You must know as much about motherboards (mainboards) as possible in order to be able to understand how a desktop PC is configured and functions. If you want to buy a new PC, knowing beforehand about the make and model of its motherboard and the features it provides is necessary information if you want to make a sensible purchase that is as future-proofed as possible, and if you want to know how best to upgrade it. Whether you want to upgrade an existing PC or build a new PC, you have to know how to choose a motherboard that is as fit as possible for the purposes that the new or upgraded PC is to be used for.

Visit the Desktop PCs section of this site for information on how to buy, build, repair, fix, and protect the various types of desktop PCs.

Visit the Laptop/Notebook PCs section of this site for information on buying, protecting, and fixing problems with them.

In the updated sections of computer magazines devoted to providing buying advice, and in press advertisements, there is usually one major component of the PC that is either seldom mentioned or not mentioned at all - the motherboard, which is also known as a mainboard.

Strange, because that is easily the most important part of a computer.

It is the printed circuit board (PCB) to which all of the other components of a computer are connected. Therefore, where reputable manufacturers have supplied the other components in a computer, cheap, poor quality, and/or badly-designed motherboards represent the most significant factor involved in problems, poor performance, and poor or non-existent upgradability.

When building a computer from its components, you should first choose the type of AMD or Intel processor that best meets your budget and computing needs, and then you should choose a motherboard that can run it.

Visit the Processors section of this site for more information on them.

The motherboard that you choose must also provide the features that you require, such as FireWire, a Gigabit Ethernet network port, onboard sound and/or video chips, etc. All current motherboards provide several USB 2.0 ports, but not all of them provide a FireWire port.

Depending on your requirements, you should look for a motherboard that has as many of the features that you require built into it. For example, many motherboards provide high-specification sound chipsets that makes it unnecessary to use a dedicated sound card. Many current motherboards provide 7.1 surround sound, and some even have coaxial or optical S/PDIF outputs that allows the PC to be connected to a surround-sound amplifier. Most current motherboards provide a Gigabit Ethernet network port that allows the PC to be connected to a wired network.

Note that many current motherboards don't provide serial and parallel ports that were used to connect peripherals such as printers before USB became the standard used to connect them.

MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 motherboard with two SLI PCI Express slots

The image shown above is of an MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 motherboard with two long x16 SLI PCI Express graphics slots for AMD Athlon 64 and 64 FX processors, two medium-length PCI slots, and two short x1 PCI Express slots. The four horizontal blue and teal slots are the DIMM slots for the RAM memory, and the processor socket is the white square in the middle of the right-hand side of the board.

When a motherboard doesn't have the hardware (modem, sound card, additional USB/FireWire ports, etc.) that is required on board, it has to be added by making use of expansion cards. The older expansion cards are fitted into PCI slots, while the newer cards are fitted into x1 PCI Express slots.

Many of the latest motherboards have a second x16 PCI Express slot for a second video/graphics card, which allows the user to extend the Windows desktop across up to four monitors that can access two video cards at once, because each video card allows two monitors to be connected to it. The type of connection depends on the type of ports that the monitors and the video/graphics card(s) have. Most current video/graphics cards have a standard analog D-sub VGA port and a DVD-I port (supports both analog and digital connections), or one or two DVD-D (digital only) ports. You have to use the correct type of cable for a particular monitor/video card connection.

Note that there are now some motherboards that supply four x16 PCI Express cards, such as the MSI P6N Diamond board. You could fit four graphics cards to it that each have two outputs, making it possible to connect up to eight monitors.

Visit the Video & Graphics section on this site for information on the dual-graphics/video technologies called SLI (nVidia cards) and CrossFire (ATI cards).

Almost all of the current PCs use processors made by AMD or Intel. All of the current Intel processors fit into a socket on the motherboard called Socket LGA775, and all of the latest AMD processors fit into a socket on the motherboard called Socket AM2. Socket LGA775 (Intel) and Socket AM2 (AMD) motherboards use DDR2 RAM memory. You cannot use old old DDR memory with them.

Socket 939 motherboards for AMD's Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX processors are still available, but AMD has replaced Socket 939 with Socket AM2 for its processors. Motherboards can therefore run either Intel or AMD processors, but not both. The motherboard must have a socket type that matches the make and the model of the processor.

Note that, if you don't know for sure or are unsure, you should always check that a particular motherboard supports a particular make and model of processor by visiting the motherboard manufacturer's website, which should make a user manual for that motherboard available as a download, or provide that information on a web page. A check is also advisable because, for example, an Intel Pentium Extreme Edition processor fits into any Socket LGA motherboard, but it requires a motherboard with an Intel 975 motherboard chipset. Motherboard manuals are usually supplied in the PDF format that requires the free Acrobat Reader, or other PDF reader.

A PC case that contains all of the components that make up a functioning computer is called a base unit. All of the peripheral devices such as the monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, external modem, etc., are connected to the base unit.

The PC case must support the form factor of the motherboard, which is still currently the ATX form factor. Therefore, an ATX motherboard fits into an ATX case. The BTX form factor should be replacing the ATX form factor, but the ATX standard lives on, largely because graphics card manufacturer's prefer it. More information on the BTX form factor is provided further down this page. An ATX case accepts both ATX and the smaller micro-ATX motherboards, but only a micro-ATX motherboard will fit into a smaller micro-ATX case.

MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 motherboard with two SLI PCI Express slots

There are two standard PCI slots in the Socket 939 motherboard shown above - the orange slot and the white slot of the same length next to it on the far top left side of the board. The PCI Express slots are two long x16 slots (the longest slots on the board) for two graphics cards in SLI mode, one yellow x4 slot and two short white x1 slots for other PCI Express devices, such as a sound card, joystick, dial-up modem, etc.

There is no AGP video slot for an AGP video card. The AGP graphics standard preceded the PCI Express standard, and as such won't be found on new motherboards unless as an additional slot provided so that users can still make use of a high-end AGP graphics card.

The slots for DDR SDRAM DIMM modules are the four horizontally aligned blue and teal slots in the bottom right corner of the board. Matching DIMM memory modules of the same type - DDR333, DDR400, etc. - and with the same capacity (e.g., 512MB), installed in the slots of the same colour, work in dual-channel mode. Modules installed singly, or in slots of a different colour, work in the slower single-channel mode. It is not usually possible to have two modules working in dual-channel mode and a single module working in single-channel mode installed at the same time. The motherboard's user manual should explain which DIMM slots support which mode of operation and which memory sizes can be fitted in each slot. A manual is supplied with new motherboards, but a copy in the PDF format is made available from the motherboard manufacturer's site.

Note that a Socket 939 motherboard uses standard DDR RAM, but all of Intel's latest Socket LGA775 and AMD's latest Socket AM2 processors use DDR2 RAM. Also note that DDR RAM memory modules will not fit into a DDR2 DIMM memory slot on a motherboard, so, unless both types of DDR/DDR2 slot are provided, you must obtain the correct type of memory for a particular motherboard.

Visit the RAM pages on this site for more information on computer memory.

Another important consideration when building or upgrading a computer is the type of hard disk drives that a new motherboard supports. The old PATA IDE standard for disk drives is on the way out, and the new SATA and SATA II standards are replacing it. For this reason, most current motherboards only have a single IDE connector that allows the connection of two IDE drives on a single cable, one of which cold be a CD/DVD drive.

Most current ATX motherboards provide six SATA or SATA II ports, but a micro-ATX motherboard will probably only have two such ports. This limits the kind of RAID implementation that can be used to RAID 0 and RAID 1 implementations, using only two hard drives.

Note that the SATA ports can be controlled by two SATA controller chips on the motherboard. RAID arrays of hard drives are implemented by a single controller. Therefore, if there are two controllers, you can only create a RAID array for each controller. Having six SATA ports doesn't necessarily mean that you can build a RAID array of six hard drives.

Click here! to go directly to the information on using a RAID array of hard disk drives as a back-up solution on the first of the Disk Drives pages on this site.

The USB/FireWire, parallel, PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, etc., that appear at the back of the computer's case, are built into the motherboard. You can see a top view of them along the edge of the top right corner of the board.

Click the following link to read an illustrated review of this motherboard.

MSI K8N Diamond Plus - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-1575.html

The K8N Diamond Plus is a Socket 939 motherboard.

64-bit processor support

All of the latest Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+ (for AMD processors) and Socket LGA775 (for Intel processors) motherboards support 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and software. To make the best use of 64-bit technology, the system must be running a 64-bit operating system, which requires 64-bit device drivers for all of the devices that are attached to the PC, and it must be using 64-bit applications and utilities. 64-bit versions of Windows XP Professional and Windows Vista are available. Linux is also capable of running a 64-bit system. There is no 64-bit version of Windows XP Home Edition.

AMD's Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+ platforms

AMD's new ranges of Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+ desktop processors are now available together with motherboards from the major manufacturers.

Socket 939 motherboards for AMD's Athlon 64 single-core and dual- core processors and the processors that use this socket are are probably still available from some retail outlets. If you can run a PC for two or three years before you upgrade it or buy a new one, they are worth buying. But if AMD is your preferred manufacturer and you want to run one of its processors on the fastest platform, with the latest DDR2 RAM memory, you should buy a Socket AM2 or Socket AM2+ motherboard.

AMD's Socket AM2 and AM2+ processors have an on-board memory controller that supports the latest DDR2 RAM.

Socket AM2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_AM2

Socket AM2+ - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_AM2%2B

AMD's Socket AM3 processors and the motherboards that run them are expected to be made available in late 2008.

Socket AM3 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_AM3

Motherboards for Intel's Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Duo desktop processors

July 12, 2006. - Asus has announced its first two motherboards to support the Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Duo dual-core desktop processors from Intel, code-named Conroe. The motherboards - the P5B and the P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP - also support a number of older Intel processors, all the way back to the Pentium 4. Both boards still use Socket LGA775. The P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP provides a pair of PCI Express x16 slots for two graphics cards, while the regular P5B includes just one such slot. Both boards support up to 8GB of 800MHz DDR2 RAM memory through four DIMM slots, and are expected to ship later this month (July 2006).

Announcing Intel® Core™2 Processor Family Brand -

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/core2/index.htm

The websites of the most popular motherboard manufacturers

You can visit one or more of the following motherboard manufacturers' websites to find out which Socket AM2 (AMD) and Socket LGA775 (Intel) motherboards they make.

Asus - http://www.asus.com/

Gigabyte - http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/

MSI - http://www.msi.com.tw/

ECS - http://www.ecs.com.tw/

Abit - http://www.abit.com.tw/

Annotated images of Socket A and Socket 939 motherboards

Click here! to view an annotated images of an ATX AMD Socket A motherboard for the first Athlon socketed processors, and an annotated image of an ATX AMD Socket 939 motherboard for Athlon 64 anf 64 FX processors. - Click your browser's Back button to backtrack.

Visit the Processors pages on this site for more information on them.

Visit the Disk Drives pages on this site for more information on them.

The form factor of a motherboard

The description of a motherboard that indicates its type is called its form factor.

Since motherboards of the AT form factor are no longer being manufactured, you should only consider buying a computer that contains a motherboard that is of these two form factors: ATX (in standard desktop cases), or the SFF (in mini PC cases). m-ATX stands for micro-ATX, which is an ATX form-factor motherboard that can fit in a standard ATX case but which is smaller than a standard ATX motherboard.

SFF stands for Small Form Factor, and it is used in mini PCs, such as the MSI Mega 865, the Shuttle XPC SB81P, and the Abit DigiDice Deluxe. To find out what a mini PC is, enter any one of the names of those models within quotation marks in the Google search box at the top of this page.

A new form factor, created by Intel, called BTX, which stands for Balanced Technology Extended, looked set to replace the ATX form factor. However, to date (December, 2007) , it has not been able to make much headway against the ATX form factor.

The design of a BTX motherboard swaps the location of the adapter slots and ports around so that a single heatsink and fan unit keeps the processor and the north bridge chip of the motherboard's chipset cool. This is a necessity as the power requirements of high-end proccessors and video cards increases. A BTX case has a large fan at its front that sucks air in so that it cools all of the components on a BTX motherboard. This makes BTX PCs run cooler and quieter that standard ATX PCs. The only disadvantage of the design is that there is less space in the case for extra adapter cards and drives. The current downside is the cost. BTX cases and the motherboards are currently more expansive than their ATX counterparts. New hardware always starts out being more expensive than outgoing hardware, so that state of affairs is not going to be a prohibitive factor for long. The Gigabyte 89115G-YFD is a BTX motherboard, and the Dell Dimension 5000 is a BTX computer given a Best Buy award by Computer Shopper.

The Gateway FX530XT PC uses a BTX case and motherboard. Images of its components are shown in the following article. The large green duct that keeps the processor and the north bridge chip cool is shown.

Gateway Goes Gaming: FX530XT Review -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gateway-goes-gaming-uk,review-2077.html

Dell is currently the only PC manufacturer that uses Intel's BTX form factor for all of its Intel-based machines. The company has just started making AMD-based machines available, which still use the standard ATX form-factor motherboards.

In June 2007, AMD announced its own DTX form factor, which is similar to Intel's BTX form factor.

The DTX motherboard design is similar to Intel's BTX design. The main design change from the current ATX form factor is that the processor is positioned in the middle of the motherboard. The processor's heatsink fan takes its air directly from a side panel in the DTX case and is large enough to blow air on to the surrounding components and heatsinks. It is to be used with AMD's dual-core processors.

AMD’s DTX Form Factor – A new Concept for the HTPC -

"Could the DTX form factor created by AMD be the next evolutionary step, despite the existence of microATX and mini-ITX? In this article, Tom’s Hardware looks back on the development form factors have taken over the years and takes a closer look at AMD’s DTX concept." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/DTX-form-factor-AMD-HTPC,review-29795.html

If you want to read technical information on the different form factors, visit http://www.formfactors.org/.

Speed is really the operating frequency

Note that anything measured in Hz or MHz is measuring its frequency, not its speed - the term that is often used instead of frequency. In electronics, when the frequency is increased, the electronically generated wave pulse isn't actually going any faster - it always approaches the speed of light - it is just able to carry more data, because the wave is compressed as the frequency of the wave increases. There are more up and down cycles per metre, so the higher the frequency of a wave, the more data it can carry, in much the same way as compressed print can place more data on a page.

Barebones systems: Small Form Factor (SFF)

Computers that use SFF motherboards, micro-ATX, customised motherboards and small square cases are often called barebones systems.

Note that a barebones system is also a term generally used to designate computers (ATX and SFF) that have only the essential components installed, such as a case with motherboard, RAM, processor, hard disk drive, and CD/DVD drive, etc. You have to buy and install the other components, such as the monitor, video and sound cards, etc. You should find out which components are installed and then work out which components you'll have to buy and install before you buy a barebones system. Most of the barebones kits available in the UK only have the motherboard and the power supply installed in the case.

More than meets the Eye - Barebone PC for Quad-Core and Crossfire -

"High performance, small footprint - Shuttle's SX38P2 Pro can house two graphics cards, three hard drives and a four-core processor..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Shuttle-SX38P2-Pro,review-30107.html

Good Looks, Terrible Workmanship - 4 Barebone Cases Compared -

"Tom’s Hardware has checked out four current mini-PC cases, all of which were sent to us as “brand new” designs by their respective manufacturers. The models reviewed here all cost about €70, which is a lot of money for a case of this size. After all, these enclosures don’t contain any hardware whatsoever. You’ll need to buy a motherboard, PSU and all other components separately. By the time you’re done, that can add up to a couple of hundred quid." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Barebones-Mini-PC-HTPC,review-29752.html

Computer Shopper reviewed the following barebones PCs in March 2008:

Click on the make/model link to visit the manufacturer's site.

1. - Shuttle SN68PTG6 Deluxe (Glamor Series) - Media Center PC kit - Best Buy award - Customised motherboard (not a standard form factor) - Remote control - AMD Socket AM2 for Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 X2 (dual-core processors) - 2 DDR2 memory slots Onboard graphics - HDMI port for hooking up to an HD TV - You have to buy the memory, processor, hard disk drive, and DVD writer - Only room for a single PCI Express graphics card - Requires a molex-to-PCI-Express adapter for additional power to the graphics card from the motherboard - Priced at £241 in March 2008.

2. - Asus T3-P5945GC - Barebones kit - Budget Buy award - micro-ATX motherboard - Intel LGA775 socket for Core2Duo dual-core and Core2Quad quad-core processors - 2 DDR2 memory slots for 4GB of memory - 1 PCI Express x16 slot for a graphics card for gameplay, but a standard card won't fit because the memory card reader is in the way. You have to buy the memory, processor, hard disk drive, and DVD writer - Priced at £108 in March 2008.

For information on the latest barebones systems visit the Computer Shopper site and search for barebones systems, or click the links above to go to the manufacturers' sites from where you can search for the product, or enter the make and model in the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

How to replace the motherboard in a PC running Windows XP

Read the Q&A called How can I replace the motherboard in my PC without having to reinstall Windows XP? to find out what the considerations are and how to do it.

At the time of writing, the situation with regard to replacing a motherboard in Windows Vista was unclear, because I don't know if Startup Repair in Vista can be used in the same way as a repair install in Windows XP. Note that there is no longer a Recovery Console in Windows Vista. You only have System Restore and Startup Repair.

Startup Repair: frequently asked questions -

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/...-74f3922f3f351033.mspx

Windows Vista Repair Options -

http://vistasupport.mvps.org/windows_vista_repair_options.htm

Using a laptop/notebook Pentium M notebook processor in a desktop PC

If you want a quiet desktop computer that uses only a minimal amount of power and that runs so cool that it can be fitted with a passive heatsink (one without a fan), ATX desktop PC motherboards are available that use the processors normally only found in laptop/notebook computers. It is also possible to buy an adapter that fits to particular standard motherboards that allows a mobile notebook processor to be used.

Click here! to go directly to information on these motherboards, processors, and adapters on Page 3 of this article.

Motherboards that support both the AGP and the PCI Express video standards

If you have an AGP graphics card that you want to reuse while upgrading your PC's motherboard, processor, or RAM, motherboards are available that support the AGP and the new PCI Express standards. Such a motherboard has an AGP and a PCI Express slot. Having such a motherboard will allow you to upgrade to a PCI Express graphics card at a later date. An example of such a motherboard is the Asrock 939 DUAL-SATA2 Socket 939 board for AMD Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX processors. With a BIOS update, you'll probably be able to use the Athlon 64 X2 (dual-core) processors into the bargain.

Enter "Asrock 939 DUAL-SATA2" in the Google search box at the top of this page, with its Web radio button enabled, for links to information and vendor sites. To find other such motherboards, try using this search: motherboard + support + "agp and pci express".

Motherboard reviews

Free registration with the Computer Shopper site is required to read the motherboard reviews. - http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper/archiveproductsearch/12/Motherboards

How to identify a computer's motherboard

The make and model of the motherboard installed in a computer is not identified in the Device Manager, and it might also not be possible to identify it by examining it. If you need to know the make and model in order to download a user manual, driver updates, and software patches from its manufacturer's site, click here! to go directly to the links of some free ID utilities on the second of the four Links pages on this site.

If you want a quick way to identify a PC's processor, motherboard, and RAM, the free CPU-Z is ideal. It provides plenty of information on those components in Windows XP/Windows Vista.

It displays all of the information about the processor that you might need to know, such as its make and model, clock speed, FSB and clock multiplier settings in MHz, etc. - http://www.cpuid.org/cpuz.php

The driver updates for a motherboard include the USB Controller, IDE busmaster driver file, and the AGP bus driver file. BIOS file updates should also be available.

Another useful source of system information is provided by the System Information utility. In a Windows 9x and in a Windows XP system, this can be accessed via System Tools under Programs => Accessories, or quickly by entering msinfo32 in the Start => Run box. In Windows Vista, enter msinfo32 in the Start => Start Search box, because the Run box is no longer provided.

The safest way to upgrade RAM: Use the UK and US Crucial Memory Advisors

Paul Mullen, the highly-respected computer guru of the Helpfile at ComputerShopper.co.uk - "I have recently been buying my memory only from Crucial Technology. I would rather pay the extra cost than waste time trying to track down the obscure program faults that bad memory can cause."

The memory requirements of the versions of Windows Vista

Most of the versions of Windows Vista require more RAM memory to run optimally on a computer that doesn't use memory-hungry applications than Windows XP. A video-editing application is an example of memory-intensive software. Only Windows Vista Home Basic has a recommended minimum amount of memory of 512MB, which is the same amount recommended for Windows XP. Windows Vista Home Premium, the most popular version, and Windows Vista Ultimate require a recommended minimum of 1GB (1024MB) of memory, which is twice the amount of minimum memory recommended to run Windows XP. For more information on computer memory, read the RAM pages of this site.

UK - Crucial Memory Advisor - UK

USA - Crucial Memory Advisor - USA

For example, if your computer has an Asus motherboard, open the menu, scroll down to ASUS, and click GO. If, say, you have a Dell computer, scroll down to DELL, and do likewise. You will be taken to the relevant information on Crucial's website.

If you don't know the make and model of the motherboard installed in your computer, here is a good free utility - Belarc Advisor - that creates an analysis of the hardware and software on a personal computer. Look under FREE DOWNLOAD - http://www.belarc.com/. Another utility that also provides detailed information on the memory itself is CPU-Z.

Integrated motherboards

Motherboards that incorporate features that are usually added by adapter cards fitted into their PCI/AGP/PCI Express slots, such as video, sound, and network cards, are becoming more desirable, because, as techlology advances, integrated electronics can compete effectively with adapter cards.

For example, with the new PCI Express motherboard bus there is little or no loss in performance if an integrated video chip that shares system RAM is used. Indeed, because of this, inexpensive video cards that use only system RAM instead of their own RAM are now available.

However, if you want to play the latest PC games or use graphic-intensive applications, such as video-editing and computer-aided design (CAD) applications, you would always choose a desktop or laptop PC that has its own dedicated video/graphics card instead of integrated graphics. This is because integrated graphics are still currently inadequate for such tasks.

Can Integrated Graphics Cut It For Gaming Or HTPC [Home Theatre PC]? -

"According to market data, integrated chipsets outnumber the number of discrete graphics cards sold each quarter. The obvious reason behind this phenomenon is that systems with graphics integrated into the chipset are less expensive than a separate graphics card. While these integrated platforms may help keep money in your wallet, these systems are generally underpowered compared to ones that have a dedicated graphics card..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/integrated-graphics-gaming,review-29643.html

Click here! to go to information on PCI Express video/graphics cards on this site.

Click here! to go to more information on integrated motherboards on Page 3. Use your browser's Back button to return to this point on this page.

MOTHERBOARD NEWS

The Computer Shopper 2007 Awards

31 October, 2007. - The Computer Shopper 2007 Awards gave the Best Intel Motherboard award to the Abit IP35 Pro board. The Best AMD Motherboard award went to the MSI K9AGM2 board.

The Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 dual-core processor received the Best Component award in the Computer Shopper 2007 Awards. It was priced at just over £100 in October 2007.

AMD introduces a motherboard certification programme

October 4, 2006. - In order to bring the motherboards that run its processors to the market more speedily, AMD has introduced its AMD Validated Solutions (AVS) programme, which is designed to give AMD's seal of approval to computers built using AMD's processors and chipsets, and to assure PC manufacturers that they will not encounter any serious or unexpected problems. The new programme provides validation and testing of the components designed to be used with AMD's processors and also provides post-sales service and technical support, which is to be provided over the Internet and telephone directly from AMD's website and offices.

The first motherboard manufacturers to have their products approved by the programme are Asus, ECS, and MSI.

AMD's acquisition of the graphics-chip manufacturer, ATI, has not prevented ATI's main rival, nVidia, from supporting the programme. nVidia's General Manager, Drew Henry, had this to say on AMD's initiative: "nVidia will continue to work closely with AMD to provide certified nVidia Business Platform PCs."

Asus and Gigabyte to merge

August 9, 2006. - Motherboard manufacturers Asus and Gigabyte have officially announced plans to merge and market motherboards and graphics cards under the Gigabyte brand. The name of the joint venture has still to be decided, but whatever the name, it will commence business on 1 January 2007. Gigabyte will own 51% of the new company and Asus will own the remaining 49%. Gigabyte will choose the chairman of the board and all but two of the board's other members. The intention of merger is to compete more effectively with rivals MSI, Elitegroup, and Foxconn.

Five-star and four-star motherboards reviewed by Computer Shopper

To find vendors and other reviews for the following motherboards, enter the make and model (enclosed within double quotation marks) in the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled). Note that you can download illustrated user manuals for all motherboards from their manufacturers' websites that provide information on the processors that each motherboard supports and all of its other features and specifications.

Motherboard reviews:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper/archiveproductsearch/12/Motherboards

Alternatively, visit http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper to read the the current motherboard reviews under PRODUCT REVIEWS, or enter the make and model in the site's Search For: box.

Click the make/model link to visit the manufacturer's website.

Issue 237 of Computer Shopper, available from 20 September 2007, reviewed the following motherboards:

Motherboards that run AMD processors (Socket AM2):

1. - Gigabyte GA-M55S-S3 - Five stars - Best Buy award in September 2007 - Socket AM2 - nVidia nForce 550 chipset - Four DDR2 RAM memory slots - One x16 PCI Express graphics slot - Four x1 PCI Express slots for adapter cards - Two PCI slots - One IDE disk drive port - Four SATA II disk drive ports - Priced at £47 in September 2007.

2. - Gigabyte GA-MA69VM-S2 - Four stars - Socket AM2 - AMD 690V/AMD SB600 chipset - Four DDR2 RAM memory slots - One x16 PCI Express graphics slot - Two PCI Express slots - One IDE disk drive port - Four SATA II disk drive ports - Priced at £35 in September 2007.

3. - ECS AMD690GM-M2 - Five stars - Best Buy award in September 2007 - Socket AM2 - AMD 690G/AMD SB600 chipset - Two DDR2 RAM memory slots - One x16 PCI Express graphics slot - One x1 PCI Express slot for adapter cards - Two PCI slots - One IDE disk drive port - Four SATA II disk drive ports - Priced at £42 in September 2007.

4. - MSI K9N Neo V3 - Four stars - Socket AM2 - nVidia nForce 560 chipset - Four DDR2 RAM memory slots - One x16 PCI Express graphics slot - Two PCI Express slots - Two x1 PCI Express slots for adapter cards - One IDE disk drive port - Four SATA II disk drive ports - Priced at £47 in September 2007.

Motherboards that run Intel processors (Socket LGA775):

1. - Abit IP35 Pro - Five stars - Best Buy award in September 2007 - Socket LGA775 - Intel P35/Intel ICH9R chipset - Four DDR2 RAM memory slots - Two x16 PCI Express graphics slot - One x1 PCI Express slot for adapter cards - Three PCI slots - One IDE disk drive port - Six SATA II disk drive ports - Priced at £122 in September 2007.

2. - Gigabyte P35-DS3R - Five stars - Budget Buy award in September 2007 - Socket LGA775 - Intel P35/Intel ICH9R chipset - Four DDR2 RAM memory slots - One x16 PCI Express graphics slot - Three x1 PCI Express slots for adapter cards - Three PCI slots - One IDE disk drive port - Eight SATA II disk drive ports - Priced at £76 in September 2007.

3. - Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R - Five stars - Socket LGA775 - Intel G33 Express integrated graphics/Intel ICH9R chipset - Four DDR2 RAM memory slots - One x16 PCI Express graphics slot - No x1 PCI Express slots for adapter cards - Two PCI slots - One IDE disk drive port - Six SATA II disk drive ports - Priced at £71 in September 2007.

4. - Asus Blitz Formula - Four stars - Most Desired award in September 2007 - Socket LGA775 - Intel P35/Intel ICH9R chipset - Four DDR2 RAM memory slots - Two x16 PCI Express graphics slot that support CrossFire dual-card graphics - No x1 PCI Express slots for adapter cards - Two PCI slots - One IDE disk drive port - Six SATA II disk drive ports - An enthusiast's motherboard with water cooling and extensive overclocking settings in its BIOS. - Priced at £164 in September 2007.

RECENT ARTICLES ON MOTHERBOARDS/PROCESSORS

X48 Motherboard Comparison: Meet the new boss -

"We have a clear winner, but not an awardable one: the Asus P5E3 Premium was the only motherboard in this comparison to pass all of our testing criteria, so it wins by default. It has a good add-in RAID controller, a sufficient onboard audio solution, and most importantly, stable support for four memory modules." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/x48-motherboard-comparison,review-30367.html

X38 Comparison Part 2: DDR3 Motherboards -

"We covered the technology in our X38 Express technical introduction, and examined its major features again in our DDR2 motherboard comparison. Now we’re ready to see what benefits DDR3 will bring..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/x38-comparison-part2,review-29775.html

AMD Phenom - The Spider Weaves its Web -

"For the first time since the acquisition of graphics chip company ATI, AMD is presenting a complete platform consisting of the Phenom processor, the 790FX chipset and the HD3800 graphics card series. With this platform, code named Spider, AMD aims to offer the basis for a computer that is affordable for everyone..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-29761.html

Core 2 Extreme QX9770 - Is Intel Afraid of Phenom? -

"This is the first time in recent memory that Intel is introducing a new processor without having a concrete model at hand. The obvious conclusion is therefore– Intel is worried about AMD’s Phenom launch and is trying to steal the limelight." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Intel-QX9770-X48-X38-QX9650,review-29749.html

Comparing X38 Hardware, Part 1: DDR2 Motherboards -

"The X38 Express isn’t the performance monster the P35 had been at its release, but the two are closely matched today. The X38 will finally shine when future graphics cards are released using faster PCI-Express 2.0 transfers, and true x16 pathways to both graphics card slots make it the perfect choice for next-generation ATI graphics cards in CrossFire configuration." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/x38-comparison-DDR2,review-29727.html

Intel’s 45nm Penryn Processor – Hitting 4 GHz with Air Cooling -

"Four cores, 45nm structures and overclocking potential up to 4 GHz make Intel's Core 2 CPUs using the Penryn core even faster and more efficient." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/intel-core2-penryn,review-29714.html

Is Cache Size Really The Key To Boosting Performance? -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/processor-cache-size,review-29707.html

Parallel Processing, Part 1: CPU Cores - Single, Dual Or Quad Core? -

"The race for more performance in the processor segment can only be won by manufacturers who focus on a reasonable balance of clock speed and processing units, based on the existing manufacturing technology. With availability of 90 nm and 65 nm manufacturing processes, processors with more than one unit became possible thanks to manageable heat dissipation and die sizes, and we’re looking at more and more quad core processors today. But how does current software really scale from single to dual and quad cores?..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/CPU-Parallel-Processing,review-29672.html

Keeping Your CPU Going If Your Cooler Fails -

"We took low-cost and high-end processors from both AMD and Intel and put them to the test with regular cooling, as well as in a simulation of a broken CPU fan. In so doing, we discovered that there still are considerable differences between AMD and Intel..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/cpu-cooler-fails,review-29650.html

Intel X38 chipset: Like a Porsche with the Handbrake On -

"Intel’s new X38 chipset brings two new features to the table. However, there are no graphics cards yet for the PCI-Express 2.0 interface and no modules for the XMP memory feature. Which brings us to another problem, namely DDR3 memory modules in general. While the board supports DDR3 memory, the prices for the modules are so high as to be practically unsalable. It is no great surprise then that the motherboard makers have decided to offer only products that support DDR2 for the time being. Bear in mind – these boards can’t be upgraded for use with DDR3 memory later! X38-DDR2 based boards will thus never be able to unfold their full potential!" -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Intel-X38-Gigabyte,review-29644.html

Can MicroATX Boards Do the Job? -

"With the advent of Intel’s Core 2 processors, the desktop market began to divide into two segments. Users on a tight budget most likely found the best deal with AMD’s Athlon 64 X2, while the performance-hungry crowd insisted on a Core 2 processor. However, while AMD is working hard on fighting back in the upper end by trying to get its new Phenom X2 and X4 processors to market before the holiday shopping season, Intel has focused on attacking the low end by dumping cheap processors on the market. We looked at three MicroATX motherboards that are suitable for Intel’s low-cost processors, such as the Pentium Dual Core. Not only can you find these products in business PCs, but they also present a nice platform for home theatre PCs..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-2371.html

MSI P35 Platinum Makes a Comeback -

"We issued the same warning to all the motherboard vendors for our P35-DDR2 compatible motherboard shootout. As we stipulated for our earlier DDR3 motherboard comparison, we said every board would be treated as a retail sample, and no excuses would be made for products still in development that performed badly. Yet two boards arrived that simply weren’t ready for prime time, and this is our second update in which another vendor, in this case MSI, gets another chance..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/MSI-p35-motherboard,review-2372.html

****

Tom's Hardware Guide: System Builder Marathon

System Builder Marathon: Day One [low cost system] -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/system-builder-marathon-uk,review-2221.html

System Builder Marathon: Day Two [midrange cost system] -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/system-builder-marathon-uk,review-2225.html

System Builder Marathon: Day Three [high-end system] -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/system-builder-marathon-uk,review-2235.html

System Builder Marathon: Day 4 [comparing the results] -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/system-builder-marathon-uk,review-2240.html

****

We Build Four HDMI-Based HTPCs: Is The World Ready For DIY HDMI PCs? Are We? -

"The impetus for this story was to explore the workability of building one's own HDMI-and hi-definition DVD player equipped PC. While we were ultimately successful in our quest for this goal - and wow, is this landscape changing daily as new HDMI-equipped graphics cards and motherboards hit the marketplace - we learned numerous interesting things along the way as we groped toward both Intel and AMD implementations for a mid- to high-end media-capable system..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/we-build-4-diy-hdmi-uk,review-2210.html

The motherboard specifications and features that you should know about

The table below shows the motherboard features and specifications that you should know about. Click the headings that appear as blue links to go to information on this site about that particular specification.

Make and model of motherboard and its form factor	Supported processors	Socket	RAM - Type and maximum amount	PCI Express slots	AGP	Additional features - See the Key below
Asus A8N-VM CSM-UAYGZ m-ATX	AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X2 (dual-core)	939	DDR - 4GB	One x16 graphics and one x1 slots	-	V/SATA II/A IDE/RAID D-sub/DVI F (bracket)
Asus A8N-SLI Premium ATX Two SLI video card slots	AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X2 (dual-core)	939	DDR - 4GB	Two x16 graphics, one x1, and one x4 slots	-	A/SATA/SATA II/IDE/RAID F(bracket)
MSI K8N SLI ATX Two SLI video card slots	AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X2 (dual-core)	939	DDR - 4GB	Two x16 graphics, two x1 slots	-	A/SATA II/IDE RAID
ECS 945P-A ATX The two video card slots can be used for two ATI cards using CrossFire technology	Celeron D, Pentium D (both duel-core), Pentium 4	LGA775	DDR2 - 4GB	Two x16 graphics, one x1 slots	-	A/SATA II/IDE RAID
Abit AX8 ATX	AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X2 (dual-core)	939	DDR - 4GB	One x16 graphics and three x1 slots	-	A/SATA/IDE RAID
Epox 5NVA+ SLI ATX Two SLI video card slots	Celeron D, Pentium D (both duel-core), Pentium 4	LGA775	DDR2 - 4GB	Two x16 graphics, two x1 slots	-	A/SATA/IDE RAID

Key for the information in the Additional features column

Click on the make-and-model links to visit the manufacturers sites to download the user manuals for any of their motherboards/mainboards that should contain the full specifications, installation instructions, and settings.

mATX stands for the micro-ATX form factor, which is a small ATX form-factor motherboard that should fit in a standard ATX case. There is more on motherboard and case form factors further down this article.

All current motherboards have USB ports, but not all of them have FireWire ports, so you need to look for this feature if, say, you need it for using a camcorder with your computer.

Note that if FireWire and USB brackets that connect to connection headers (built into the surface area of some motherboards) are used, the bracket containing the ports usually has to be installed in an outlet used by a PCI slot. The ports on the bracket are then connected to the headers by cables.

A = onboard audio (sound).

V = onboard (integrated) video/graphics chip.

AGP = Accelerated Graphics Port. None of the motherboards in the table above has an AGP graphics port, so an AGP graphics card cannot be used with them.

D-sub / DVI = the motherboard has integrated graphics and provides a standard analog D-sub VGA graphics port and/or a digital graphics port that connects the computer to one or more monitors.

Note that SLI motherboards use a chipset made by nVidia, the developer of SLI dual-graphics-card technology, so the motherboard cannot be used to run two CrossFire compliant graphics cards made by ATI, but you can use two ATI cards connected to two monitors. The cards just won't be able to work together to play a PC game, etc. See the Monitors pages on this site for information on using two monitors from two graphics cards or from a single graphics card that supports dual monitors.

IDE = connector(s) for standard IDE PATA hard drives. All of the motherboards in the table above provide both IDE and SATA connectors.

SATA = Serial ATA hard-disk-drive connection, which all new motherboards provide. SATA II is the latest type of SATA.

F = FireWire port(s). The motherboard provides a FireWire port from the motherboard itself or from a bracket containing a FireWire port that is connected to a header on the motherboard by a cable.

RAID = The motherboard supports using the RAID configurations of hard disk drives. Check the motherboard's user manual for more information.

L = onboard Local Area Network (LAN) connection. None of the motherboards in the table above provides a LAN port, which, if required can be added by installing an adapter card.

S = SCSI hard-disk-drive controller (none of the above boards has one).

ACR = slot for an Advanced Communications Riser card (none of the above motherboards has one).

CNR = slot for a Communication Network Riser card (none of the above motherboards has one).

Note that most of the latest motherboards have a x16 PCI Express slot for the video/graphics card instead of an AGP slot. In addition to PCI slots, such motherboards usually have at least one x1 PCI Express slot that is used for other adapter cards, such as PCI Express sound cards, network cards, and dial-up modems, etc., that are not available yet (September, 2005). One or more of the larger x4 PCI Express slots used to be provided on most motherboards, but they have mostly disappeared from the latest motherboards, undoubtedly because no devices for the slot are planned.

The image of a MSI KN8 Neo4 Platinum Edition Socket 939 motherboard for AMD Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX processors, shows all of the PCI Express slots. Since standard PCI slots are still available on all motherboards, apart from video cards, the device manufacturers have decided not to make the change to PCI Express.

There is information on the PCI Express standard a little further down this page.

The motherboard's chipset

Reputable motherboards use the best chipsets. Equivalent to the conductor in an orchestra, these vital components run the show. Without them nothing would work.

The performance of a motherboard and its features are mostly determined by its chipset, which usually consists of two chips - a north bridge and a south bridge.

The new BTX form-factor motherboards are designed so that a single cooling heatsink and fan unit keeps both the processor and the northbridge chip cool, whereas with the current ATX form factor only the processor is covered by the cooling unit.

The north bridge chip of the chipset is often kept cool by a passive (no fan) heatsink, or by a heatsink and fan unit, because it links and has control over the high-speed components - the processor, the video card, the RAM - and also links to the south bridge chip, which links to the north bridge chip and to the slower components - the IDE and PCI buses, and communications and input devices.

There are hundreds of motherboards available at any one time, but only a relatively small number of chipsets that provide their core functionality.

Different motherboards that use the same chipsets offer similar performance and features, but the difference between chipsets can be quite marked, with those motherboards that offer the best performance and features usually being the most expensive from manufacturers such as Asus, Abit, MSI, ECS, and Gigabyte.

The manufacturers of motherboards use new chipsets made by chipset manufacturers, such as VIA, Intel, ALi, and SiS, for every motherboard they bring out these days, so I am not going to provide any examples here. The end of the third Motherboard page of this article provides links to sites that provide motherboard reviews. If you know the make and model of a motherboard, you can download the user manual from its manufacturer's site. It contains all of the technical information about the motherboard, including information on the chipset.

The web sites of the most popular motherboard chipset manufacturers

Intel - http://www.intel.com/ and - http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/

VIA Technologies Inc. - http://www.via.com.tw/

Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) - http://www.sis.com/

Acer Laboratories Inc. (ALi) - http://www.ali.com.tw/

NEC - http://www.nec.com/

ATI - http://ati.amd.com/

nVidia - http://www.nvidia.com/

If you want to know about a particular motherboard, video card, sound card, USB, FireWire, or modem chipset, just enter its name in the Google search box at the top of this page in order to find the links that should provide you with all of the information you need.

The Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 caches

Level 2 cache is where data used often can be stored and accessed far more quickly than from RAM or the hard disk drive, because the cache chips on the motherboard use much faster static RAM.

If the Level 2 cache is incorporated into the processor, depending on the processor, it will be run at half or at the full processor speed.

Level 1 cache, usually of only 32KB, or 64KB at most, is always built into the processor itself. It also stores information that is accessed most frequently.

Only the superseded AMD K6-3 processors, and the current Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (P4 EE) processors, based on the Gallatin core of Intel's range of Xeon processors have Level 3 cache - the large amount of 2048KB. With the AMD K6-3 processors, the Level 1 and Level 2 caches are built into the processor, and the third level of cache is built into the motherboards that run them. However, all three levels of cache are built into the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors.

Superseded Super Socket 7 (SS7) motherboards usually have 256 to 512KB of Level 2 cache integrated on the motherboard that operates at the same speed as the motherboard's bus frequency (Front Side Bus - FSB) setting, which could be 66, 83, 95, 100MHz, or higher on boards built for overclocking the processor. However, all of Intel's and AMD's current ranges of processors have inbuilt Level 2 cache that operates at the same speed as the processor itself, thus requiring less cache for optimal performance.

Pentium 4 processors, made using a process that can accommodate more electronics in the same space, have 512KB or 1MB (1024KB) of Level 2 cache incorporated into them.

How Caching Works: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cache.htm

Is Cache Size Really The Key To Boosting Performance? -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/processor-cache-size,review-29707.html

Visit the AMD or Intel sites to find out what the technical specifications, including the cache sizes, for their current processors are.

Click Sockets for more information on processor sockets on this site.

What kind of computer meets your requirements?

Before choosing a computer (containing a particular motherboard), or motherboard to purchase you have to determine what kind of system meets your requirements.

Do you need the fastest processing power currently available, special features for specialist computing needs, or value for money?

Once you know the answer to that question, you will be better able to make the necessary technical decision.

The first choice to make is whether to purchase a computer or motherboard that uses a processor made by AMD or Intel - currently the only two manufacturer's of PC processors worth considering.

Visit the Processors pages on this site for the kind of information you need to make a choice of processor, which are now avilable as dual-core processors (two processor cores housed in a single unit), and will soon be available as quad-core processors (four processor cores housed in a single unit.)

Motherboard-monitoring and/or controlling software

Information on processor cooling is provided further down this page and on the Processors pages on this site.

You should also know that the many motherboards that run the latest processors from AMD and Intel have power-down or power-off hardware and software solutions that are designed to prevent the destruction of the processor from overheating should its heatsink and fan unit fail.

Most of the major motherboard manufacturers, such as MSI, provide hardware-monitoring software for their motherboards. The utility that MSI currently provides (October 2006) is called PCAlert4.

If the computer's motherboard manufacturer doesn't provide monitoring software with the motherboard or free from its site, there are shareware alternatives such as Hmonitor from http://www.hmonitor.net/.

Hmonitor (for Windows XP/2000/2003/Vista) provides motherboard and processor temperatures for two processors (for use on a motherboard that can support two processors), the temperatures of three hard disk drives, the processor temperatures for two processors, reports the system voltages, and can report the fan speed, graphics processing unit (GPU) and video RAM temperatures, and the voltages of the system's AGP video card.

"Hardware sensors monitor is another program nobody should be without. This program is one of the best hardware sensor programs that allows you to check the temperature of any component on your computer with a sensor. It also has alarms that can be set when the temperature goes too high and even has built in software cooling."

February 6 2005. - Motherboard Monitor is no longer supported, but it still works on most systems, and is still available (free) from many download sites. Locate it by entering "motherboard monitor", as is in the Google search box provided at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

This site provides links to other sites that provide motherboard monitoring software:

http://www.passmark.com/products/temperature.htm

SpeedFan - freeware: http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

"SpeedFan is a freeware program that monitors fan speeds, temperatures and voltages in computers with hardware monitoring chips. SpeedFan can even access S.M.A.R.T. info for those hard disks that support this feature and show hard disk temperatures too, if supported. SpeedFan can even change the FSB on some motherboards (but this should be considered a bonus feature). At the lowest level, SpeedFan is hardware monitoring software, but its main feature is that it can control the speed of the fans (depending on the capabilities of your sensor chip and your hardware) according to the temperatures inside your pc, thus reducing noise and power consumption."

Hardware case fan controls

If your computer runs two or more case fans to keep it cool, they can produce quite a bit of noise. The slower the fans run, the less noise they produce. If your fans don't have speed-control dials on them, it is possible to purchase a fan controller that can slow them down.

Fan Control Pro made by Akasa is a good example of a fan controller. The unit has fan control dials that can control four fans and it plugs into a spare 5 1/4" drive bay. You have to connect the fans to the unit, which also provides thermal monitoring, instead of to the motherboard, or power supply unit. You should also use the hardware-monitoring software that is provided by your motherboard's manufacturer. By reducing the speed of the fans carefully and watching the temperatures, you can maintain adequate cooling with the fans running as slowly and as silently as possible.

Google searches

You can make use of the Google search box provided at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled) to locate other hardware fan controllers. I tried using fan + controllers + uk as the search term and it brought up many interesting-looking links.

How to save power

Read these two articles if you're interested in finding out how to go about saving power with regard to using computers. The first article starts off by discussing "power requirement differences of idle and load system states, and how to save energy on an existing system by utilizing power saving options and paying attention to certain components." -

The Power Saving Guide -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/the-power-saving-guide-uk,review-2311.html

The Power Saving Guide, Part 2

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/the-power-saving-guide-uk,review-2318.html

Upgrading, replacing, or installing a motherboard in a new system

Microsoft ends support for Windows 98/98 SE/Me

June 24, 2006. - On July 11, 2006, Microsoft ended support for both Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) and Windows Millennium Edition (Me). This means that Microsoft will no longer provide security updates for these operating systems, and will no longer provide (paid) incident support. Only self-help support will be available until at least July 10, 2007. You can still use those versions of Windows, but, unless Microsoft changes its mind, they will not be updated after that date.

The Build a PC page contains all of the information you need on how to build a computer from its components, the most important of which is the motherboard.

Removing a motherboard is the same as the process of installing it done in reverse.

You should note that you can remove a motherboard and install a new one and Windows 95, 98, and Me will detect new hardware and install the new device drivers for the chipset, or require the user to browse to the source of the drivers on a disk (CD/DVD or floppy disk, etc.) or as a download in a particular folder.

With these versions of Windows, the user should press the F8 key before Windows begins its start-up and boot into Safe mode after the new motherboard has been installed. All of the drivers to do with the old motherboard's chipset should be removed so that Windows can load the chipset drivers for the new motherboard. Doing this isn't essential, because Windows 95/98/Me will install the new drivers in any case, but it clears the system of the old drivers, which may still be listed in the Device Manager in Safe mode, but not be visible in the Device Manager in normal mode.

Note that Windows XP is not nearly as tolerant of numerous hardware changes as Windows 95, 98, and Me are, probably due to Product Activation, and that is probably also the case with Windows Vista, which still uses it.

Most sources advise users to perform a clean installation and reactivation of Windows if the motherboard is replaced due to failure or is upgraded, because system problems are common after Windows XP installs the new device drivers for the motherboard. This situation also applies to Windows Vista.

However, How can I replace the motherboard in my PC without having to reinstall Windows XP? show you how to do that.

There are also issues involved with Windows Product Activation when installing a new motherboard if it is a system-locked OEM copy of Windows XP. In this case, read this article on this site called: Windows Product Activation on a computer with an OEM licence (US: license).

****

Click here! to go directly to information on the first Build a PC page on this site about taking the precautions you must take against static electricity before you install a computer component.

Click here! to go directly to the Disclaimer on the same page. It contains other important information that you should be aware of before working on a computer. Use your browser's Back button to return to this page.

Computer hardware troubleshooting flowcharts

As you can see from looking at any of the diagnostic charts made available from the following links, there are no photo-illustrations or explanations of basic computer functions. The intended audience is the hobbyist or technician who already has some experience of repairing computers.

If you can understand a particular flowchart, it would be a good idea to print them just in case you can't boot your computer and you need the information.

CPU, RAM, and Motherboard Troubleshooting:

http://www.fonerbooks.com/cpu_ram.htm

Power Supply Failure: http://www.fonerbooks.com/power.htm

IDE ATA and Serial ATA drives

IDE ATA hard disk and CD/DVD drives are most commonly fitted to the primary and secondary IDE connectors provided by ATX motherboards, but Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drives are now supported by most new motherboards. CD/DVD drives, being much slower to access, don't require a faster standard than IDE ATA, but, no doubt, they will also soon increasingly migrated over to SATA.

For more information on this subject on this site, visit the Disk Drives pages.

PCI version 3 (PCI Extended)

21 April 2004 - The PCI Special Interest Group announced the release of version 3.0 of PCI (the Peripheral Component Interconnect standard), known as PCI Extended (PCI-X) to distinguish it from the emerging PCI Express standard that is covered a little further down this page.

If you see PCIe or PCI-E shown in the specification list of a computer or motherboard this stands for PCI Express.

Don't confuse PCI-X (or PCIx) with the PCI Express standard, because it stands for PCI Extended, which is an much improved extension of the PCI standard that is fully backwardly compatible with the previous versions of the PCI standard.

The new PCI standard migrates from supporting 5V to using 3.3V, which current PCI adapter cards use. However, PCI cards that are keyed to use both 5V and 3.3V continue to be supported.

You can make use of the Google search box (with its Web radio button enabled) to locate more information about PCI-E.

The new PCI Express graphics standard

Click here! to go to information on the PCI Express graphics standard in the Video and Graphics section of this site. Use your browser's Back button to return to this point on this page.

Click here! to go to information on nVidia's SLI implementation of PCI Express dual-graphics-card technology on this site.

Click here! to go to information on ATI's CrossFire implementation of PCI Express dual-graphics-card technology on this site.

The motherboard's CMOS (BIOS) battery

Click here! to go directly to information on the CMOS battery on the BIOS page of this site.

There is also information there about how to set the Reset CMOS jumper that is found on most motherboards. In short, you set the jumper to clear or retain the customised CMOS data (BIOS settings).

Motherboard manufacturers can have the jumper set to the clear setting, because the battery is disconnected and therefore won't run down while the motherboard is in storage. The computer will boot, but will use the the default BIOS settings. If that is the case, the jumper has to be reset to connect the battery in order for customised settings to be retained and used whenever the computer boots. This happens because the default settings are hard-coded into the CMOS chip, therefore they can always be recovered, while the customised settings are held in the chip's volatile memory, and will disappear if the battery is disconnected or runs down.

Some new motherboards now have rechargeable batteries that are kept fully charged by the motherboard when the computer is in use.

Clearing the CMOS by using the relevant jumper setting can often fix boot problems.

Keeping the processor cool

The latest super-fast processors have to be kept cool to function.

You don't want the protective measures built into the motherboard and BIOS to suddenly kick in while you're using a computer, because the system will shut down, and you'll probably lose anything that wasn't saved to disk in time.

Note well that older motherboards/processors that don't have build-in shutdown protection will probably be destroyed by overheating, so if this is the case with your motherboard, make sure that you check that the heatsink and fan unit over the processor is working properly on a regular basis.

Because of its crucial importance, the Intel Pentium 4/Core 2 Duo and AMD Athlon 64 motherboards all have built-in overheating protection.

You can buy heatsink and fan cooling units that provide superior cooling to the cooling units that come with Intel and AMD boxed, retail processors. Here is a review of such a cooling unit:

Vigor's Monsoon II TEC CPU Cooler -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-2114.html

Keeping Your CPU Going If Your Cooler Fails -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/cpu-cooler-fails,review-29650.html

Zalman is a manufacturer of quality power supplies and processor (CPU) coolers. You can visit the company's website to get an idea of what is on offer: http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/eng_index.asp.

Water cooling systems

Water-cooled systems have been available for some time, but it is expensive compared to using the usual heatsink and fan coolers. Here is an illustrated article on how to install a water-cooling system:

A Beginner's Guide For WaterCooling Your PC -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-2126.html

Comparing Water Coolers: We Follow Your Lead -

"Water cooling in the PC is still pretty far removed from the mainstream, but Swiftech aims to change that with an affordable system for CPUs designed to make water cooling more accessible to the power user who wants to get their feet wet (pun intended) with liquid cooling..." - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/comparing-water-coolers,review-29667.html

And here is an article on hybrid coolers that are mixture of fan and water cooling:

Radical CPU Coolers from CoolIT -

"With its Freezone and Eliminator coolers, CoolIT brings hybrid Peltier/liquid cooling to the masses. How do the two coolers stand up against cooling systems using other methods?" - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-2338.html

For information on heatsink and fan units, and thermal paste and thermal pads, visit the Processors pages on this site.

Desktop PC Cases

The PC case with its power supply unit (PSU) are crucial components whose importance is often overlooked. This is a serious oversight, because the case (with its power supply) is as important to a PC's stability and performance as its RAM memory, motherboard and processor. The case should be well designed so that it is quiet (has no whining fans) and keeps the internal hardware adequately cooled. The case should also provide easy access to its components so that it is easy to work on.

A power supply unit (PSU) usually comes with a PC case, but PC cases without a power supply can be purchased, requiring the power supply to be purchased separately.

They also come in several different sizes and types - mini-tower, midi-tower, full tower, and desktop (the case lies horizontally on the desk instead of vertically like a tower case). Since most users don't require anything more than a midi-tower case, it is the type most commonly used in the construction of a personal computer.

Most of the current PC cases have some tool-free features, such as clips that retain adapter cards, thumbscrews for the side panels, and tool-free drive bays that have plastic rails that clip to the side of the hard disk drive(s) and CD/DVD drive(s).

AT (redundant technology), and ATX cases and motherboards are the most common types used in personal computers.

AT cases and motherboards have been superseded by the ATX standard, which, was expected to be superseded by the BTX standard that Dell already uses for all of its Intel-based desktop PCs. However, that succession has not happened and the ATX form factor is still king.

Home Theater PC (HTPC) cases, which usually lie horizontally as opposed to vertically, can usually accommodate standard ATX components, so it isn't necessary to buy specially-sized motherboards or half-height adapter (video, sound, etc.) cards.

The description of a motherboard that indicates its type is called its form factor. ATX form-factor motherboards fit inside ATX cases.

An article on Tom's Hardware Guide, made available on December 6, 2005, called Either Way ATX or BTX Cases, which was still available in February 2008, discusses both types of PC case. -

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/06/either_way_atx_or_btx_cases/index.html

More information will be provided in this article and others on this site, such as Build a PC, but if you want to read technical information on the different form factors, visit http://www.formfactors.org.

Computer Shopper 241 (January 2008) gave the following ATX cases five-star reviews. Click on the links to go to the manufacturers' sites. Note that none of them comes with a power supply unit, which would have to be purchased separately.

1. - Cooler Master CM690 midi-tower case - Budget Buy award - Priced at £47 in January 2008.

2. - Antec P182 midi-tower case - Best Buy award - Priced at £79 in January 2008.

3. - Gigabyte GZ-X1 midi-tower case - Priced at £28 in January 2008.

4. - Gigabyte Poseidon midi tower case - Priced at £50 in January 2008.

5. - Silverstone Grandia GD01 Home Theater PC (HTPC) ATX case - Best Buy award - Priced at £123 in January 2008.

Note that Antec, Cooler Master, and Silverstone manufacture power supply units.

Antec P190 Case [Video] Review -

"Sporting five tri-cool fans and extra space for the newest video cards and motherboards, the Antec P190 is a high-end case with a price to match. 3dGameMan gives his review." This case has two power supply units. -

http://www.tomsgames.com/us/site/flash_videos/antec_p190_case_review.html

Four Unique ATX Cases Compared -

Of the four unique cases reviewed, one has the shape of a snail, one looks like the drum of a pop group, and one is a pyramid.

"Many buyers would like a case that represents a bit of their personalities, but not everyone has the skills or time needed to build a case from scratch. While modified standard cases often set a low standard for individuality, several low-volume products are available to meet finer tastes..." -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/...review-2108.html

Good Looks, Terrible Workmanship - 4 Barebone Cases Compared -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Barebones-Mini-PC-HTPC,review-29752.html

Enlight 7230 ATX PC case

In the image of an empty ATX case above, you can see the view of the power supply unit (PSU) showing its fan outlet in the top foreground corner, and directly under it, the vertical alignment of the ports panel.

This is where the ports that are built into an ATX motherboard come through. The two round outlets at the top of the ports panel for PS/2 mouse and keyboard can clearly be seen, and under them is the long vertical outlet for the motherboard's parallel port. And under the ports panel are the six horizontally aligned outlets for ISA, PCI, and AGP adapter cards that are fitted into slots on the motherboard.

The image below shows the back of a similar empty case. The ports panel (covered by an I/O plate) for the motherboard's ports has had all of the metal cut-outs removed. This is a standard ATX case, and ISA, PCI, and AGP adapter cards will be fitted in their slots on the motherboard so that their face plates and ports appear through the five horizontally aligned openings that are under the motherboard's ports panel.

Back view of a standard ATX case showing the motherboard's ports panel

The image below shows a close-up view of the ports panel's I/O plate (far right) that is provided with a PC case, and with most new motherboards.

The I/O plate or ports panel (far right) fitted into the back of a case to accommodate the ports on a motherboard

In this example, there are no removable metal covers over the I/O plate's cut-outs, because the ports panel came with a motherboard, the ports of which fit into all of the cut-outs. The ports are, from top to bottom and left to right, three sound ports for the inbuilt sound capability, a FireWire port, four USB ports, a legacy parallel port, two legacy serial ports, and PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports.

The I/O ports plate that is provided with a case will probably have removable metal covers, because outlets for more ports, such as a video port where the motherboard has an inbuilt video capacity, will be provided. If you fit a motherboard that doesn't use any of the extra port outlets, they will remain covered, and therefore won't affect the cooling of the case by leaving holes.

Note that not all of the cut-outs in the ports panels match when comparing those of the two images above. Only the three central cut-outs for a legacy parallel port and two legacy serial ports match. You should therefore always make sure that you will be getting the I/O plate for the ports panel when purchasing a second-hand motherboard, because the one already fitted into your case might not be able to accommodate the replacement motherboard properly.

When installing a new motherboard, you would remove the existing I/O ports plate in the