Understanding Your Motherboard
2 - AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port)
The AGP was designed specifically for video cards. AGP was really forced in to
the computer world as graphics cards required more and more bandwidth. AGP
provided not only a faster bus speed (66Mhz 1x - 133Mhz 2x - 266Mhz 4x effectively)
but allowed fast access to the main memory allowing for greater storage space in
the memory for textures etc.
Unlike the ISA and PCI local buses the AGP is a port and not a bus, this is
because it is not expandable, it only involves the two devices the graphics card
and the CPU. AGP still uses 32bits but is based on the PCI 2.1 standard which
allowed 66Mhz transfer rate instead of 33Mhz.
Not on Picture - ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) slot
The ISA slot is an old type of connector for internal peripherals such as modems
and network cards. ISA is a system bus running a lot slower than the PCI and AGP
bus speeds. ISA runs at only a 8Mhz maximum, although some systems do allow this
to be overclocked to 12Mhz. Still very slow and as new motherboards are introduced
the ISA slot is being left behind. It is hard to find components for the ISA bus
now, if you are looking for ISA components then second hand stores are the best
place to look, Network cards, sound cards and modems can still be found. ISA is
a 16 bit bus, allowing for 16bits of data to be sent simultaneously.
3 - Chipset - North Bridge (with heatsink)
The Motherboards chipset can be described as what sets it apart from other boards
in its category. Different chipsets contain different features and components.
A chipset is a number of integrated circuits built onto the board to provide
specific functions e.g. one part of the chipset may be an onboard component such
as a modem or sound chip. Other parts may be used to control the CPU functions.
Most chipsets are designed to work with only one "class" of CPU although now
many older chipsets support more than one type of CPU such as socket 7 which
supports the Pentium, Cyrix 686, Cyrix MII, AMD K6 and K6-2. There are certain
restrictions though to what type of processor a chipset can handle because of
the logic that the CPU uses to access the memory and its cache etc. Since these
chips are working harder with each generation, motherboard manufacturers have
started to put heatsinks on the main parts of the chipset to disperse some of
the heat. For more information on chipsets see our What does a chipset do article.
4 - CPU (Central Processing Unit) socket
All the CPU "sockets look very similar, however they are different in the way
they have different amount of pins and in different layouts. Because of this
getting the right one is essential. A socket 7 CPU and a socket A CPU as well as
a socket 370 CPU all look the same from above but will not fit in each others sockets.
As well as sockets, Motherboards can also have CPU slots, slots look completely
different to the image above of a CPU socket. If any of you own a N64 console or
an older Sega Mega Drive you will no what a cartridge looks like. Slot CPU's are
not much different to this.
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