MotherBoard

An experience with PC depends on a combination of the processor, the memory, the motherboard, the graphics and sound components and the hard disk that the PC has.

The first two things to consider when buying a PC are the motherboard and the processor, which are interdependent. A particular processor only goes on a particular kind of motherboard. For each kind of motherboard, there might be different brands available, with different features. It is better to choose processor and then decide brand of motherboard, based on its features.

A.   MOTHERBOARD

The motherboard is the base of a PC—all the components fit on it. It also has a master brain called the chipset which decides what will work and how. The motherboard is chosen based on

i.Processor : The processor sits on a main board called the motherboard, in a particular slot or socket. This slot determines which processor will go on the motherboard. 

ii. Graphics: Onboard graphics Motherboards can also be chosen based on whether they have integrated graphics on them or not. The earlier graphics cards used to be PCI cards (fitting on the PCI slot on the motherboard). Later something called the Accelerated Graphics Port, or AGP was developed especially for graphics cards and made graphics faster. There are motherboards that had graphics capabilities built into them. However, the graphics from these are only good enough for browsing, Word, Excel, etc, not for heavy 3D games or graphics. The Intel 810 chipset come with onboard graphics, and are a real money saver. For serious gaming and graphics, we need the AGP slot to be there on the motherboard, and add a graphics card to it. The Intel 815 chipset based motherboards come with onboard graphics, but also have an AGP slot on them, so we can go with onboard graphics initially and get a good graphics card later. The new P4s go on the Intel 850 chipset based motherboards, which have a slot for RDRAM memory modules, and  an AGP slot.

q Look for the number of slots for add-on cards. Apart from the AGP slot, look for the number of PCI slots on the board for- internal modem, TV tuner/video capture cards and other accessories.

q Look for the number of RAM slots and how much RAM it can take. Some new motherboards have slots to take even 2 GB of RAM.

B. PROCESSOR

The processor, which is the brain of a PC, is often chosen with price as the main criteria, but changing the processor often means changing the motherboard.

The other extreme, when the budget is unlimited, is to scramble for the latest, fastest processor. There will always be a faster one just around the corner but it should not be exceedingly beyond our requirements, say if our applications are simply writing documents in Word, browsing the Net and sending and receiving e-mail. Choose the processor keeping in mind our activities on the PC, but don’t be stingy either.

Both the processor as well as motherboard should be chosen keeping in mind the fact that they’re both very tough to upgrade—because they’re expensive and when we change them, we have to change a lot of things along with them, almost like overhauling the PC.

Types of processors

Pentium and AMD processor are some of the processor options. AMD processors have been around for a long time. The processors that made an impact in recent times are the Duron and the Athlon. Intel has the value option, Celeron and the high-performance processor, P4 , while AMD has Duron for value proposition and Athlon for high-end one. Nowadays , processors are coming in as dual core which is a CPU with two separate cores on the same die, each with its own cache. It's the equivalent of getting two microprocessors in one.

A dual-core processor uses slightly less power than two coupled single-core processors, principally because of the increased power required to drive signals external to the chip and because the smaller silicon process geometry allows the cores to operate at lower voltages; such reduction reduces latency.

Most of the processors are in 32-bit. This is the number of bits that can be processed in parallel. Or the number of bits used to represent a single element in a data format. Future software are going to be available in 64 bit format increasingly.

Realities of bits in Processors

v  A 32 bit CPU can process 32 bits of data at a time. If data has more than 32 bits, processor takes up ‘32’ bits of data first and processes it and then next group of ‘32’ bits of data is taken up for processing

v  Hence a 64-bit CPU performs better than a 32 bit processor

v  64 bit is very useful for 3d animators, game developers, CAD/CAM engineers, automobile manufacturers

v  A 32 bit CPU can access only 4 GB (2³² ) of main memory while a 64 bit CPU can address up to 17 billion GB which is more than enough for any present and near future application

v  A 64 bit CPU needs 64 bit OS and 64 bit applications to deliver optimum results. Some 64 bit CPUs allows to run 32 bit applications and OS but it is a point of under utilization.

v  A 64 bit processor doubles the bandwidth with the processor core while dual core gives 2 processor cores inside a single processor. A 64 bit is like fitting a car with a more powerful engine while a dual core is fitting the same with 2 engines which may or may  not be as powerful as the replaced one.

v  The entry level is 915 chipset while others include 925,945 and 955 chipsets.

v  945 and 955 based chipsets support dual core processors (called Pentium D).

Need of upgrade
It is time for upgrade …

• When we are moving to a newer operating system(OS).   Roughly the memory requirement and the hard disk space requirement doubles as we move to a new version of Windows, for an optimal experience. Intel recommends a P4 for Windows XP.
• When we go for a new set of applications like working with videos, pictures etc.,

Precautions in selection of motherboard and processor

·         Take a motherboard that has support for DDR SDRAM, as the prices of DDR are very competitive.

·         If we want a basic machine for functions like MS Office, 2D games, etc, look for a motherboard that supports onboard graphics, and which has an AGP slot that will help if we need to add an AGP card at a later date. Also, look for the VIA KM-266/400 Chipset or the nVidia chipset.

·        Mix and match are not possible with processor brands. Dont put an AMD processors on an Intel processor’s motherboard, or vice versa. They are two different entities and need their own motherboards.

·         Don’t go for  motherboard for a P 3 which take on a P4. We won’t get the P4 performance, since the motherboard doesn’t support it. We’ll also get into software compatibility issues.

·         When we get a new processor, a new motherboard, we need to check if the existing power supply is enough. We’ll probably have to go for a new SMPS too.