14.

Motherboards
Dezső Sima

Fall 2006

 D. Sima, 2006
 Overview

• 1 Predecessors

• 2 Desktop motherboards

• 2.1 Overview

• 2.2 AT

• 2.3 Baby AT
• 2.4 LPX
• 2.5 ATX

• 2.6 NLX
• 2.7 BTX

• 3 Server/workstation motherboards

• 4 Overview of the evolution of motherboards

 1. Predecessors (1)

AT

Date of Proc. fc Memory size Memory FD HD No. of ISA slots Motherboard size
Designation Type intro. type Min. Max. Type (standard) (standard) Remarks
Chipset
Mhz on-board on-board Size KB MB 8-bit 16-bit inches mm
IBM/PC 5150 1 8/81 8088 4.77 16 KB 64 KB Soldered+DIPP no 5 1/4 no 5 -
2
IBM/PC-XT 5160 Mod. 087 3/83 8088 4.77 128 KB 256 KB DIPP no 5 1/4 360 K 10 MB 8 - 8.5"*12" 216*305
5170 Mod. 068 8/84 80286 6 256 KB 512 KB DIPP no 5 1/4 1.2 M - 2 6 12"*13.8" 305*350 Type 1 MOB
IBM/PC-AT
5170 Mod. 099 8/84 80286 6 512 KB 512 KB DIPP no 360 K 20 MB 2 6 12"*13.8" 305*350 Type 1 MOB
Mod. 239 10/85 80286 6 DIPP no 1/2 30 MB 2 6
512 KB 512 KB 3 720 K 9.3"*13.8" 238*350 Type 2 MOB
3
Mod. 319 4/86 80286 8 512 KB 512 KB DIPP no 3 1/2 1.44 M 30 MB 2 6 9.3"*13.8" 238*350 Type 2 MOB
4 4/86 8 512 KB 1.44 M 2 6 9.3"*13.8" 238*350 Type 2 MOB
Mod. 339 80286 512 KB DIPP no 3 1/2 30 MB
4
IBM/PC XT-286 5162 9/86 80286 6 640 KB 640 KB DIPP+SIMM/30 no 5 1/4 1.2 M 20 MB 3 5 8.6"*13" 218*330

1
BASIC compiler in PROM, up to two optional5 1/4FD with 160 KB/diskette, the max. on-board memory was increased to 256 KB in 3/83.
2
Several further models followed with enhanced features.
3
84-Key keyboard. Baby AT
4
101-Key keyboard.

Figure 1.1: Main features of early IBM/PCs

 1. Predecessors (2)

ROM

RAM

16-64 kbyte
or 5x ISA/16
64-256 kbyte

Casette
Keyboard

DMA Parallel Intel 8088 8087 arithm.

PC
vezérlő I/O CPU proc. socket

Figure 1.2: The motherboard of the IBM PC

Source: http://www.tomh.net/museum/mobo/pccassif.html
 1. Predecessors (3)

Date of Proc. fc Memory size Memory No. of ISA slots Motherboard size
intro. type Min. Max. Type Chipset IDE Remarks
Designation 8-bit 16-bit Inches
Mhz on-board on-board mm

Compaq Portable 1 11/82 8088 4.77 128 KB 256 KB Soldered no 5 -

Compaq Portable Plus 10/83 8088 4.77 128 KB 640 KB no yes 5 - 372*180

Compaq Deskpro 6/84 80286 8 128 KB 640 KB DIPP 8 - 332*333

Compaq Desktop 286 4/85 80286 8 256 KB 2125 KB DIPP yes 3 5 8.6"*13" 330*218
Compaq Portable 286 4/85 80286 8 256 KB 640 KB DIPP yes 3 2 8.6"*13" 330*218
Compaq Portable II 2/86 80286 8 128 KB 640 KB DIPP yes ~12"*10" 302*256
Compaq Deskpro 386 9/86 80386 16

1 The Compaq Portable delivered 3/83 was the first 100x compalible IBM/PC clone.

Baby AT

Figure 1.3: Main features of early COMPAQ PCs

 2. Main types of motherboards
2.1. Overview (1)
AT

8/84

LPX 2 NLX4 ATX w/riser 5

Enhanced
1987 version 11/96 12/99
Chipsets Slim
boxes

Baby AT 1 ATX3 BTX7

Enhanced
Efficient
~1985 version 8/95 cooling
Value
oriented microATX 6 microBTX 7

1/98
Value
oriented picoBTX7

9/03

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05
1 Baby AT: Smaller board size through higher integrated components (chip sets)
2 Non-standardized slimline design with a central mounted riser card allowing 2-3 expansion slots
3 Through better component arrangement reduced cost and EMI emission, integrated AGP (from version 2.02 on)
4 Standardized, improved slimline design with an edge mounted riser card, integrated AGP
5 Low cost slimline ATX design by using a riser card with 2-3 expansion slots
6 Reduced size low cost ATX design with up to four expansion slots
Figure 2.1: Genealogy of major form factors
7 In-line core layout to improve system cooling with scalable board dimensions
 2.1. Overview (2)

AT PCI
8/84

LPX 2 NLX4 ATX w/riser 5

1987 11/96 12/99

Baby AT ATX3 BTX7

~1985 8/95

microATX 6 microBTX 7

1/98

picoBTX7

9/03

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Figure 2.2: Introducing new types of system architectures

 ISA EISA PCI PCI v.2 PCI v.2.11
8.33 MHz 8.33 MHz 33 MHz 33 MHz 33/66 MHz
8/16-bit 32-bit 32-bit 64-bit 32/64-bit

1987 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 1995

Figure 2.3: Introducing the PCI bus

 2.1. Overview (2)

AT PCI HUB architecture

8/84

LPX NLX ATX w/riser

1987 11/96 12/99

Baby AT ATX BTX

~1985 8/95

microATX microBTX

1/98

picoBTX

9/03

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Figure 2.2: Introducing new types of system architectures

PCI architecture HUB architecture

P P

System contr. MCH

PCI

Perif. contr. ICH

ISA PCI

Figure 2.4: Contrasting the PCI and the HUB architectures

 2.1. Overview (3)

AT SIMM/72 DIMM/168
8/84

LPX NLX ATX w/riser

1987 11/96 12/99

Baby AT ATX BTX

~1985 8/95

microATX microBTX

1/98

picoBTX

9/03

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Figure 2.5: Introducing new types of memory modules

 2.1. Overview (4)

AT PCI ATA AGP AC ‘97 PCI-E

8/84
USB LPC SATA

LPX NLX ATX w/riser

1987 11/96 12/99

Baby AT ATX BTX

~1985 8/95

microATX microBTX

1/98

picoBTX

9/03

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Figure 2.6: Introducing new types of buses

 2.1. Overview (5)

Date of Type of Typ. nr. of Typical board measures (W*D) Case

intro. strandard I/O-slots inches mm
AT 8/84 Quasi-standard 8 12"*13.8" 305*350 Full AT, Full Tower
Baby AT ~1985 Quasi-standard 7/8 8.6"*13" (~9"-13") 218*330 (~229-330) Baby AT
LPX (Western Digital) ~1987 Quasi-standard 3/4 9"*13" (~9"-13") 229*330 (~229-330) Slimline
NLX 11/96 Standard 3/4 (8"-9")*(10"-13.6") (203-229)*(254-345) Slimline
ATX 8/95 Standard 7 12"*9.6" (~7"-9.6") 305*244 (~178-244) ATX
MicroATX 1/98 Standard 4 9.6"*9.6" 244*244 MicroATX
ATX with riser 12/99 Standard 2/3 12"*9.6" (~7"-9.6") 305*244 (~178-244) Slimline
MicroATX with riser 12/99 Standard 2/3 9.6"*9.6" 244*244 Slimline
BTX 9/03 Standard 7 12.8"*10.5" 325*267 BTX
MicroBTX 9/03 Standard 4 10.4"*10.5" 264*267 MicroBTX
PicoBTX 9/03 Standard 1 8"*10.5" 203*267 PicoBTX

W: Maximum allowable width

D: Maximum allowable depth

Figure 2.7: Salient features of major form factors

 2.2. AT (1)

8/16-bit
ISA slots

DIPP 305

CPU
(286)

KBD
KBD

PC

350

Figure 2.8: Layout of an AT-motherboard

 2.2. AT (2)
DRAM
512 Kbyte

2x 8 bit/
5x 16 bit
ISA

8087 arithm.
proc. socket

Keyboard

PC

Intel 8088
CPU

Figure 2.9: The motherboard of the IBM PC/AT

Source:http://library.thinkquest.org/18268/photos.htm
 2.2. AT (3)

This is a Western Digital Disk Drive Interface Card. This is a Case Interface, both parallel and serial.

Figure 2.10: Adapter cards of the IBM PC/AT

Source:http://library.thinkquest.org/18268/photos.htm
 2.3. Baby AT (1)

KBD

Power connectorPC

244

8/16-bit ISA slots SIMM/30

L2 cache DIPP

CPU
(386)

218

Figure 2.11: Layout of an early Baby AT-motherboard

 2.3. Baby AT (2)

KBD

FD PC
230
HD

PCI/32 slots
SIMM/72

ISA/16 slots

CPU
(Pentium) L2 cache

218

Figure 2.12: Layout of a late Baby AT-motherboard

 2.3. Baby AT (3)
3x PCI/32 PC

System
contr.

3x ISA/16 4x SIMM/72

FD
L2

CPU

Periph.
contr.

IDE
Figure 2.13: Example: A Pentium-based late Baby AT-motherboard
 2.4. LPX (1)
PCI/32

ISA/16

I/O
connector PC
s

330
Riser
card

HD
FD

RAM
SIMM/72

DIPP

L2
cache

229

Figure 2.14: Layout of an LPX-motherboard

 2.4. LPX (2)

Figure 2.15: Example: A Pentium-based LPX-motherboard (The PB680 from Packard Bell)
source: http://www.geocities.com/anotherpackardbellsite/en_pb_carte680.htm#1
 2.5. ATX (1)
1 Double-high expandable I/O

Figure 2.16: Layout principles of an ATX case

Source: ATX Specification v. 2.01,

Source: http://www.berkprod.com/docs/atx_201.pdf
 MIDI/Game port
MIDI/Game port
USB
PS/2 Mouse

VGA COM1 PS/2 Keyb.

Line Out Line In Mic In

Figure 2.17: Double height connectors of an ATX motherboard

Source: ABIT SL6 Users’s Manual

http://www.abit.com.tw
 2.5. ATX (1)
1 Double-high expandable I/O 2 One chassis fan

3 Processor located
near power supply

7 Six full-length slots

4 One power connector

6 Easy to access 5 Connectors close to

system memory peripheral bays

Figure 2.18: Layout principles of an ATX case

Source: ATX Specification v. 2.01,

Source: http://www.berkprod.com/docs/atx_201.pdf
 2.5. ATX (2)

ATX

Baby AT AT

Figure 2.19: Placement of the mounting holes on the AT, Baby AT, and ATX motherboards

Source: ATX Specification v. 2.01,

Source: http://www.berkprod.com/docs/atx_201.pdf
 2.5. ATX (3)

Main types of ATX motherboards

Early Late Early Mature Serial

PCI-based PCI-based port-based port-based port-based

Chipset 430 440 81x/82x 84x/86x 915

Processor Pentium PentiumII/ PentiumIII Pentium4 Pentium4

PentiumIII Prescott
(slot 1)
Typ.
SIMM/72 DIMM/168
Memory

I/O IDE/ATA
USB
AGP

PCI-E

Example Example Example Example

 2.5. ATX (4)

Early port Serial port

based based

Late PCI Mature port

based based
AT

8/84

LPX 2 NLX4 ATX w/riser 5

1987 11/96 12/99

Baby AT 1 ATX3

~1985 8/95

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Figure 2.20: Main types of ATX motherboards

 2.5. ATX (5)

USB

I/O connector

PC
PC

Slot1 (Pentium II/III)

186

PCI/32

AGP

DIMM/168

ISA/16 HD

FD

305

Figure 2.21: Layout of a late PCI-based ATX-motherboard

 2.5. ATX (6)
3x ISA/16 4x PCI/32 AGP ATX connectors

CPU
(Slot1)

System
contr.

PC

4x DIMM/168

BIOS

Peripherial Battery FD IDE

contr.
Figure 2.22: A late PCI-based motherboard for PentiumIIs (MSI’s MS-6111)
(Based on Intel’s 440LX chipset for slot 1 processors (1997)
Source: http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/download
 2.5. ATX (7)

USB

I/O connector

CPU PC
PC
(Pentium III)

186

PCI/32

AGP

DIMM/168

ISA/16 HD

FD

305

Figure 2.23: Layout of an early port based ATX-motherboard for Pentium III/Pentium4 processors.
 2.5. ATX (8)
ATX connectors
CNR 5x PCI/32 AGP

PC

MCH

CPU

Battery

3x DIMM

BIOS

ICH
IDE FD

Figure 2.24: Early, port based ATX motherboard for Pentium IIIs (Abit’s SL6)
(based on Intel’s 815 chipset)
Source: http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb
 2.5. ATX (9)

4x PCI/32 AGP ATX connectors

Battery

CPU
(P4)

BIOS
4x DIMM/168
ICH
FD
MCH
PC

IDE

Fgure 2.25: Mature port-based ATX motherboard for Pentium4 processors (Intel’s D865PERL)
Source: http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/d865perl/index.htm
 2.5. ATX (10)

I/O connector

PCI E. x1

244
PCI/32 CPU
(Pentium 4)

PCI E. x16

HD
DIMM/168

SATA
PC FD

305

Figure 2.26: Layout of a serial-port based ATX-motherboard for Pentium4 Prescott processors.
 2.5. ATX (11)
PCI Ex16
MCH
BIOS
2x PCI Ex1 (915P/G)

3x PCI/32

P4 Prescott

Bat

IDE RAID c.
(VIA 6410)

IHC6/6R
4x DIMM
2x USB

Syst. monitoring

2xIDE 4x SATA IDE PS FD

Figure 2.27: Serial port-based ATX-motherboard for Pentium4 Prescotts (MSI’s 915G Combo)
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=3191326
 2.6. NLX (1)
PCI/32

HD

FD

I/O
connectors

PC

ISA/16

AGP
Riser
card

330
Slot1
(Pentium
II/III)
SIMM/168

229
Figure 2.28: Layout of an NLX-motherboard
 2.6. NLX (2)

Figure 2.29: View of an NLX-motherboard

Source: Intel Corporation, Intel NLX Form Factor
http://www.intel.com
 2.7. BTX (1)

Figure 2.30: Overview of BTX-motherboard sizes

Source: Shimpi A.L., „Balanced Technology eXtended (BTX) Form Factor” Sept. 2003
http://www.anandtech.com/
 2.7. BTX (2)

I/O connector

PCI E. x1

SATA

HD

PCI/32

267
PCI E. x16

MCH

FD

DIPP/168

CPU
(Pentium4)
PC

325

Figure 2.31: Layout of a micro BTX-motherboard

 2.7. BTX (3)
ATX connectors PCI-X/64
PC

ICH

IDE PCI

4x DIMM/168

MCH

FD

CPU
Figure 2.32: A micro BTX-motherboard (Intel’s D915GMH)
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/mh
 2.7. BTX (4)

Figure 2.33: Temperature distribution in the example motherboard

Source: Shimpi A.L., „Balanced Technology eXtended (BTX) Form Factor” Sept. 2003
http://www.anandtech.com/
 3. Server/workstation motherboards (1)

Figure 3.1: Block diagram of a pserial port-based entry level server motherboard ( P8SCT)
Source:http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/P4/E7221/P8SCT.cfm
 3. Server/workstation motherboards (2)
2x GbE ATX connectors
PCI-X 4x DIMM
64bit
IDE

PCI

MCH
E7221

ICH

IPMI CPU

IDE

Figure 3.2: Example: A P4-based ATX-board for entry-level servers (The P8SCT from Supermicro)
Source:http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/P4/E7221/P8SCT.cfm
 3. Server/workstation motherboards (3)
IPMI: Intelligent Platform Management Interface
(Intel, HP, DELL, NEC)
• Set of common hardware and firmware interfaces to manage the system remotely

• Operates independently of the OS

• Operates even in the absence of the OS or if the monitored system is not powered on

• Alerts can be sent out via a serial or LAN connection to a remote client (from v. 1.5 on)

• It allows to query platform status, to review hardware logs, etc.

IPMI consists of a main controller, called BMC (Baseboard Management Controller)

and other satellite controllers.
 3. Server/workstation motherboards (4)

LAN MODEM Remote ICMB

/ Serial Mgmt. Card

Bridge
Controller

Aux. IPMB
Satellite
IPMB (I2C) Mgmt.
“side-
band” RS-232 Controller

I2C / SMBus
Mgmt
Baseboard NV Store sensors
Netwk SMBus/PCI Mgmt. Bus Mgmt. SDR, & control
Ctrlr Controller SEL, circuitry
I2C/SMBus FRU
PCI
(BMC)
SENSORs FRU SEEPROM
& control
circuitry
System Interface Chassis
Baseboard System Bus

IPMI Messages
Figure 3.2: IPMI Architecture
Source:http://www.intel.com/design/servers/ipmi
 3. Server/workstation motherboards (5)

Figure 3.3:Blockdiagram of a serial port based DP-server (Intel’s SE7525GP2)

Source: http://www.intel.com/products/server/motherboard
 3. Server/workstation motherboards (6)
ICH

HW management
PCI-X 64-bit
IDE
PRO/1000 server
adapter

PCI Expr. x8

PCI
PCI Expr. x16
MCH
(I7525)

Registered
ECC DDR

Dual
Processor

ATX
connectors

Figure 3.4: Serial port based DP-server board of ATX style (Intel’s SE7525GP2)
Source: http://www.intel.com/products/server/motherboard
4. Overview of the evolution of motherboards (1)

On card 1 On-board 2 By the chipset

Examples:
VGA controller
IDE/ATA controller

1 On an ISA/PCI adapter card

2 By dedicated controller chips on the motherboard

Figure 4.1: Evolution of the implementation of I/O controllers

 4. Overview of the evolution of motherboards (2)

ATX w/riser
~2000
NLX
~1997
Form factors of LPX
announced ~1987
motherboards AT
ATX
8/84
~1996
Baby AT
~1985 microATX
~1998
BTX
microBTX
picoBTX
ˇ~2004

79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

Figure 4.2: Estimated use of form factors in announced motherboards

 4. Overview of the evolution of motherboards (3)

ATX w/rise r
~2000
NLX
~1997
Formfactors of LPX
announced ~1987
motherboards AT
8/84
ATX
~1996
Baby AT
~1985 m icroATX
~1998
BTX
m icroBTX
picoBTX
ˇ~2004

79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

8088
6/79
286
2/82
386
10/85
486
4/89
Pe ntium
3/93
Processors used Pe ntium Pro
in the motherboards 11/95
Pe ntium II
5/97
Pe ntium III
3/99
Pe ntium 4
11/00

Figure 4.3: Estimated use of supported processor types in announced motherboards

 4. Overview of the evolution of motherboards (4)
ATX w/rise r
~2000
NLX
~1997
LPX
~1987
AT
Formfactors of 8/84
ATX
announced ~1996
motherboards Baby AT
~1985 m icroATX
~1998
BTX
m icroBTX
picoBTX
ˇ~2004

79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05

DRAM
1981
FPM
~1987
EDO
DRAM technology 1995
and packaging
S DRAM
~1996
RDRAM
DIPP 2000
1981
S IPP/30
~1983
S IMM/30
~1984
S IMM/72
~1989
DIMM/168
1995

Figure 4.4: Estimated use of DRAM technology and packaging style in announced motherboards
4. Overview of the evolution of motherboards (5)
ATX w/rise r
~2000
NLX
~1997
LPX
~1987
AT
Formfactors of 8/84
ATX
announced ~1996
motherboards Baby AT
~1985 m icroATX
~1998
BTX
m icroBTX
picoBTX
ˇ~2004

79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05
8 16
IS A
1981 1984 v2.0 v2.1 v2.2 v2.3
PC I
1992 1993 1995 1998 2002
PC I-X
2000 2004
PC I-E
1.0 2004
2.0
US B
1996 2002

Supported I/O LPC

1997
2x 4x 8x
AGP
1997 1999 2002
SCSI
~1991 ATA-2 ATA/33 ATA/66 ATA/100
ATA
1991? 1995 1997 1999 2000 1.0
S ATA
Implemented on-board 2003
MbE
Implemented on-chipset 1991?
GbE
2002
AC /97
1999 2000 2001

Figure 4.5: Estimated I/O-support in announced motherboards