Assembly Tutorial: Component Rundown
The Motherboard
The motherboard is the final and main part of our setup and the most intricate. Every component is linked by the mainboard, hence the reason for its size. When we open the box we find quite a few cables, a couple disks, and a relatively thick manual. The manual will be very important soon in the process, so keep it handy. The other parts that come with it are:
We won’t be installing a floppy drive or any Serial components in this computer, so we only need the IDE cable, I/O panel, and the driver CD. Let’s pull out the motherboard for a closer look. First touch the grounded power supply and open the bag, then set it on top of its anti-static bag to lower the risk of ESD. Let’s pull out the manual to see what everything does. Every motherboard manual has a very thorough diagram of the layout of the board. In this manual, it’s located on page 3. Let’s use this for reference while we take a closer look at the motherboard.
How about a tour?The large black plastic rectangle at the top of the motherboard is a clip to hold the heatsink, while the smaller beige rectangle inside is the CPU socket, the home for our processor. Just off the top-left corner of the heatsink clip is a beige, 3-pin socket to plug in our heatsink fan. There is a 4-pin version off the top-right corner, but our heatsink fan has a 3 pin connector, so we’ll use the appropriate socket. To the right of the heatsink clip are two long teal sockets. These hold the system memory. In the manual they are labeled DIMM 1 and DIMM 2 (DIMM is synonymous with “stick of RAM”). Since we only have one DIMM, we will use the socket labeled DIMM 1. To the right of the DIMM sockets, we see a blue and a white 40-pin socket. These are labeled IDE 1 and IDE 2 according to the diagram in the manual (and also in small print on the actual motherboard). Here is where we will connect our IDE devices. Each socket can support 2 IDE devices (one “master” and one “slave”). Since we only have one cable, we will only be using one header - the blue header labeled IDE 1. In most cases, the best configuration will have each IDE device on its own channel, but since we only have one IDE cable, we’ll have to make it work. Moving down, we find a battery that powers the CMOS memory when the computer is unplugged. This keeps track of your BIOS settings for you, so you don’t have to reconfigure your settings every time you unplug your computer. The two orange ports below the battery are for Serial ATA (SATA) connections. Since we don’t have any SATA devices, we will not be using them for this tutorial, but many hard drives and some optical drives are available in this newer, faster interface. On the right, below the SATA headers, is a line of 3 pins with a jumper connecting (shorting) 2 of them. This set of pins is called JBAT1 according to the motherboard, and page 10 of the manual describes their purpose. If you ever need to reset the BIOS, turn the computer off, remove the jumper and replace it onto the bottom two pins (pins 2 and 3). Wait 5 seconds, and return the jumper to its original position on pins 1 and 2. Along the bottom edge of the board, are two groups of pins called JFP1 and JFP2. The FP stands for Front Panel. These two groups of pins connect the case switches and indicator lights (LEDs) to the motherboard. The diagram for these front panel connectors is located on page 9. These pin configurations vary from motherboard to motherboard, so it’s always important to reference the manual when you connect these pins.
To the left of the front panel connectors are two more groups of pins called JUSB1 and JUSB2. As the “USB” in their name might indicate, these are used to connect extra USB ports to the motherboard. Our case has one set of two USB connectors, so we will only be occupying the pins labeled JUSB1 on the left. The IDE-like header to the left is labeled FDD1, and connects the floppy drive ribbon cable to the motherboard. Since we won’t be using a floppy drive, this will be left open. To the immediate left of FDD1, is a 4-pin header labeled CD_IN1, with older software it was necessary to connect the CD drive to the motherboard or sound card in order to play audio CDs, but with newer software such as Windows Media Player, that isn’t necessary. This header will also not be connected. JAUDIO1, immediately left of CD_IN1, is available for connecting front-panel audio ports (such as microphone and headphone). Since our case doesn’t support that, we won’t be using this group of pins. The 3 larger white slots above the last items are labeled PCI Slot 1, 2, and 3. Expansion cards, sound cards, and any other cards that use the PCI interface can be plugged into these slots. We don’t have PCI cards to install for this tutorial, but if you wish to install any later, simply slide the card into the slot with controlled downward force; you don’t want to bend the card side-to-side. Directly above the PCI slots is a similar-looking red AGP slot. This is where a separate graphics card attaches to your motherboard the same way a PCI card does. This motherboard has on-board graphics, so we don’t need an additional card for the display. Off the top left corner of the AGP slot, you’ll find the clear 20-pin ATX header and similar 4-pin JPW header. These two are the power connections for your motherboard and processor. They are keyed so that the power cords can only plug in one way. To the left of these headers you’ll find some ports facing off to the left. These are the back panel I/O connectors. These will be accessible from the back of the case to plug in our peripherals. This picture was taken later in the tutorial, but just imagine the ports without the silver panel.
The two squares on the layout diagram labeled VIA P4M800 and VIA VT8237R are the chipset. They are referred to as the north-bridge and south-bridge respectively. The north-bridge is responsible for linking the processor to the memory, graphics, and south-bridge. This chip is the heart of the motherboard, linking the most integral, demanding parts of the system. The south-bridge is responsible for everything else. These components aren’t as demanding, which is why the south-bridge doesn’t have a heat spreader like the north-bridge. The PCI cards, audio, IDE and SATA devices, and USB peripherals all report to the south-bridge.
The final things to notice about the motherboard are the six screw holes. There is one off the top-left corner of the heatsink socket, two on the left edge of the board by the PCI slots, one between the SATA headers and JFP1, and one at either end of the DIMM slots. Four of these holes line up with holes in the motherboard tray inside the case, so we’ll be attaching it to the case using those holes. The main thing to remember about all these sockets and connectors is their shape, not necessarily their color or location. Every motherboard has a different layout, but you can reliably search for familiar shapes to know where to connect your components. The motherboard comes in a pretty nice box for storing product manuals and extra parts, so don’t throw it away if you want to use it for that. The component tour is over. Let's start putting it together! >> |
