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Motherboard Form Factors

Computer notes

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103 views4 pages

Motherboard Form Factors

Computer notes

Uploaded by

aiyabeihillary55
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MOTHERBOARD FORM FACTORS

 Form factor is a hardware design aspect that defines and prescribes the size, shape,
layout and other physical specifications of electronic components

Types of motherboards form factors:

XT Motherboard (eXtended Technology.)

 This was the first motherboard form factor .


 It was created in 1983 by IBM, and because IBM .
 This motherboard weighed 32 pounds and was designed for business users.

AT(Advanced Technology) Motherboard (full AT)

 The AT form factor was also designed by IBM.

 It was a much smaller design and looked more like the motherboards used today.

 It was the common form factor for computers in the 1980s.

 It measured about 12-by-38 inches, which means it won’t fit in a mini-desktop.

 The dimensions of this motherboard made it difficult to install the new drives and
access various connectors.

 six-pin plugs were used as a power connector. Because the power connector sockets
are difficult to distinguish, many users fail to connect their devices properly, causing
damage.

 It had both serial and parallel ports that attached to the case through an expansion slot
and used cables to connect to the board.

 Parallel ports are no longer used in modern motherboards.

 They also had a single keyboard connector that was soldered to the back of the board.

It was retired by IBM in 1995.

Baby AT Motherboard

 It was called “baby” because it was smaller than the full-sized AT motherboard.

 It measured 8.5-by-13 inches. The smaller size of this motherboard made it easier
for technicians to work on it because there was more room inside the case.

ATX Motherboard

 Intel released the ATX motherboards in the mid-1990s as an improvement on the AT


motherboards .
 It was smaller but had sufficient room for the installation of drive slots

 The connector system of the board was also improved.

 On the back plates of AT motherboards, additional slots were provided for various
add-ons.

Some of the features that come on the ATX motherboard include:

 Integrated I/O Connectors: Ports were built into the board


 Reduced Overlap Between Board and Drives: This design reduced heat in the case
and meant that technicians could reach the entire board without having to remove a
drive.
 Reduced Processor Interference with Cards: The processor was moved to the back
of the board near the power supply. Technicians could now install full-size expansion
cards without them hitting the CPU or power sink.
 User-Friendly Power Connector: The power supply for an ATX board connects
through one 21-pin connector. This connector is keyed so that it can only be inserted
in the right direction. This differed from the AT board, which had two connectors that
looked the same but were not interchangeable.
 Better Cooling Conditions: A power supply designed for an ATX blows into the
case instead of out. This means that it forces air out of the case, instead of sucking air
into it along with dust. This was a problem with the older AT form factor.
 3.3 Volt Power: ATX power supplies 3.3 volt power so it can be used directly by the
CPU. The older AT power supplies only had 5 volt power which required a voltage
regulator on the motherboard to reduce the voltage for the CPU.

Micro-ATX Motherboard

 The Micro-ATX board is similar to the ATX board.

 It is 9.6 by 9.6 inches.

 This board was made for small computer cases. Because it is smaller, it has less
expansion and memory slots than the ATX board.

 These boards are used in even some gaming computers.

E-ATX Motherboard

 It was much larger than the standard ATX motherboard.

 It was mainly used for gaming where a lot of power was needed.

 Most of the extra space on the board is used for extra expansion slots and memory
slots.

 The boards also have built-in Wi-Fi, sound cards, and onboard troubleshooting
features.
 Up to 128 GB of RAM can be installed on this board.

LPX Motherboard (Low profile extension)

 The Low profile extension motherboards were created after the AT boards in the
1990s.
 The main difference between these boards and previous ones is that the input and
output ports are located at the back of the system.
 Additional slots were also placed with the use of a riser card. However, these riser
cards also posed the issue of insufficient airflow.

In some cases, the LPX board did not even have a real AGP slot, and instead connected via
the PCI bus. All of these unfavourable aspects led to the extinction of this motherboard
system, which was replaced by the NLX.

NLX Motherboard (New Low Profile Extended)

 The NLX board is an upgraded version of the LPX motherboard.


 It was created in the 1990s to provide support for larger cases, cards, and devices.
 . It supported the Pentium II processor, AGP and USB.

BTX Motherboard (Balanced Technology extended)

 It was created by intel in 2004


 Its goal was to remove or avoid some issues that arose when using the latest
technologies such as ATX.
 It was intended to replace ATX
 It was defined in order to provide sufficient air flow over the processor and graphics
card since newer technologies tend to draw heat
 Intel cancelled the development of BTX retail products in September 2006 due to its
decision to focus on low-power CPUs after having issues with scaling and
temperature with the Pentium 4.

Pico BTX Motherboard

 A Pico BTX motherboard form factor is smaller version of BTX standard cards.

 This is smaller than many current “micro” sized motherboards; hence the name “Pico”
has been used.

Mini ITX Motherboard

 The Mini-ITX form factor is a 6.7-by-6.7 inches low-power motherboard size.

 It was designed by VIA Technologies in 2001. These are largely used in small form
factor (SFF) computer systems.

 Mini-ITX boards can also be cooled easily because of their low power consumption
architecture.
 Such an architecture makes them widely useful for home theater PC systems or
systems where fan noise can diminish the quality of the cinema experience.

 One expansion slot is provided for the Mini-ITX form factor.

Nano ITX Motherboard

 This motherboard is even smaller than the Mini ITX board.

 It measures 4.7-by-4.7 inches.

 These are fully-integrated boards that are designed to consume very little power.

 It can be used on many devices but is generally found in smart entertainment devices
like smart TVs, in-vehicle devices and media centers

Pico ITX Motherboard

 This motherboard is the smallest form factor in this article.

 It measures 3.9-by-2.8 inches. or about 75% smaller than the Mini ITX.

 It was designed by VIA technologies for the IoT market, where devices are becoming
even smaller as the years go on.

 It is an x86 based platform and has low power consumption.

 It is a good choice for embedded systems like in-vehicle computers, industrial


automation, digital signature, and more.

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