GigaByte MA785GT-UD3H – Motherboard AMD Socket AM3

GigaBythe the motherboard’s company from taiwan had launched a new motherboard AMD socket am3. The version is a MA785GT-UD3H. In this computer and hardware’s article I am going to explain and review this product, Are the hardware is for you? Let see it! And I hope you can choose the best motherboard.

MA785GT-UD3H included video card slot as much as a two PCIe X16 slot, and it already use Crossfire or Hybrid Crosfire with added one or two discrete graphic. Meanwhile, for the memory, this Motherboard AMD Socket AM3 already can using DDR3 with maximum performa, In the 1800 MHz with overlock way and 1600MHz in Maximum standard speed.

This AM3 motherboard is included a high performance onboard video card, Radeon HD 4200. Unfortunately, there is no SlidePort Memory so only sharing with main memory. But it is still enough for running your computer system perfectly. But I doubt about this if you play a huge game?

In cooling system, GigaByte MA785GT-UD3H motherboard  already have The best Heatsink in their system to decrease the heat when the computer is running. Unfortunately, the heatsink is only covered in each chipshet. So MOSFET is not given heatsink all. Then in a power phase is given as much as 5 unit. But please notice, 4 unit is for CPU power phase. In capacitors has already used a solid capacitors overall. And also a PCB quality in GigaByte MA785GT-UD3H am3 motherboard has already used 2OZ Copper PCB.

Overall, the performance of GigaByte MA785GT-UD3H -Motherboard AMD Socket AM3 is already good. May be it’s no as strong as depends a the new motherboard like gigabyte ga-ma790x-ud4p. But it is good in memory and hard disk. In onboard graphic is enough for home computer. Oh yeah I almost forgot, GigaByute also included a Easy Energy Saver in order to saver in electricity.

Gigabyte P55A-UD6 Motherboard

Gigabyte had launched a new motherboard from Ultra Durable 3 series, P55-UD6, this product has been fully powered by a new intel P55 chipset. This motherboard has been equipped with excess in any sector, especially in a overclocking and support new technology such USB 3.0 and SATA3.So what is going on in this product? I will completely review it in this computer article series.

Motherboard P55A-UD6 has been powered by 3 slot PCI Express in generation 2  which fully supports the tripe CrossfireX or SLI feature so cause a better graphic. Gigabyte provides DDR3 type in memory slot with maximum speed at 2600 Mhz by overclocking and 1333 MHz by default. The best thing, thereare many available slot to plug in DDR 3 as much as 6 slot. Integrated Audio use Realtec ALC889 codec 771, channel and integrated LAN use 2x Realtec 811d chips.

Packet sale, you will find out a user’s manual Multilangual installation Guidebook,DVD driver, eSATA bracket, 4 x SATA cable, 1 x Ide Cable and 1 of SLI Bridge.

To overclocking process this P555 motherboard from Gigabyte has been already equipped with aluminum heatsink which also powered with heatpipe. The heatsink is used to protect all of heat resource like chipset and MOSFET. While for power to CPU is used high quality power phase with 24. Phase has been embedded in this motherboard . Because this product is from Ultra Durable 3 series so the motherboard from gigabyte, P55-UD6 also equipped with 2 OZ Copper PCB, Solid Capacitor, High quality Lower RDS MOSFET and ferrite Core Chocke so make the motherboard keep Durable for long time and really good to muffle heat.

The total performance of Gigabyte P55A-UD6 is really high in 98%, But unfortunately in STALKER test is less and only gets 81% score.For Energy saving score can achieve 95% score and approximatelly use of power is 87 watt. In all of terms, this product is satisfactory except in a price.

Gigabyte GA-790FXTA-UD5 Motherboard Review

For the Motherboard review series, I am going to explain Gigabyte GA-790FXTA-UD5.Gigabyte uses the Phoenix Award BIOS modified licensed. And the main menu includes MB Intelligent , Standard CMOS Features, Tweaker (MIT),  Integrated Peripherals, Power Management, PC Health Status, and Advanced BIOS Features. It is a AMD motherboard.

We all know there are SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0  technology already come in the marketplace where there are many motherboards on the market and users without support for the those technology. So it will be make confuse motherboard manufacture to launch their product for customers.

It is not like a GigaByte MA785GT-UD3H – Motherboard AMD Socket AM3,  The the GIGABYTE MA790FXTA-UD5 motherboard supports USB 3.0 , SATA 3.0 , AM3 CPUs and 3-way CrossfireX. Wht Gigabyte launch this motherboard that support those new teckhnology. A couple years ago, AMd launched the 790 FX series chipset to be coincided in the AMD phenom CPUs launching.

The initial motherboards use chipset AM2+ Socket, it means the motherboards could not take a DDr3 memory but could take AM3 CPUs as the mission pins on a AM2+ CPU would no affect the insertion. And Gigabyte had released a couple of 790 FX boards with AM3 socket especially the motherboard that I was reviewing for you, GIGABYTE MA790FXTA-UD5 which one of the motherboard supporting AM3+DDR3+USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0.

Performance of this Gigabyte GA-790FXTA-UD5 Motherboard is pretty good on the system. There are so many new feature that can cripple the functionality of ofher features such as CrossfireX on the P55 chipset.

Foxconn A7Gm-S – Motherboard AMD AM2+

For the single test time, Foxconn hace launched a A7GM-S that still use combininga AMD 780G  and AMD SB700 chipset. Unfortunately, Foxcomm is still using AM2+ from AM, so to use the AMD  processor from AM2 to AM3 can be still handled in such a way.When you purchase this product, it also comes with a PCleX16, 4 Slot DDr2 and 6x SATA II. Even so, this motherboard can be upgraded in the next time if you want to do it with several purpose. for your information You can search amd motherboard ddr3 or amd phenom x4 in this blof

The size of this Motherboard AMD AM2+ is small, And usually the memory slot for the mini motherboard is only available in a two part. The FOXCONN A7GM-S  is already included a pretty Video card onboard AMD Radeon HD 3200. Although this video card is still using 128-bit memory bandwidth. The Graphic in this onboard video card already full supports DirectX 10.1

 

In the cooling syste, each of chipset is equipped with aluminum heatsink in the northbridge and southbridge, But I am doubt about this heatsink because the cover is very small. And in the power phase has only 5 units for a power distribution to CPU.

In the sintetic test PCMArk Vantage get a 100% score result. In the gaming test Far cry 2 is also get 100% score.But in this Motherboard AMD AM2+ is not given Side Port Memory like a another product from AMD that can increase a GPU onboard performance.

ECS A785GM-A AMD Motherborad

ECS sell a new black seris of amd motherboard, A785GM-A. This motherboard is from a AMD 785 G family and has been powered with high performance onboard graphic, Radeion HD 4200. Unfortenatelly this motherboard have no used full AM3, it uses AM2+.

It means ECS A785GM-A can use AM3 processor but HyperTransport capacuty can not achieve full performace.In memory socket, the AMD motherboard still use DDR2 type depending use a new technology, DDR3. There is also no available Sideport Memory. So if you will use onboard video card you will be forced to use main memory.

Even this ECS motherboard have provided onboard video card, but you can upgrade or use Hybrid CF with PCI slot Express. The cooling system in this AMD motherboard is less or enough, heatsink is only integrated to protect each chipsets and also use alumunium with minimalis size.  So it will not much reduce a heat.

Power phase in ECS A785Gm-A AMD has a 4 unit, please notice, 3 unis is a APU power phase. In table test itself, the total performance of this product is long from satisfactory, because only gets 86%. The high individual score is sintetic PCMARK vantage harddsik where this AMD motherboard can gets 100% of score.  The guarantee service is 5 years.

ECS P55H-A Motherboard

Anda akan melihat semua informasi dari ECS motherboard terutama P55H-a. Produk ini diluncurkan dalam seri hitam. Motherboard ini telah didukung chipset intel P55 bt.  

Jadi apa fitur terbaik dan mungkin kurangnya mobo ini? Aku akan meninjau untuk Anda?
Ini LGA1156 intel motherboard biasanya disebut salah satu seri hitam karena semua kapasitor menggunakan solid. Dan juga warna dari PCB biasanya hitam. Dan membuat produk tampaknya laki-laki. Didukung oleh dua slot PCIe x16, produk dari ECS P55H-A maksimal dapat menjalankan int Crossfire / SLI fitur sehingga kinerja grafis dapat ditambahkan lebih baik dari sebelumnya.

Sementara untuk tujuan memori, ECS P55H-A Motherboard menyediakan 4 slot memori DDR3 yang diklaim oleh ECS dapat berjalan maksimal un till2130 MHZ jam dengan overclocking dan 133 MHz dengan menetapkan standar. Untuk melindungi sistem ini intel motherboard AM3 hanya menggunakan sistem pendingin standar terdiri dari heatsink di chipset masing-masing dan MOFSET tersedia. Sayangnya, Anda dapat membandingkannya dengan motherboard DFI dk P55 lp t3eh9 tidak ada heattipe tambahan untuk menghilangkan panas.  

Pada phase power CPU, hanya ada 4 unit CPU 

Para spesifikasi dari ECS P55H-A:

    DMI / BIOS: 2Gb / s / AMI
    DIMM Slots / RAM Max: 4 xDDR3 2130/1600/1333/1066
    Slot ekspansi: 3x PCIe x16, 2 xPCI. 1 x PCI X1 / USB 6x 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0
    Integrated Audio: Realtek ALC888 8-channel HD Audio Codec
    Terpadu LAN: Realtek Fast Ethernet Gigabit 8111DL MC

Dalam kinerja motherboard ECS P55H-A, melihat skor total kinerja cukup dengan 97%. Tapi di sektor lain, skor kurang. Jadi motherboard ini p55/AM3 tidak dapat dibandingkan dengan Asus P7P55D-E Premium Motherboard.Like di overclock hanya mendapat skor 46% karena produk ini ECS memiliki unit power phase hanya kurang dan tanpa alat untuk melakukan proses overclocking di onboard atau terpisah. dalam skor penghematan energi mendapatkan nilai terburuk di 39% dengan kekuatan di 111 Watt. Yang terbaik adalah berpikir ECS menyediakan garansi panjang dan harga murah.

Asus P7P55D-E Premium Motherboard Intel P55

Motherboard from Asus manufacture use Intel P55 chipset with has advantage on SATA 3  and USB 3.0 in their system.This motherboard has name P7P55D-E premium. And you know P755D is a popular version in the marketpalace. Ok I am going to review this product only for you

Motherboard Asus P7P55D-E has equipped with two a sPCIe X16 slot so can be used to Crossfire/SLI to get maximum performance of graphic which intend more better.For the memory  is provided four slot with the maximum speed in 2200 Mhz by overlocking and 1600 by default. For the SATA slot provides for SATA which integrate in montheboars as much as 6 slot and SATAII only three slot.

And for USB 3.0 is available two in a back panel ports. The product from ASUS has a lot of  phase power as much as 32 unit that available to support a power in processor especially i7 intel. With this specification, this Intel P55 motherboard is really for overclocker.

Meanwhile, In the cooling system Asus P7P55D-E premium has used aluminum heatsink with heatpipe integrated. Unfortenatelly, heattipe only used for cooling in around MOSFET while heatsink for the chipset only use thin aluminum. The performance overall this motherboard get 95%, it means this product is enough for performance.

In the high score of this asus p55 motherboard get in sintetic test PC mark vantage HDD where it gets 100% where the lowest score from sintetic test PCMark vantage communication only gets 87%. The overlock score is quite awesome where this intel P55 motherboard get 99% because there are many of phase power and provides Asus TurboV in the Asus P7P55D-E premium.

Unfortenately, Asus P7P55D-E premium is expensive and not like Asrock p55 deluxe, and this motherboard supports USB 3.0 and SATA 3. The special performance, this motherboard is really good for everclocking process.

Motherboard

Papan induk (Inggris: motherboard) adalah papan sirkuit tempat berbagai komponen elektronik saling terhubung seperti pada PC atau Macintosh dan biasa disingkat dengan kata mobo.

Pengertian lain dari Motherboard atau dengan kata lain mainboard adalah papan utama berupa pcb yang memiliki chip bios (program penggerak), jalur-jalur dan konektor sebagai penghubung akses masing-masing perangkat.

Motherboard yang banyak ditemui dipasaran saat ini adalah motherboard milik PC yang pertama kali dibuat dengan dasar agar dapat sesuai dengan spesifikasi PC IBM.

Motherboard atau disebut juga dengan Papan Induk Motherboard merupakan komponen utama dari sebuah PC, karena pada Motherboard-lah semua komponen PC anda akan disatukan. Bentuk motherboard seperti sebuah papan sirkuit elektronik. Motherboard merupakan tempat berlalu lalangnya data. Motherboard menghubungkan semua peralatan komputer dan membuatnya bekerja sama sehingga komputer berjalan dengan lancar.

Komponen-komponen Papan induk (motherboard)

• Konektor Power

Konektor power adalah pin yang menyambungkan motherboard dengan power supply di casing sebuah komputer. Pada motherboard tipe AT, casing yang dibutuhkan adalah tipe AT juga. Konektor power tipe AT terdiri dari dua bagian, di mana dua kabel dari power supply akan menancap di situ. Pada tipe ATX, kabel power supply menyatu dalam satu header yang utuh, sehingga Anda tinggal menancapkannya di motherboard. Kabel ini terdiri dari dua kolom sesuai dengan pin di motherboard yang terdiri atas dua larik pin juga. Ada beberapa motherboard yang menyediakan dua tipe konektor power, AT dan ATX. Kebanyakan motherboard terbaru sudah bertipe ATX.

• Socket atau Slot Prosesor

Terdapat beberapa tipe colokan untuk menancapkan prosesor Anda. Model paling lama adalah ZIF ( Zero Insertion Force) Socket 7 atau popular dengan istilah Socket 7. Socket ini kompatibel untuk prosesor bikinan Intel, AMD, atau Cyrix. Biasanya digunakan untuk prosesor model lama (sampai dengan generasi 233 MHz). Ada lagi socket yang dinamakan Socket 370. Socket ini mirip dengan Socket 7 tetapi jumlah pinnya sesuai dengan namanya, 370 biji. Socket ini kompatibel untuk prosesor bikinan Intel. Sementara AMD menamai sendiri socketnya dengan istilah Socket A, di mana jumlah pinnya juga berbeda dengan socket 370. Istilah A digunakan AMD untuk menunjuk merek prosesor Athlon. Untuk keluarga prosesor Intel Pentium II dan III, slot yang digunakan disebut dengan Slot 1, sementara motherboard yang menunjang prosesor AMD menggunakan Slot A untuk jenis slot yang seperti itu.

• North bridge controller

VIA VT8751A yang memberikan interface prsessor dengan frekuensi 533/400MHz, yang mensupport intel Hypertheading Tecnologi, interface system memory yang beropersi pada 266MHz, dan interface AGP 1.5V yang mendukung spesifikasi AGP 2.0 termasuk write protocol dengan kecepatan 4X.

• Socket Memori

Juga ada dua tipe socket memori yang kini beredar di masyarakat komputer. Memang ada juga socket terbaru untuk Rambus-DRAM tetapi sampai kini belum banyak pengguna yang memakainya. Socket lama yang masih cukup populer adalah SIMM. Socket ini terdiri dari 72 pin modul. Socket yang kedua memiliki 168 pin modul, yang dirancang satu arah. Anda tidak mungkin memasangnya terbalik, karena galur di motherboard sudah disesuaikan dengan socket memori tipe DIMM.

• Konektor Floppy dan IDE

Konektor ini menghubungkan motherboard dengan piranti simpan computer seperti floppy disk atau harddisk. Konektor IDE dalam sebuah motherboard biasanya terdiri dari dua, satu adalah primary IDE dan yang lain adalah secondary IDE. Konektor Primary IDE menghubungkan motherboard dengan primary master drive dan piranti secondary master. Sementara, konektor secondary IDE biasanya disambungkan dengan pirantipiranti untuk slave seperti CDROM dan harddisk slave. Bagaimana menyambungkan pin dengan kabel? Mudah sekali. Pita kabel IDE memiliki tanda strip merah pada salah satu sisinya. Strip merah tersebut menandai, sisi kabel berstrip merah ditancapkan pada pin bernomor 1 di konektornya. Bila menancap terbalik, piranti yang terpasang tidak akan dikenali oleh komputer. Hal yang sama berlaku untuk menyambungkan kabel floppy dengan pin di motherboard.

• AGP 4X slot

Slot port penyelerasi gambar ini mensupport grafik card mode 3.3V/1.5V AGP 4X untuk aplikasi grafis 3D.

• South bridge controller

Peripheral kontroler terintegrasi VIA VT8235 yang mensupport berbagai I/O fungsi termasuk 2-channel ATA/133 bus master IDE controller, sampai 6 port USB 2.0, interface LCP super I/O, interface AC’97 dan PCI 2.2.

• Standby Power LED

Led ini menyala jika terdapat standby power di motherboard. LED ini bertindak sebagai reminder (pengingat) untuk mematikan system power sebelum menghidupkan atau mematikan mesin.

• PCI slots

Pegembangan slot PCI 2.2 32-bit in9i mensopport bus master PCI cart seperti SCSI atau cart LAN dengan keluaran maksimum 133MB/s.

• PS/2 Mouse Port

Konektor hijau 6 pin ini adalah untuk mouse.

• Port Paralel dan Serial

Pada tipe AT, port serial dan paralel tidak menyatu dalam satu motherboard tetapi disambungkan melalui kabel. Jadi, di motherboard tersedia pin untuk menancapkan kabel. Fungsi port paralel bermacammacam, mulai dari menyambungkan komputer dengan printer, scanner, sampai dengan menghubungkan komputer dengan periferal tertentu yang dirancang menggunakan koneksi port paralel. Port serial biasanya digunakan untuk menyambungkan dengan kabel modem atau mouse. Ada juga piranti lain yang bisa dicolokkan ke port serial. Dalam motherboard tipe ATX, port paralel dan serial sudah terintegrasi dalam motherboard, sehingga Anda tidak perlu menancapkan kabel-kabel yang merepotkan.

• RJ-45 Port

Port 25-pin ini menghubungkan konektor LAN melalui sebuah pusat network.

• Line in jack

Jack line in (biru muda) menghuungkan ke tape player atau sumber audio lainnya. Pada mode 6-channel, funsi jack ini menjadai bass/tengah.

• Line out jack

jack line out (lime) ini menghubungkan ke headphone atau speaker. Pada mode 6-channel, funsi jack ini menjadi speaker out depan.

• Microphone jack

Jack mic (pink) ini meghubungkan ke mikrofon. Pada mode 6-channel funsi jack ini rear speaker out belakang.

• USB 2.0 port 1 dan port 2

Kedudukan port USB (universal serial bus) 4-pin ini disediakan untuk menghubungkan dengan perangkat USB 2.0.

• USB 2.0 port 3 dan port 4

Kedudukan port USB (universal serial bus) 4-pin ini disediakan untuk menghubungkan dengan perangkat USB 2.0.

• Video Graphics Adapter Port

Port 15-pin ini adalah untuk VGA monitor atau VGA perangkat lain yang kompatibel

• Konektor keyboard

Ada dua tipe konektor yang menghubungkan motherboard dengan keyboard. Satu adalah konektor serial, sedangkan satu lagi adalah konektor PS/2. Konektor serial atau tipe AT berbentuk bulat, lebih besar dari yang model PS/2 punya, dengan lubang pin sebanyak 5 buah. Sementara, konektor PS/2 memiliki lubang pin 6 buah dan diameternya lebih kecil separuhnya dibanding model AT.

• Batere CMOS

Batere ini berfungsi untuk memberi tenaga pada motherboard dalam mengenali konfigurasi yang terpasang, ketika ia tidak/belum mendapatkan daya dari power supply

Motherboard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple computers, the logic board. It is also sometimes casually shortened to mobo.

Motherboard for an Acer desktop personal computer, showing the typical components and interfaces that are found on a motherboard. This model was made by Foxconn in 2008, and follows the ATX layout (known as the "form factor") usually employed for desktop computers. It is designed to work with AMD's Athlon 64 processor.

A motherboard of a Vaio E series laptop (right)

History

Prior to the advent of the microprocessor, a computer was usually built in a card-cage case or mainframe with components connected by a backplane consisting of a set of slots themselves connected with wires; in very old designs the wires were discrete connections between card connector pins, but printed circuit boards soon became the standard practice. The Central Processing Unit, memory and peripherals were housed on individual printed circuit boards which plugged into the backplate. During the late 1980s and 1990s, it became economical to move an increasing number of peripheral functions onto the motherboard (see below). In the late 1980s, motherboards began to include single ICs (called Super I/O chips) capable of supporting a set of low-speed peripherals: keyboard, mouse, floppy disk drive, serial ports, and parallel ports. As of the late 1990s, many personal computer motherboards supported a full range of audio, video, storage, and networking functions without the need for any expansion cards at all; higher-end systems for 3D gaming and computer graphics typically retained only the graphics card as a separate component.

The early pioneers of motherboard manufacturing were Micronics, Mylex, AMI, DTK, Hauppauge, Orchid Technology, Elitegroup, DFI, and a number of Taiwan-based manufacturers.

The most popular computers such as the Apple II and IBM PC had published schematic diagrams and other documentation which permitted rapid reverse-engineering and third-party replacement motherboards. Usually intended for building new computers compatible with the exemplars, many motherboards offered additional performance or other features and were used to upgrade the manufacturer's original equipment

The term mainboard is applied to devices with a single board and no additional expansions or capability. In modern terms this would include embedded systems and controlling boards in televisions, washing machines, etc. A motherboard specifically refers to a printed circuit board with expansion capability.

Overview

A motherboard, like a backplane, provides the electrical connections by which the other components of the system communicate, but unlike a backplane, it also connects the central processing unit and hosts other subsystems and devices.

A typical desktop computer has its microprocessor, main memory, and other essential components connected to the motherboard. Other components such as external storage, controllers for video display and sound, and peripheral devices may be attached to the motherboard as plug-in cards or via cables, although in modern computers it 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, at a minimum:

• sockets (or slots) in which one or more microprocessors may be installed^[3]
• slots into which the system's main memory is to be installed (typically in the form of DIMM modules containing DRAM chips)
• a chipset which forms an interface between the CPU's front-side bus, main memory, and peripheral buses
• non-volatile memory chips (usually Flash ROM in modern motherboards) containing the system's firmware or BIOS
• a clock generator which produces the system clock signal to synchronize the various components
• slots for expansion cards (these interface to the system via the buses supported by the chipset)
• power connectors, which receive electrical power from the computer power supply and distribute it to the CPU, chipset, main memory, and expansion cards.^[4]

The Octek Jaguar V motherboard from 1993.^[5] This board has few onboard peripherals, as evidenced by the 6 slots provided for ISA cards and the lack of other built-in external interface connectors.

Additionally, nearly all motherboards include logic and connectors to support commonly used input devices, such as PS/2 connectors for a mouse and keyboard. 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 also integrated into the motherboard; for example, on the Apple II and rarely on IBM-compatible computers such as the IBM PC Jr. Additional peripherals such as disk controllers and serial ports were provided as expansion cards.

Given the high thermal design power of high-speed computer CPUs and components, modern motherboards nearly always include heat sinks and mounting points for fans to dissipate excess heat.

CPU sockets

Main article: CPU socket

A CPU socket or slot is an electrical component that attaches to a printed circuit board (PCB) and is designed to house a CPU (also called a microprocessor). It is a special type of integrated circuit socket designed for very high pin counts. A CPU socket provides many functions, including a physical structure to support the CPU, support for a heat sink, facilitating replacement (as well as reducing cost), and most importantly, forming an electrical interface both with the CPU and the PCB. CPU sockets can most often be found in most desktop and server computers (laptops typically use surface mount CPUs), particularly those based on the Intel x86 architecture on the motherboard. A CPU socket type and motherboard chipset must support the CPU series and speed.

Integrated peripherals

Block diagram of a modern motherboard, which supports many on-board peripheral functions as well as several expansion slots.

With the steadily declining 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 especially popular in small form factor and budget computers.

For example, the ECS RS485M-M,^[6] a typical modern budget motherboard for computers based on AMD processors, has on-board support for a very large range of peripherals:

• disk controllers for a floppy disk drive, up to 2 PATA drives, and up to 6 SATA drives (including RAID 0/1 support)
• integrated graphics controller supporting 2D and 3D graphics, with VGA and TV output
• integrated sound card supporting 8-channel (7.1) audio and S/PDIF output
• Fast Ethernet network controller for 10/100 Mbit networking
• USB 2.0 controller supporting up to 12 USB ports
• IrDA controller for infrared data communication (e.g. with an IrDA-enabled cellular phone or printer)
• temperature, voltage, and fan-speed sensors that allow software to monitor the health of computer components

Expansion cards to support all of these functions would have cost hundreds of dollars even a decade ago; however, as of April 2007 such highly integrated motherboards are available for as little as $30 in the US.

Peripheral card slots

A typical motherboard of 2009 will have a different number of connections depending on its standard.

A standard ATX motherboard will typically have one PCI-E 16x connection for a graphics card, two conventional PCI slots for various expansion cards, and one PCI-E 1x (which will eventually supersede PCI). A standard EATX motherboard will have one PCI-E 16x connection for a graphics card, and a varying number of PCI and PCI-E 1x slots. It can sometimes also have a PCI-E 4x slot. (This varies between brands and models.)

Some motherboards have two PCI-E 16x slots, to allow more than 2 monitors without special hardware, or use a special graphics technology called SLI (for Nvidia) and Crossfire (for ATI). These allow 2 graphics cards to be linked together, to allow better performance in intensive graphical computing tasks, such as gaming and video editing.

As of 2007, virtually all motherboards come with at least four USB ports on the rear, with at least 2 connections on the board internally for wiring additional front ports that may be built into the computer's case. Ethernet is also included. This is a standard networking cable for connecting the computer to a network or a modem. A sound chip is always included on the motherboard, to allow sound output without the need for any extra components. This allows computers to be far more multimedia-based than before. Some motherboards contain video outputs on the back panel for integrated graphics solutions (either embedded in the motherboard, or combined with the microprocessor, such as the Intel HD Graphics). A separate card may still be used.

Temperature and reliability

Main article: Computer cooling

Motherboards are generally air cooled with heat sinks often mounted on larger chips, such as the Northbridge, in modern motherboards. Insufficient or improper cooling can cause damage to the internal components of the computer and cause it to crash. Passive cooling, or a single fan mounted on the power supply, was sufficient for many desktop computer CPUs until the late 1990s; since then, most have required CPU fans mounted on their heat sinks, due to rising clock speeds and power consumption. Most motherboards have connectors for additional case fans as well. Newer motherboards have integrated temperature sensors to detect motherboard and CPU temperatures, and controllable fan connectors which the BIOS or operating system can use to regulate fan speed. Some computers (which typically have high-performance microprocessors, large amounts of RAM, and high-performance video cards) use a water-cooling system instead of many fans.

Some small form factor computers and home theater PCs designed for quiet and energy-efficient operation boast fan-less designs. This typically requires the use of a low-power CPU, as well as careful layout of the motherboard and other components to allow for heat sink placement.

A 2003 study^[7] found that some spurious computer crashes and general reliability issues, ranging from screen image distortions to I/O read/write errors, can be attributed not to software or peripheral hardware but to aging capacitors on PC motherboards. Ultimately this was shown to be the result of a faulty electrolyte formulation.^[8]

A microATX motherboard with some faulty capacitors.

For more information on premature capacitor failure on PC motherboards, see capacitor plague.

Motherboards use electrolytic capacitors to filter the DC power distributed around the board. These capacitors age at a temperature-dependent rate, as their water based electrolytes slowly evaporate. This can lead 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,^[9] their expected design life roughly doubles for every 10 °C below this. At 45 °C a lifetime of 15 years can be expected. This appears reasonable for a computer motherboard. However, many manufacturers have delivered substandard capacitors,^[10] which significantly reduce life expectancy. Inadequate case cooling and elevated temperatures easily exacerbate this problem. It is possible, but tedious and time-consuming, to find and replace failed capacitors on PC motherboards.

Form factor

Main article: Comparison of computer form factors

Motherboards are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes called computer form factor, some of which are specific to individual computer manufacturers. However, the motherboards used in IBM-compatible systems are designed to fit various case sizes. As of 2007, most desktop computer motherboards use one of these^[which?] standard form factors—even those found in Macintosh and Sun computers, which have not been built from commodity components. A case's motherboard and PSU form factor must all match, though some smaller form factor motherboards of the same family will fit larger cases. For example, an ATX case will usually accommodate a microATX motherboard.

Laptop computers generally use highly integrated, miniaturized and customized motherboards. This is one of the reasons that laptop computers are difficult to upgrade and expensive to repair. Often the failure of one laptop component requires the replacement of the entire motherboard, which is usually more expensive than a desktop motherboard due to the large number of integrated components.

Bootstrapping using the BIOS

Main article: booting

Motherboards contain some non-volatile memory to initialize the system and load an operating system from some external peripheral device. Microcomputers such as the Apple II and IBM PC used ROM chips, mounted in sockets on the motherboard. At power-up, the central processor would load its program counter with the address of the boot ROM and start executing ROM instructions, displaying system information on the screen and running memory checks, which would in turn start loading memory from an external or peripheral device (disk drive). If none is available, then the computer can perform tasks from other memory stores or display an error message, depending on the model and design of the computer and version of the BIOS.

Most modern motherboard designs use a BIOS, stored in an EEPROM chip soldered or socketed to the motherboard, to bootstrap an operating system. When power is first applied to the motherboard, 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 adapter
• cards inserted into slots, such as conventional PCI
• floppy drive
• thermistors, voltages, and fan speeds for hardware monitoring
• CMOS used to store BIOS setup configuration
• keyboard and mouse
• network controller
• optical drives: CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
• SCSI hard drive
• IDE, EIDE, or SATA hard disk
• security devices, such as a fingerprint reader or the state of a latch switch to detect intrusion
• USB devices, such as a memory storage device

On recent motherboards, the BIOS may also patch the central processor microcode if the BIOS detects that the installed CPU is one in for which errata has been published. Many of the above devices can be stored with machine code instructions to load an operating system or program.