Amd and older intel chipsets include a northbridge that connects the cpu, ram, and x16 pcie devices, and southbridge that connects secondary systems such as usb, sata, ide, and sound. Some of the information is considered legacy and provided for form factor reference. Atx form factor singleprocessor industrial motherboard. Be aware that the motherboard in your current computer may actually not be included here. Initially these boards only supported the via processors. When you are deciding which form factor to use, the motherboard drives the decision because it determines what the system can do. The most popular motherboard form factors are atx, microatx a smaller version of atx, and miniitx. There are so many types of motherboard formfactors that one cannot keep record of all of them. Although it is a slower process, form factors do evolve regularly in response to changing demands. One of the biggest considerations when choosing between case sizes is the number of slots and the number of devices we would. With the rising popularity of home theater personal computers htpc and small form factor sff computers in recent years, this form factor has emerged into limelight as a popular motherboard choice for pintsized computers.
The at motherboard can be up to approximately 1 foot wide. This is a listing of personal computer mother board form factors. In many cases the the style of processor is also listed. A pc motherboard generally has a series of slots, allowing daughter boards to be plugged in directly. Commonly referred to as at and fullsize at, the full at is a motherboard form factor introduced by ibm in august 1984, and was widely used in the 1980s.
If an operating system supports the feature, it can turn off the power to a system after the shutdown procedure is done. A form factor may represent a broad class of similarly sized components, or it may prescribe a specific standard. Whether you are looking for types of motherboard form factors mini atx motherboards atx motherboards micro atx matx motherboards eatx extended atx slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. The manufacturer thus produces motherboards which have some common features like their shape,size, and dimensions. Computer form factors comprise a number of specific industry standards for motherboards, specifying dimensions, power supplies, placement of mounting holes and ports, and other parameters. Form factors such as physical size, shape, component placement, power supply connectors etc. The form factor affects where individual components go and the shape of the computers case. To help you compare the difference in motherboard sizes, we have laid out all three standard motherboard form factors side by side in the. Figure 31 shows an atx motherboard and figure 32 shows a microatx board. Motherboard form factors early pcs used the at form factor and 12in wide motherboards. Feb 05, 2008 in this video i show four different motherboards and describe their form factor and main components. Motherboard form factors recall from chapter 1 that a motherboard form factor determines the size of the board and its features that make it compatible with power supplies and cases. It also describes the physical layout of the different components and devices on the motherboard.
Types of computer cases and motherboard factors utilize windows. More info on the microatx form factor can be found on the form factors website. Limited to 1mb of memory has an eightbit isa bus atstyle form factor motherboard come in a variety of form factors and are designed with different clock speeds and. Motherboard form factors 197 although the babyat, fullsize at, and lpx boards were once popular, they have all but been replaced by more modern and interchangeable form factors. The shape and layout of a motherboard is called the form factor. Today, this form factor is rarely found or used and was replaced by atx and baby at. As a result, almost all consumer motherboards sold today belong to one of these form factors. Form, hardware, hardware terms, motherboard, motherboard terms, standard.
Motherboard form factors without a doubt, the most important component in a pc system is the main board or motherboard. The agp pro specification targets the wtx and atx form factor implementation of the agp specification. A miniatx motherboard is a slightly smaller variation of the full atx size that measures 11. While there are dozens of form factors for desktop computers, most of them are either obsolete or developed for specialized purposes as a result, almost all consumer motherboards sold today belong to one of these form factors. Complete guide to understand motherboard by ganesh prabhakaran updated june 22, 2018 the motherboard is a printed circuit boardpcb it holds all the major components such as ram slots, cpu slot, bios, sata and ide slots, expansion slots video, audio, pci cards etc.
Standard atx most of the time referred to as simply atx. New form factors are developed all the time, this list may not cover all of them. The most popular motherboard form factors are atx, microatx a smaller version of atx, and miniitx a smaller version of microatx. In this video i show four different motherboards and describe their form factor and main components. There are several specific form factors that most pc motherboards use so that they can all fit in standard cases. It also specifies what type of case and power supply will be supported, the placement of mounting holes, and the physical layout and organization of the board. To increase general awareness of pc users on motherboard sizes and form factors, the following outlines most known atx motherboard form factors in a simple guide. But while dealing with motherboards and computer cases one has to keep a track of what type of motherboard he is dealing with so he doesnt make a blunder if you are someone like me, who gets to deal in motherboards then this infographic explaining the different types of motherboard formfactors. A typical motherboard will have a different number of connections depending on its standard and form factor. Some companies refer to the motherboard as a system board or planar.
Typical form factors include atx most common, microatx, itx, and btx. The most popular motherboard form factors are atx, microatx, flexatx, btx, and nlx, in that order. Motherboard form factors explained guide to motherboard sizes. May 01, 2005 motherboard form factors have been on the move as of late, and with the recent introduction of the intel btx family, a new generation is upon us. The form factor of motherboards pertains to the size and shape of the board. Select 1 match the motherboard form factors by dimensions. Motherboards come in different sizes, known as form factors. All of these form factors are based on the motherboard used in the original 1984 ibm pc at and are obsolete.
Also what fits in one hp laptop may not fit in another hp. Sffs are available in a variety of sizes and shapes, including shoeboxes, cubes, and. What links here related changes upload file special pages permanent link page. The form factor refers to the physical dimensions size and shape as well as certain connector, screw holes, and other positions that dictate into which type of case the board will fit. Form factor is a hardware design aspect that defines and prescribes the size, shape, and other physical specifications of components, particularly in electronics. The picoitx is the motherboard form factor announced by the via technologies in january 2007. Sffs are available in a variety of sizes and shapes, including shoeboxes, cubes, and booksized pcs.
Depending on the specific number of internal drive bays and the height of the tower, these cases can be further classified into minisize, midsize and fullsize tower cases. After youve decided to use a certain form factor for the motherboard, you must use the same form factor for the case and power 112 chapter 4 form factors, power supplies, and working inside a computer sata 6pin pcie. What motherboard fits in an hp specific model may not fit in a dell etc. The intel advancedml motherboard, launched in 1996, was designed to solve issues of space and airflow that the pentium ii and agp graphics cards had caused the preceding lpx form factor. May 23, 2017 whether you are looking for types of motherboard form factors mini atx motherboards atx motherboards micro atx matx motherboards eatx extended atx slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. This video contains the hardware components of a computers explained stay tuned for the rest remaining part of this videooo computer hardwares explained part2. Chapter form factors, power supplies, and working inside. For comparison purposes, the size of an sff case is usually measured in litres. Different types of motherboard formfactors, dimensions. Atx is the most popular motherboard form factor for new entrylevel and midrange servers through at least 2006. Mini itx motherboard guide everything you will need to know. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled gnu free documentation license.
Mini itx is a lowpower consumption motherboard format of 6. Usually a smaller form factor is designed to supply less power. How to know what size form factor motherboard i have quora. See the pc guides form factors page for more information. This type of motherboard can be used in many applications, but it was specially designed for smart entertainment, like pvrs, media centers, smart tvs, invehicle devices, and more. Different types of motherboard form factors with definition the computer motherboard comes in lots of variety they differ in size, shape, dimensions, compatibility to hold cpus and power supply. Motherboard form factors have been on the move as of late, and with the recent introduction of the intel btx family, a new generation is upon us. Specifically, in the ibm pc compatible industry, standard form factors ensure that parts are interchangeable across competing vendors and generations of technology, while in enterprise computing, form factors ensure that. Various form factors of motherboards are at, baby at, atx, mini. A form factor that is designed to work in standard atx cases, as well as iits own smaller cases is not known as a. Other connectors on the motherboard allow communication through cables with various peripheral devices, both inside and outside the compu ter case. Configured manually using jumpers, switches or both.
Chipsets are so named because they usually comprise two relatively large chips. Motherboard types and form factors upgrading and repairing. Small form factor sff or sfx refers to various computer form factors designed to minimize the volume and footprint of a desktop computer compared to the standard atx form factor. Several common form factors are used for server motherboards. A motherboard alternatively known as the mainboard, main circuit board, system board, baseboard, planar board or logic board, or colloquially, a mobo is the main printed circuit board pcb found in general purpose computers and other expandable systems.
The sheer size of an at motherboard caused problems for upgrading pcs and did not allow use of the increasingly popular slimline desktop cases. Form factor processor socket for cpu and chipset buses and number of bus slots speed other power connectors, slots, and ports on the motherboard motherboard types and features. Motherboard form factors explained guide to motherboard. Nlx thermal design suggestions thermal and mechanical design guide rev 1. The motherboard is the main board in your computer that contains the bios chips, ram, io ports, and cpu. It is commonly used on small form factor desktop computers. Form factor motherboard size description microbtx up to 10. Various form factors of motherboards are at, baby at, atx, miniatx, microatx, flex atx, lpx and mini lpx and nlx. Miniitx motherboards had their humble beginnings in 2001 as embedded circuit boards for industrial use. What type of motherboards do laptops use, form factors etc.
The modern form factors are true standards, which guarantees improved interchangeability within each type. Below is a listing of the various motherboard form factors and links to additional information about each of them. In computing, the form factor is the specification of a motherboard the dimensions, power. Determines general layout, size and feature placement on the motherboard. Motherboards and bios 85 inside information the motherboard manual theres no way that a single book like this can show you all of the. Standard atx most of the time referred to as simply atx standard atx specifies length to. In computing, the form factor is the specification of a motherboard the dimensions, power supply type, location of mounting holes, number of ports on the back panel, etc. Different types of motherboard formfactors explained. Scribd is the worlds largest social reading and publishing site. At a minimum it includes one or more central processing units cpu, and the main processing activity of the computer takes place on it. A standard, modern atx motherboard will typically have two or three pciexpress 16x connection for a graphics card, one or two legacy pci slots for various expansion cards, and one or two pcie 1x which has superseded pci. Permission is granted to copy, distribute andor modify this document under the terms of the gnu free documentation license, version 1. For a comparison of form factors, past and present, check out motherboards. Today, the most common motherboard form factor for desktop computers is the atx form factor.
Types of computer cases and motherboard factors utilize. The motherboard form factor describes its general shape, the type of case and power supply it can use. The nlx form factors are smaller and target basic pc systems. Atx motherboards have been around for a long time and have seen many improvements.
Ibms longstanding standard, at advanced technology, was superseded in 1995 by the current industry standard atx advanced technology extended, which still governs the size and design of the motherboard in most modern pcs. The current specifications for atx and other current motherboard types are available online from the desktop form factors site. The terms motherboard, main board, system board, and planar are interchangeable, although i prefer the motherboard designation. Nanoitx are fully integrated boards designed to consume very low power. The approximate size of the board is listed after the common name.
Some are true standards meaning that all boards with that form factor are interchangeable, whereas others are not standardized enough to allow. Small form factor sff, a more loosely defined set of standards which may refer to both motherboards and computer cases. Types of computer motherboard the types of system board should not be confused with the form factors. As the first major innovation in form factors in years, it marked the beginning of a new era in motherboard design. The succession of motherboard form factors the form factor of a motherboard determines the specifications for its general shape and size. Also contains ram slots, system chipset, controllers and underlying circuit to tie it together. Motherboard form factor guide to increase general awareness of pc users on motherboard sizes and form factors, the following outlines most known atx motherboard form factors in a simple guide. Wtx atx nlx the wtx and atx form factor cards have the same component area, io bulkhead panel, and brackets as pci cards.
The nanoitx is another type of motherboard form factor, that measures 4. Picobtx up to 8 wide smaller than microbtx and can have up to two expansion slots. Types of form factors at advanced technology form factor specified motherboard dimensions of 12x. Ccl computers ltd acts as a broker and offers credit solely from paypal europe s. This guide can be a pdf file stored on the cd or dvd.
However form factors are different per laptop models and brands. The most common form factor in desktop computers was the at, based on the ibm at motherboard. Many motherboard manufacturers build similar motherboards in different form factors. To help you compare the difference in motherboard sizes, we have laid out all three standard motherboard form factors side by side in the image below. Single processor with intel land grid array 775 lga775 package. This form factor can be employed for small sized and extremely low power computers. Just as the motherboard defines a pc, the chipset defines a motherboard. And please note that miniatx and microatx are not the same thing.
We use your linkedin profile and activity data to personalize ads and to show you more relevant ads. The form factor of motherboards pertains to the size and. The chipset determines the main characteristics of the motherboard. It holds, and allows communication between, many of the crucial electron components of a system, such as the central processing unit cpu. Types of motherboards on the motherboard pearson it certification. Chapter form factors, power supplies, and working inside a. A typical atx motherboard with nothing connected chapter 4.
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