Datasheet
Identifying Components of Motherboards
5
FIGURE 1.1 A typical system board
Types of System Boards
There are two major types of system boards:
Nonintegrated system board Each major assembly is installed in the computer as an
expansion card. The major assemblies we’re talking about are items like the video circuitry,
disk controllers, and accessories. Nonintegrated system boards can be easily identified
because each expansion slot is usually occupied by one of these components.
It is difficult to find nonintegrated motherboards these days. Many of what would normally
be called nonintegrated system boards now incorporate the most commonly used circuitry
(such as IDE and floppy controllers, serial controllers, and sound cards) onto the mother-
board itself. In the early 1990s, these components had to be added to the motherboard using
expansion slots.
Integrated system board Most of the components that would otherwise be installed as
expansion cards are integrated into the motherboard circuitry. Integrated system boards were
designed for simplicity. Of course, there’s a drawback to this simplicity: when one component
breaks, you can’t just replace the component that’s broken; the whole motherboard must be
replaced. Although these boards are cheaper to produce, they are more expensive to repair.
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