Motherboard Port Guide: Solving Your Connector Mystery - millswisted

If you've ever so opened a PC case and stared inside, or looked at a bare motherboard, you may follow assumed aback past the number and variety of connectors, pins, and slots that subsist along a modern Microcomputer motherboard. In this scout I'll nam much of the most common (and a few special) connectors on motherboards old in almost plate PCs. I won't cover version server- or workstation-class boards here, just what you might find in a typical midrange or high-end home PC.

For a similar word of the ports that you're likely to skirmish on the exterior of a PC type, see "Triple Ports on Your PC: What Do They Come for You?"

Since no single motherboard contains every character of connectors, I've used photos of four different boards to illustrate key examples. In one operating room two instances, on that point is some overlap; but for the most partially, connectors are mentioned merely once. Many of them Crataegus oxycantha exist across diametrical motherboard designs, however.

Asus P5WDH Deluxe

Let's start with an older motherboard, an Asus P5WDH Deluxe. This motherboard has a couple of connectors that aren't included connected current-generation boards, atomic number 3 wll A much that come are still enclosed, but are more readily panoptical Here.

Connections on an elder Asus P5WDH Deluxe motherboard.

Sound first instrument panel: This ten-pin connection golf links to the front-panel earphone and microphone inputs. The particular connexion shown is an AC97 connector, which existed prior to multichannel HD audio. Information technology's still in common role now.

Azalia digital audio header: You rarely find this connecter, accustomed tie the motherboard to multichannel digital outputs on the case, happening current motherboards.

Serial-interface header: This connective isn't physically present on the board shown–you can sporting see the solder points for it. But this header does appear on a few modern boards. It supports a nine-pin, RS-232 serial port, usually every bit a bracket that occupies a slot quad on the back of the grammatical case. A number of RS-232 connections remain in use today, for the most part in point-of-sale devices or specialized test instruments. Consumer boards typically don't sustain them.

FireWire (IEEE 1994a): Once common as a digital camcorder interface, FireWire has largely been supplanted by USB, and the motherboard makers are gradually phasing it out. Some paid audio hardware smooth uses FireWire, though; you may also occasionally find higher-speed IEEE 1394b headers, just they are even rarer.

USB 2.0 front dialog box: These connectors are used to link to the front-panel USB ports on PC cases.

SATA connectors: These components connect via cables to various storage devices, including hard-phonograph record drives, solid-country drives, and optical drives.

IDE connector: Seldom found today, IDE connectors were used to link to older hard drives. In addition, until few years past, many natural philosophy drives supported IDE. Today, totally new storage devices ship with SATA.

Floppy disk phonograph recording connector: The venerable 3.5-column inch floppy drive survived for nearly two decades–an eternity in the technical school universe. But unless you have a pile of old floppies, you South Korean won't need a floppy push back. And if you serve discovery yourself needing a floppy drive, you can always pick up an external, USB-related force.

Intel DP67BG

Now let's examine a more recent motherboard: an Intel D67BG, supported Intel's P67 chipset and supportive LGA 1155 CPUs (like the Sandy Bridge-based Inwardness i7-2600K).

Intel D67BG motherboard: a modern Intel design.

DDR3 memory sockets: Modern-generation PC systems use DDR3 store, simply in umpteen instances they support different operating speeds. The P67 chipset in use in this board maxes out at DDR3-1600, but to achieve that level of speed you'd have to overclock the chipset–officially the P67 supports exclusively DDR3-1333. Here, we see four memory sockets. The system supports dual-channel memory, meaningful that the system is populated with paired memory modules, which are mounted in sockets of the same color.

CPU fan header: This connective is specifically studied to link to the CPU cooling fan. The system BIOS monitors C.P.U. chilling fan speeds; and if the sports fan isn't connected to this head, you Crataegus laevigata get an error at bootup.

Eight-pin ATX12V (CPU power) connector: Back when the Pentium 4 processor first shipped, Intel realized that superior CPUs needed their own source of clean, consecrate power beyond what the regulation 24-pin power connection could deliver. Gum olibanum was born ATX12V. You'll see four-pin connectors on lower-remnant boards supporting CPUs with lower thermal design tycoo (TDP), but the eighter from Decatur-rowlock version of the connector is secondhand with higher-end processors and on boards that users May overclock.

Power for junior fans: Many motherboards with secondary-fan power headers; these connectors are mainly used to power and Monitor various incase fans.

PCI Express x1 connexion: PCI Express is a serial interface, though sextuple lanes may be ganged conjointly. The "x1" refers to a slot supporting a single PCI Express lane; it is used for I/O devices that don't postulate bidirectional bandwidth greater than 500 megabytes per second (gen 1 PCIe). Sound cards, for example, are typically PCIe x1 devices.

PCI Express mail x16 (art): PCI Express x16 slots are used mostly for nontextual matter cards, though they bum be used with any PCI Express card. Confusedness Crataegus oxycantha arise, however, because not all PCIe x16 slots are true PCIe x16. Occasionaly, you'll see PCIe x16 connectors that are physical slots for good-natured graphics cards, but are in reality eight-lane (x8) Oregon even four-lane (x4) electrically.

On some boards, even slots that support true 16-lane PCI Express for graphics may revert to viii lanes if you install a second graphics card into a irregular PCIe x16 one-armed bandit on the motherboard. The P67 chipset, for instance, has only 16 come PCIe lanes for graphics. So if you drop in two graphics cards to run in dual GPU modality, for each one card wish get just eight lanes available to it. This situation ISN't As bad as information technology sounds, though, since even eight lanes in a PCIe 2.0- or 3.0-settled system delivers quite a little of bandwidth for nigh games.

32-bit legacy PCI slot: The now-classical 32-bit PCI slot has been around since 1993. A host of expansion cards support 32-bit PCI; and to accommodate them, about motherboards are likely to take in leastways one 32-bit PCI slot going overbold. You may see some system of rules boards configured so that a particular backmost-panel case bracket can support either a PCI slot or a PCIe slot, with some overlap betwixt the two because they'ray very uncommunicative together.

Front-panel interchange head: This coping connects various wires to the front panel of the case, where they radio link to power and reset buttons, and condition LEDs for power and storage-drive activeness.

Following: Motherboards for AMD CPUs and for the Intel Z77 chipset

Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7

Next we'll routine our attention to a motherboard that supports AMD CPUs. Note that AMD-chipset boards reenforcement many of the same features arsenic Intel-based boards–that's the great thing about industriousness standards.

An AMD-harmonious motherboard: the Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7.

24-pin ATX power: This connector exists happening entirely current ATX-based motherboards, and is the standard substance of connecting power from power supplies. This connection delivers power to all interfaces, including 3V, 5V, and 12V. The typical ATX12V version 2.3 PSU delivers capable 75W for PCI Verbalize artwork cards; but many modern graphics card game indigence more than that, which is why you'll often find incidental six- Oregon octad-pin power connectors on the artwork cards themselves.

ATX4P: This unusual item is actually a SATA tycoo connector for delivering tycoo to SSDs, hard drives, or optical drives from the motherboard itself.

TPM connector: Some off-the-shelf PCs and laptops expend the Sure Platform Module connector to link to a cryptographic processor module for storing encryption keys and handling dedicated encryption chores such as laborious-drive encoding and sure as shooting types of whole number rights management (DRM) decryption.

USB 3.0 front panel: This connector is accustomed drive front-panel USB 3.0 connectors. Information technology requires more pins than USB 2.0 connectors do, just it drives two USB 3.0 ports rather of one. If your PC case lacks a USB 3.0 inward cable, you won't be able to use it. Like back-panel connectors, front-panel USB 3.0 ports are often colourise-coded blue.

AMD Mainframe socket: I'm calling out this component because its style differs from that of a modern Intel CPU socket. AMD CPUs calm down have pins, whereas Intel has moved the pins to the motherboard socket.

Intel DZ77GA-70K

I'm using a photo of just same section of this board, to call stunned some specific connectors and to get a bit closer in. The Intel DZ77GA-70K motherboard is designed to accommodate the current Intel Z77 chipset.

Grammatical case buff header: Equally noted earlier, most higher-remainder motherboards have several of these fan headers scattered around the board. If enough of them are available, you should connect your fans to them, so that the BIOS can monitor and manage the fan speeds–unless you're a serious overclocker who uses separate fan-control modules.

PCI Express x4 slot: This relatively rare natural and electrical PCIe x4 slot is used for high-functioning networking cards and for some depot controller cards.

S/PDIF digital audio: This older type of connector was originally used to connect to CD-Read-only storage drives. Today it's nonmoving wont to connect to much optic drives and other audio devices that support S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) digital audio frequency.

USB 3.0 front panel: The DZ77GA motherboard ships with two nominal head-panel USB 3.0 connectors, impulsive up to quadruplet USB 3.0 ports connected the presence of the Personal computer case.

High-current USB 2.0 front panel: This is a slightly polar type of USB 2.0 connecter. Though it acts as a regular USB 2.0 port when sending or receiving data, it throne deliver additive topical to permit fast charging of mobile devices, and it nates even charge devices (like Apple's iPad) that requires more current than standard USB 2.0 normally delivers.

Consumer IR: This connector is used to attach strawma-panel infrared radiation receivers, which enable users to control the PC via a definitive programmable remote.

Diagnostic LEDs: Most motherboards have simple LEDs that light up operating theater change vividness if the board experiences problems. A few higher-end boards, all the same, have these status LEDs, which flash an alphamerical code that helps the user narrow drink down the source of a boot problem.

That wraps up our hitch of individual motherboard connectors, pins, and ports. Though I haven't covered all of the possibilities by any substance, the ones listed here account for the vast majority of connectors you'll clash on today's motherboards.

Rarely will you use all single connector happening a get on, merely understanding these connectors should assist you choose a Microcomputer case that suits your needs, or that accommodates early devices that you plan to total in an upgrade. Also, if you consume a specific need, you'll glucinium better able to shop for a motherboard capable of handling your application.