To support this site:

Forewarned is forearmed...

Motherboards (Mainboards), PC Cases, and Power Supply Units (Power Supplies/PSUs) - Page 1

Last updated on 20 November 2009

	SEARCH THIS SITE:
	Web www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk

CONTENTS

This page - The motherboard (mainboard) and PC case used in desktop computers

Click here! to go to the information on PC cases on this page

Page 2 - The Power Supply Unit (PSU) used in desktop computers, and making a good choice of motherboard, etc.

Page 3 - Sundry useful motherboard information

Motherboards (or Mainboards)

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. Note that notebook/laptop PCs are not dealt with here, because their highly integrated design currently makes the motherboard and most of the components non-upgradable. However, the motherboards used in laptops provide most of the same features as desktop PC motherboards.

In all computers, the processor or processors are installed in and run from the motherboard. Note that almost all modern desktop and laptop computers now run processors which have two, three or four cores, known as dual-core, triple-core and quad-core processors. This means that they are running two, three or four processors housed in a single unit. You can still buy economy desktop and laptop computers that have a single core processor, but you should avoid buying one unless your computing needs are basic - running office applications , email, web access, etc. - because the multi-core processors provide superior performance.

It is expected that it won't be long a single processor will have up to 16 cores, but 4 cores are the most that any processor has now.

The following article discusses the use of multi-core processors and when their use improves performance and when it does not.

Desktop multiprocessing: Not so fast -

"Not every application can be reprogrammed for multicore architectures, and some bottlenecks will always remain. Here's why." -

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9136633/...

If you want to buy a new desktop 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.

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 it 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.

Visit the Annotated Images of ATX Socket LGA775, Socket A and Socket 939 Motherboards page on this site to see annotated images of those three socket-type motherboards for Intel and AMD processors.

The following online video shows a desktop PC being built with an Asus P5E64 WS Professional motherboard and an Intel Core 2 Quad QX9770 quad-core processor. It shows you where the motherboard is installed in the case and where the processor is installed in the motherboard in a desktop PC.

Video: How To Build An Intel QX9770 QuadCore PC -

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/02/...

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.

Visit the Build Your Own PC section of this site to find out how to assemble a desktop PC from its components.

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.

If your desktop PC has an Intel-based motherboard, you can use:

Intel Processors and Boards Compatibility Tool -

"Find the Intel processors that will work with your PC's Intel-based motherboard. Find motherboards that will work with your PC's processor. Check the compatibility of a motherboard and processor." -

http://processormatch.intel.com/COMPDB/Default.aspx

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. Some, but not all motherboards, provide an eSATA port to the attachment of an external SATA hard drive or CD/DVD drive. This could be an eSATA port on the ports panel or from a rear bracket that attaches to a header on the motherboard. The Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R motherboard provides an eSATA port from a rear bracket. Some motherboards even provide an inbuilt wireless network adapter, which most current laptop PCs provide.

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.

The image shown above is of an MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 motherboard for AMD Athlon 64 and 64 FX processors with two long x16 SLI PCI Express graphics-card slots, two medium-length PCI slots (orange and white), one (yellow) x4 PCI Express slot and two short x1 PCI Express slots, which can be used for adapter cards such as a sound card or a host controller card for IDE and SATA hard disk drives. A x8 PCI Express slot (not on either of the two motherboards shown above and below) is half the length of a x16 PCI Express slot. It is mainly used with the graphics cards designed to use it instead of a x16 slot.

The image below is of the MSI K9A2 Platinum (AMD Socket AM2+) motherboard, which has four PCI Express x16 slots for four graphics cards. They are the four long vertical light and darker blue slots. When the appropriate slot cover is removed from the back of the PC's case, a graphics card is inserted in the selected slot so that its ports panel containing its connectors appears at the back of the case. The two shorter white slots are standard PCI-X slots.

This motherboard supports the current PCI Express 2.0 standard, which is fully backwards compatible with PCI Express 1.0 graphics cards (a PCI Express 1.0 graphics card can be installed in a PCI Express 2.0 slot). It supports QuadFire (four-way CrossFire) and SAS (serial attached SCSI hard disk drives).

Some motherboards have a PCI-X slot. PCI-X is the extended PCI standard, both of which have been replaced by the PCI Express standard. The 64-bit PCI-X bus slot has double the maximum throughput of PCI, at a maximum speed of 3Gbps. Most PCI-X cards are backwards compatible with PCI bus slots, which means that you can install a PCI-X card in a PCI slot provided that it has the correct voltage keying for the slot and that the area directly behind a PCI slot must have available space to accommodate the additional length of PCI-X cards.

The image below shows an ATX motherboard installed in an ATX PC tower case standing as it would on a desktop, but with a side panel removed. There is a single hard disk drive installed in the drive bay on the left. The ports panel on the left side of the board will show the ports at the back of the case. There is a single adapter card installed in one of the two PCI slots white. The port(s) of that card will also appear at the back of the case.

A motherboard would have either an AGP slot or a x16 PCI Express slot, not both for a graphics card. The AGP graphics standard is no longer used on most new motherboards, having been replaced by the PCI Express and PCI Express 2 standards. Some motherboards can have four PCI Express slots for graphics cards (x16 and x8 slots). The MSI X48 Platinum motherboard has four PCI Express x16 slots that can accommodate four graphics cards. PCI Express x1 slots are used for devices, such as some graphics cards, sound cards, ide/sata hard-drive adapter cards, and Ethernet network cards.

The following diagram shows the PCI Express x16 and x1 slots, and the two standard PCI slots on a Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H motherboard.

The four horizontal blue and teal slots in the coloured image of an MSI K8N Diamond Plus motherboard above the diagram 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 and AM2+ (AMD) motherboards use DDR2 and DDR3 RAM memory. Each type of DDR memory DIMM module has a notch placed at a particular unique place along its edge that allows it to be inserted into the memory socket designed to use that type of DDR memory, so you can't install the wrong DDR memory in a DIMM slot on the motherboard, because it will only accept the type that the slot is designed for.

The new Socket LGA1366 Intel Core i7 quad-core desktop PC processors, that first became available in November 2008, use DDR3 RAM memory. Socket LGA1366 motherboards have six DIMM slots for memory modules. The new Intel processors have a built-in memory controller (AMD processors have had one for some time that runs memory in dual-channel mode) that runs sets of three memory modules in three-channel mode. A Socket LGA1366 motherboard's user manual shows how to install a single module, two identical modules to run in dual-channel mode, and three or six modules to run in three-channel mode. One set of three modules (or two sets of three modules) have to be be identical.

Click here! to read the illustrated information on how to install memory on this site.

Here are the details of an excellent Socket LGA1366 motherboard. (Click the make/model link to go to the manufacturer's website):

MSI X58 Pro - Five stars - Best Buy award - Socket LGA1366 for Intel Core i7 processors - Intel X58/Intel ICH10R chipset - 6 DDR3 800/1066/1333 slots - 3 PCI-Express x16 slots - 2 PCI-Express x1 and 2 PCI slots - 7 SATA 300 and 6 USB ports - Two-year return-to-base (RTB) warranty - £162 in May 2009.

Review: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/reviews/253249/msi-x58-pro.html

In February 2009, AMD released several new Socket AM3 Phenom II triple-core and quad-core processors, including the triple-core Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (2.8GHz) and the quad-core Phenom II X4 810 (2.6GHz). AMD has also released a lower-clocked triple-core Phenom II X3 710 (2.6GHz) and OEM-only quad-core Phenom II X4 805 (2.5GHz) and Phenom II X4 910 (2.6GHz) models. These processors are primarily designed to use a Socket AM3 platform, but are backward-compatible with existing Socket AM2+ motherboards. The Phenom II processors use DDR3 RAM memory, but can use DDR2 memory when used in a Socket AM2+ motherboard.

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

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 LGA775 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.

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+/AM3 processors use DDR2 or DDR3RAM. 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. DDR3 memory also requires a dedicated memory slot, so a Socket AM3 motherboard can only run DDR3 memory unless it has one or more slots for DDR2 memory.

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, which is no longer being used by AMD for its latest processors. The current AMD socket is AM3.

64-bit processor support

All of the latest Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+ and Socket AM3 (for AMD processors) and Socket LGA775 and Socket 1366 (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.

Note that a desktop or laptop PC that is running a 64-bit version of Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 requires twice as much RAM memory as one running a 32-bit version of those versions of Windows.

AMD's Socket AM2+ and AM3 platforms

AMD's new ranges of Socket AM2+ and Socket AM3 desktop processors are now available together with motherboards from the major manufacturers.

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 Socket AM2+ motherboard. AMD's new Phenom II triple- and quad-core processors use DDR3 memory on an Socket AM3 motherboard, but can be run on a Socket AM2+ motherboard that uses DDR2 memory.

AMD's AM2+ and AM3 processors have an on-board memory controller that supports the latest DDR2 RAM and DDR3 memory, respectively.

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

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

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

Intel's new Socket LGA1366 Core i7 quad core desktop PC processors

November 18, 2008. - Intel has released three of its new Socket LGA1366 quad-core processors. Here is a good review:

Intel Core i7 - http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/233892/intel-core-i7.html

And here is the information on the new processors on Intel's website:

Intel® Core™ i7 Processor -

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/corei7/...

The major motherboard manufacturers have brought out motherboards that support the new Intel desktop PC processors.

Asus - http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=179

MSI - http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php...

Gigabyte - http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/...

User manuals are available from all three of those manufacturers, so you can download copies and have a look at what is on offer.

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/AM2+/M3 (AMD) and Intel Socket LGA775/LGA 1366/LGA1156 (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/ [Note that Abit closed down on December 28 2008.]

Annotated Images of ATX Socket LGA775, 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.

Motherboard LED lights

Some motherboards now have LED lights on the board itself showing the status of the components. The main status colours are green if the component is working and red if it is not. The image below is a drawing of an MSI MS-7522 Socket LGA1366 motherboard for Intel's new Core i7 quad-core processors. It shows which components have LED(s). The motherboard's user manual provides the colour codes.

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.

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.

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.

Five-star and four-star motherboards reviewed by PC Pro and 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.

The latest motherboard four-star and five-star reviews can be read on Computer Shopper's renamed website:

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/archiveproductsearch/12/Motherboards

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

Issue 261 of Computer Shopper, available from mid-September 2009, gave the following Socket LGA1156 motherboard that runs the latest Intel Core i5 and Core i7 quad-core processors a five-star rating:

Product reviews - Gigabyte P55M-UD4 motherboard - SPECIFICATIONS: Socket LGA1156, Intel P55 Express chipset, 4x DDR3 800/1066/1333/2200 RAM memory slots, 2x PCI Express x16 slots for graphics cards, 1x PCI Express x4 slot, 1x PCI slot, 1x IDE port, 7x SATA II ports. - Review -

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/reviews/269098/gigabyte-p55mud4.html

Issue 260 of Computer Shopper, available from mid-August 2009, gave the following Socket LGA775 motherboard a five-star rating and a Best Buy award:

Product review: Asus P5QL/EPU motherboard [Socket LGA775 for Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad processors] - "SPECIFICATIONS: LGA775, Intel P43/Intel ICH10 chipset, 4x DDR2 667/800/1066 slots, 1x PCI Express x16 slot, 2x PCI Express x1 slots, 3x PCI slots, 1x IDE port, 6x SATA/300 ports, three-year RTB warranty." Review -

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/reviews/266482/asus-p5qlepu.html

Issue 257 of Computer Shopper, available from mid-May 2009, gave a five-star ratings to the following Intel-based motherboard:

1. - MSI X58 Pro - Five stars - Best Buy award - Socket LGA1366 for Intel Core i7 processors - Intel X58/Intel ICH10R chipset - 6 DDR3 800/1066/1333 slots - 3 PCI-Express x16 slots - 2 PCI-Express x1 and 2 PCI slots - 7 SATA 300 and 6 USB ports - Two-year return-to-base (RTB) warranty - £162 in May 2009.

Review: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/reviews/253249/msi-x58-pro.html

Issue 254 of Computer Shopper, available from mid-February 2009, gave the following Socket AM2+ motherboard a five-star rating and a Best Buy award:

Product review: MSI DKA790GX Platinum motherboard [Socket AM2+ for AMD Phenom II, Phenom and Athlon 64 X2 processors] - "SPECIFICATIONS:AM2+ socket, AMD 790GX/AMD SB750 chipset, 4x DDR2 667/800/1066 slots, 2x PCI Express x16 slots, 2x PCI Express x1 slots, 2x PCI slots, 1x IDE ports, 5x SATA 300 ports." -

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/labs/248198/msi-dka790gx-platinum.html

Issue 249 of Computer Shopper, available from mid-September 2008, gave five-star and four-star ratings to the following AMD-based and Intel-based motherboards:

1. - Asus M3A-H/HDMI - AMD Socket AM2+ motherboard - DDR2 RAM memory - Integrated graphics (with an analog VGA not digital DVI port) and sound chips - 1 PCI Express x16 slot for a graphics card, which is required for PC gaming - 1 IDE connector for IDE drives - 6 SATA connectors for SATA drives - RAID support - Five stars - Best Buy award - £51

2. - Abit I-N73HD - Intel LGA775 motherboard - DDR2 RAM memory - Integrated graphics (with an analog VGA not digital DVI port) and sound chips (sound has an analog and HDMI output ports) - 1 PCI Express x16 slot for a graphics card, which is required for PC gaming - 1 IDE connector for IDE drives- 4 SATA connectors for SATA drives - RAID support - Five stars - Budget Buy award - £41

3. - Foxconn M7PMX-S - Intel LGA775 motherboard - DDR2 RAM memory - Integrated graphics (with an analog VGA not digital DVI port) and sound chips (sound has an analog and HDMI output ports) - 1 PCI Express x16 slot for a graphics card, which is required for PC gaming - 1 IDE connector for IDE drives- 4 SATA connectors for SATA drives - RAID support - Five stars - £40

4. - MSI P43 Neo-F - Intel LGA775 motherboard - DDR2 RAM memory - Integrated sound chip - No integrated graphics chip - 1 PCI Express x16 slot for a graphics card, which is required for PC gaming - 1 IDE connector for IDE drives- 4 SATA connectors for SATA drives - No RAID support - Five stars - £40

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

Issue 165 of PC Pro gave six-star and five-star ratings to the following AMD-based and Intel-based motherboards:

1. - Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R - Intel Socket LGA775 motherboard - Six stars - £83

2. - Abit IX38 Quad GT - Intel Socket LGA775 motherboard - Five stars - £129

3. - Asus Maximus Extreme - Intel Socket LGA775 motherboard - Five stars - £178

4. - Asus Striker II Extreme - Intel Socket LGA775 motherboard - Five stars - £251

5. - Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H - AMD Socket AM2+ motherboard - Five stars - £60

6. - MSI X48 Platinum - Intel Socket LGA775 motherboard - Five stars - £171

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.

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. Some motherboards provide an eSATA port for the attachment of and external SATA hard drive or CD/DVD drive.

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.

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.

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 section of this site contains all of the information you need on how to build a computer from its components, the most important of which is the motherboard.

If you just want to see how to install a motherboard in a case, view this video:

Tiger How To: Install a Motherboard -

There is no need to use an anti-static wriststrap, just touch metal that is not insulated from the ground, such as the PC's case.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Mx1n7qRTE

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.

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.

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 -

"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

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/.

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

Zalman Reserator 2 Water Cooling System [Video review] -

http://www.tomsgames.com/us/site/../zalman_reserator_2_water_cooling_system.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 254 (February, 2009) 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. - Antec Three Hundred - Midi-tower case - Priced at £39 in February 2009.

2. - Antec Solo - Midi-tower case - Best Buy award - Priced at £73 in February 2009.

3. - Akasa AK-ZEN-01 BK - Midi-tower case - Budget Buy award - Priced at £38 in February 2009.

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

Corsair fire a broadside at the chassis guys [video review high-end water-cooled case] -

http://tv.hexus.net/show/2009/03/Corsair_fire_a_broadside_at_the_chassis_guys/

Corsair Full Tower Case Preview -

Precious deluxe tower at the Cebit At the Cebit Corsair presents the prototype of their first PC case. The huge aluminum tower offers several well-thought-out ideas - like a freely accessible backplate for CPU coolers - and precious materials. -

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,677612/...

Four Full Tower Cases From $150 To $600 -

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/full-tower-case,review-31463.html

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 -

"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

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.

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.

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 case, and replace it with the one that came with the new motherboard.

The image below is of a ports panel that comes with a motherboard. The ports on the motherboard fit through the openings when the panel is fitted into the back of the case. The two openings on the far left are for PS/2 keyboard and mouse connections, and the three openings on the far right are for the sound connections, with the LAN networking and USB ports beside them.

Front-mounted ports

Most current PC cases provide USB, FireWire, and audio ports from the front of the case that are usually concealed behind a panel. In order to be used, the motherboard must provide the headers that their cables connect to. The motherboard's user manual, which is can be downloaded from its manufacturer's site, should provide you with the information on where the headers are located on the motherboard.

If the headers are provided by the motherboard for the front-mounted ports and one or more of them don't work, check the motherboard manual for a jumper setting that enables them.

Case modding

Case modding is term used to describe adding all kinds of fancy add-ons and gizmos to a computer case. You can add fancy coolers, fans, fan controllers, neon lights, etc., and you can buy fancy cases that have exotic features such as see-through areas so that you can see inside the case, etc.

The overclocking and [case] modding forum: To visit it, go to http://www.pcpro.co.uk/shopper and click on the Interactive heading in the left-hand navigation bar and click Forums.

UK-specific sites that offer offer case modding equipment are:

http://www.aria.co.uk/

http://www.scan.co.uk/

US-specific sites are: http://www.xoxide.com/ and http://www.newegg.com/

Others can be found by entering a search term such as "case modding" + uk (or + us) in the Google search box at the top of this page.

Motherboards that use riser cards for the PCI and AGP adapter cards

If the openings for the ISA, PCI or AGP adapter cards are aligned vertically instead of horizontally at the back of the case, then the case is a non-standard ATX case that makes use of a riser card that is fitted to the motherboard.

Instead of the motherboard, the riser card contains the slots for the ISA, PCI, or AGP adapter cards. Therefore, the motherboard will also be a non-standard ATX motherboard, because it will have no slots for adapter cards.

The ISA, PCI, and AGP slots on the riser card are arranged so that when an adapter card is fitted to it, it will run parallel to the motherboard. That means that the openings at the back of the case for adapter cards will be vertically instead of horizontally aligned if a riser card is used.

The use of a riser card makes it possible to use slimmer cases, because vertically aligned openings take up less width than horizontal openings. But riser cards for adapter cards often block the free circulation of air inside the case, therefore often requiring the installation of one or more extra cooling fans.

The design of the motherboard for installation in a desktop or tower case will determine what a riser card looks like and how it fits into the motherboard and the case.

There is information about why non-standard ATX cases and motherboards that make use of riser cards should be avoided on Page 2 of this article.

Note that using a riser card can often solve the problem of having a lack of space in the case for the installation of, say, a video card:

"As I was staring at a dismantled Toshiba Magnia SG20 appliance in hopes of upgrading the CPU, I had it stuck in my brain that I needed a specifically designed AGP video card that would fit into the tight quarters. Later, it dawned on me that there are all sorts of riser cards made for just this sort of situation. They aren't terribly expensive, and come in hundreds of flavors. Google is your friend. [There's a Google search box at the top of this page.] As an example, I found one page with just the right item for $15.00. They sell cards that are configured so the card can be installed on either side of the AGP slot, depending on the need, and there is a choice of 3.3V, 1.5V or universal models, [see the VideoProblems page on this site for more information on video-card voltages] which is an important consideration to be sure that the card fits into and talks to the slot properly." - From the defunct Lockergnome Tech Specialist newsletter. Visit the Lockergnome site for the latest newsletters.

Note that many motherboards have the AGP slot positioned so closely to the DIMM RAM slots that the RAM modules have to be removed before the video card can be installed, and the video card has to be removed in order to remove or add RAM modules. It is not unusual to hear that someone has tried to install a GeForce 4 video card and the installed RAM modules have knocked off some of the card's protruding capacitors, thereby rendering it useless. This situation would not have been a problem if the obvious and necessary installation procedures were taken.

Furthermore, very often the first PCI slot on the motherboard is positioned too close to the AGP slot. If an adapter card is installed in that PCI slot, it would deprive the AGP card of air, and might cause it to function abnormally, or be damaged by overheating.

Some motherboard reviews provide useful information of that kind.

Personally, I would not purchase a motherboard until I had read all of the reviews of it on the Internet or in computer magazines.

Heatsinks on the motherboard's voltage regulators

Modern motherboards run processors that have reached ultrahigh frequencies measured in GHz (1 gigahertz = 1000 megahertz).

Components on the motherboard get hot, and, as a result, can fail or have a reduced life expectancy, but not all motherboard manufacturer's cover the vulnerable components with heatsinks that serve to keep them cool. This could be a deliberate policy to reduce costs and introduce a limit to the product's life expectancy.

However, some motherboard manufacturers do cover these vulnerable components with heatsinks. If you purchase a motherboard that does not have these heatsinks in place, you can purchase them yourself from some computer component stores, but you would have to go to all the trouble of finding them. A better solution would be to purchase a motherboard that comes with them already fitted.

Page 2 - The Power Supply Unit (PSU) used in desktop computers, and making a good choice of motherboard, etc.

Go to Page 2 Go to Page 3

PC Buyer Beware! Copyright © Eric Legge 2004-2009. All rights reserved.