Unit 4 video summary 2 When building your own computer most people will tell you to pick one of two first either motherboard or cpu. Cpu dictates motherboard and vice versa. You should not buy either until you have made a decision about both and the case you need is also determined by these decisions.
There are three form factors to determine these. * Atx form factor- has soft power switch and many slots to support different connections and uses a p1 power connector * Replaced older at form factor * Smaller * Better organization * Easier to work on * Wide support for I/o devices * Wake on lan feature * Btx form factor- supports a p1 power connector * Better air flow for cooling with an intake vent in the front and an exhaust in the back * Cpu heatsink fins and memory modules installed parallel to airflow * Nlx form factor- supports riser cards and usually installed on lower end computers * Fit into expansion slots * Provide connectors for additional expansion cards * Also known as daughter boards
Bottom of the mother board holds the bus system which lets the board communicate with the different things installed on it, these are called communication buses. The look like little copper lines and allow all power and data flow. The system bus is the largest and fastest of all these buses, it connects the motherboard to the cpu and the cpu back to the motherboard.
The motherboard has a variety of connectors. * P1 power connector * 40 pin ide * 30 pin floppy drive * Sata * 50 or 68 pin scsi
There are also the different expansion slots. There are the pci which was fast and the predecessor to the pcix which is quicker. Then the pci express which is the fastest of all and followed by the agp which is the high speed alternative to the pci and used for the transport for video images. Pci express is the newest and fastest bus technology and expected to replace all others in the near future.