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Motherboard and Bios. Generic Modern Motherboard. Courtesy of ASUS USA. PCI-X. Chipset. CPU Socket. Battery. SATA. RAM. Power. PCI-X and AGP – (Advanced Graphics Port) - Special slots for graphics cards
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Courtesy of ASUS USA PCI-X Chipset CPU Socket Battery SATA RAM Power
PCI-X and AGP – (Advanced Graphics Port) - Special slots for graphics cards PCI – (Peripheral Component Interconnect) – Most common on newer PCs. Used for Graphics, Network, Firewire, and any other add-on card for a newer PC. Roughly 10 times faster than ISA ISA – (Industry Standard Architecture ) – Common on older PCs (Over 8 yrs old) – Slower Bus speed than PCI Things to know about the slots
Lines of communication within the PC Capability measured in speed and width Modern PCs usually have a bus speed of 133-533 MHz – Older PCs have 66 or 133 MHz Important when buying additional RAM, RAM must run at the same speed as the Motherboard Main Bus vs. Front side Bus Bus width – amount of data that can be sent over the same wire at the same time Modern PCs – Maximum 64 Bits Bus Width Riding the Bus
Internal and External Bus • Internal Bus – On the board itself (Processor, RAM) • External Bus – leads outside of the box (USB, Keyboard connections, PCI etc) • Can have different speeds
PC Card Speeds • AGP – usually 32 Bits • PCI – 32 or 64 Bits • ISA – 8 or 16 Bits
CMOS Battery • Lithium Battery that backs up the System BIOS • Needs replacing every so often • Signs it needs to be replaced • Clock does not keep time between reboots • Computer “loses” hard drives, floppies, and other devices that are installed on the computer • Other assorted weirdness
BIOS (Basic Input Output System) • A power-on self-test (POST) for all of the different hardware components in the system to make sure everything is working properly • Activating other BIOS chips on different cards installed in the computer - For example, SCSI and graphics cards often have their own BIOS chips. • Providing a set of low-level routines that the operating system uses to interface to different hardware devices - It is these routines that give the BIOS its name. They manage things like the keyboard, the screen, and the serial and parallel ports, especially when the computer is booting. • Managing a collection of settings for the hard disks, clock, etc. • Thanks Howstuffworks.com
BIOS Updates • Newer mobo's often have updates • Adds functionality, fixes bugs, speeds things up • Methods: • Making a boot floppy • Boot CD-ROM • Program that re-boots and updates
Cooling • Enemy #1: Heat • Active cooling • Passive cooling • Moving parts wear out
Active Cooling • Fans • Heat Exchanger • Liquid
Passive Cooling • Heat Sinks • Heat Exchanger