Motherboard Parts peripherals and connectors explained

Motherboard Parts Explained!  This motherboard parts introduction explains the main goal of your motherboard in your computer. The most important parts are explained with only a brief introduction to the technologies behind them not to bore the newcomer who may be confused.

For those who are seeking more advanced information you will find links throughout the content and at the bottom as how to install a motherboard.

What Is The Motherboard Main Goal?

The main goal is to connect all the hardware together like hard drives, memory modules, CPU, etc...

A computer mother board is made of several parts, and each one has a hardware that can be connected to it. On the right, the image is showing a modern motherboard with all its parts.

If you click on the link under the image, you will find a larger image with the motherboard parts name.

Learning about your motherboard parts help to understand how upgrade able it is.

 The Processor Socket

Sockets are the home for your Central Processor Unit (CPU). Several types of socket exist, but only 2 of them are really used, and both of them are used by Intel and AMD. The Pin Grid Array (PGA) and the Land Grid Array (LGA).

CPU Socket

With the type PGA, the CPU will have pins to fit in the socket holes, but with the type LGA, the CPU will not have such pins and will just sit on the socket.

To know the form of CPU your motherboard can use and the range of powers and FSBs, look in your motherboard's book. The book that comes with your motherboard has a chart about it in the socket or CPU chapter. That information will give you an idea to how far you can upgrade your CPU.

CPU Socket Specifications How to install cpu step by step

Memory Slots

Memory slots also call memory banks are for Random Access Memory modules (RAM). Each memory bank can receives a RAM module designed for a specific pc mother board. Ranging from 2 to 4 banks, you will encounter single and dual-channel technologies.

Memory Banks

With single-channel, you can use 1, 2 or 3 Ram modules, and it should work perfectly. On the other hand, with dual-channel technology, if you fill only 1 bank, you will lose some strength from your module.

To get the most of it, you need to fill 2 banks with the same module types, from the same manufacturer with exactly the same memory amounts.

If you want 1GB of memory, you need to use 2 512MB modules from the same manufacturer with the same technology type. This way, motherboards use the modules strength to its full capacity. Otherwise it may not work at all.

Like the socket, to find out the type, the manufacturer and the total MB or GB quantity you can use, take a look in your motherboard's book. You should be able to find everything you need.

Introduction to Desktop Computer Memory How to Install Computer Memory step by step

Main Power Connector And The 4 Pins Connector

The main power connector is uses to get the electric energy from the power supply which the motherboard require to function properly.

24 Pins Main Power Connector

There are 2 main power connector types for those motherboard parts. The 20 pins + 4 pins (2 separate connectors on the same motherboard), and the 24 pins.

Not all power supplies have the 2 types, but it is possible to work around the problem if you run into an incompatibility situation. Which will be discussed in a future power supply guide about how to install it and where to plug the connectors.

Introduction to Computer Power Supplies

IDE, ATA And S-ATA Interface Connectors

Many interface standards have been created throughout the years, maybe too many for discussing about all of them. I will then talk about the ATA and the S-ATA only as the IDE is the same thing as the ATA, only the name has changed. Also I will be brief because it is more a hard drive topic than anything else.

IDE/ATA And SATA Interface

The Advance Technology Attachment (ATA) interface is used to connect hard drives and optic drives. You can attach 2 drives on the same ribbon, 1 master and the other slave, and it supports almost all modern hard drives storage capacities.

Modern computer mother boards have the new interface called Serial Advance Technology Attachment (S-ATA). It is faster than the ATA and only 1 device can be attached to it. The wire is thinner than his predecessor and surely help at the cooling process inside the computer case.

I cover the topic in more details in the What Is SATA Interface guide.

Floppy Drive Connector

Floppy Drive Connector

Plug your "3.5" floppy drive there. Not really used now, they are going to disappear completely very soon.

32 bit PCI Slots, AGP And PCIe

32 bit slots Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) are used to install sound cards, graphic cards, Ethernet cards and modems.

PCI, AGP or PCIe Ports

The motherboard parts Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and PCI Epress (PCIe) focus on graphic cards only. AGP standards use x2, x4 or x8 technologies. AGP 8 being the best, it is highly boosting your graphics and video performances. In Comparison with his old brother PCI, it is day and night.

PCIe standard is even better than AGP standard, and mostly the only one used right now. Some like to say, PCIe is a AGP standard at x16 and it is the #1 choice for gaming machines right now.

More motherboard content will be written on it, especially for graphic cards.

Back Panel Connectors

Back Panel Connectors

What Is a CPUAnd What Your

Computer CPU Does?Central Processing Unit, Computer CPU, is the component installed in your motherboard socket. The CPU executes and interprets programs, and processes data.

AMD Processor

Like a calculator It reads the information you give, interprets it, executes the equation, then writes back the result. This gives you the big picture.

CPU comes in 2 brands, AMD and Intel. Both build equally good CPUs, with their own features.

I think, Intel tend to be more stable and AMD faster for games. But it is just my 2 cents; nothing precise here, only a personnel observation.

Here some CPUs with their features from AMD and Intel:

32-bit AMD Athlon, Athlon XP with SSE2, SSE3 32-bit Intel Pentium 4, Pentium D with Hyper-Threading

32-bit Intel Pentium M with Low Power

32-bit Intel Dual with Dual-Core

64-bit AMD Athlon 64, Turion 64 with Dual-Core

64-bit Intel Dual Core 2 with Dual Core

For those who are seeking more advanced information you will find links throughout the content and at the bottom page as how to install CPU.

Computer CPU Forms

CPUs come in several forms, and each one has his reason to be that I discuss in more details in the CPU socket type page. For the introduction's purpose I will only give a general idea of the 2 most used forms as the LGA and PGA.

The Pin Grid Array (PGA). The PGA CPU has pins on its front to be fixed in the motherboard socket. As you can imagine, the socket grid has holes to receive the CPU pins.

The Land Grid Array (LGA). The LGA CPU does not have pins like the PGA and it is landed on a socket grid that contains pins. In some way, it is the opposite of the PGA form.

What Is The Computer CPU Speed And/Or CPU Clock Rate?

The CPU speed is the clock rate frequency in hertz ( circles per second) at which the CPU executes standard operations like doing equations, processing simple data and so on.

In the old days, computers had clock frequencies as low as 4.77 MHz (4,770,000 cycles/second), but nowdays the standard is around 3 GHz (three billion cycles/second).

For now on, CPU's fabricants are working on the CPU core to enhance the speed. As they are stuck with a frequency cap, building CPUs with a clock rate frequency over 3.6 GHz start to be a hard task. I guess it is due of circuits overheating too much.

The FSB Architecture And Motherboard Chipset

The Front Side Bus (FSB), is the data bus between the CPU and the motherboard's northbridge chip. The chipset (northbridge and southbridge) allow the communication among all buses (memory, PCI, AGP, PCIe).

Imagine the FSB as a booster for the CPU for managing programs faster. Before the FSB architecture, CPUs were just fine. But today's programs demand too much power from the CPU to be able to execute fast enough. Higher is the FSB, faster the CPU can execute.

Having a low FSB frequency, is like putting your CPU on standby, waiting for the information to come.

CPU Overclocking, Good Or Bad?

It is possible to boost your CPU's overall performances by setting the clock multiplier and FSB higher than it has been built for. From the motherboard's bios or from a software, this is achievable.

Why overclocking?

Overclocking can be interesting if you feel your computer is a bit slow. It may help the computer performances with a small overclocking.

In the other hand, overcloking may cause erratic behavior such as, regular errors from the operating system, premature failures or the CPU that overheats or die sooner than it should. In some case with a very high overcloking, the CPU may die under a week.

I strongly disapprove the idea of overclocking. Why taking risks if at the origin the CPU has been build for a certain power and not higher. Unless you plan to buy a new CPU, do not overclock.

What Are Desktop ComputerMemory Modules?

The desktop computer memory modules, Random Access Memory (RAM), like those on the image, allow stored data to be accessed randomly. In other words, piece of data stored in the memory are accessed in any orders. It is accessed in the best order possible according to the system requirement.

RAM Modules

Unlike disk drives, RAM modules do not need physical reading heads to reach pieces of data, instead they are transfered from integrated circuits.

Many RAM types exist as:

SDRAM, synchronous dynamic random access memory DDR SDRAM, double-data-rate synchronous dynamic random access memory

R DRAM, rambus dynamic random access memory

DDR2 SDRAM, double-data-rate 2 synchronous dynamic random access memory

DDR3 SDRAM, double-data-rate 3 synchronous dynamic random access memory

The DDR and DDR2 are largely used now as they are faster, and demand less power. The DDR3 is mainly used on graphic cards so far.

For those who are seeking more advanced information you will find links throughout the content and at the bottom page as how to install computer memory.

What Is The Computer RAM Memory Bandwidth?

The bandwidth is the transfer rate of the chips in conjunction of the system's front side bus. As example, let say your computer ram memory is from PC-1600 modules, and the front side bus of your system is at 100 MHz.

The PC-1600 has a memory clock of 100 MHz. In that case x2 as DDR double the clock rate. If you do the math without using the last 2 digits of the front side bus clock rate, you get a bandwidth of 200 MHz, 1 x 200. With a front side bus of 300 MHz it would be 600 MHz.

Take a look at the table below, it will help you to familiarize with the module names and what they are standing for, according to a 100 MHz front side bus.

Standards Memory Clock Data Transfer/s Module NamesSDRAM 100 MHz 100 million PC-100

DDR-200 100 MHz 200 Million PC-1600DDR-266 133 MHz 266 Million PC-2100DDR-333 166 MHz 333 Million PC-2700DDR-400 200 MHz 400 Million PC-3200DDR2-400 100 MHz 400 Million PC2-3200DDR2-533 133 MHz 533 Million PC2-4200DDR2-667 166 MHz 667 Million PC2-5300DDR2-800 200 MHz 800 Million PC2-6400DDR3-800 100 MHz 800 Million PC3-6400

DDR3-1066 133 MHz 1.066 Billion PC3-8500DDR3-1333 166 MHz 1.333 Billion PC3-10600DDR3-1600 200 MHz 1.6 Billion PC3-12800

General Rules For Desktop Computer Memory Needs.

Your CPU needs a certain amount of memory to function at full capacity. If the memory does not meet the CPU requirement, your computer will be slowed in comparison to its full capacity. Depending your needs, you can use these general rules as reference.

Pentium 4 or AMD for every day use, 512 MB should work just fine Pentium 4 or AMD for gaming, 1 GB should be more then enough

Pentium dual-core 2 or AM2 for every day use, 1 GB is more then enough

Pentium dual-core 2 or AM2 for gaming, 1 GB as minimum, 2 GB for heavy gaming

Why Not Use More Computer Memory Than The CPU Needs?

Using more memory than needed should up the over all speed of your computer, but it will not be significant. I think, more memory does not justify the money spent for it.

What Your Computer HardDrive Is All About?

Hard disk drives are comparable in appearance to the disc jockey's turntables. As a computer hard drive, there is a reading head and a turning platter containing the data to be read.

Inside Hard Drive

Take a look at the image on the right. Do you see the obvious similarity?

They usually are Attached to the ATA bus or SATA bus on the motherboard unless it is an external device. Hard drives serve as data storage holding the operating system, softwares and any other data you may put in.

The data are read by the RAM memory then managed by the hardware accessing these data like the CPU.

In few words, hard drives can be seen as a gigantic file cabinet reached by the rest of your computer hardware.

For those who are seeking more advanced information you will find links throughout the content and at the bottom page as how to install hard drives.

ATA Hard Drive And SATA Hard Drive Interfaces

The Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA), also known by the IDE abbreviation, is a standard interface for hard drives and optic drives (CD and DVD drives). The IDE has a low supported capacity. Hard drives with more than 500 MB could not be used with this interface. When the EIDE hard drive interface saw the market, hard drives to an around 10 GB became useable.

Nowadays, the IDE or EIDE interface are now called ATA and can use hard drives storage capacity as high as 200 GB and higher.

The Serial ATA is the successor of the ATA interface. It is faster and better suited for today's needs. With a thinner cable that permits a better cooling process plus the interface enhancement, it becomes obvious that the Serial ATA is the way to go right now.

Here is the link for computer cables used to mount a computer. You will also find a link to a detailed page about ATA cables that may help you to better understand the ATA evolution.

Computer Hard Drive Speed, RPM And Memory Cache

The hard drive's Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) determine the platter's rotating speed. The actual speeds found on hard drives are 5400, 7200 and 10000 RPM. Of course, faster the hard drive platter rotates, better the performances will be.

Another way hard drives are using to speed up the transfer rate, is what we call the memory cache. The memory cache is a temporary area where stored data are frequently accessed. It is faster to use memory cache than redoing the whole process again and again when a piece of data is frequently used. The actual memory cache found on hard drives go up to 8 MB for a regular hard drive and up to 16 MB for a SCSI hard drive.

Data Storage Capacity

Computer hard drives storage capacity has changed radically. When Pentium I started, hard drives storage capacity was as low as 100 MB. Today hard drives hit the incredible mark of 1 TB, Terabytes, (1024 GB).

This enormous change in storage capacity is due to the fast evolution of computer technologies and the greatest change in hard drives storage capacity is due to the platters number and the platters density on a single drive.

The need for such storage capacity has been created by the more demanding softwares and operating systems like Windows XP and Windows Vista. Not to forget the most demanding of all, game softwares and movie files.

It needs so much storage space that a 200 GB hard drive is very common if not the standard in today's computers.

 How Computer Power Supplies Work?

Antec Power Supply

Computer power supplies installed inside your computer case are the energy source for your computer hardware. Of course without the power supply your computer is plain dead.

In this guide I will explain to what hardware the connectors are plugged or where on the motherboard and an easy way for identifying good and bad power supplies.

Does 300 Watt Power Supplies Give Enough Power Or Should You Go With 400 Watt Power Supplies Or Even Higher?

Did You Know?You could save money just

by knowing how much poweryour computer require.

Why would you pay more whenyou do not need it.

This is the kind of question that comes up all the time. Peoples tend to not understand how computer power supplies work. To find out, you need to understand how the energy is distributed throughout the hardware.

The hardware inside your computer case require a certain amount of power. It is ranging from 4W to around 80W for a single piece. If you have 200W as requirement then a 300 Watt power supply is enough.

What will happen if you have 300 Watt as requirement?

Computer Power Supplies are not built to work at full capacity. After a while the power supply will die caused by an overheating and in the process might damage the hardware.

I recommand to have at least 75W over your computer requirements. That way your power supply will live older and your hardware will always have enough power.

Power Supply Connectors, Where To Plug Them?

Main power connectors are plugged to the motherboard. The connector with 20 pins may be used on ATX motherboards and the connector with 4 pins is used for extra power for CPUs and graphic cards. Not all motherboards require the use of connector with 4 pins , if it's the case; do not bother, you do not need to use all connectors anyway.

The fan connector is used for plugging the back/front wall or side panel case fans. As fans do not require a lot of energy, the connector is small and very fragile, be careful when working with them.

The Serial ATA connector is used for hard disk drives. Having that connector on your power supply is a good thing as this technology speed up drives data transfer.

The peripheral connector with 4 pins is used for optic drives as hard drives. It was the only connector for mass storage devices before the SATA.

The small connector with 4 pins is used for floppy drives. Here too, I recommend caution when working with small connectors like this.

Fast And Easy Way To Identify The Best Power Supply Unit

A nice little tip you can use to figure out if a power supply is good or not, is to put the unit in your hand and to feel its weight. Light power supplies mean they have few components inside, and that is no good. Today's computers require more and more powers. If your power supply does not have the required components to meet today's computers, your computer parts may die faster.

Heavier power supplies have more components than lighter one, so better suited for today's computers. Of course there is more than this to know about good power supplies, but without any knowledge this is the best tip I can give you.

What Is YourGraphic Card All About?

The main purpose of your graphic card is to manage the data from images and videos displayed by your monitor screen.

ATI Readeon Graphic Card

Every pixels data at your monitor screen are managed by the card, sometimes used as a display adapter or as a 3D accelerator for video games, 3D animations etc...

I like to imagine the card as a mini-motherboard focused at graphics only. Like a motherboard it has memories, a CPU, a fan or a cooling system and connectors to plug other devices.

In comparison with the integrated graphic controller chip on a motherboard, cards are installed in accelerated graphic buses like the PCIexpress and Cards commonly come with much more features than an integrated chip.

Some cards even come with a TV tuner to plug your home TV. Watching TV at your monitor screen becomes possible with such connectors, even video capture becomes possible with the right connector.

Should you buy a card or use the integrated controller chip that comes with your motherboard?

It all depends of your needs. Today's motherboards have an integrated graphic chip powerful enough to satisfy requirements for an everyday use. But if you are working with 3D graphics or 3D animations or playing games, a card will be better for meeting your acceleration requirements.

Video Card GPU

Like motherboards, today's cards have their own processor called Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). 3D graphics rendering need floating point calculations and GPUs are just what it need for the job.

It is the incorporated microchips with their mathematical operations that render possible graphics rendering and it is the efficiency of the microchips that will determine the graphic acceleration.

The core clock on a GPU is around 600 MHz and surely higher on the newest cards.

Video RAM

Video RAM (VRAM) is at the graphic card as RAM is at the motherboard. If cards would not have such video RAM, the system would use the motherboard RAM to do the dirty works.

The main feature of the video RAM is the capacity of dual-porting. It can simultaneously be written and read. It gives the advantage of calculating and send screen images to the monitor and start reading new images at the same time without bumping.

Here the RAM standards used for cards from the oldest to the newest.

DDR standard, Double Data Rate DDR2 standard, Double Data Rate 2

GDR3 standard, Graphics Double Data Rate 3

GDR4 standard, Graphics Double Data Rate 4

SVideo, SVGA and DVI Connector

Graphic Card Connectors

Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA), is a small connector with 15 pins holes to plug your computer monitor. It is the standard connector used for all monitors.

The Digital Visual Interface (DVI), is used for digital devices like a projector. As LCD monitors are digital display units, the new LCD monitors come with the DVI connector. I suggest using the DVI standard because it is design to enhance digital display.

Separate Video (SVideo), is the round connector used to connect your TV, game console, DVD player etc.

Video Card Technologies

Modern cards are designed with a ton of features to help accelerate and sharpen 3D graphics. I am giving only a brief introduction because I want to keep the more sophisticated details for a future page about this topic.

So here it is for the most important features to give you an idea about what modern cards are able to do in a 3D environment.

Anti-Aliasing

Anti-aliasing (AA), makes your graphics look smoother. Without the AA graphics look like they have been made from squares. Try to make a perfect circle with squares. I doubt you can.

Texture Filtering

Texture filtering is a way to blend pixel textures together by slicing them. In a 3D environment, object textures look smoother, more realistic with texture filtering. Otherwise when more and more textures appear, it looks somewhat blurry.

Shader Model

Shader is the one I prefer. The shader make 3D effects in such ways that sometime I almost believe it is real. Imagine a lake with a castle close by, the castle reflection in the water is the kind of visual effect the shader technology can do. And this is only a tinny part of what shader can do in a 3D environment.

How a CD DVD Drive Works?What is its use?

A CD DVD drive does not work like hard disk drives. It uses photo diodes to detect reflecting lights on optic discs and uses a laser to read or write data. But it uses the same cables as hard drives to connect to the motherboard.

DVD+-R/RW drive

DVD burner drives can be use to listen your music CDs like a CD player, create your own CD DVD movies that can be used on your TV CD DVD player, do system backups or transferring data from one computer to another.

As you can see, computer DVD drives can become very useful for many reasons.

If you wonder if you can still use your CDs, know that DVD drives are backward compatible with CD media, so no need for a CD drive.

What Are The DVD Media DVD-R And DVD+R?

DVD - and + is an optic disc format or media format if you prefer. DVD-R has a storing capacity of 4.71 GB (4.382 GiB). Dual Layer also exists in this format with a capacity of 8.54 GB. The DL format must be fliped to use the 2 sides of the disc. Being the first one to hit the market, DVD-R format were a bit cheaper than DVD+R at start. Nowdays they are sold for the same price.

DVD media

The DVD+R has a better error management giving more accurate burning. Also, less discs are damaged when doing multi-sessions due to a better buffer under-run.

It was tricky to determine which one was really better. The DVD+R offers better accuracy but the DVD-R was less expensive.

Until now, if you wanted your CDs or DVDs able to work in your CD player or your TV DVD player using different formats, you needed to buy 2 burning devices, 1 for the +R format and 1 for the -R format.

Suggestion:

If you do not have a DVD burner drive yet, then go for the DVD±R. Look around and try to find the format you will need the most. Look at your friend's computer or TV DVD machines you know you will share CD/DVD media with. Then buy more CD/DVD format than the other. This way you have the best of both worlds and you do not spend more money than necessary.

  Media Types And Formats

CD DVD media can be read, write and rewrite by your CD DVD drive, meaning they can be erased and burned again. I made a table to illustrate drives compatibility among media and their formats.

R stands for read and write RW stands for read, write and rewrite

DL stands for dual layer 

Compare drives read and write compatibility with CD and DVD media.Media---> CD-R CD-RW DVD-R DVD+R DVD-RW DVD+RW DVD±R DLDVD ROM Read Read Read Read Read Read Read DVD-R Write Write Write Read Read Read Read DVD-RW Write Write Write Read Write Read Read DVD+R Write Write Read Write Read Read Read DVD+RW Write Write Read Write Read Write Read DVD±RW Wrtie Write Write Write Write Write Read DVD±RW DL Write Write Write Write Write Write Write

What Is A Computer MonitorAnd How It Works?

In this introduction I will explain how a computer monitor works and I will provide a general description of the aspects such as: the viewing area, the refreshing rate and how the image appears at the screen and more.

Monitors are display units displaying images produced by the computer, and there are 2 types of those monitors used for computers, the CRT and LCD one.

Both have different aspects and technologies, especially the LCD over the CRT as you will see along this page

Computer Monitor Screens, How They Work?

CRT Monitor

The CRT monitor (Cathode Ray Tube) uses an electron gun that interacts with a RGB fluorescent screen. The gun produces a beam when it hits the screen, excites the fluorescent screen producing images.

If you look at the image on the right, you can see the screen's pixels are formed by 3 colored phosphors. Regardless the image phosphors will light up when hit by the gun producing colors. Thus creating the image, pixel by pixel.

LCD Monitor

The LCD monitor (Liquid Crystal Display) uses a crystal liquid matrix between 2 opposite polarizing filter sheets letting or not the light pass, thus creating the colors. As the CRT, pixels on LCD are formed using the RGB but made of crystal molecules instead of phosphors.

Dot Pitch Or Pixel Pitch

Dot Pitch

The dot pitch also called pixel pitch is the distance in millimeters between 2 pixels.

On the image you have an example of how pixels are disposed on a screen. Each RGB triad forms 1 pixel and the distance between 2 pixels is the dot pitch.

The pitch is what will represent the quality detail of the image on the screen. If you have 100 pixels by inches instead of 50, you will obviously get a sharper image.

Computer Monitor Size And Aspect Ratio

CRT And LCD Viewable Area

The CRT and the LCD monitor case are built differently. On CRT, the case covers a part of the screen reducing the visible area by 0.9" to 1.2" depending the monitor model or brand. On LCD, the case does not cover, thus enabling a full view able area.

To determine the monitor size, calculate the diagonal length from the upper right to the bottom left corner of the screen starting from the inside, not from the case edge. The diagonal length will be the monitor area size as the image shows above.

The aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to the height of the display screen like regular TVs being 4:3. On widescreen monitors the aspect ratio would usually be 16:9. From one model to another the aspect ratio can be 4:3, 16:9, 16:10 or 15:9.

Computer Monitor Resolutions

The resolution is the term uses to explain the number of rows and columns a monitor can display in pixels at the screen. A maximum resolution of 1280x1024 means, the monitor will display 1280 pixels width by 1024 pixels height. Higher the resolution, sharper the image is at the screen.

CRT monitors are known for their multisync technology. The monitor can adjust the electron beam to display lower resolution standards than the maximum resolution possible.

LCD monitors are built with native resolutions, meaning the best quality on screen will come from a single resolution perfectly fitted for that monitor. Setting the monitor to a lower resolution cause the visible area to be reduced or extrapolated. When the monitor extrapolates it tries to blend pixels together to form the image and images made from extrapolation look fuzzy.

Here a Chart for CRT and LCD monitors standards, size and resolutions capacity. Yes or no in CRT and LCD column means a monitor model exist or not in that category. 

Standard Resolution Size CRT LCDSVGA 800x600 15" YES YES

XGA 1024x768 15"-17" YES YESSXGA 1280x1024 17"-19" YES YES

SXGA+ 1400x1050 21" YES NOUXGA 1600x1200 19"-21" YES YES

WXGA (Widescreen) 1280x800 17" NO YESWXGA+ (Widescreen) 1440x900 19" NO YES

WSXGA+ (Widescreen) 1680x1050 20" NO YESWUXGA (widescreen) 1920x1200 24" NO YES

Computer Monitor Refresh Rate And Eye Fatigue

The refresh rate is the number of times per second the monitor scans the entire screen at a given resolution. If a monitor is listed at 1024x768 with a refreshing rate of 75HZ, it means it is the best resolution to use to get the highest refreshing rate possible for that monitor.

Something important to understand about refresh rate is the eye fatigue over time in front of the screen. After a short period of time, eyes get fatigue when a refreshing rate is low. It is better for the eyes to have at least a refreshing rate of 75HZ+ if you intend to stay long period of times at the computer. Higher the refresh rate, longer it takes to the eye to get fatigue.

Computer Monitor Connectors

All computer monitors use traditional analog VGA connector. It is the standard found on every video card.

LCD monitors may have a DVI connector besides the VGA one. The DVI is a digital interface that enhances the overall quality of the image by making it look brighter and cleaner.

I strongly suggest using the DVI if your video card and your monitor supports it. It gives a better experience when watching videos or movies.

Computer Mouse Review There is a computer mouse for every need. Left hand, right hand, small or large, USB or not, trackball, laser, with wheel, wireless, etc...

A very vast choice for every mouse types are found in computer stores. It is easy to get lost when facing so many choices. There might be a mouse you never saw before or even know it exists and could be just what you was looking for.

I created this review so peoples can have a better idea of all kinds of mice found on the market. Throughout the page you will find pictures of mice with a general description and pro and cons if any.

Rollerball Mouse

Rollerball Mouse

The rollerball mouse is defined by its rolling ball stuck inside by the closing ring. It is the first mouse ever created for desktop computer. It had 2 or 3 buttons. The ball was rolling on 2 to 3 rotating rods by moving the mouse naturally on the desk or a mouse pad. Not very sophisticated, but it was effective, especially when the mouse wheel has been introduced to ease scrolling long pages of text.

Pros:The only good aspect of this old mouse was the introduction of the mouse wheel.

Cons: The ball gets easily dirty making the mouse to slide instead of rolling.When the mouse is moved, the dust on the ball is transfered in part to the rotating rods. When there is too much accumulation, the ball does not roll anymore being stuck by the dust on the rods.

Optical Computer Mouse and Laser Computer Mouse

Optical And Laser Mouse

A new age began with the introduction of optical mice. The end of the rolling ball stuck by the dust. As you can see on the image, the ball has been replaced by a LED. Instead of being rolled, the mouse is slid and can be used on almost any surfaces with great ease. Mouse pads are no more needed if the surface used is of light color.

The light coming out the eye, bounce on the surface used, then an image is captured of a small camera inside the mouse and analyzed by a numerical sign. The sign acknowledges the different images and interprets them by moving the cursor on the screen.

Few years later, the laser mouse came out offering better accuracy. The laser mouse can do a better image with more details, thus creating greater accuracy.

Pros: Great accuracy making now the joy of every gamers and the end of rollerball mice. Better accuracy on laser mouse.

Wireless Computer Mouse Also Called Cordless Mouse

Wireless Mouse

Finally, no more wires in the way. That mouse uses radio frequency to communicate from the transmitter inside the mouse to a receiver installed on the computer.

In general the mouse requires 2 batteries easy to change by removing a small plate, like the one found on remote controls.

Pros: No more worries about the wire being in the way. The signal passes through objects making the choice by excellence for laptop and notebook lovers.

Cons: A small lag can be perceived while playing games and it can become frustrating when you have to change the batteries if you do not have any left.

Trackball Mouse

Trackball Mouse

Interesting idea for overcoming the dust problem. Instead of being under the mouse, the ball is on the top. Trackball mice are stationary and the cursor is moved by manipulating the ball with the hand. It takes some times to get used of these mice, but after a while, the accuracy come with ease.

Usually mice like these have more than 2 buttons creating interesting new possibilities not seen before.

Pros: Ideal for small desks and interesting possibilities if more than 2 buttons.

Cons: It takes some times to get used of it.

Gamer Mouse

G5 Gamer Mouse

Gamer mice are the cream of the creams. Everything has been thought for the best gaming experience possible.

Buttons are placed everywhere at the most convenient spots to ensure speed in the action. Click able mouse wheel, Comfortable textures, extremely smooth, perfectly accurate and with a greatly enhanced laser technology, these mice have every features you ever wished.

Weight adjustability also come in handy to get the perfect feelings while moving the mouse. Absolutely lag free with the very high reports/sec. offered from the bi-directional USB wire.

Do You Know WhenDesktop Computer Cases

Overheat?Most peoples do not know when desktop computer cases have a normal temperature or are overheating. It's very easy to find out and you do not need a specialist for it.

We have to look at 3 things when we try to manage the computer heat:

The area where is the computer The space inside the case

The fans inside the case

With few images, I will explain what a bad or good computer case may look like.

The Bad Guys Eat The Dust One Day Or An Other.

Observe the image on the right. This is an old mini tower ATX. ATX computer cases like this are very small and the room between the DVD cage on top and the hard drive cage on the bottom is too small.

No Space To Cool Down

The DVD and the hard drive drive their heats on each other. Imagine having a "3.5" floppy drive in middle of them. I think you got the big picture, are you?

The only good point I can give to this old case, it is the fan fixed to the back. But even with the fan, the case will likely overheat.

The fan will by no means pass through the heat fast enough to keep the computer case at a normal temperature. And there is also the processor, motherboard, graphic card, all this produce some heat too.

The reason why I would buy such a case, it is because I would build an old computer like a Pentium 2. I would forget about the "3.5" floppy drive for getting a minimum of rooms.

The conclusion is!

The parts of your computer suffer the most from the heat. Over time if the case is not adequate, your parts will fall apart.

The Good Guys Always Win.

On this black desktop computer case image you see the difference of rooms in contrast of the other.

Enough Space To Cool Down

In the hard drive cage there is enough rooms to mount 3 hard drives and 1 "3.5" floppy drive. And 3 DVD drives into the other. Of course it's wrong to do so. By loading that much drives, you are running into problems.

By keeping things in a realistic way like mounting 1 hard drive and 1 optic drive instead of loading it to its full capacity, you are keeping the computer case in good shape and avoid the heat problem.

Fans on the back indeed help a lot on the cooling process. Of course 2 fans is a good thing, but not a requirement. In most cases, 1 good fan should be enough.

If you are not feeling safe with 1 fan, then go for 1 more, but I recommend using desktop computer cases with an extra fan onto the left panel or onto the back of the case like the one on the image.

Personally I do not like 2 fans. It is a matter of noises. Of course I am not talking about top notch tech here and in general, regular computer cases with 2 fans are noisy.

Why I Like Desktop Computer Cases USB Front Panel Connectors?

Nowadays, computer cases come with USB connectors. Most likely USB 2 technology. Most cases have the USB connectors on the back panel, but some have USB connectors on the front too and this is just lovely.

When you do not have an easy access to your back panel connectors, it comes in handy to have the connectors on the front. I know it sounds a bit lazy, but after a while, you will be happy to have it if you use USB devices on a daily basis.

Where Is The Best Spot To Place Your Computer Desktop Case?

Your computer needs to breathe somewhat. The ambient air must be able to go through the computer case. Do not station the computer somewhere it cannot breathe. Use your judgment, you will find the best spot, I am pretty sure.

What Are The Computer Cables?In this introduction page I am talking about computer cables used to mount a computer as drive's cables and the USB cable to plug all your accessories and peripherals.

There are more cables used to mount a computer like the power cord of your computer case, but those cables did not changed throughout the years.

So lets talk about what has been improved and what has changed something.

Floppy Drive, CD DVD Drive and Hard Drive Cables (flat ribbon cable)

There are 3 types of drives cables. The ribbon for hard and optic drives, the inverted ways ribbon for floppy drives and the Serial ATA cable for hard drives.

The standard drive ribbon has been the first to hit the market along with the floppy drive ribbon.

The ribbon cables are the only one that received support improvements over the years improving data storage and data's transfer rates for newer hard drives.

Originally, ribbon cables were called IDE. When manufacturers started to enhance the technology, they started to call the ribbon EIDE then ATA then PATA. Nowdays, the ribbon is called ATA or PATA.

Here the link for ATA cables I explain in details.

Ribbon Cable For HDD and Optic Drives

The floppy drive ribbon is easily recognized by its inverted ways. Beside its inverted ways, it has the same configuration as the standard drive ribbon above except that it does not fit in an ATA bus on the motherboard.

3.5' floppy drives as we know them today, the ribbon cable has never changed, no improvement at all.

Inverted ways ribbon cable for floppy drives

Serial-ATA Hard Drive Cable

The new and very improved SATA cable. Mainly for hard drives, the cable is way thinner than his older friend and supports the high performance offered by the Serial-ATA standard.

This SATA cable marks the end of ribbons. More and more computers are built with the SATA interface. You can expect a fast disappearance of ribbon cables.

Take a look at that page for detailed infromation on SATA interface.

USB Cable And Firewire Cable

Firewire and USB are both a serial bus interface standard. Firewire being Apple, I will not talk much about it, because this site is about PC even if Firewire did touch the PC market at some stages. The Firewire interface is better than the USB at a certain point, but nothing to be scare of. It is not a big lost for us PC users.

USB Computer Cable

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is the design answer to Apple Firewire. The USB interface fixed a major problem in PC computers.

In the early days, PC computers were not built with lot of hardware, enabling the use of serial or parallel peripherals without hardware's addressing problems. But nowadays we use several peripherals and this cause conflicts addressing among peripherals and other hardware.

The port adressing was used for the hardware to comunicate with the external devices like the mouse or the monitor, but without the USB interface, our modern computers would have

lots of conflicts with the port adressing. Thinking about all the devices we are using nowadays, I cannot imagine a computer without USB.

ATA Cable Explained The ATA cable is used to connect storage devices like hard drives and floppy drives. I will explain how they are working with your drives.

By reading through the entire page you will learn how they are attached to your drives, which standard you should use according to your drives and what is supported by cables made of 40 and 80 wires and more.

Composition

Each ATA ribbon cable has a flexible plastic ribbon that contains the wires where there is 2 or 3 connectors that are fixed to it. 1 connector to each extremity and 1 connector close to the master connector if it is a cable with 3 connectors.

Note the red line on the image; all ATA cables have a red mark pin 1. This mark is made to help the user to figure out which side to plug the connector on the drive or the motherboard.

You should be able to find 18 inches and 36 inches cables in computer stores. The 18 inches is mostly the only one used and the 36 inches are more used for special reasons.

Computer Ribbon Cable Also Called IDE Cable

The Ribbon, 40 And 80 Wires

At the beginning all ribbon cables were being made of 40 wires and were supporting a certain range of standards. Nowadays, there are cables of 80 wires and they are supporting higher standards.

Note for both, only connectors with 40 pins are used.

The cables with 80 wires are made of 40 grounds that are interleaved with the other 40 wires. This way all previous 40 wires are grounded.

To help you understand the differences between the 40 and 80 wires, take a look at the table below. See the different standards supported by both of them.

Cable Used Standard Name Transfer Mode40 wires ATA-1 ATA DMA40 wires ATA-2 Ultra-ATA DMA40 wires ATA-3 Ultra-ATA DMA40 wires ATA-4 Ultra-ATA/33 Ultra-DMA/3380 wires ATA-5 Ultra-ATA/66 Ultra-DMA/6680 wires ATA-6 Ultra-ATA/100 Ultra-DMA/10080 wires ATA-7 Ultra-ATA/133 Ultra-DMA/133

The Connectors, Master And Slave

Ribbon cables are made of 1 or 2 connectors for drives. With 1 connector, only a drive sets to master can be attached to the cable. But with 2 connectors, 1 drive must be set to master and the other set to slave. You can also use a cable with 2 connectors to plug only 1 drive, in that case you have to set the drive to master and use the master connector only, otherwise it will not work at all.

A question lots of people ask me is what will happen if I use a cable with 40 wires on a drive with a standard supported only by a cable with 80 wires?

In such case, it will still work, but the cable will not be able to offer the performance wanted. If your drive supports Ultra-DMA/66, then the cable with 40 wires will use the highest mode it can support. In that case Ultra-ATA/33 and your drive will run at Ultra-DMA/33 instead of Ultra-DMA/66.

What Is SATA Interface?

SATA Connector

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA). The SATA interface is a design for transferring data among storage devices like hard drives and optic drives.

In comparison with the ATA interface, the SATA offers a faster transfer rate with features and improvements we will see throughout the guide.

Features And Improvements

The interesting thing with the SATA is the new cable that uses only 7 wires. With only 7 wires the cable is thin and permits a better airflow inside the computer case. The older cables used for ATA interface were cutting the airflow with their large ribbons and were frustrating to manipulate.

With the SATA it is as easy as plug here and plug there. No cable twisting problems like the ATA.

An other interesting feature from SATA interface is the possibility to hot swapping. It means, you can plug or unplug hardware without having to reboot the computer. This feature has been taken from the USB technology that already makes the use of swapping.

SATA 1 And SATA 2 Standards

The SATA 1 named SATA 150, offers a bandwidth of 1.5 Gbit/s. In comparison with the ATA/133, it was a slight advantage. The first SATA generation was more used for its features than its bandwidth.

The SATA 2 called SATA 300 is the new generation working at the rate of 3 Gbit/s. It is more than twice than the ATA rate. With a frequency like this you can finally feel the difference between the 2 technologies.

The SATA 3 is on the way and will offer a bandwidth of 6 Gbit/s. The ability of using more than 1 drives by cables should appear on the 3rd generation.

Compatibility

The ATA and The SATA are not compatible. You cannot plug a SATA drive in the ATA interface. This says, I heard there are hybrid hard drives supporting both technologies. This is only a speculation, I did not investigate to see if they exist.

On the other hand, SATA 1 and SATA 2 are backward and forward compatible. If your motherboard does not support the SATA 300, a PCI extension card for SATA should do the trick.

Another way for adding more compatibility has been introduced by hard drive's manufacturers. A jumper on SATA 2 hard drives can be set to force the drive to run under SATA 1.