Topic 1: Computing, Motherboards,

Expansion Cards and CPUs

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BASIC BLOCK DIAGRAM OF A COMPUTER

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Input Units The “brains” of your computer Output Units

Main Memory (RAM) Storage Devices

Temporary or “Volatile” Permanent Storage

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THE BASICS – HOW THINGS GET DONE

HARDWARE FIRMWARE DRIVER OPERATING APPLICATIO

• The physical • Specialized • Tells the SYSTEM N
components software operating • Windows,
stored in system how to • Uses the
Linux, MacOS, hardware in a
memory chips use the Android
that holds OS- hardware specific way
specific
information

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 FIRMWARE VS. DRIVERS

 Firmware is the software that sits on

computer hardware. It gives the hardware
basic instructions on how to function.
ONLY update
 A Driver is software that your operating firmware
when there is
system (Windows, MacOS, Linux) uses to a problem
interface with your hardware.
ALWAYS keep
 System vendors and hardware your drivers
manufacturers may regularly update their up-to-date
system firmware/drivers in order to fix
bugs, solve incompatibilities with operating
systems or to add new features.

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FORM FACTOR

 Form factors: standards that describe the size, shape, screw hole positions,
and major features of computer cases, power supplies, and motherboards
 Using the same form factor assures
• Motherboard fits the case
• Powers supply cords provide proper voltage
• Motherboard and case holes align properly
• Case and motherboard ports align
• Wires on case match connections on motherboard
• Power supply holes align with case

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MOTHERBOARD FORM FACTOR – TYPES

 Other Form
Factors
• AT – Found in
older desktops
and towers
• Mini ATX –
another
variation of ATX

12” wide x 9.6” deep 9.6” wide x 9.6” deep 6.7” wide x 6.7” deep

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FORM FACTOR – CASE, MOTHERBOARD & POWER SUPPLY

ATX Power Supply

ATX Case (Mid-Tower)

Motherboards

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MOTHERBOARD

 Contains basic components that provide

the backbone of a PC Computer
 Form Factor should match that of the
case and power supply
 Elements of a Motherboard include:
• Motherboard Bus
• Chipset
• Socket
• Expansion Slots
• Front Panel connectors and headers

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ONBOARD VS. ADD-ON CARDS

 The devices that are soldered into the

motherboard (audio, video, networking
etc.) are referred to as “onboard” or
“integrated”.
 An add-on card comes separate from the
computer and needs to be installed in the
motherboard by using one of the
expansion slots, such as a PCIe slot.
 Using integrated components means no
additional expansion boards are
necessary and can potentially save
space.

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EXPANSION SLOTS

 Expansion slots allow you to add

expansion cards to your motherboard to
expand the capabilities of a computer
system.
 Motherboards generally include several
of these slots so that the adapters can
transfer data to and from the different
computer components.
 Peripheral Component Interconnect
(PCI) slots are the most-used type of
expansion slot.
 MiniPCI is used for laptop computers

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PLUG-AND-PLAY DEVICES (PNP)

 If the expansion card, the device, the BIOS, and the

operating system are all Plug-n-Play (PnP) compatible, the
expansion card will be automatically configured, and the
system will automatically assign resources to the card
when the system starts.

 If Windows does not recognize the device when you install

it, check to see if you have the driver stored on the media
provided by the manufacturer. If you don’t have the original
media, then visit the manufacturer’s website and download
the device drivers.

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DEVICE MANAGER

 The Device Manager is an applet

in your windows Control Panel.
It shows you a list of your
hardware and any hardware-
related problems
 A red X means that device is
disabled
 A yellow exclamation mark
means there is a problem with
that hardware, such as a missing
or incompatible driver

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TYPES OF EXPANSION CARDS
Type Usage
Cellular Card Allows a computer to access a 3G or 4G
network offered by a cellular service provider.

Firewire High-speed data transfers with external hard

drives, video and audio recording devices.

Thunderbolt A Thunderbolt connection is a high-speed I/O

technology interface that combines PCIe data
and/or DisplayPort video signals, supporting
the connection of a wide variety of peripheral
devices to PCs.

Network Interface A NIC is a network interface card. Used to

Controller allow the computer to access wired or
wireless networks.

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TYPES OF EXPANSION CARDS

Type Usage
Sound Card Includes digital output for integrating the computer
into a home entertainment system.

Modem Card Provides the interface for remote communications

over phone or data lines that have been provided
by a cable or Internet service provider.

TV Tuner Card Provides the interface necessary for the computer

to receive television signals and display the output
on a display device.

Video Card (GPU) A video card provides the interface necessary to

generate visual output. Usually expanded for
gaming and high-end visuals

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MOTHERBOARD BUS (SYSTEM BUS)

 The system bus is a system of

pathways used for communication
 Power, control signals, memory
addresses and data are carried by this
bus
 Data and instructions exist in binary and
have only two states: on and off
 The motherboard bus speed determines
how fast circuits will carry data
simultaneously from one area of the
motherboard to another.
 Also called the “Front Side Bus”

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MOTHERBOARD’S FIRMWARE – BIOS/UEFI & CMOS

 The motherboard has a Read-Only Memory Chip (ROM)

 The BIOS is a set of instructions that is stored in ROM and that is
used to start the most basic services of a computer system.
 Since BIOS is read-only, the basic information for your computer
system is stored in a small amount of memory called the CMOS.
 We can protect the system setup program with a system
password.
 Sometimes we need to clear the CMOS if we forget our password
or want to reset the BIOS settings on a motherboard
 This usually entails using a jumper to connect two pins together.

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BIOS LOOK
AND FEEL

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RESETTING CMOS

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UEFI - UNIFIED EXTENSIBLE FIRMWARE INTERFACE

 More advanced version of the BIOS with more features

 Expected to replace BIOS
 Includes mouse support
 Additional security features including “Secure Boot” which
prevents pre-boot viruses from being launched
 More closely tied to the Operating System
 Ability to boot from disks greater than 2TB

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UEFI LOOK
AND FEEL

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BIOS/UEFI CATAGORIES

 The interface configuration settings include enabling/disabling and

configuring any controllers and adapters provided on the motherboard.
 The security settings section provides support for security methods. There
are usually at least two passwords and may require more. Other settings may
encrypt or lock all of the hard drives.
 The boot options section defines the sequence in which the system firmware
searches devices for a boot manager. Options are generally DVD/CD, Hard
Drive, Network/PXE, USB
 The system components section contains information about core
components such as CPU, chipset, RAM, hard drive(s), optical drive(s), and
the battery (on a laptop).

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TRUSTED PLATFORM MODULE

 The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a

chip on the computer motherboard.
 TPM is a hardware-based storage of
digital certificates, keys, and hashed
passwords. Essentially, it functions as an
embedded smart card.
 BitLocker is a full volume encryption
feature included with Microsoft Windows
 TPM is the location of Bitlocker’s
encryption keys.

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POST – POWER ON SELF TEST

 POST checks for hardware errors when you start your computer
 If it finds errors, it will return a series of beeps to tell you the error
(check motherboard manual for details)
 If there are no hardware errors, it looks for a boot device

Press Power
Load
Button on Computer Windows
Operating
Computer POST Launches
System
Case

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 CHIPSET

 The chipset is the collection of chips and

integrated circuits that support basic
functions of the computer.
 Personal computer (PC) chipsets are
housed on one to four chips and include
built-in controllers for the system board’s
buses and all the integrated peripherals.
 The chipset architecture, including the
number, function, name, and placement of
the various chips in a chipset, will vary
depending on the type and manufacturer
of the system board.

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CHIPSET ARCHITECTURE

 For example, on many Intel Pentium

computers, the two main chips in the
chipset are known as the Northbridge and
the Southbridge.
 Northbridge controls the faster elements
such as the system memory and the PCI-
E video ports, and cache memory. It is
also closer to the CPU and communicates
directly.
 Southbridge controls the slower elements
such as input/output functions, the system
clock, drives and buses.

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SOCKET

 Processor socket – determines which processors a board can support

• Socket holds Intel or AMD processor
 Zero insertion force (ZIF) sockets
• All current processor sockets have a system that applies it’s own
pressure to lock the CPU into place.

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 SOCKET TYPES

PGA – Pin Grid LGA - Land Grid FCLGA – Flip-Chip SPGA – Staggered BGA – Ball Grid
Array Array Land Grid Array Pin Grid Array Array
• Pins aligned in • Uses lands • Chip is flipped • Pins staggered • Not really a
uniform rows (pads) rather than over so that the over socket socket
around socket pins top of the chip is • Squeezes more • Processor is
• Used for AMD • Used for Intel on the bottom pins into a small soldered to the
processors processors space motherboard

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MOTHERBOARD HEADERS

 Headers connect components of

the case to the motherboard.
 They include:
• Front Panel Connectors for
power, reset, HDD activity LED
• USB Headers (9-pin header)
• Audio Headers (Microphone
and Headphone)

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THE CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU)

 Processor
• Installed on motherboard
• Determines system computing power
• Responsible for all calculations
performed within the computing system
• Works directly with RAM
 Two major processor manufacturers
• Intel (Core, Celeron, Xeon) and Desktop Processor (CPU)
• AMD (Ryzen, Epyc, Threadripper)

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HOW DOES A CPU WORK?

Address Bus RAM 1) The CPU requests an

address from the RAM from
the address bus
Address Data 2) The CPU uses the control
0010101 Instruction
bus to “enable” that address.
Control Bus 0110101 Number
3) That causes the RAM to
CPU
1011011 Letter
send the data through the
0010100 Address data bus
0001001 Data 4) When the CPU is ready to
send the processed data
Data Bus back to RAM, it uses the
control bus to “set” the data

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 INSIDE THE CPU

1) The data and instructions

come into the I/O unit and
the Control Unit sends the
data to the cache and ALU
2) Cache holds data and
instructions to be
processed
3) Registers hold data that is
being processed
4) When the calculations are
complete, the control unit
sends it back to the I/O unit
and back to RAM via the
Front-Side Bus

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TYPES OF CPU CACHE

L1 Cache Memory
Q: Why isn’t all cache fast?
• Fastest of the Caches
• Smallest Size in MB (Megabytes) A: Because it would make the
CPU too expensive
L2 Cache Memory
• Slower than L1 Cache
• Bigger in size than L1 Q: Why don’t we just have
• May be external of the CPU more MB of L1, and get rid of
L2 and L3?
L3 Cache Memory
• Slower than L2 A: Because it would make the
• Bigger in size than L2 CPU too expensive
• May be external of the CPU

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SPEED OF THE CPU

 How fast a CPU can function is measured

frequency or Hertz (usually Gigahertz or
GHz)
 This is called the core clock speed and is
defined as how fast the CPU can work
internally
 But this is only part of the equation. How
Intel Core i7 – 7700k CPU
fast the CPU will actually go is determined
Works internally at 4.2Ghz
by the motherboard and RAM speeds.
 This is known as the bus clock speed But it will only work as fast as
your slowest component

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MULTI-CORE AND HYPER THREADING

 Multicore processors have multiple CPUs

on the same chip. This allows more
processes to be executed at the same
time (Example Quad core has 4)
 Hyper Threading is an operating system’s
ability to break apart each thread into
multiple threads for more efficient
processing by the cores
 In Windows Device Manager, it makes 1 Sub 1 Sub 3
CPU Core
Thread
CPU appear as 2 logical CPUs Sub 2
 Hyperthreading will only work with
multithreaded software

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CPU ARCHITECTURE

 The architecture of a CPU

describes the width of its front-side
bus, which is either 32 or 64 bits.
 The FSB is the connection
between the CPU and North
Bridge
 The back-side bus is the
connection to a CPU’s internal
memory

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COOLING COMPONENTS
Pa
 CPUs produce a large amount of s siv
eC
heat as they operate. oo
lin
g
 Therefore cooling is required or
the system will shut down
constantly to protect itself. Active Cooling
 There are two types of cooling
• Passive: Using thermal paste
and heat sinks as well as
slowing down components
• Active: Using energy to cool a
component (CPUs almost
always use active)

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THERMAL PASTE

 Thermal paste is always used

between the CPU and the heat
sink to ensure an airtight
connection
 It’s very important that the
thermal paste layer is thin and
spread over the entire surface
of the CPU to allow the heat to
quickly pass through it into the
heat sink

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MODERN PROCESSORS – FEATURES
 Many modern processors have moved to connect
directly to the GPU and RAM. This gets rid of the
traditional “North Bridge” chipset architecture
 CPUs can also have integrated GPUs, which means
you don’t need a dedicated graphics card. This CPU
will use system RAM for it’s video processing
 Overclocking is the ability for a CPU to run faster
than it was intended. This shortens the overall life of
the hardware and may require a liquid cooling system
Liquid Cooler
 Virtualization software allows a single computer to
run multiple operating systems or Virtual Machines
(VM). Some types of CPUs provide extensions to
support virtualization.

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INSERTING THE CPU

 You must find Pin 1 on the chip and Pin 1 on

the socket. Once you do that, you can align
the chip for insertion.
 Pin 1 on the chip and Pin 1 on the socket
have to be aligned so the pins enter the
corresponding holes. This mismatch of pins
could damage the socket when you try to
secure the chip.
 You use the ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket
lever to secure the chip into the socket. This is
done after you have inserted the chip.

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SUMMARY OF LECTURE
 How does a computer work?
 What is Firmware? Drivers?
 What does a Form Factor define?
 What are the primary types of Form Factor?
 What is a Motherboard and what does it do? What is a motherboard bus?
 What is motherboard firmware called?
 What is POST?
 What is an expansion card and what does it do?
 What standard does expansion cards use?
 What is a socket?
 What is a CPU? What does it do?
 What is CPU Cache?
 How does a CPU remain cool?

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