Datasheet
12
Chapter 1
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Personal Computer System Components
Figure 1.5 shows a schematic of a typical motherboard chipset (both Northbridge and
Southbridge) and the components they interface with. Notice which components interface
with which parts of the chipset.
FIGURE 1.5 A schematic of a typical motherboard chipset
Southbridge
ATA Interface(s)
Serial ATA
Floppy Controller
PCIe Controller
AGP Controller
Onboard LAN
Onboard
Audio
Memory
Controller
Onboard
USB/Serial/
Parallel
PCI Expansion
Bus
CPU Cache
Northbridge
Backside Bus
Frontside Bus
Expansion Slots
The most visible parts of any motherboard are the expansion slots. These look like small
plastic slots, usually from 1 to 6 inches long and approximately ½ inch wide. As their name
suggests, these slots are used to install various devices in the computer to expand its capa-
bilities. Some expansion devices that might be installed in these slots include video, net-
work, sound, and disk interface cards.
If you look at the motherboard in your computer, you will more than likely see one of
the main types of expansion slots used in computers today:
PCI
ßN
AGP
ßN
PCIe
ßN
AMR
ßN
CNR
ßN
Each type differs in appearance and function. In this section, we will cover how to visu-
ally identify the different expansion slots on the motherboard. Note that Industry Standard
Architecture (ISA) expansion slots have been removed from the CompTIA A+ objectives, but
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