System Boards

A+

Sno Isle Skill Center

Tory Klementsen, MCP A+

What is a system board?

•      The ________________________

•      Houses the CPU

•      Is the ________________________ center of the computer

•      Two types

–  ________________________

–  ________________________*

ATX vs AT

•      AT

•      Older systems

•      Has power connections for ____________ and _______________ volt lines

•      Uses two power connections (________________________)

•      Comes in regular and “________________________” size

•      ATX

•      Developed by Intel for ________________________chips

•      Better layout

•      Includes power on that can be ________________________enabled.

•      Uses one power connection (________________________) (new ones use a ________________________pin connector)

•      Connections for ________________________, ________________________, and ________________________volts*

Form Factors

•      Refers to the size and ________________________of a board/device.

•      AT form factors

–   33 x 22 cm—________________________AT

–   30.5 x 33 cm—________________________

•      ATX Form Factors

–   30.5 x 24.4 cm—________________________

–   28.4 x 20.8 cm—________________________ATX

–   7.4” x 9.6”— ________________________ATX

–   7.4” x 9”— ________________________ATX

–   7.5” x 10.25” x 4.75”— ________________________

–   12” x 13”—Custom ________________________ (for dual procs)

 

Some alternative form factors

BTX Form Factor

•      Balanced ________________________  ________________________form factor was created to deal with the large expansion cards used in today’s systems.

•      Uses in-line airflow which reduces the number of fans needed, making the computers quieter.

•      It is incompatible with ATX.

•      Form factors

–   ________________________—4 mounting holes and 1 expansion slot

–   ________________________—7 mounting holes and 4 expansion slots

–   ________________________—10 mounting holes and 7 expansion slots

BTX vs ATX

•      ATX

–   ________________________  pin power

–   Noisier—depends on fans to cool individual ________________________ 

–   Some newer components won’t fit

 

•      BTX

–   ________________________   pin power

–   Quieter—uses in-line cooling to draw air across all components

–   Has an “________________________  down” form factor, drives, RAM, etc are closer to the bottom of the case to heat rises away from them.

–   Forcing larger tower sizes in cases

 

MicroATX vs MicroBTX

regularBTX vs microBTX

picoBTX

Components on a System Board

•      CPU and its chip*

•      ________________________  Clock

•      ________________________  Bios*

•      CMOS configuration chip and ________________________  *

•      RAM*

•      RAM ________________________  *

 

•      System bus with ________________________  slots

•      ________________________  and ________________________  switches

•      Ports that come directly off the board

•      ________________________  Supply Connections

Parts of a Motherboard
EVGA nForce 680i

 

•      Let’s label it!

Purchasing a System Board Determines a lot about a system

•      Types and  ________________________  of the CPU you can use

•      ________________________  set on the board (already installed)

•      Memory  ________________________  type and size

•      Types and number of  ________________________  slots

•      Type of  ________________________ 

•      Maximum amount of  ________________________  you can install

•      ________________________  amounts by which upgrade memory

•      Type of  ________________________  *

•      ________________________  BIOS (already installed)

•      Type of  ________________________  connector

•      Presence or absence of different types of proprietary video and/or proprietary local bus slots

•      Presence or absence of  ________________________  , ________________________  , adapters and  ________________________  controller

•      Presence or absence of  ________________________  ports, ________________________  ports, and  ________________________  port*

Features of Some System Boards

•      On board expansion cards

–  Usually  ________________________  , audio, NIC

•      Support for more than one  ________________________ 

•      Support for  ________________________  cards

•      ________________________  slots

•      ________________________  Express slots*

System Clock

•      Controls the  ________________________  of events in the computer

•      Speed is measured in  ________________________  (Mhz)

•      1 Mhz= ________________________  000 beats or cycles of the clock per second (whew!)

•      Most CPUs can perform  ________________________  activity per cycle (some can perform two)

•      Even though a CPU might be able to perform a task in 2 cycles, the CMOS requires a “________________________  ________________________  ” or an extra cycle (or more) to ensure that the task is finished before the next begins.*

New Timing Technology

•      HPET— ________________________  ________________________  ________________________  Timer

–  Developed by Intel to replace the  ________________________  (programmable interval timer) and RTC (realtime clock)

–  Produces periodic interrupts at a much higher resolution than the  ________________________ 

–  Used for synching  ________________________  streams, which provides smoother playback and the need for less instructions

–  Initially uses IRQs ________________________   (same as timer and RTC)

CPU and Chip Set

•      Early CPUs were IDed by model numbers: ________________________  , ________________________  , 80486, etc.

•      Beginning with the 80586 Intel started using Pentium (AMD and Cyrix can still use the x86 designation although that has changed too).

•      8088s worked at about  ________________________  Mhz. Today they can work at 3+ Ghz!

Components of a CPU

•      ________________________  Unit

•      ________________________  Units

•       ________________________  

 

•      ________________________  are responsible for managing the flow of a program.

•      It is the component that retrieves the next instruction to be acted upon or the data to be processed.

Execution Units

•      Arithmetic Logic Unit (________________________  ) is an  ________________________  unit responsible for calculating and comparing numbers.

•      Floating Point Unit (FPU) is an execution unit responsible for fast processing of very very  ________________________  or very very  ________________________  (fractional) real numbers.

•      Original processors didn’t include FPUs

•      If a processor has more than one execution unit, it is known as a  ________________________  -core processor (Pentium IV Extreme is dual-core because it has two EUs)*

Registers

•      Teeny weeny, very fast  ________________________  locations that hold instructions or units of data.

•      Operate at the same speed as the  ________________________  (normal RAM is MUCH  ________________________  )

•      Data and instructions are stored in  ________________________  during their operations.

•      The info is then transferred back into main system memory

•      To speed operation, the control unit can “________________________  ” instructions from system memory and store it in the CPU registers.

•      CPUs can have many registers with groups devoted to specific  ________________________  .*

Rating CPUs

•      Speed

•      Efficiency of  ________________________  set

•      Word size (largest #  ________________________  CPU can process in one operation)

•      Data path (largest # bits that can be  ________________________  from the CPU)

•      Max number of memory addresses

•      Amount of memory (________________________  ) on CPU

•      ________________________  ability

•      Special functionality*

CPU relation to BUS architecture

•      Number of memory addresses and data path size relate directly to BUS architecture

•      ________________________  path is as large as the bus

•      Number of  ________________________  addresses is determined by the number of traces or wires on the bus set aside for memory addresses

•      Therefore, a 16 bit bus can transmit  ________________________  bits at a time. If 10 wires are committed to memory, there can be  ________________________  memory addresses.*

Older CPUs

•      Used  ________________________   volts of electricity (up until the second Pentium)

•      Starting with Pentium Pro CPUs used 3.3 and  ________________________  volts

•      Used a second processor called a co-processor or math co-processor

–  Software had to be written to take advantage of the co-processor

–  Not all computers had the co-processor*

Pentium Chips

•      P-chip has 2  ________________________  logic units (ALUs) so it can perform 2 calculations at once

•      Two ALUs make it a true  ________________________  environment

•      ________________________  -bit external path size

•      Two 32-bit internal paths (word paths) one for each arithmetic unit

•      The new dual core Pentiums contain  ________________________  processor cores on one die*

AMD Chips

•      The original 486s ran  ________________________  volt sockets (so don’t just shove one into a 5 volt. It’ll fit, but it will be sad and  ________________________  .)

•      Bus speeds were  ________________________   MHz with a clock multiplier of 2.

AMD Chips

•      Current Athlon 64x2 have two Athlon 64 processors on a single die and uses advanced Direct Connect Architecture to supply each core with memory and I/O bandwidth for speedy performance on each core.

–   Integrated  ________________________  memory controller

–   ________________________  -transport Technology

–   ________________________  virus protection

–   ________________________  ‘n’ Quiet

–   Allows chip-based virtualization so one PC can act like two or more

–   Takes advantage of multi-threaded PC software

–   Integrated memory controller to reduce access  ________________________ 

–   Socket  ________________________ 

AMD Chips

•      As with everything “tech”, the processors change and upgrade quickly

•      ________________________  Law—Transistor density and integrated circuits double every 24 months—in other words, every 2 years speed and power double.

•      Does Moore’s Law still hold true?*

Comparing Chips

•      Speed of system bus-fastest bus on the mainboard. Aka memory bus because it connects the CPU to RAM

•      Processor speed—speed at which the CPU operates internally

–  ________________________  =The speed of the processor / speed of system bus.

•   Example: Processor runs at 150 Mhz, system bus at 75 Mhz, multiplier=2

–  Memory bus speed x multiplier= ________________________  speed*

Comparing Chips, cont.

•      Memory cache —small amount of very fast RAM (static or SRAM) that holds programming code for CPU

–  Internal cache—included on microchip

•   Aka L1 cache, primary cache

–  External cache—included on system board (older systems) or housed in the CPU chip on a tiny circuit board

•   Aka L2 cache

•   The  ________________________  bus connects L2 to the processor

•      Core architecture—single or dual core*

Cache Memory

Cache continued

•      New chips have   ________________________  cache right on the chip and are called advanced transfer cache (ATC)

•      Has 256 bit bus and runs at same speed as processor (cool!)

•        ________________________  L2 cache is on a separate microchip,  ________________________  bits wide, and runs at   ________________________  the speed of the processor

Multi-Core Architecture

•      A multi-core CPU combines two or more   ________________________  cores into a single package composed of a single integrated circuit (  ________________________  ), called a die, or more dies packaged together.

•      A dual-core processor contains   ________________________  cores and a quad-core processor contains four cores.

•      A multi-core microprocessor implements   ________________________  in a single physical package.

•      A processor with all cores on a single die is called a   ________________________  processor.

•      Cores in a   ________________________  device may share a single coherent cache at the highest on-device cache level (e.g. L2 for the Intel Core 2) or may have separate caches (e.g. current AMD dual-core processors).

•      The processors also share the same   ________________________  to the rest of the system.

•      Each "core" independently implements optimizations such as   ________________________  execution,  ________________________  , and multithreading.

•      A system with N cores is effective when it is presented with N or more threads concurrently. (Example, if a quad core processor is presented with   ________________________  threads, it is more effective than a quad core processor dealing with just 1 or 2 threads.)

Dual Core Architecture

•      Two processors on one die—like having a dual processor system, but with only one   ________________________ 

•        ________________________  Transport Technology allows for a faster connection so transfer of data is faster.

•      The chip itself is not faster, but it can “  ________________________  ” to the other chip faster.*

Are two cores better?

•      A processor loads instructions into a   ________________________  and data is processed sequentially (like on a conveyer belt)

•      An AMD processor pipeline is   ________________________  than Intel, which is why AMD runs at slower clock speeds.

•      A shorter pipeline means more work has to be done per clock cycle, so   ________________________  speed can’t be set as high.

•      With a shorter pipeline, data gets through faster though!

•      This is why Intel may have higher   ________________________  speeds, but AMD can process just as fast.

Are Two Cores Better?

•      Data that is needed consistently is stored in the   ________________________  .

•      The   ________________________  is smart enough to anticipate what might be needed next.

•      If it is wrong, the processor reaches outside the   ________________________  through the bus to the system RAM.

•      Remember, the cache runs at the same speed as the   ________________________  , so if it has to go OUTSIDE the cache, that slows things down because it has to drop to that bus speed.

•      So how do two cores help? Think of it this way. Two pair hands make the work go faster.

•      Software that is   ________________________  aware (able to use more than one processor) can send different threads to different processors.

•      While the processor doesn’t run faster, it can do more work in the same time.

–    A dual core processor is   ________________________  going to be as fast as a dual processor system, however.

•      Advantages

–    Two   ________________________ 

–    Two processor   ________________________  (reduces the need to go outside the cache)

•      Who benefits?

–    People who   ________________________ 

–      ________________________  aware software

–    Servers

–      ________________________  (dual core should be cheaper than dual processors)

•      Quad? Triple? Etc?

–    End of 2007 consumer products with triple and quad cores will be available.

64 Core?

•        ________________________  is a microcontroller manufactured by Tilera.

•      It consists of a mesh network of 64 "tiles", where each tile houses a general purpose processor, cache, and a non-blocking router, which the tile uses to communicate with the other tiles on the processor.

•        ________________________  . (Yeah, really…wow.)

Overclocking

•      Running a CPU at faster speeds than suggested by manufacturer

•      Not recommended by the manufacturer

•      Some boards cannot be   ________________________ 

•      Others can be by changing   ________________________  ,  ________________________  , and   ________________________  settings*

Cooling Fans

•      Seem like a minor part, but without fans chips   ________________________ 

•      Intel rates CPUs at under   ________________________  ˚

•      A good fan can keep temps down to   ________________________  ˚-  ________________________  ˚

•      Some CPUS use a   ________________________  sink for more cooling

 

Intel Form Factors

•      Single Edge Processors (  ________________________  ) (used slot 1)

•      Single Edge Contact Cartridge (  ________________________  ) (used slot 1)

•        ________________________  (slot 1)

•      Plastic Pin Grid Array (  ________________________  ) (socket 370)

•      Flip Chip Pin Grid Array (  ________________________  ) (socket 370, socket 775, etc.)*

Slots vs Sockets

CPU Voltage Regulator

•      Different CPUs require different   ________________________ 

•      Some CPUs are   ________________________  -voltage and require two voltages

•      The   ________________________  controls the amount of voltage on the board

•      On some boards voltages can be changed by setting   ________________________  , others are controlled by the CPU.*

Chip Set

•      A set of   ________________________  circuits (chips) that are designed to work together.

•      They hang out on the motherboard, or can be on   ________________________  cards

•      Usually refers to the   ________________________  and the   ________________________ 

•      Computers have used chipsets since 1980 to make processing faster.

What does a Chipset Control

•        ________________________ 

•        ________________________ 

•      PCI   ________________________ 

•        ________________________ 

•      ROM-BIOS

•        ________________________  Time Clock

•      Keyboard

•        ________________________  IrDA

•        ________________________  (COM, LPT1)

ROM BIOS

•      Read only chip that contains the BIOS (basic input output system)

•      BIOS manages the startup   ________________________ 

•      Major BIOS manufacturers:  ________________________  , Award, American   ________________________  , Inc. (AMI)

•      Older BIOS chips were sockets so you could change them. New ones are   ________________________  for easier upgrading.*

•      Some   ________________________  cards also contain their own BIOS chips

•      During startup these BIOS tell the OS how   ________________________  addresses it needs.

•      Newer BIOS chips are plug and play. They can set:

–    ________________________ 

–    ________________________  channels

–  Upper   ________________________  addresses*

Incompatibilities      

•      Sometimes you’ll buy a piece of hardware that is new and incompatible with an old BIOS

•      Used to   ________________________  the BIOS chip

•      Now use   ________________________  ROM (Electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (  ________________________  ))

•      Only flash BIOS with software from the manufacturer or you’ll kill it*

Random Access Memory (RAM)

•      Two types:  ________________________  and   ________________________ 

•      Dynamic RAM

–   Holds data for a very   ________________________  time (  ________________________  milliseconds)

–   Cheaper than SRAM

–   Three flavors:    ________________________  , Non-  ________________________  ,  ________________________  Correcting Code (ECC)

–     ________________________  tests integrity of bits stored in RAM.  ________________________  can locate and repair errors.

•      Static RAM

–   Holds data   ________________________ 

–   Faster and more expensive

–   Used for   ________________________  *

Types of RAM

•      SIMM—Single Inline Memory Modules

–  Older   ________________________  or   ________________________  pin chips

–  Slow

–  Can hold from   ________________________   to   ________________________  MB on one board

•      DIMM—Dual Inline Memory Modules

–  Newer   ________________________  pin chips

–  Fast

–  Can hold from 8 MB to   ________________________  GB

Types of RAM

Buses and Expansion Slots

•      A bus is a   ________________________  pathway

•      PCs have 4-5 buses each using different protocols and speeds

–     ________________________  —Local I/O

–   Memory Bus—Local

–   AGP—Local   ________________________ 

–   PCI—  ________________________ 

–   VESA or VL Bus—Local   ________________________  /expansion

–   MCA, PCI, EISA ISA (8 & 16), USB (1.0 and 2.0)—Expansion (dif speeds)

–     ________________________  Express*

What does a BUS do?

•      Carries   ________________________  power

•        ________________________  signals

•      Contains   ________________________  addresses

•        ________________________  data

•      Expansion buses can work   ________________________  with the CPU so the CPU does not have to wait

•        ________________________  buses work synchronously with the CPU which requires it to endure wait states*

Types of Buses

ISA

8 bit (first)

16 bit

Used in old AT computers

Expansion

MCA

32 bit

IBM proprietary

Expansion

EISA (extended ISA)

32 bit

Designed by gang of nine to compete with MCA

Expansion

PCI

PCI Express

64 bit

Standard on CISC & RISC

Local

 

Types of Buses

PCI

•      Runs at   ________________________  Mhz

•      PCI-X runs at   ________________________  Mhz

•      Can run   ________________________  with the CPU (different speeds) so CPU doesn’t have to wait for it

•      Interfaces with the   ________________________  bus and memory bus, called a PCI   ________________________ 

•      Supports bus   ________________________  *

PCI Express

•      Uses existing   ________________________  architecture to for communication, but uses serial communications.

•      Carries data on two lines for faster communications (twice as fast as PCI…about   ________________________  MBps

•      Allows point to point communication between   ________________________ 

•      Carries data in   ________________________  , which speeds things up*

PCI Express

•        ________________________  Pin slot used for video cards at this point, replacing AGP

•      More technologies are being created

•      Two PCI Express slots can share the   ________________________  lines so two identical video cards can run concurrently, speeding up 3D gaming substantially

•      PCI-X is the answer to gigabit networking, firewire, and USB 2.0—all of which slow down in regular PCI slots.

•      AKA   ________________________  *

Bus mastering

•      A card with its own   ________________________ 

•      Allows it to access   ________________________  and other devices on the bus without bothering the CPU

•      The CPU and device can run   ________________________  and   ________________________  of each other.*

Accelerated Graphics Port

•      Provides fast access to   ________________________ 

•      Called a port because it can only accept   ________________________  card and is not expandable

•        ________________________  connected to the CPU

•      Faster than   ________________________ 

•      Runs at same speed as   ________________________ 

•        ________________________  pin or (newer)  ________________________  pin

•      Can share memory with the CPU through   ________________________    ________________________  execute (DIME)

Audio Modem Riser (AMR)

•      Can support a small   ________________________  card or   ________________________  card

•      Inexpensive cards which use the logic on the chip set to support audio or modem

•      Also called a   ________________________  or   ________________________  riser*

On Board Ports

•      Keyboard and mouse

•      USB (usually two)

•      Parallel

•      Serial

•      Video

•      If one port fails most boards allow you to set a   ________________________  that disables that port and tells the CPU to look to an expansion card for that port*

Configuration Information

•      Most configuration information is stored on one   ________________________  chip

•      A battery near the   ________________________  allows it to store the information even when the computer is turned off*

64 Bit Processors

•      Has a   ________________________  -bit word size and is excellent for high end graphics program, video, CAD

•      Can handle twice as many bits of information in the same clock cycle as a 32-bit processor

•      Is backwards compatible. Can identify if a program or OS requires 16-, 32-, or 64-bit processing and   ________________________  earlier modes.

•       Not all programs run   ________________________  /faster with a 64-bit processor. *

Review

•      AGP stands for

•      Width of  PCI

•      A path that either electricity or data can run along.

•      Five different kinds of expansion cards from oldest to newest.

•      Who is the Gang of Nine and what did they develop and why?

•      What does the CMOS hold?

Review Too!

•      Difference between SRAM and DRAM

•      Two ways to update BIOS

•      Where is L1 cache located?

•      Where was L2 cache located?

•      Where is L2 cache NOW located?

•      What are the two types of ways to install a CPU?

•      What is a chip set?

 

Review Tree!

•      Voltage regulator does what?

•      Current CPUs use what voltage?

•      What happens if an on board port dies?

•      USB can have up to ____ devices on one port.

•      FireWire aka _____ or _____

•      FireWire can have up to _____ devices on one port.

Review Fore!

•      The _________ bus connects the L2 cache to the processor.

•      The _______ bus connects the memory bus to the CPU.

•      SRAM holds data for a _____ time.

•      DRAM holds data for a _____ time.

–   Until the power is turned off