TheCompleteA+GuidetoPCRepair.ppt

The Motherboard Objectives After completing this section you will: Understand the major components on a motherboard including the microprocessor, chipset, math coprocessor, and expansion slots. Understand the basic operation of a microprocessor and what issues must be considered when upgrading it. Recognize and identify the microprocessor. Understand the differences among the various architectures and buses. Recognize different expansion slots. Recognize an adapter’s architecture or bus. Microprocessor Overview Microprocessor (or processor) CPU (Central Processing Unit) Clones – IBM compatibles PC – Stands for Personal Computer, another name for the microcomputer. We will focus on compatibles (or non-Apple computers) because they make up the majority of computers in use today. Because Intel and AMD are the microprocessors primarily used in today’s computer industry, they are the examples covered extensively in this material. Microprocessor Basics Bit – Either a 1 or 0. All microprocessors use 1s and 0s to calculate or interpret information. Byte – Eight bits grouped together, the letter A looks liketo the processor. Each character on the keyboard appears as one byte (or eight bits) to the CPU. Denoted by the letter B, thirty-two bytes is 32B. Kilobyte – Approximately 1,000 bytes (1,024 exactly, but rounded off by the industry to the nearest thousand for ease of calculation). Shown as K or KB, ten kilobytes is shown as 10K or 10KB. Megabyte – Approximately one million bytes and referenced by M or MB. 540 megabytes is shown as 540M or 540MB. Gigabyte – Approximately 1 billion bytes (1,073,741,824) and written as 1G or 1 GB. Microprocessor Basics Microprocessor Basics Gigahertz (GHz) Hertz is a measurement of cycles per second (or frequency). One hertz equals one cycle per second. One megahertz (1MHz) is equal to one million cycles per second, one gigahertz (1GHz) is one billion cycles per second. For comparison, the 8088 microprocessor ran at 4.77 MHz, to