August 10,2014

August 10,2014

Four types of Motherboards

Today our class is about motherboard types and differences. we already discussed about motherboard, which is the main circuit board and it interconnects the remaining parts of computer.

Totally we have 4 types of motherboards so far. They are XT, AT, Baby AT and ATX.

XT Motherboards:

XT Stands for eXtended Technology. These are all old model motherboard. In this motherboards, we find old model processor socket LIF (Low Insertion Force) sockets, ram slots Dimms and ISA (Industry Standards Architecture) slots, 12pin Power Connector and no ports.

They have slot type processors, Dimms memory modules, ISA slots for add-on card, and no ports. There are connectors and add-on cards for ports.

Eg: Pentium-I, Pentium-MMX, Pentium -II and Pentium-II Processors.

AT Motherboards:

AT stands for Advanced Technology. Advanced Technology Motherboards have PGA (Pin Grid Array) Socket, SD Ram slots, 20pin power connector PCI slots and ISA slots. we find the above components on AT motherboards.

Eg: Pentium-III Processors

Baby AT Motherboards: 

Baby AT Motherboards have the combination of XT and AT. They have both slot type processor sockets and PGA processor sockets, SD Ram slots and DDR Ram slots, PCI slots and ISA slots, 12 Pin power connector and 20Pin power connector and Ports.

Eg: Pentium-III and Pentium-IV

ATX Motherboards:

ATX stands for Advanced Technology eXtended. latest motherboards all are called as ATX motherboards. designed by ATX form factor. In this motherboards, we find MPGA Processor Sockets, DDR Ram slots, PCI slots, AGP slots, Primary and secondary IDE interfaces, SATA connectors, 20pin and 24 pin ATX power connector and Ports.

Eg: Pentium-IV, Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, Quad Core, i3, i5 and i7 Processors.

Different RAM Types and its uses

Intro

The type of RAM doesn't matter nearly as much as how much of it you've got, but using plain old SDRAM memory today will slow you down. There are main types of RAM: SDRAM, DDR and Rambus DRAM.

SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM)

Almost all systems used to ship with 3.3 volt, 168-pin SDRAM DIMMs. SDRAM is not an extension of older EDO DRAM but a new type of DRAM altogether. SDRAM started out running at 66 MHz, while older fast page mode DRAM and EDO max out at 50 MHz. SDRAM is able to scale to 133 MHz (PC133) officially, and unofficially up to 180MHz or higher. As processors get faster, new generations of memory such as DDR and RDRAM are required to get proper performance.

DDR (Double Data Rate SDRAM)

DDR basically doubles the rate of data transfer of standard SDRAM by transferring data on the up and down tick of a clock cycle. DDR memory operating at 333MHz actually operates at 166MHz * 2 (aka PC333 / PC2700) or 133MHz*2 (PC266 / PC2100). DDR is a 2.5 volt technology that uses 184 pins in its DIMMs. It is incompatible with SDRAM physically, but uses a similar parallel bus, making it easier to implement than RDRAM, which is a different technology.

Check this site for  information about DDR SDRAM memory and DDR Memory recommendations.

Rambus DRAM (RDRAM)

Despite it's higher price, Intel has given RDRAM it's blessing for the consumer market, and it will be the sole choice of memory for Intel's Pentium 4. RDRAM is a serial memory technology that arrived in three flavors, PC600, PC700, and PC800. PC800 RDRAM has double the maximum throughput of old PC100 SDRAM, but a higher latency. RDRAM designs with multiple channels, such as those in Pentium 4 motherboards, are currently at the top of the heap in memory throughput, especially when paired withPC1066 RDRAM memory.

 Processors

Intel

• Intel is the leading microprocessor manufacturer. Its microprocessors include the Pentium, Celeron and Core lines.

AMD

• AMD is Intel's main microprocessor rival. Its microprocessors include the Athlon, Turion and Phenom lines.

Macs

• In 2006, Apple announced that they were discontinuing the use of PowerPC microprocessors, which had been in use since 1994, in favor of Intel microprocessors.