tailieunhanh - The PC Doctor's Fix-it-Yourself Guide- P19

The PC Doctor's Fix-it-Yourself Guide- P19: A technical director for a UK-based computer company who teaches such courses as Caring for Your PC has developed prescriptions for treating sick PCs. Arguing the benefits of fixing it yourself rather than relying on experts, his mission is to empower users with trouble- shooting and safe repair skills. | Chapter 8 Motherboard RAM CPU and BIOS Copyright 2004 by The McGraw-Hill Companies. Click here for terms of use. 160 The PC Doctor s Fix-It-Yourself Guide Jn this chapter we will look at the parts that make up the core of a PC The motherboard Random access memory RAM Central processing unit CPU Basic input output system BIOS Without these four components your PC is nothing but a box. You might have CD drives hard drives PCI and AGP cards and peripherals but without the motherboard you have no way to connect them so that you can make use of them. Add a motherboard without a CPU and the system won t work. Also without RAM or BIOS nothing That s not to say that there aren t other core components such as a monitor but these four make a PC into a working PC. The Motherboard Take a look inside any PC and usually the motherboard is the main component you ll see a big flat circuit board covering the whole of the base or side of the case like the one shown in Figure 8-1. FIGURE 8-1 A motherboard inside a PC CHAPTER 8 Motherboard RAM CPU and BIOS 161 NOTE You might come across the motherboard referred to as 3g a mainboard. This is not a different style of motherboard just another wordfor it. The motherboard is a single physical item in your PC a circuit board with components and connectors attached to the surface of it. There is not just one manufacturer of motherboards however. Like hard drives processors memory and expansion cards motherboards are made by a variety of manufacturers and as ever differences exist between the brands quality of the parts generally being the key factor. As with most PC components there are high-quality parts and there are budget parts. I ve said this before and I ll probably say it again cheaper budget parts are probably not what you want to be buying if you are looking for performance and stability Buying cheap frequently turns out to be false economy and so I generally do not recommend it. Layout or Form Factor If you look at motherboards .