AT Motherboard
An AT motherboard is a motherboard which has dimensions of the order of some hundred millimeters, big enough to be unable to fit in mini desktops. The dimensions of this motherboard make it difficult for the new drives to get installed. The concept of six pin plugs and sockets is used so as to work as the power connectors for this type of motherboards.
The hard to distinguish power connector sockets make it difficult for many users to easily make the proper connections and thus leading to the damage of the device.
Produced in the mid 80’s, this motherboard lasted a good span from the Pentium p5 to the times when Pentium 2 had been started to be used.
FORM FACTORS OF AT MOTHERBOARD
The original AT motherboard, later known as "Full AT", is 13.8 × 12 inches (351 × 305 mm), which means it will not fit in "mini desktop" or "minitower cases". The board's size also means that it takes up space behind the drive bays, making installation of new drives more difficult. (In IBM's original heavy-gauge steel case, the two 5-1/4" full-height drive bays overhang the front of the motherboard. More precisely, the left bay overhangs the motherboard, while the right bay is subdivided into two half-height bays and additionally extends downward toward the bottom of the chassis, allowing a second full-height fixed disk to be installed below a single half-height drive.)
The power connectors for AT motherboards are two nearly identical 6-pin plugs and sockets. As designed by IBM, the connectors are mechanically keyed so that each can only be inserted in its correct position, but some clone manufacturers cut costs and used unkeyed (interchangeable) connectors. Unfortunately, the two power connectors it requires are not easily distinguishable, leading many people to damage their boards when they were improperly connected; when plugged in, the two black wires on each connector must be adjacent to each other, making a row of 4 consecutive black wires (out of the total 12). Technicians developed mnemonic devices to help assure proper installation, including "black wires together in the middle" and "red and red and you are dead."
FORM FACTOR FOR BABY AT
In 1985 IBM introduced Baby AT and soon after all computer makers abandoned AT for the cheaper and smaller Baby AT form factor, using it for computers that spanned several generations, from those that used 286 processors to the P5 Pentium and a limited number of Pentium II systems. These motherboards have similar mounting hole positions and the same eight card slot locations as those with the AT form factor, but are 2 inches (51 mm) narrower and marginally shorter. The size 13 × 8.5 in (330 × 216 mm) and flexibility of this kind of motherboard were the key to success of this format. The development of bigger CPU coolers—and the fact that they blocked full-length PCI and ISA cards—spelled the end of Baby AT and was the main impetus for its successor ATX. While the AT standard is now considered to be mostly obsolete, some industrial computers still use it.
With the BAT design the processor socket is located at the front of the motherboard, and full-length expansion cards are intended to extend over it. This means that removing the processor requires the removal of some or all expansion cards first. Problems were exacerbated by the increasing speeds of Pentium-class processors. System cooling relied on the AT power supply blowing air out of the chassis enclosure and, due to the distance between the power supply and the CPU, an additional chassis fan or active heatsink became a necessity to maintain good airflow across the CPU. AT power supplies only provide 12V and 5V outputs to the motherboard, requiring additional regulators on the motherboard if 3.3V components (PCI cards or CPUs) are used. Sometimes a second heatsink was also required on these voltage regulators and together the various additional heat dissipation components caused serious obstruction for expansion slots.
Some BAT designs allow the use of either AT or ATX power supplies, and some ATX cases might allow the use of a Baby-AT motherboard.
Baby AT
The Baby AT motherboard form factor had been one of the most popular motherboard types until recent years. The Baby AT board is 8.5" x 10". You can easily identify this motherboard because it usually has a DIN (multipin, round) keyboard connector on the top-right corner of the board. This keyboard connector is the only I/O connector on the back of the motherboard.
A Baby AT board is about two-thirds the size of a full AT board and typically incorporates a Socket 7 ZIF slot for classic Pentium processors. The Baby AT board usually has a mixture of ISA/EISA and PCI slots located on the motherboard and includes a Plug and Play BIOS. Figure 1-31 shows a Baby AT motherboard and identifies the popular components.
ATX Motherboard
Advanced technology extended, or popularly known as the ATX, are the motherboards which were produced by the Intel in mid 90’s as an improvement from the previously working motherboards such as AT.
This type of motherboards differ from their AT counterparts in the way that these motherboards allow the interchangeability of the connected parts. Moreover the dimensions of this motherboard are smaller than the AT motherboards and thus proper place for the drive bays is also allowed.
Some good changes were also made to the connector system of the board. The AT motherboards had a keyboard connector and on the back plates extra slots were provided for various add-ons.
FORM FACTOR OF ATX
In 1995, Intel introduced ATX, a form factor which gradually replaced older Baby AT motherboards. During the late 1990s, a great majority of boards were either Baby AT or ATX. Many motherboard manufacturers favored Baby AT over ATX as many computer cases and power supplies in the industry were still designed for AT boards and not ATX boards. Also, the lack of an eighth slot on ATX motherboards kept it from being used in some servers. After the industry shifted to ATX motherboard configurations, it became common to design cases and power supplies to support both Baby AT and ATX motherboards.
LPX Motherboard
The low profile extension motherboards, better known as LPX motherboards, were created after the AT boards in the 90’s.
The major difference between these and previous boards is that the input and output ports in these boards are present at the back of the system. This concept proved to be beneficial and was also adopted by the AT boards in their newer versions. The use of a riser card was also made for the placement of some more slots. But these riser cards also posed a problem that the air flow was not proper.
Also, some low quality LPX boards didn’t even have real AGP slot and simply connected to the PCI bus. All these unfavored aspects led to the extinction of this motherboard system and was succeeded by the NLX.
BTX Motherboard
BTX stands for Balanced Technology extended.
BTX was developed to reduce or avoid some of the issues that came up while using latest technologies. Newer technologies often demand more power and they also release more heat when implemented on motherboards in accordance with the circa-1996 ATX specification. The ATX standard and the BTX standard, both were proposed by Intel. The further development of BTX retail products was canceled in September 2006 by Intel after the acceptance of Intel’s decision to focus again on low-power CPUs after suffering issues such as scaling and thermal with the Pentium 4.
The first company to use, or to be precise, implement BTX was Gateway Inc, followed by Dell and MPC. Apple’s MacPro uses only some of the elements of the BTX design system but it is not BTX compliant. This type of motherboard has some improvements over previous technologies:
Pico BTX Motherboard
Pico BTX is a motherboard form factor that is meant to manufacture even smaller size BTX standard. This is smaller than many current “micro” sized motherboards, hence the name “Pico” has been used. These motherboards share a common top half with the other sizes in the BTX line, but they support only one or two expansion slots, designed for half-height or riser-card applications.
In the initial stages of usage, the ATX and BTX motherboards were so analogous that moving a BTX motherboard to an ATX case was possible and vice-versa. At later stages, the BTX form factor had a large modification which was done by turning it into a mirror image of the ATX standard. Technically speaking, BTX motherboards are ‘left side-right’ when compared to ATX and not upside-down as before. This means they are mounted on the opposite side of the case. Various computer cases for instance, the Cooler Master Series (Stackers) were released to support a wide range of motherboard standards such as ATX, BTX, Mini-ATX and so on, in order to simplify motherboard development without buying a new case; however, all connector and slot standards are identical, including PCI(e) cards, processors, RAM, hard drives, etc.
BTX power supply units can be exchanged with latest ATX12V units, but not with older ATX power supplies that don’t have the extra 4-pin 12V connector.
Mini ITX Motherboard
Mini-ITX is a 17 × 17 cm (6.7 × 6.7 in) low-power motherboard form factor. It was designed by VIA Technologies in year 2001. These are largely used in small form factor (SFF) computer systems. Mini-ITX boards can also be cooled easily because of their low power consumption architecture. Such an architecture makes them widely useful for home theater PC systems or systems where fan noise can diminish the quality or worth of cinema experience. The four mounting holes in a Mini-ITX board line up with the four holes in ATX specification motherboards, and the locations of the back plate and expansion slot are the same. Although, one of the holes used was optional in earlier versions of the ATX. Hence, Mini-ITX boards can be used in places which are designed for ATX, micro-ATX and other ATX variants if required.
The Mini-ITX form factor has location for one expansion slot, pertaining to a standard 33 MHz 5V 32-bit PCI slot. However, often case designs use riser cards and some even have two-slot riser cards, even when the two-slot riser cards are not usable with all the boards. A few boards based around non-x86 processors have a 3.3V PCI slot, and the Mini-ITX 2.0 (2008) boards have a PCI-express ×16 slot. Such boards are not used with the standard PCI riser cards supplied with cases.
Now that you know how to choose your motherboard you can also build your dream PC using it. Every PC requires an operating system and you can check out this interesting blog post on choosing the right operating system for your PC. This article provides a detailed outline of two of the most popular operating systems, Linux and Windows, allowing you to determine which will suite your needs better. However, if you want to learn more about these operating systems before making a choice, check out this online course for an in-depth introduction to Linux or this online course if you want to master Windows 8.
Another important aspect about using the proper motherboard for your computer is that it affects the speed of the computer system. A good motherboard, which will be properly compatible with the components of a computer system, will enhance the speed of the computer, while a motherboard which is not compatible with the components of a computer system will negatively affect the speed of the system. This course about how to speed up your computer will give you a better understanding about the role a motherboard plays in the efficient and high speed working of a computer system and will give you important information about the ways to improve the speed of your com
/ 4
Four types of motherboards Document Transcript
1. Four types of Motherboards Today our class is about motherboard types and differences. we already discussed about motherboard, which is the main circuit board and it interconnects the remaining parts of computer. Totally we have 4 types of motherboards so far. They are XT, AT, Baby AT and ATX. XT Motherboards: XT Stands for eXtended Technology. These are all old model motherboard. In this motherboards, we find old model processor socket LIF (Low Insertion Force) sockets, ram slots Dimms and ISA (Industry Standards Architecture) slots, 12pin Power Connector and no ports. They have slot type processors, Dimms memory modules, ISA slots for add-on card, and no ports. There are connectors and add-on cards for ports. Eg: Pentium-I, Pentium-MMX, Pentium -II and Pentium-II Processors.
2. AT Motherboards: AT stands for Advanced Technology. Advanced Technology Motherboards have PGA (Pin Grid Array) Socket, SD Ram slots, 20pin power connector PCI slots and ISA slots. we find the above components on AT motherboards. Eg: Pentium-III Processors Baby AT Motherboards:
3. Baby AT Motherboards have the combination of XT and AT. They have both slot type processor sockets and PGA processor sockets, SD Ram slots and DDR Ram slots, PCI slots and ISA slots, 12 Pin power connector and 20Pin power connector and Ports. Eg: Pentium-III and Pentium-IV ATX Motherboards: ATX stands for Advanced Technology eXtended. latest motherboards all are called as ATX motherboards. designed by ATX form factor. In this motherboards, we find MPGA Processor Sockets, DDR Ram slots, PCI slots, AGP slots, Primary and secondary IDE interfaces, SATA connectors, 20pin and 24 pin ATX power connector and Ports. Eg: Pentium-IV, Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, Quad Core, i3, i5 and i7 Processors.
AT
ATX
Mini-ATX
LPX
NLX
BTX
Micro-ATX
microATX (sometimes referred to as µATX, mATX[1] or uATX[2][3]) is a standard for motherboards that was introduced in December 1997.[4] The maximum size of a microATX motherboard is 9.6 × 9.6 in (244 × 244 mm), but some microATX boards can be as small as 6.75 × 6.75 in (171.45 × 171.45 mm).[5] The standard ATX size is 25% longer, at 12 × 9.6 in (305 × 244 mm).
Currently available microATX motherboards support CPUs from VIA, Intel or AMD.
Contents
1 Backward compatibility
2 Expandability
3 References
4 External links
Backward compatibility
microATX was explicitly designed to be backward-compatible with ATX. The mounting points of microATX motherboards are a subset of those used on full-size ATX boards, and the I/O panel is identical. Thus, microATX motherboards can be used in full-size ATX cases. Furthermore, most microATX motherboards generally use the same power connectors as ATX motherboards,[6] thus permitting the use of full-size ATX power supplies with microATX boards.
microATX boards often use the same chipsets (northbridges and southbridges) as full-size ATX boards, allowing them to use many of the same components. However, since microATX cases are typically much smaller than ATX cases, they usually have fewer expansion slots.
The A8N VM CSM, an ASUS microATX motherboard
Most modern ATX motherboards have five or more PCI or PCI-Express expansion slots, while microATX boards typically have only four (four being the maximum permitted by the specification). In order to conserve expansion slots and case space, many manufacturers produce microATX motherboard with a full range of integrated peripherals (especially integrated graphics), which may serve as the basis for small form factor and media center PCs. For example, the Asus A8N-VM CSM motherboard (pictured right) features onboard GeForce 6 graphics, AC'97 audio, and gigabit Ethernet (among others), thus freeing up the expansion slots that would have been used for a graphics card, sound card, and Ethernet card. In recent years, however, it is common even for ATX boards to integrate all these components, as much of this functionality is contained in the typical northbridge/southbridge pair. With the "must-have" functions already present on the motherboard, the need for having many expansion slots has faded, and adoption of microATX has increased even to be used in ATX cases.
A more modern limitation of a microATX case is due to its reduction in drive bays. Current southbridges support up to six SATA devices, in addition to up to four legacy IDE devices. The full range of connectors are commonly found on microATX boards, and can be fully exploited if the board is mounted in an ATX case.
In the build-it-yourself PC market, Micro ATX motherboards in general are favored by cost-conscious buyers, where cost savings for the equivalent feature sets outweighs the added expandability of extra PCI/PCI Express slots provided by the full ATX versions. Since 2006, dual-GPU configurations became possible on Micro ATX motherboards for high-end enthusiast gaming setups, further reducing the need for full ATX motherboards.
In addition, some microATX cases require the use of Low-Profile PCI cards and use power supplies with non-standard dimensions
Mini ATX or Mini-ATX is a name used for various motherboard form factors, mainly a 15 × 15 cm (or 5.9 × 5.9 inches) size developed by AOpen Inc.. This Mini-ATX definition is slightly smaller than Mini-ITX. There is no single widely accepted form factor by this name.
Mini-ATX motherboards were designed with MoDT (Mobile on Desktop Technology) which adapt mobile CPUs for lower power requirements and less heat generation, which may be beneficial for home theater PCs (HTPC), in-car PCs, or industrial use.
Contents
1 Alternative definitions
2 Features
2.1 Size
2.2 Noise
2.3 Stability
2.4 Flexibility
3 References
4 External links
Alternative definitions
ATX motherboard size comparison.
FlexATX
MicroATX/Embedded ATX
Mini ATX
Standard ATX
Extended ATX (EATX)
Workstation ATX (WATX)
Another definition of Mini-ATX is Intel's 11.2 × 8.2 in (284 × 208 mm).[1][2] This was at one time specified within the ATX specification but was later removed after the adoption of microATX.
Features
Size
With dimensions of 15 × 15 cm (5.9 × 5.9 in), a Mini-ATX motherboard can be placed into a single DIN space for standardized application conditions such as a car, rack mount, tower case, wall mount, etc. which may be impossible for a Mini-ITX form factor. The smaller form factor Nano-ITX motherboard lacks a CPU socket module which limits its flexibility for different applications.
Noise
Due to a mobile CPU having lower power requirements, there is less heat generated by the CPU and internal components, and the thermal design is simplified. With its passive cooling design, it is typically noiseless and the manufacturing costs and overall operating power requirements are lower relative to active cooling designs.
Stability
Mini-ATX motherboards use surface-mount technology, solid state capacitors and 8 layers PCB design to maximize reliability.
Flexibility
The DC-to-DC converter solution design removes the power supply unit from a Mini-ATX case. This reduces the system size and an external power supply unit brings more flexibility when deploying system.
The Succession of Motherboard Form Factors
AT & Baby AT
Prior to 1997, IBM computers used large motherboards. After that, however, the size of the motherboard was reduced and boards using the AT (Advanced Technology) form factor was released. The AT form factor is found in older computers (386 class or earlier). Some of the problems with this form factor mainly arose from the physical size of the board, which is 12" wide, often causing the board to overlap with space required for the drive bays.
Following the AT form factor, the Baby AT form factor was introduced. With the Baby AT form factor the width of the motherboard was decreased from 12" to 8.5", limiting problems associated with overlapping on the drive bays' turf. Baby AT became popular and was designed for peripheral devices — such as the keyboard, mouse, and video — to be contained on circuit boards that were connected by way of expansion slots on the motherboard.
Email Archives: No Longer Fit for Purpose?
Download Now
Baby AT was not without problems however. Computer memory itself advanced, and the Baby AT form factor had memory sockets at the front of the motherboard. As processors became larger, the Baby AT form factor did not allow for space to use a combination of processor, heatsink, and fan. The ATX form factor was then designed to overcome these issues.
ATX
With the need for a more integrated form factor which defined standard locations for the keyboard, mouse, I/O, and video connectors, in the mid 1990's the ATX form factor was introduced. The ATX form factor brought about many chances in the computer. Since the expansion slots were put onto separate riser cards that plugged into the motherboard, the overall size of the computer and its case was reduced. The ATX form factor specified changes to the motherboard, along with the case and power supply. Some of the design specification improvements of the ATX form factor included a single 20-pin connector for the power supply, a power supply to blow air into the case instead of out for better air flow, less overlap between the motherboard and drive bays, and integrated I/O Port connectors soldered directly onto the motherboard. The ATX form factor was an overall better design for upgrading.
micro-ATX
MicroATX followed the ATX form factor and offered the same benefits but improved the overall system design costs through a reduction in the physical size of the motherboard. This was done by reducing the number of I/O slots supported on the board. The microATX form factor also provided more I/O space at the rear and reduced emissions from using integrated I/O connectors.
LPX
White ATX is the most well-known and used form factor, there is also a non-standard proprietary form factor which falls under the name of LPX, and Mini-LPX. The LPX form factor is found in low-profile cases (desktop model as opposed to a tower or mini-tower) with a riser card arrangement for expansion cards where expansion boards run parallel to the motherboard. While this allows for smaller cases it also limits the number of expansion slots available. Most LPX motherboards have sound and video integrated onto the motherboard. While this can make for a low-cost and space saving product they are generally difficult to repair due to a lack of space and overall non-standardization. The LPX form factor is not suited to upgrading and offer poor cooling.
NLX
Boards based on the NLX form factor hit the market in the late 1990's. This "updated LPX" form factor offered support for larger memory modules, tower cases, AGP video support and reduced cable length. In addition, motherboards are easier to remove. The NLX form factor, unlike LPX is an actual standard which means there is more component options for upgrading and repair.
Many systems that were formerly designed to fit the LPX form factor are moving over to NLX. The NLX form factor is well-suited to mass-market retail PCs.
BTX
The BTX, or Balanced Technology Extended form factor, unlike its predecessors is not an evolution of a previous form factor but a total break away from the popular and dominating ATX form factor. BTX was developed to take advantage of technologies such as Serial ATA, USB 2.0, and PCI Express. Changes to the layout with the BTX form factor include better component placement for back panel I/O controllers and it is smaller than microATX systems. The BTX form factor provides the industry push to tower size systems with an increased number of system slots.
One of the most talked about features of the BTX form factor is that it uses in-line airflow. In the BTX form factor the memory slots and expansion slots have switched places, allowing the main components (processor, chipset, and graphics controller) to use the same airflow which reduces the number of fans needed in the system; thereby reducing noise. To assist in noise reduction BTX system level acoustics have been improved by a reduced air turbulence within the in-line airflow system.
Initially there will be three motherboards offered in BTX form factor. The first, picoBTX will offer four mounting holes and one expansion slot, while microBTX will hold seven mounting holes and four expansion slots, and lastly, regularBTX will offer 10 mounting holes and seven expansion slots. The new BTX form factor design is incompatible with ATX, with the exception of being able to use an ATX power supply with BTX boards.
Today the industry accepts the ATX form factor as the standard, however legacy AT systems are still widely in use. Since the BTX form factor design is incompatible with ATX, only time will tell if it will overtake ATX as the industry standard.
Did You Know...
ATX and Baby AT boards are approximately the same size, but the ATX board is rotated 90 degrees within the case to allow for easier access to components.
Key Terms To Understanding Motherboard Form Factors
motherboard
The main circuit board of a microcomputer.
form factor
The physical size and shape of a device. It is often used to describe the size of circuit boards.
AT
Short for advanced technology, the AT is an IBM PC model introduced in 1984.
ATX
The modern-day shape and layout of PC motherboards.
BTX
The BTX specification provides new tools and design space for developers to lay out desktop systems, whether designing small, compact systems or very large, expandable systems.
Baby AT
The form factor used by most PC motherboards prior to 1998
An AT motherboard is a motherboard which has dimensions of the order of some hundred millimeters, big enough to be unable to fit in mini desktops. The dimensions of this motherboard make it difficult for the new drives to get installed. The concept of six pin plugs and sockets is used so as to work as the power connectors for this type of motherboards.
The hard to distinguish power connector sockets make it difficult for many users to easily make the proper connections and thus leading to the damage of the device.
Produced in the mid 80’s, this motherboard lasted a good span from the Pentium p5 to the times when Pentium 2 had been started to be used.
FORM FACTORS OF AT MOTHERBOARD
The original AT motherboard, later known as "Full AT", is 13.8 × 12 inches (351 × 305 mm), which means it will not fit in "mini desktop" or "minitower cases". The board's size also means that it takes up space behind the drive bays, making installation of new drives more difficult. (In IBM's original heavy-gauge steel case, the two 5-1/4" full-height drive bays overhang the front of the motherboard. More precisely, the left bay overhangs the motherboard, while the right bay is subdivided into two half-height bays and additionally extends downward toward the bottom of the chassis, allowing a second full-height fixed disk to be installed below a single half-height drive.)
The power connectors for AT motherboards are two nearly identical 6-pin plugs and sockets. As designed by IBM, the connectors are mechanically keyed so that each can only be inserted in its correct position, but some clone manufacturers cut costs and used unkeyed (interchangeable) connectors. Unfortunately, the two power connectors it requires are not easily distinguishable, leading many people to damage their boards when they were improperly connected; when plugged in, the two black wires on each connector must be adjacent to each other, making a row of 4 consecutive black wires (out of the total 12). Technicians developed mnemonic devices to help assure proper installation, including "black wires together in the middle" and "red and red and you are dead."
FORM FACTOR FOR BABY AT
In 1985 IBM introduced Baby AT and soon after all computer makers abandoned AT for the cheaper and smaller Baby AT form factor, using it for computers that spanned several generations, from those that used 286 processors to the P5 Pentium and a limited number of Pentium II systems. These motherboards have similar mounting hole positions and the same eight card slot locations as those with the AT form factor, but are 2 inches (51 mm) narrower and marginally shorter. The size 13 × 8.5 in (330 × 216 mm) and flexibility of this kind of motherboard were the key to success of this format. The development of bigger CPU coolers—and the fact that they blocked full-length PCI and ISA cards—spelled the end of Baby AT and was the main impetus for its successor ATX. While the AT standard is now considered to be mostly obsolete, some industrial computers still use it.
With the BAT design the processor socket is located at the front of the motherboard, and full-length expansion cards are intended to extend over it. This means that removing the processor requires the removal of some or all expansion cards first. Problems were exacerbated by the increasing speeds of Pentium-class processors. System cooling relied on the AT power supply blowing air out of the chassis enclosure and, due to the distance between the power supply and the CPU, an additional chassis fan or active heatsink became a necessity to maintain good airflow across the CPU. AT power supplies only provide 12V and 5V outputs to the motherboard, requiring additional regulators on the motherboard if 3.3V components (PCI cards or CPUs) are used. Sometimes a second heatsink was also required on these voltage regulators and together the various additional heat dissipation components caused serious obstruction for expansion slots.
Some BAT designs allow the use of either AT or ATX power supplies, and some ATX cases might allow the use of a Baby-AT motherboard.
Baby AT
The Baby AT motherboard form factor had been one of the most popular motherboard types until recent years. The Baby AT board is 8.5" x 10". You can easily identify this motherboard because it usually has a DIN (multipin, round) keyboard connector on the top-right corner of the board. This keyboard connector is the only I/O connector on the back of the motherboard.
A Baby AT board is about two-thirds the size of a full AT board and typically incorporates a Socket 7 ZIF slot for classic Pentium processors. The Baby AT board usually has a mixture of ISA/EISA and PCI slots located on the motherboard and includes a Plug and Play BIOS. Figure 1-31 shows a Baby AT motherboard and identifies the popular components.
ATX Motherboard
Advanced technology extended, or popularly known as the ATX, are the motherboards which were produced by the Intel in mid 90’s as an improvement from the previously working motherboards such as AT.
This type of motherboards differ from their AT counterparts in the way that these motherboards allow the interchangeability of the connected parts. Moreover the dimensions of this motherboard are smaller than the AT motherboards and thus proper place for the drive bays is also allowed.
Some good changes were also made to the connector system of the board. The AT motherboards had a keyboard connector and on the back plates extra slots were provided for various add-ons.
FORM FACTOR OF ATX
In 1995, Intel introduced ATX, a form factor which gradually replaced older Baby AT motherboards. During the late 1990s, a great majority of boards were either Baby AT or ATX. Many motherboard manufacturers favored Baby AT over ATX as many computer cases and power supplies in the industry were still designed for AT boards and not ATX boards. Also, the lack of an eighth slot on ATX motherboards kept it from being used in some servers. After the industry shifted to ATX motherboard configurations, it became common to design cases and power supplies to support both Baby AT and ATX motherboards.
LPX Motherboard
The low profile extension motherboards, better known as LPX motherboards, were created after the AT boards in the 90’s.
The major difference between these and previous boards is that the input and output ports in these boards are present at the back of the system. This concept proved to be beneficial and was also adopted by the AT boards in their newer versions. The use of a riser card was also made for the placement of some more slots. But these riser cards also posed a problem that the air flow was not proper.
Also, some low quality LPX boards didn’t even have real AGP slot and simply connected to the PCI bus. All these unfavored aspects led to the extinction of this motherboard system and was succeeded by the NLX.
BTX Motherboard
BTX stands for Balanced Technology extended.
BTX was developed to reduce or avoid some of the issues that came up while using latest technologies. Newer technologies often demand more power and they also release more heat when implemented on motherboards in accordance with the circa-1996 ATX specification. The ATX standard and the BTX standard, both were proposed by Intel. The further development of BTX retail products was canceled in September 2006 by Intel after the acceptance of Intel’s decision to focus again on low-power CPUs after suffering issues such as scaling and thermal with the Pentium 4.
The first company to use, or to be precise, implement BTX was Gateway Inc, followed by Dell and MPC. Apple’s MacPro uses only some of the elements of the BTX design system but it is not BTX compliant. This type of motherboard has some improvements over previous technologies:
Pico BTX Motherboard
Pico BTX is a motherboard form factor that is meant to manufacture even smaller size BTX standard. This is smaller than many current “micro” sized motherboards, hence the name “Pico” has been used. These motherboards share a common top half with the other sizes in the BTX line, but they support only one or two expansion slots, designed for half-height or riser-card applications.
In the initial stages of usage, the ATX and BTX motherboards were so analogous that moving a BTX motherboard to an ATX case was possible and vice-versa. At later stages, the BTX form factor had a large modification which was done by turning it into a mirror image of the ATX standard. Technically speaking, BTX motherboards are ‘left side-right’ when compared to ATX and not upside-down as before. This means they are mounted on the opposite side of the case. Various computer cases for instance, the Cooler Master Series (Stackers) were released to support a wide range of motherboard standards such as ATX, BTX, Mini-ATX and so on, in order to simplify motherboard development without buying a new case; however, all connector and slot standards are identical, including PCI(e) cards, processors, RAM, hard drives, etc.
BTX power supply units can be exchanged with latest ATX12V units, but not with older ATX power supplies that don’t have the extra 4-pin 12V connector.
Mini ITX Motherboard
Mini-ITX is a 17 × 17 cm (6.7 × 6.7 in) low-power motherboard form factor. It was designed by VIA Technologies in year 2001. These are largely used in small form factor (SFF) computer systems. Mini-ITX boards can also be cooled easily because of their low power consumption architecture. Such an architecture makes them widely useful for home theater PC systems or systems where fan noise can diminish the quality or worth of cinema experience. The four mounting holes in a Mini-ITX board line up with the four holes in ATX specification motherboards, and the locations of the back plate and expansion slot are the same. Although, one of the holes used was optional in earlier versions of the ATX. Hence, Mini-ITX boards can be used in places which are designed for ATX, micro-ATX and other ATX variants if required.
The Mini-ITX form factor has location for one expansion slot, pertaining to a standard 33 MHz 5V 32-bit PCI slot. However, often case designs use riser cards and some even have two-slot riser cards, even when the two-slot riser cards are not usable with all the boards. A few boards based around non-x86 processors have a 3.3V PCI slot, and the Mini-ITX 2.0 (2008) boards have a PCI-express ×16 slot. Such boards are not used with the standard PCI riser cards supplied with cases.
Now that you know how to choose your motherboard you can also build your dream PC using it. Every PC requires an operating system and you can check out this interesting blog post on choosing the right operating system for your PC. This article provides a detailed outline of two of the most popular operating systems, Linux and Windows, allowing you to determine which will suite your needs better. However, if you want to learn more about these operating systems before making a choice, check out this online course for an in-depth introduction to Linux or this online course if you want to master Windows 8.
Another important aspect about using the proper motherboard for your computer is that it affects the speed of the computer system. A good motherboard, which will be properly compatible with the components of a computer system, will enhance the speed of the computer, while a motherboard which is not compatible with the components of a computer system will negatively affect the speed of the system. This course about how to speed up your computer will give you a better understanding about the role a motherboard plays in the efficient and high speed working of a computer system and will give you important information about the ways to improve the speed of your com
/ 4
Four types of motherboards Document Transcript
1. Four types of Motherboards Today our class is about motherboard types and differences. we already discussed about motherboard, which is the main circuit board and it interconnects the remaining parts of computer. Totally we have 4 types of motherboards so far. They are XT, AT, Baby AT and ATX. XT Motherboards: XT Stands for eXtended Technology. These are all old model motherboard. In this motherboards, we find old model processor socket LIF (Low Insertion Force) sockets, ram slots Dimms and ISA (Industry Standards Architecture) slots, 12pin Power Connector and no ports. They have slot type processors, Dimms memory modules, ISA slots for add-on card, and no ports. There are connectors and add-on cards for ports. Eg: Pentium-I, Pentium-MMX, Pentium -II and Pentium-II Processors.
2. AT Motherboards: AT stands for Advanced Technology. Advanced Technology Motherboards have PGA (Pin Grid Array) Socket, SD Ram slots, 20pin power connector PCI slots and ISA slots. we find the above components on AT motherboards. Eg: Pentium-III Processors Baby AT Motherboards:
3. Baby AT Motherboards have the combination of XT and AT. They have both slot type processor sockets and PGA processor sockets, SD Ram slots and DDR Ram slots, PCI slots and ISA slots, 12 Pin power connector and 20Pin power connector and Ports. Eg: Pentium-III and Pentium-IV ATX Motherboards: ATX stands for Advanced Technology eXtended. latest motherboards all are called as ATX motherboards. designed by ATX form factor. In this motherboards, we find MPGA Processor Sockets, DDR Ram slots, PCI slots, AGP slots, Primary and secondary IDE interfaces, SATA connectors, 20pin and 24 pin ATX power connector and Ports. Eg: Pentium-IV, Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, Quad Core, i3, i5 and i7 Processors.
AT
ATX
Mini-ATX
LPX
NLX
BTX
Micro-ATX
microATX (sometimes referred to as µATX, mATX[1] or uATX[2][3]) is a standard for motherboards that was introduced in December 1997.[4] The maximum size of a microATX motherboard is 9.6 × 9.6 in (244 × 244 mm), but some microATX boards can be as small as 6.75 × 6.75 in (171.45 × 171.45 mm).[5] The standard ATX size is 25% longer, at 12 × 9.6 in (305 × 244 mm).
Currently available microATX motherboards support CPUs from VIA, Intel or AMD.
Contents
1 Backward compatibility
2 Expandability
3 References
4 External links
Backward compatibility
microATX was explicitly designed to be backward-compatible with ATX. The mounting points of microATX motherboards are a subset of those used on full-size ATX boards, and the I/O panel is identical. Thus, microATX motherboards can be used in full-size ATX cases. Furthermore, most microATX motherboards generally use the same power connectors as ATX motherboards,[6] thus permitting the use of full-size ATX power supplies with microATX boards.
microATX boards often use the same chipsets (northbridges and southbridges) as full-size ATX boards, allowing them to use many of the same components. However, since microATX cases are typically much smaller than ATX cases, they usually have fewer expansion slots.
The A8N VM CSM, an ASUS microATX motherboard
Most modern ATX motherboards have five or more PCI or PCI-Express expansion slots, while microATX boards typically have only four (four being the maximum permitted by the specification). In order to conserve expansion slots and case space, many manufacturers produce microATX motherboard with a full range of integrated peripherals (especially integrated graphics), which may serve as the basis for small form factor and media center PCs. For example, the Asus A8N-VM CSM motherboard (pictured right) features onboard GeForce 6 graphics, AC'97 audio, and gigabit Ethernet (among others), thus freeing up the expansion slots that would have been used for a graphics card, sound card, and Ethernet card. In recent years, however, it is common even for ATX boards to integrate all these components, as much of this functionality is contained in the typical northbridge/southbridge pair. With the "must-have" functions already present on the motherboard, the need for having many expansion slots has faded, and adoption of microATX has increased even to be used in ATX cases.
A more modern limitation of a microATX case is due to its reduction in drive bays. Current southbridges support up to six SATA devices, in addition to up to four legacy IDE devices. The full range of connectors are commonly found on microATX boards, and can be fully exploited if the board is mounted in an ATX case.
In the build-it-yourself PC market, Micro ATX motherboards in general are favored by cost-conscious buyers, where cost savings for the equivalent feature sets outweighs the added expandability of extra PCI/PCI Express slots provided by the full ATX versions. Since 2006, dual-GPU configurations became possible on Micro ATX motherboards for high-end enthusiast gaming setups, further reducing the need for full ATX motherboards.
In addition, some microATX cases require the use of Low-Profile PCI cards and use power supplies with non-standard dimensions
Mini ATX or Mini-ATX is a name used for various motherboard form factors, mainly a 15 × 15 cm (or 5.9 × 5.9 inches) size developed by AOpen Inc.. This Mini-ATX definition is slightly smaller than Mini-ITX. There is no single widely accepted form factor by this name.
Mini-ATX motherboards were designed with MoDT (Mobile on Desktop Technology) which adapt mobile CPUs for lower power requirements and less heat generation, which may be beneficial for home theater PCs (HTPC), in-car PCs, or industrial use.
Contents
1 Alternative definitions
2 Features
2.1 Size
2.2 Noise
2.3 Stability
2.4 Flexibility
3 References
4 External links
Alternative definitions
ATX motherboard size comparison.
FlexATX
MicroATX/Embedded ATX
Mini ATX
Standard ATX
Extended ATX (EATX)
Workstation ATX (WATX)
Another definition of Mini-ATX is Intel's 11.2 × 8.2 in (284 × 208 mm).[1][2] This was at one time specified within the ATX specification but was later removed after the adoption of microATX.
Features
Size
With dimensions of 15 × 15 cm (5.9 × 5.9 in), a Mini-ATX motherboard can be placed into a single DIN space for standardized application conditions such as a car, rack mount, tower case, wall mount, etc. which may be impossible for a Mini-ITX form factor. The smaller form factor Nano-ITX motherboard lacks a CPU socket module which limits its flexibility for different applications.
Noise
Due to a mobile CPU having lower power requirements, there is less heat generated by the CPU and internal components, and the thermal design is simplified. With its passive cooling design, it is typically noiseless and the manufacturing costs and overall operating power requirements are lower relative to active cooling designs.
Stability
Mini-ATX motherboards use surface-mount technology, solid state capacitors and 8 layers PCB design to maximize reliability.
Flexibility
The DC-to-DC converter solution design removes the power supply unit from a Mini-ATX case. This reduces the system size and an external power supply unit brings more flexibility when deploying system.
The Succession of Motherboard Form Factors
AT & Baby AT
Prior to 1997, IBM computers used large motherboards. After that, however, the size of the motherboard was reduced and boards using the AT (Advanced Technology) form factor was released. The AT form factor is found in older computers (386 class or earlier). Some of the problems with this form factor mainly arose from the physical size of the board, which is 12" wide, often causing the board to overlap with space required for the drive bays.
Following the AT form factor, the Baby AT form factor was introduced. With the Baby AT form factor the width of the motherboard was decreased from 12" to 8.5", limiting problems associated with overlapping on the drive bays' turf. Baby AT became popular and was designed for peripheral devices — such as the keyboard, mouse, and video — to be contained on circuit boards that were connected by way of expansion slots on the motherboard.
Email Archives: No Longer Fit for Purpose?
Download Now
Baby AT was not without problems however. Computer memory itself advanced, and the Baby AT form factor had memory sockets at the front of the motherboard. As processors became larger, the Baby AT form factor did not allow for space to use a combination of processor, heatsink, and fan. The ATX form factor was then designed to overcome these issues.
ATX
With the need for a more integrated form factor which defined standard locations for the keyboard, mouse, I/O, and video connectors, in the mid 1990's the ATX form factor was introduced. The ATX form factor brought about many chances in the computer. Since the expansion slots were put onto separate riser cards that plugged into the motherboard, the overall size of the computer and its case was reduced. The ATX form factor specified changes to the motherboard, along with the case and power supply. Some of the design specification improvements of the ATX form factor included a single 20-pin connector for the power supply, a power supply to blow air into the case instead of out for better air flow, less overlap between the motherboard and drive bays, and integrated I/O Port connectors soldered directly onto the motherboard. The ATX form factor was an overall better design for upgrading.
micro-ATX
MicroATX followed the ATX form factor and offered the same benefits but improved the overall system design costs through a reduction in the physical size of the motherboard. This was done by reducing the number of I/O slots supported on the board. The microATX form factor also provided more I/O space at the rear and reduced emissions from using integrated I/O connectors.
LPX
White ATX is the most well-known and used form factor, there is also a non-standard proprietary form factor which falls under the name of LPX, and Mini-LPX. The LPX form factor is found in low-profile cases (desktop model as opposed to a tower or mini-tower) with a riser card arrangement for expansion cards where expansion boards run parallel to the motherboard. While this allows for smaller cases it also limits the number of expansion slots available. Most LPX motherboards have sound and video integrated onto the motherboard. While this can make for a low-cost and space saving product they are generally difficult to repair due to a lack of space and overall non-standardization. The LPX form factor is not suited to upgrading and offer poor cooling.
NLX
Boards based on the NLX form factor hit the market in the late 1990's. This "updated LPX" form factor offered support for larger memory modules, tower cases, AGP video support and reduced cable length. In addition, motherboards are easier to remove. The NLX form factor, unlike LPX is an actual standard which means there is more component options for upgrading and repair.
Many systems that were formerly designed to fit the LPX form factor are moving over to NLX. The NLX form factor is well-suited to mass-market retail PCs.
BTX
The BTX, or Balanced Technology Extended form factor, unlike its predecessors is not an evolution of a previous form factor but a total break away from the popular and dominating ATX form factor. BTX was developed to take advantage of technologies such as Serial ATA, USB 2.0, and PCI Express. Changes to the layout with the BTX form factor include better component placement for back panel I/O controllers and it is smaller than microATX systems. The BTX form factor provides the industry push to tower size systems with an increased number of system slots.
One of the most talked about features of the BTX form factor is that it uses in-line airflow. In the BTX form factor the memory slots and expansion slots have switched places, allowing the main components (processor, chipset, and graphics controller) to use the same airflow which reduces the number of fans needed in the system; thereby reducing noise. To assist in noise reduction BTX system level acoustics have been improved by a reduced air turbulence within the in-line airflow system.
Initially there will be three motherboards offered in BTX form factor. The first, picoBTX will offer four mounting holes and one expansion slot, while microBTX will hold seven mounting holes and four expansion slots, and lastly, regularBTX will offer 10 mounting holes and seven expansion slots. The new BTX form factor design is incompatible with ATX, with the exception of being able to use an ATX power supply with BTX boards.
Today the industry accepts the ATX form factor as the standard, however legacy AT systems are still widely in use. Since the BTX form factor design is incompatible with ATX, only time will tell if it will overtake ATX as the industry standard.
Did You Know...
ATX and Baby AT boards are approximately the same size, but the ATX board is rotated 90 degrees within the case to allow for easier access to components.
Key Terms To Understanding Motherboard Form Factors
motherboard
The main circuit board of a microcomputer.
form factor
The physical size and shape of a device. It is often used to describe the size of circuit boards.
AT
Short for advanced technology, the AT is an IBM PC model introduced in 1984.
ATX
The modern-day shape and layout of PC motherboards.
BTX
The BTX specification provides new tools and design space for developers to lay out desktop systems, whether designing small, compact systems or very large, expandable systems.
Baby AT
The form factor used by most PC motherboards prior to 1998
No comments:
Post a Comment