MOTHERBOARD
The motherboard is the main component found in PC and Macintosh computers. The motherboard is what allows various hardware components to transfer information to each other. As computers advanced, so did motherboards; below is a listing of the various Motherboard form factors.
Full-ATBaby-AT
LPX
Full-ATX
Mini-ATX
NLX
Full-AT (12" wide x 13.8" deep) Matches the original IBM AT motherboard design, which only fits into full size AT or tower cases only, not being produced much any more, if any.
The Keyboard:
AT Motherboard = 5 pin large connector
ATX Motherboard = 6 pin mini connector.
MB Power Connector:
AT Motherboard = Single Row two connectors 5v & 12v
ATX Motherboard = Double row single connector 5v,12v, and 3.3v
The Motherboard is a printed circuit that is the foundation of a computer and allows the CPU, RAM, and all other computer hardware components to function with each other. Below is a graphic illustration of the ASUS P5AD2-E motherboard and some basic explanations of each of the major portions of the motherboard.
The CPU, or the Central Processing Unit, is the brain of the computer and the single most important chip in the computer. Modern processors contain millions of transistors which are etched onto a tiny square silicon called a die, which is about the with of a standard thumb. The CPU performs the system's calculating and processing. The majority of personal computers include the Intel processors. Intel released the first processor, the 4004, in 1970. Today, the market is being shared by other companies such as the popular AMD processor manufactured by the AMD Company
MATH COPROCESSORS
Math coprocessors were additional chips which could be purchased with 386 and older chips. This additional chip was left as an option to help reduce the cost of computers. Coprocessors allow the hardware for floating-point math. Math coprocessors will speed your computer's operation when utilizing software applications that take advantage of its capabilities. Computers now no longer require the extra purchase of the math compressor. Below is a listing of computer processors and their coprocessors.
COMPATIBLE INTEL PROCESSORS
Several companies such as AMD and Cyrix are also developing processors which are completely compatible with Intel processors. This means that they are capable of emulating every processor instruction in the the Intel chips.
80386 - Some 386DX 16MHz Intel processors had a small bug which appeared as a software problem. The bug occurred when running true 32-bit code in a program such as within OS/2 2.x, Unix/386, or Windows in Enhanced mode. The bug would cause the system to lock up and is a difficult issue to determine without having Intel actually look at the chip. Chips that passed the test, and all subsequent chips which were bug-free, were marked with a double-sigma symbol. 386DX chips that are not marked with either of these symbols may have not been tested by Intel and may be defective.
PENTIUM - One of the most famous and most known bugs is the Pentium FPU flaw / bug discovered by a a mathematician in October 1994. This bug involved the Pentium incorrectly performing floating-point calculations with certain number combinations, with errors anywhere from the third digit on up. This issue does not occur on 120MHz and above Pentium computers but is known to occur on Intel Pentiums 100MHz and below.
Ways of testing your Pentium CPU to determine if it has the Pentium flaw.
Correct Answer
962,306,957,033 / 11,010,046 = 87,402.6282027341
Incorrect Answer
962,306,957,033 / 11,010,046 = 87,399.5805831329
Correct Answer
4,195,835 / 3,145,727 = 1.33382044913624100
Incorrect Answer
4,195,835 / 3,145,727 = 1.33373906890203759
Another way of testing for this flaw is to use Microsoft Excel and enter the below formula.
=4195835-((4195835/3145727)*3145727)
When entering this formula you should receive a returned result of 0.
INTERPOSER
A number of Intel Motherboards incorrectly support the Write Back mode of the Intel Pentium OverDrive processor. Because of this you will be unable to successfully upgrade your CPU. However, to rectify this issue, Intel created a chip called the interposer. This chip allows the computer to work around the design errors.
Documentation for installing the interposer should be included with the interposer. If by chance documentation is not included you can find alternate installation help at Intel's web site (Search for Interposer).
INTEL SOCKET INFORMATION
Intel designed a set of sockets. Each of these sockets supported a certain range of processors. Below we have listed the complete specifications and layouts of each of these sockets.
PROCESSOR HISTORY AND INFORMATION
Below is a listing of all known processor manufacturers made to date. In the below list is information about major processors listed by the date manufactured as well as a brief description of the technology and advances of each of the processors.
INTEL 4004 - Microprocessor introduced in 1970 with the speed of 108KHz was the worlds first microprocessor.
INTEL 8080 - Microprocessor introduced in 1974 running at the speed of 2 MHz was used in the world's first PC, the Altair.
INTEL 8086 (Code Name: P1)- Microprocessor first introduced in 1976. The 80086 had a 16-bit architecture that allowed it to work with 16-bit binary numbers and pass them through a 16-bit data bus. The 8086 was available in clock speeds of 5MHz, 8MHz, and 10MHz.
MOTOROLA 68000 - Microprocessor released in 1979 was later chosen by Apple for the Macintosh computer.
INTEL 8087 - Floating-point math compressor compliant with the 8086 / 8080 microprocessor family.
INTEL 8088 - Microprocessor released in 1979. The 8088 was the first Processor used in the original IBM PC and XT personal computers because it was less expensive than the 8086 microprocessor because of the availability of less expensive eight-bit data bus supporting chips made it the microprocessor for the IBM PC. The 8088 was available in speeds from 4.77 MHz and 8MHz.and used the 16-bit architecture allowing it to work internally with 16-digit numbers. The 8088 had the ability of addressing up to 1MB of RAM.
INTEL 80286 (Code Name: P2) - Microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1982 which commonly is referred to as the 286 processor. The 286 processor supported 16-bit architecture, supported virtual memory, and was available in clock speeds of 8MHz, 10MHz, and 12MHz. The 286 was around 20 times faster than the predecessor 8088.
INTEL 80287 - A compliant processor to the 286, a floating-point math coprocessor. Specially designed 286 chips have the capability of placing the optional 80287 processor on top of it, giving the computer a math coprocessor.
INTEL 80386DX (Code Name: P3) - Microprocessor manufactured in 1985 was the next generation of Intel processors. The 80386DX included the math compressor, unlike the 80386SX, and still featured the 32-bit architecture and built-in multitasking. The chip was available in clock speeds of 16MHz, 20MHz, 25MHz, and 33MHz.
SPARC - Released in 1987 is short for Scaleable Processor ARChiture by Sun - used RISC (Reduced Instruction Set) to speed up processing.
INTEL 80486DX (Code Name: P4) - Microprocessor released April 10th 1989. The 486DX featured a built-in memory cache and 32-bit architecture. It had more than three times the computing power of the 386DX and was available in clock speeds of 25MHz, 33MHz, and 50MHz.
INTEL 80386SX - Microprocessor introduced in 1989 was the next generation of Intel processors. The 80386SX lacked a math coprocessor but still featured the 32-bit architecture and built-in multitasking. The chip was available in clock speeds of 16MHz, 20MHz, 25MHz, and 33MHz.
INTEL 80386SL - Microprocessor introduced in 1990 which used low power consumption and was used mainly in portable computers.
INTEL 80486SX (Code Name: P45 / P23 ) - Microprocessor introduced in April 1991 which is a less expensive version of the 80486DX. It lacked the math coprocessor of the 80486DX and ran at lower clock speeds than the DX; it ran at 16MHz, 20MHz, 25MHz, or 33 MHz.
INTEL 80486DX2 (Code Name: P24 / P24S) - Microprocessor first introduced in March 2, 1992. It was based upon the popular 486DX; however, it featured internal clock speeds that doubled that of the system that operated it. Thus, a DX2 on a system with a 33MHz bus would run at 66MHz. Also known as the i486DX2.
INTEL 80486DX4 (Code Name: P24C / P24CT)- Microprocessor first introduced in 1994. The 486DX4 would triple that of the system that operated it.
INTEL PENTIUM (Code Name: P5 (Pentium 60 - 66MHz))- Microprocessor introduced March 22, 1993 designed to replace the 486 processors. The new Pentium had an additional 1.9 million transistors when compared to the 80486DX. The Pentium has a 32-bit address bus and a 64-bit data bus, and it can operate at speeds of 60MHz to 200MHz. The Pentium was released in three generations. The first-generation of Pentium processors was the Pentium 60 and 66 MHz. These chips used a 273-pin PGA form factor and ran on 5v power. Intel announced the release of a second-generation introduced March 7, 1994 included new processors from 75, 90, 100, 120, 133, 150, 166, and 200 MHz. The processors used 296-pin SPGA form factor that is physically incompatible with the first generation versions. The third-generation of Pentium processors, code named P55C, were introduced January 1997, which incorporated the new technology MMX. The Pentium MMX processors were available 166, 200, 233 MHz, and 266 MHz mobile version.
INTEL PENTIUM PRO (Code Name: P6) - Microprocessor which was designed for the corporate users and for high-end servers and workstations, preferably those using Windows NT. The Pentium Pro CPUs are extremely fast with 32-bit applications and 3-D image processing and rendering when compared to previous Intel processors. The chip runs at 166MHz and higher
INTEL PENTIUM II (Code Name: Klamath) - Initially the Pentium II 233MHz was released in 1997 and introduced a new physical architecture which encased a circuit board within a plastic case. With this new technology, this allowed the chip to be easily added and removed. However, previous owners of Pentium motherboard could not upgrade to this new type of chip unless the motherboard they had included a SLOT 1 technology. The Pentium II runs from 233MHz to 450MHz.
INTEL PENTIUM III - Initially the Pentium III 500 MHz was released in 1999; shortly after its release, Intel introduced the Pentium III 550 MHz processor. The Pentium III chip continued to use the SLOT 1 and could be used on previous Pentium II motherboards with BIOS support. Before its release, a big controversy concerning privacy. The Intel Pentium III chips have an ID for each chip helping to authenticate peoples' purchases over the Internet. However, many argued that this was another way for someone to find out personal information about the individual without their consent. Intel disabled this feature by default and allowed it to be enabled after releasing the chip.
CPU
The motherboard is the main component found in PC and Macintosh computers. The motherboard is what allows various hardware components to transfer information to each other. As computers advanced, so did motherboards; below is a listing of the various Motherboard form factors.
Full-ATBaby-AT
LPX
Full-ATX
Mini-ATX
NLX
- This form factor is no longer produced because it cannot be placed into the popular Baby-AT chassis.
- Specific placement of the keyboard and the I/O slots.
- This board also cannot be placed into the slimline case.
- The LPX motherboard riser card contains all of the expansion slots.
- Placement of the video, parallel, two serial and PS/2 connections have changed locations.
- The ATX motherboard has a stacked I/O connector panel mounted on the motherboard.
- On a socket 7 ATX motherboard, the socket has been placed a further distance from the expansion slots, allowing for long boards to be placed in easier.
- Single keyed internal power supply connector. This is the Molex power connector, ATX 2.01. Standby voltage needs to be greater than 720 mA. The connector now cannot be placed in improperly. While the Molex power connector allows for 5v and 3.3v to be connected, it is recommended that only a 3.3v be connected to the motherboard.
- Relocation of the memory and the CPU creating better ventilation and easier upgrade.
- Power management possible with proper BIOS support.
- Support for the Pentium II
- Support for AGP
- Support for USB.
- Support for DIMM.
- Easier Access to internal components
AT / ATX DIFFERENCES
Below is some of the ways in determining if your motherboard is an AT motherboard or an ATX motherboard.The Keyboard:
AT Motherboard = 5 pin large connector
ATX Motherboard = 6 pin mini connector.
MB Power Connector:
AT Motherboard = Single Row two connectors 5v & 12v
ATX Motherboard = Double row single connector 5v,12v, and 3.3v
The Motherboard is a printed circuit that is the foundation of a computer and allows the CPU, RAM, and all other computer hardware components to function with each other. Below is a graphic illustration of the ASUS P5AD2-E motherboard and some basic explanations of each of the major portions of the motherboard.
The CPU, or the Central Processing Unit, is the brain of the computer and the single most important chip in the computer. Modern processors contain millions of transistors which are etched onto a tiny square silicon called a die, which is about the with of a standard thumb. The CPU performs the system's calculating and processing. The majority of personal computers include the Intel processors. Intel released the first processor, the 4004, in 1970. Today, the market is being shared by other companies such as the popular AMD processor manufactured by the AMD Company
MATH COPROCESSORS
Math coprocessors were additional chips which could be purchased with 386 and older chips. This additional chip was left as an option to help reduce the cost of computers. Coprocessors allow the hardware for floating-point math. Math coprocessors will speed your computer's operation when utilizing software applications that take advantage of its capabilities. Computers now no longer require the extra purchase of the math compressor. Below is a listing of computer processors and their coprocessors.
Processor
|
Coprocessor
|
8086
|
8087
|
8088
|
8087
|
80286
|
80287
|
80386SX
|
80387SX
|
80386SL
|
80387SX
|
80386SLC
|
80387SX
|
80486SLC
|
80387SX
|
80486SLC2
|
80387SX
|
80386DX
|
80387DX
|
80486SX
|
80487SX, DX2/Overdrive
|
80487SX
|
Included FPU
|
80486SX2
|
DX2/Overdrive
|
80486DX
|
Included FPU
|
80486DX2
|
Included FPU
|
80486DX4
|
Included FPU
|
Pentium/Pentium-MMX
|
Included FPU
|
Pentium Pro
|
Included FPU
|
Pentium II
|
Included FPU
|
Pentium III
|
Included FPU
|
COMPATIBLE INTEL PROCESSORS
Several companies such as AMD and Cyrix are also developing processors which are completely compatible with Intel processors. This means that they are capable of emulating every processor instruction in the the Intel chips.
80386 - Some 386DX 16MHz Intel processors had a small bug which appeared as a software problem. The bug occurred when running true 32-bit code in a program such as within OS/2 2.x, Unix/386, or Windows in Enhanced mode. The bug would cause the system to lock up and is a difficult issue to determine without having Intel actually look at the chip. Chips that passed the test, and all subsequent chips which were bug-free, were marked with a double-sigma symbol. 386DX chips that are not marked with either of these symbols may have not been tested by Intel and may be defective.
PENTIUM - One of the most famous and most known bugs is the Pentium FPU flaw / bug discovered by a a mathematician in October 1994. This bug involved the Pentium incorrectly performing floating-point calculations with certain number combinations, with errors anywhere from the third digit on up. This issue does not occur on 120MHz and above Pentium computers but is known to occur on Intel Pentiums 100MHz and below.
Ways of testing your Pentium CPU to determine if it has the Pentium flaw.
Correct Answer
962,306,957,033 / 11,010,046 = 87,402.6282027341
Incorrect Answer
962,306,957,033 / 11,010,046 = 87,399.5805831329
Correct Answer
4,195,835 / 3,145,727 = 1.33382044913624100
Incorrect Answer
4,195,835 / 3,145,727 = 1.33373906890203759
Another way of testing for this flaw is to use Microsoft Excel and enter the below formula.
=4195835-((4195835/3145727)*3145727)
When entering this formula you should receive a returned result of 0.
INTERPOSER
A number of Intel Motherboards incorrectly support the Write Back mode of the Intel Pentium OverDrive processor. Because of this you will be unable to successfully upgrade your CPU. However, to rectify this issue, Intel created a chip called the interposer. This chip allows the computer to work around the design errors.
Documentation for installing the interposer should be included with the interposer. If by chance documentation is not included you can find alternate installation help at Intel's web site (Search for Interposer).
INTEL SOCKET INFORMATION
Intel designed a set of sockets. Each of these sockets supported a certain range of processors. Below we have listed the complete specifications and layouts of each of these sockets.
SOCKET 1 SPECIFICATIONS
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SOCKET 2 SPECIFICATIONS
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SOCKET 3 SPECIFICATIONS
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SOCKET 4 SPECIFICATIONS
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SOCKET 5 SPECIFICATIONS
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SOCKET 6 SPECIFICATIONS
Slot 6 was thought and planed for but was never actually implemented into any system.
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SOCKET 7 SPECIFICATIONS
| |||||||||
SLOT 1 SPECIFICATIONS
|
PROCESSOR HISTORY AND INFORMATION
Below is a listing of all known processor manufacturers made to date. In the below list is information about major processors listed by the date manufactured as well as a brief description of the technology and advances of each of the processors.
INTEL 4004 - Microprocessor introduced in 1970 with the speed of 108KHz was the worlds first microprocessor.
INTEL 8080 - Microprocessor introduced in 1974 running at the speed of 2 MHz was used in the world's first PC, the Altair.
INTEL 8086 (Code Name: P1)- Microprocessor first introduced in 1976. The 80086 had a 16-bit architecture that allowed it to work with 16-bit binary numbers and pass them through a 16-bit data bus. The 8086 was available in clock speeds of 5MHz, 8MHz, and 10MHz.
MOTOROLA 68000 - Microprocessor released in 1979 was later chosen by Apple for the Macintosh computer.
INTEL 8087 - Floating-point math compressor compliant with the 8086 / 8080 microprocessor family.
INTEL 8088 - Microprocessor released in 1979. The 8088 was the first Processor used in the original IBM PC and XT personal computers because it was less expensive than the 8086 microprocessor because of the availability of less expensive eight-bit data bus supporting chips made it the microprocessor for the IBM PC. The 8088 was available in speeds from 4.77 MHz and 8MHz.and used the 16-bit architecture allowing it to work internally with 16-digit numbers. The 8088 had the ability of addressing up to 1MB of RAM.
INTEL 80286 (Code Name: P2) - Microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1982 which commonly is referred to as the 286 processor. The 286 processor supported 16-bit architecture, supported virtual memory, and was available in clock speeds of 8MHz, 10MHz, and 12MHz. The 286 was around 20 times faster than the predecessor 8088.
INTEL 80287 - A compliant processor to the 286, a floating-point math coprocessor. Specially designed 286 chips have the capability of placing the optional 80287 processor on top of it, giving the computer a math coprocessor.
INTEL 80386DX (Code Name: P3) - Microprocessor manufactured in 1985 was the next generation of Intel processors. The 80386DX included the math compressor, unlike the 80386SX, and still featured the 32-bit architecture and built-in multitasking. The chip was available in clock speeds of 16MHz, 20MHz, 25MHz, and 33MHz.
SPARC - Released in 1987 is short for Scaleable Processor ARChiture by Sun - used RISC (Reduced Instruction Set) to speed up processing.
INTEL 80486DX (Code Name: P4) - Microprocessor released April 10th 1989. The 486DX featured a built-in memory cache and 32-bit architecture. It had more than three times the computing power of the 386DX and was available in clock speeds of 25MHz, 33MHz, and 50MHz.
INTEL 80386SX - Microprocessor introduced in 1989 was the next generation of Intel processors. The 80386SX lacked a math coprocessor but still featured the 32-bit architecture and built-in multitasking. The chip was available in clock speeds of 16MHz, 20MHz, 25MHz, and 33MHz.
INTEL 80386SL - Microprocessor introduced in 1990 which used low power consumption and was used mainly in portable computers.
INTEL 80486SX (Code Name: P45 / P23 ) - Microprocessor introduced in April 1991 which is a less expensive version of the 80486DX. It lacked the math coprocessor of the 80486DX and ran at lower clock speeds than the DX; it ran at 16MHz, 20MHz, 25MHz, or 33 MHz.
INTEL 80486DX2 (Code Name: P24 / P24S) - Microprocessor first introduced in March 2, 1992. It was based upon the popular 486DX; however, it featured internal clock speeds that doubled that of the system that operated it. Thus, a DX2 on a system with a 33MHz bus would run at 66MHz. Also known as the i486DX2.
INTEL 80486DX4 (Code Name: P24C / P24CT)- Microprocessor first introduced in 1994. The 486DX4 would triple that of the system that operated it.
INTEL PENTIUM (Code Name: P5 (Pentium 60 - 66MHz))- Microprocessor introduced March 22, 1993 designed to replace the 486 processors. The new Pentium had an additional 1.9 million transistors when compared to the 80486DX. The Pentium has a 32-bit address bus and a 64-bit data bus, and it can operate at speeds of 60MHz to 200MHz. The Pentium was released in three generations. The first-generation of Pentium processors was the Pentium 60 and 66 MHz. These chips used a 273-pin PGA form factor and ran on 5v power. Intel announced the release of a second-generation introduced March 7, 1994 included new processors from 75, 90, 100, 120, 133, 150, 166, and 200 MHz. The processors used 296-pin SPGA form factor that is physically incompatible with the first generation versions. The third-generation of Pentium processors, code named P55C, were introduced January 1997, which incorporated the new technology MMX. The Pentium MMX processors were available 166, 200, 233 MHz, and 266 MHz mobile version.
INTEL PENTIUM PRO (Code Name: P6) - Microprocessor which was designed for the corporate users and for high-end servers and workstations, preferably those using Windows NT. The Pentium Pro CPUs are extremely fast with 32-bit applications and 3-D image processing and rendering when compared to previous Intel processors. The chip runs at 166MHz and higher
INTEL PENTIUM II (Code Name: Klamath) - Initially the Pentium II 233MHz was released in 1997 and introduced a new physical architecture which encased a circuit board within a plastic case. With this new technology, this allowed the chip to be easily added and removed. However, previous owners of Pentium motherboard could not upgrade to this new type of chip unless the motherboard they had included a SLOT 1 technology. The Pentium II runs from 233MHz to 450MHz.
INTEL PENTIUM III - Initially the Pentium III 500 MHz was released in 1999; shortly after its release, Intel introduced the Pentium III 550 MHz processor. The Pentium III chip continued to use the SLOT 1 and could be used on previous Pentium II motherboards with BIOS support. Before its release, a big controversy concerning privacy. The Intel Pentium III chips have an ID for each chip helping to authenticate peoples' purchases over the Internet. However, many argued that this was another way for someone to find out personal information about the individual without their consent. Intel disabled this feature by default and allowed it to be enabled after releasing the chip.
CPU
Also known as a processor or microprocessor the CPU was first developed by Intel in 1974 and is short for Central Processing Unit. The computer CPU is responsible for handling all instructions and calculation it receives from other hardware components in the computer and software programs running on the computer. Below is a graphic example of what the original Intel Pentium processor looks like.
Today there are several different manufactures of computer processors. However, Intel and AMD are the leaders in the PC market.- Additional information and help with computer processors can also be found on our CPU help page.
- Additional information about installing a computer hardware including a computer processor can be found on document CHADD.
LGA
Short for Land Grid Array, LGA is the interface used to connect Intel Pentium 4 processors and AMD Opteron to the computer motherboard.
PGA
RISC
CISC
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