What Two Different Types of Firmware May Be Used on Motherboards
A
motherboard
(also called
mainboard, main
excursion lath,
[1]
or
mobo) is the principal
printed circuit board
(PCB) in full general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows communication between many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the
central processing unit
(CPU) and
memory, and provides connectors for other
peripherals. Dissimilar a
backplane, a motherboard normally contains significant sub-systems, such as the central processor, the
chipset‘south
input/output
and retention controllers,
interface
connectors, and other components integrated for full general employ.
Motherboard
ways specifically a PCB with expansion capabilities. As the name suggests, this board is oft referred to equally the “mother” of all components attached to it, which often include peripherals, interface cards, and
daughterboards:
sound cards,
video cards,
network cards,
host bus adapters,
TV tuner cards,
IEEE 1394
cards; and a variety of other custom components.
Similarly, the term
mainboard
describes a device with a unmarried board and no boosted expansions or capability, such as controlling boards in laser printers, television sets, washing machines, mobile phones, and other
embedded systems
with limited expansion abilities.
History
[
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]
Prior to the invention of the
microprocessor, the digital figurer consisted of multiple printed excursion boards in a card-cage case with components connected by a
backplane, a set of interconnected sockets. In very one-time designs, copper wires were the discrete connections between card connector pins, but printed excursion boards shortly became the standard exercise. The
central processing unit of measurement
(CPU), retentivity, and
peripherals
were housed on individually printed circuit boards, which were plugged into the backplane. The ubiquitous
Due south-100 bus
of the 1970s is an instance of this blazon of backplane organization.
The most popular computers of the 1980s such every bit the
Apple tree 2
and
IBM PC
had published schematic diagrams and other documentation which permitted rapid
reverse-engineering
and third-party replacement motherboards. Normally intended for building new computers compatible with the exemplars, many motherboards offered additional functioning or other features and were used to upgrade the manufacturer’s original equipment.
During the late 1980s and early on 1990s, it became economical to move an increasing number of peripheral functions onto the motherboard. In the late 1980s, personal computer motherboards began to include single ICs (also called
Super I/O
chips) capable of supporting a set of low-speed peripherals:
PS/two
keyboard
and
mouse,
floppy disk bulldoze,
serial ports, and
parallel ports. By the belatedly 1990s, many personal computer motherboards included consumer-course embedded audio, video, storage, and networking functions without the demand for whatsoever
expansion cards
at all; college-end systems for
3D
gaming and
computer graphics
typically retained only the graphics bill of fare as a separate component. Business PCs, workstations, and servers were more than likely to need expansion cards, either for more robust functions, or for college speeds; those systems often had fewer embedded components.
Laptop and notebook computers that were developed in the 1990s integrated the virtually mutual peripherals. This even included motherboards with no upgradeable components, a trend that would go on as smaller systems were introduced afterwards the plow of the century (like the
tablet computer
and the
netbook). Retentivity, processors, network controllers, ability source, and storage would exist integrated into some systems.
Pattern
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A motherboard provides the electrical connections by which the other components of the system communicate. Unlike a backplane, it besides contains the central processing unit and hosts other subsystems and devices.
A typical
desktop computer
has its
microprocessor,
master memory, and other essential components connected to the motherboard. Other components such equally
external storage, controllers for
video
display and
sound, and peripheral devices may be attached to the motherboard as plug-in cards or via cables; in modern microcomputers, information technology is increasingly common to integrate some of these peripherals into the motherboard itself.
An important component of a motherboard is the microprocessor’s supporting
chipset, which provides the supporting interfaces between the CPU and the various
buses
and external components. This chipset determines, to an extent, the features and capabilities of the motherboard.
Modern motherboards include:
-
CPU sockets
(or CPU slots) in which one or more
microprocessors
may exist installed. In the case of CPUs in
brawl grid array
packages, such equally the
VIA Nano
and the
Goldmont Plus, the CPU is directly soldered to the motherboard.
[iii]
- Memory slots into which the system’s main memory is to be installed, typically in the course of
DIMM
modules containing
DRAM
chips can be
DDR3,
DDR4
or
DDR5 - The
chipset
which forms an interface between the
CPU,
main retentivity, and peripheral buses -
Non-volatile memory
chips (usually
Flash ROM
in modern motherboards) containing the arrangement’s
firmware
or
BIOS - The
clock generator
which produces the system
clock point
to synchronize the various components - Slots for
expansion cards
(the interface to the system via the buses supported past the chipset) - Power connectors, which receive electrical power from the computer
power supply
and distribute it to the CPU, chipset, principal retentiveness, and expansion cards. Every bit of 2007
[update]
, some
graphics cards
(eastward.k.
GeForce viii
and
Radeon R600) require more power than the motherboard tin provide, and thus dedicated connectors have been introduced to attach them direct to the ability supply
[4]
- Connectors for hard disk drive drives, optical disc drives, or solid-state drives, typically
SATA
and
NVMe
now[
when?
].
Additionally, most all motherboards include logic and connectors to support commonly used input devices, such as
USB
for
mouse devices
and
keyboards. Early
personal computers
such as the
Apple II
or
IBM PC
included only this minimal peripheral support on the motherboard. Occasionally video interface hardware was too integrated into the motherboard; for example, on the Apple tree II and rarely on IBM-uniform computers such equally the
IBM PC Jr. Additional peripherals such as
disk controllers
and
serial ports
were provided equally expansion cards.
Given the high
thermal blueprint power
of high-speed computer CPUs and components, modern motherboards nearly e’er include
rut sinks
and mounting points for
fans
to misemploy excess heat.
Form gene
[
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]
Motherboards are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes called
class factors, some of which are specific to individual computer manufacturers. Still, the motherboards used in IBM-compatible systems are designed to fit various
case
sizes. As of 2005
[update]
, most
desktop computer
motherboards apply the
ATX
standard form factor — even those plant in
Macintosh
and
Sun
computers, which have non been congenital from article components. A instance’southward motherboard and
power supply unit
(PSU) grade cistron must all match, though some smaller class factor motherboards of the aforementioned family will fit larger cases. For instance, an ATX case will usually accommodate a
microATX
motherboard. Laptop computers more often than not use highly integrated, miniaturized, and customized motherboards. This is 1 of the reasons that laptop computers are difficult to upgrade and expensive to repair. Oft the failure of one laptop component requires the replacement of the unabridged motherboard, which is ordinarily more than expensive than a desktop motherboard
CPU sockets
[
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]
A
CPU socket
(central processing unit) or slot is an electrical component that attaches to a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and is designed to house a CPU (also chosen a microprocessor). It is a special type of integrated circuit socket designed for very loftier pivot counts. A CPU socket provides many functions, including a physical structure to support the CPU, back up for a heat sink, facilitating replacement (as well as reducing cost), and most chiefly, forming an electrical interface both with the CPU and the PCB. CPU sockets on the motherboard can most often be found in most desktop and
server computers
(laptops typically apply surface mountain CPUs), particularly those based on the
Intel x86
compages. A CPU socket type and motherboard chipset must back up the CPU serial and speed.
Integrated peripherals
[
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]
With the steadily failing costs and size of
integrated circuits, it is now possible to include support for many
peripherals
on the motherboard. By combining many functions on one
PCB, the physical size and total cost of the system may be reduced; highly integrated motherboards are thus peculiarly popular in
small class gene
and budget computers.
-
Disk controllers
for
SATA
drives, and historical
PATA
drives. - Historical
floppy-disk controller -
Integrated graphics controller
supporting
2D
and
3D
graphics, with
VGA,
DVI,
HDMI,
DisplayPort
and
TV
output -
integrated audio carte du jour
supporting eight-channel (7.i) audio and
S/PDIF
output -
Ethernet
network controller
for connection to a
LAN
and to receive
Cyberspace -
USB
controller - Wireless network interface controller
-
Bluetooth
controller - Temperature, voltage, and fan-speed sensors that allow
software
to monitor the health of computer components.
Peripheral menu slots
[
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]
A typical motherboard will have a different number of connections depending on its standard and
course cistron.
A standard, modern ATX motherboard will typically have two or three
PCI-Express
x16 connection for a graphics card, one or two legacy PCI slots for various expansion cards, and ane or ii PCI-E x1 (which has superseded
PCI). A standard
EATX
motherboard will have two to 4 PCI-East x16 connection for graphics cards, and a varying number of PCI and PCI-E x1 slots. It can sometimes besides have a PCI-Eastward x4 slot (will vary between brands and models).
Some motherboards accept ii or more than PCI-E x16 slots, to let more than than two monitors without special hardware, or use a special graphics engineering science called
SLI
(for
Nvidia) and
Crossfire
(for
AMD). These allow 2 to 4 graphics cards to exist linked together, to allow better performance in intensive graphical computing tasks, such as gaming, video editing, etc.
In newer motherboards, the
1000.2
slots are for
SSD
and/or
Wireless network interface controller.
Temperature and reliability
[
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Motherboards are generally
air cooled
with
heat sinks
often mounted on larger fries in mod motherboards.
[5]
Insufficient or improper cooling can crusade impairment to the internal components of the computer, or cause it to
crash.
Passive cooling, or a single fan mounted on the
ability supply, was sufficient for many desktop calculator CPU’s until the late 1990s; since then, most accept required
CPU fans
mounted on
heat sinks, due to rising clock speeds and power consumption. Most motherboards accept connectors for additional
calculator fans
and integrated temperature sensors to detect motherboard and CPU temperatures and controllable fan connectors which the
BIOS
or
operating system
tin can use to regulate fan speed.
[vi]
Alternatively computers can apply a
water cooling
system instead of many fans.
Some
minor form factor
computers and
home theater PCs
designed for placidity and free energy-efficient operation boast fan-less designs. This typically requires the use of a low-power CPU, as well as a conscientious layout of the motherboard and other
components
to permit for estrus sink placement.
A 2003 study institute that some spurious computer crashes and general reliability bug, ranging from screen image distortions to
I/O
read/write errors, can exist attributed non to
software
or peripheral
hardware
simply to aging
capacitors
on PC motherboards.
[seven]
Ultimately this was shown to be the issue of a faulty electrolyte formulation,
[8]
an upshot termed
capacitor plague.
Modern motherboards use
electrolytic capacitors
to filter the
DC
power distributed effectually the board. These capacitors age at a temperature-dependent rate, as their water based
electrolytes
slowly evaporate. This can pb to loss of capacitance and subsequent motherboard malfunctions due to
voltage
instabilities. While most capacitors are rated for 2000 hours of operation at 105 °C (221 °F),
[9]
their expected design life roughly doubles for every 10 °C (xviii °F) beneath this. At 65 °C (149 °F) a lifetime of 3 to four years tin be expected. However, many manufacturers deliver substandard capacitors,
[10]
which significantly reduce life expectancy. Inadequate case cooling and elevated temperatures effectually the CPU socket exacerbate this problem. With top blowers, the motherboard components can be kept under 95 °C (203 °F), effectively doubling the motherboard lifetime.
Mid-range and loftier-cease motherboards, on the other hand, use solid capacitors exclusively. For every ten °C less, their average lifespan is multiplied approximately by three, resulting in a 6-times higher lifetime expectancy at 65 °C (149 °F).
[11]
These capacitors may be rated for 5000, 10000 or 12000 hours of operation at 105 °C (221 °F), extending the projected lifetime in comparison with standard solid capacitors.
In Desktop PCs and notebook computers, the motherboard cooling and monitoring solutions are usually based on
Super I/O
or
Embedded Controller.
Bootstrapping using the Basic Input/Output Organisation
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]
Motherboards comprise a
ROM
(and later
EPROM,
EEPROM,
NOR flash) to initialize hardware devices, and loads an
operating arrangement
from the
peripheral device. Microcomputers such as the Apple II and IBM PC used
ROM
chips mounted in sockets on the motherboard. At ability-up, the
central processor unit
would load its
program counter
with the address of the Kick ROM and get-go executing instructions from the Boot ROM. These instructions initialized and tested the system hardware, displays arrangement information on the screen, performed
RAM
checks, and and then loaded an operating organization from a peripheral device. If none was bachelor, and then the computer would perform tasks from other ROM stores or brandish an error message, depending on the model and design of the computer. For example, both the Apple tree 2 and the original IBM PC had
Cassette Bones
(ROM BASIC) and would start that if no operating system could be loaded from the floppy disk or hard disk.
Most modernistic motherboard designs apply a
BIOS, stored in an
EEPROM
or
NOR flash
bit soldered to or socketed on the motherboard, to
boot
an
operating system. When the computer is powered on, the BIOS firmware tests and configures memory, circuitry, and peripherals. This
Power-On Self Test
(POST) may include testing some of the following things:
- Video card
-
Expansion cards
inserted into slots, such equally
conventional PCI
and
PCI Express - Historical
floppy bulldoze -
Temperatures,
voltages, and fan speeds for
hardware monitoring -
CMOS retentiveness
used to store
BIOS
configuration -
Keyboard
and
Mouse - Sound bill of fare
- Network adapter
- Optical drives:
CD-ROM
or
DVD-ROM -
Hard disk drive
and
solid country drive - Security devices, such as a
fingerprint reader -
USB
devices, such every bit a USB mass storage device
Many motherboards now use a successor to BIOS called
UEFI. It became popular after Microsoft began requiring it for a organisation to be certified to run
Windows 8.
[12]
[xiii]
See also
[
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]
-
Peripheral Component Interconnect
(PCI)- PCI-X
-
PCI Express
(PCIe)
-
Accelerated Graphics Port
(AGP) - Chiliad.2
- U.2
- Computer case screws
- CMOS battery
- Expansion card
- Listing of computer hardware manufacturers
-
Basic Input/Output System
(BIOS) -
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
(UEFI) - Overclocking
- Single-board computer
- Switched-mode ability supply applications
- Symmetric multiprocessing
- Chip pitter-patter
References
[
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]
-
^
Miller, Paul (July 8, 2006).
“Apple tree sneaks new logic board into whining MacBook Pros”. Engadget.
Archived
from the original on October iv, 2013. Retrieved
October 2,
2013.
-
^
“Golden Oldies: 1993 mainboards”.
Archived
from the original on May 13, 2007. Retrieved
June 27,
2007.
-
^
“CPU Socket Types Explained: From Socket 5 To BGA [MakeUseOf Explains]”. January 25, 2013.
Archived
from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved
April 12,
2015.
-
^
W1zzard (April 6, 2005).
“Pinout of the PCI-Express Power Connector”. techPowerUp.
Archived
from the original on Oct 4, 2013. Retrieved
October 2,
2013.
-
^
Karbo, Michael.
“The CPU and the motherboard”. Karbos Guide.
Archived
from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved
June 21,
2015.
-
^
“Temperatures”.
Intel® Visual BIOS Wiki.
Archived
from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved
June 21,
2015.
-
^
c’t Magazine
, vol. 21, pp. 216-221. 2003. -
^
Chiu, Yu-Tzu; Moore, Samuel K. (January 31, 2003).
“Faults & Failures: Leaking Capacitors Muck upwardly Motherboards”. IEEE Spectrum. Archived from
the original
on February 19, 2003. Retrieved
October 2,
2013.
-
^
“Capacitor lifetime formula”. Low-esr.com. Archived from
the original
on September fifteen, 2013. Retrieved
October 2,
2013.
-
^
Carey Holzman
The salubrious PC: preventive care and home remedies for your computer
McGraw-Colina Professional, 2003
ISBN0-07-222923-3
folio 174 -
^
“– GIGABYTE, –Geeks Column of the Week – All Solid Capacitor”.
www.gigabyte.com.
Archived
from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved
May 6,
2017.
-
^
“Windows Hardware Certification Requirements for Client and Server Systems”. Microsoft. January 2013.
System.Fundamentals.Firmware.CS.UEFISecureBoot.ConnectedStandby … Platforms shall be UEFI Class 3 (encounter UEFI Industry Grouping, Evaluating UEFI using Commercially Available Platforms and Solutions, version 0.iii, for a definition) with no Compatibility Support Module installed or installable. BIOS emulation and legacy PC/AT kicking must be disabled.
-
^
“Microsoft: All Y’all Demand to Know About Windows 8 on ARM”.
PC Magazine
. Retrieved
September 30,
2013.
External links
[
edit
]
- The Making of a Motherboard: ECS Mill Tour
- The Making of a Motherboard: Gigabyte Factory Tour
-
Front end Panel I/O Connectivity Design Guide
– v1.three (pdf file)