be noted that even though devices are
labelled USB 2.0, they may not be able to meet the full transfer speed.
USB 3.0: This improved USB standard which was first demonstrated at the Intel Developer
Conclusion
Forum in September 2007. The major feature is what is termed the SuperSpeed bus, which
provides a fourth transfer mode which gives data transfer rates of 4.8 Gbit/s. Although the
raw throughput is 4 Gbit/s, data transfer rates of 3.2 Gbit/s, i.e.0.4 GByte/s more after
protocol overhead are deemed acceptable within the standard. The standard is also
backwards compatible with USB 2.0.

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