Popular knowledge about computer motherboards

What are some unpopular knowledge about computer motherboards/Many users may not know that in addition to popular knowledge points about motherboards, there are also some relatively unpopular knowledge points. These unpopular knowledge points are not taken seriously. The following are Let me take you to see the popular knowledge about computer motherboards. I hope it can help everyone!

How to check the power supply phases of the motherboard? Scan the knowledge about the power supply phases of the computer motherboard

How How many phases does the motherboard supply?

Generally speaking, a complete motherboard power supply mainly consists of the following four parts:

PWM controller

MOS driver

MOS bridge

Inductor and output capacitor

Many novice friends judge the power supply of the motherboard by counting the number of black inductors near the CPU. The number of black inductors represents the number of phases of power supply to the motherboard. This method can sometimes make a simple and rough judgment, but many times it is not accurate and contains errors.

Because, in order to facilitate the "fooling" or "confusion" of consumers, many motherboard manufacturers sometimes even mix power supply components that do not belong to the Vcore and Uncore segments together, making people mistakenly think that " Added ingredients". But this is not the case in reality. Here we not only need to understand the issue of true phase multiplication, synchronous phase or "virtual phase multiplication", but also learn to distinguish between components that do not belong to these two power supply stages.

The power supply of most motherboards is closely related to the design structure of the processor, and manufacturers often use this structural difference to create misunderstandings. If you are not familiar with the structure and rely solely on common "common sense (such as counting inductors)" to judge the power supply structure of the motherboard, you will easily be led into a pit. So let’s talk about how to look at the motherboard’s power supply.

Generally speaking, the motherboard has 1 inductor, 2 capacitors and 4 MOS tubes to power one item. Some motherboards use 1 inductor, 1 capacitor and 2 MOS tubes. Although it cuts corners, it still works. Count as 1 item of power supply.

The switching power supply module of the motherboard is mainly used by the CPU and GPU (graphics card). It is usually composed of four types of components: MosFET, inductor, capacitor and PWM pulse width modulation chip. The following are the power supplies for Intel and AMD processors Basic differences.

Intel's eight-generation Core power supply is basically divided into four parts:

VCC (core power supply)

VCCGT (core display power supply)

VCCIO (IO power supply)

VCCSA (peripheral power supply)

The power supply part of AMD Ryzen processor is three or four parts:

VDD (core power supply) )

VDDNB (IO power supply)

SOC (peripheral power supply)

GT (core display power supply (if any))

For For motherboard power supply, the most unavoidable ones are MOSFET tubes, inductors, capacitors, and PWM pulse width modulation chips. A complete power supply for one phase must include these four parts. Its working principle is shown in the figure below.

Functions of each part:

PWM: Get VID, output N-channel pulse width adjustable square waves, and control the switch of MOSFET to obtain the corresponding voltage.

MOSFET Driver: Controls the switching of MOSFET according to the square wave signal of PWM.

MOSFET: plays the role of a switch. We can get the corresponding voltage through its switching frequency.

Input/output inductor: The mutual conversion of magnetic energy and electrical energy, which plays the role of filtering and energy storage. When combined with the switching of MOSFET within a certain period of time, the corresponding voltage can be obtained.

Input/output capacitor: stores electrical energy to power the CPU and also plays a filtering role.

In simple terms, the whole process is: PWM generates signals for each phase, each phase's MOSFET Driver controls the switching of each phase's upper and lower bridge MOSFETs, each phase's inductor and output filter capacitor store energy, and the output filter The capacitor then supplies power to the CPU.

Let’s get to know the small power supply modules on these motherboards.

1. MOSFET tube:

MOSFET, the Chinese name is field effect tube, generally called MOS tube. This black square appears in the power supply circuit as a switch controlled by the gate voltage. The upper bridge and lower bridge of each phase are turned on in turn, charging and discharging the output choke of this phase, and a stable voltage is obtained at the output end.

Each phase circuit must have an upper bridge and a lower bridge, so each phase has at least two MOSFETs. Two or three MOSFETs can be connected in parallel instead of one to improve the conduction capability. Therefore, you may also see a total of three, four or even five MOSFETs per phase.

2. Inductor:

Output choke (Choke), also called inductor (Inductor). Each phase is generally equipped with a choke, under the action of which the output current is continuously smoothed. A few motherboards use two chokes in parallel for each phase, and two chokes are equivalent to one.

Therefore, for ordinary motherboards, we can usually determine how many phases the motherboard supplies power by counting the number of inductors.

In addition, inductors are also divided into semi-closed inductors, fully closed inductors, and toroidal inductors. The appearance differences are as follows:

Commonly used inductors on motherboards include toroidal magnetic powder inductors and DIP ferrite inductors ( The shape is fully enclosed or semi-enclosed) or SMD ferrite inductors. Fully enclosed inductors can better shield electromagnetic interference from the outside and have better performance. Therefore, fully enclosed inductors are currently more popular.

3. Capacitor: (used to ensure the stability of voltage and current (for filtering)

Electrolytic capacitor: The output part of the power supply generally has several large capacitors (Bulk Capacitor) For filtering, they are electrolytic capacitors. The capacitance and ESR of the capacitor affect the smoothness of the output voltage. The electrolytic capacitor has a large capacity, but its high-frequency characteristics are not good.

All solid capacitors: except aluminum electrolytic capacitors. , Solid capacitors are common in CPU power supply parts. Our common solid capacitors are called aluminum-polymer capacitors, which are new types of capacitors. Compared with ordinary aluminum electrolytic capacitors, their performance and life are less affected by temperature, and their high-frequency characteristics are better. , low ESR, low self-heating.

4. PWM pulse width modulation chip:

PWM is Pulse Width Modulation, referred to as pulse width modulation, which uses digital output to control A technical method for controlling analog circuits, which realizes digital encoding of analog signal levels. It relies on changing the pulse width to control the output voltage, and controls the selection and power supply circuit of the PWM chip by changing the pulse modulation period. The number of phases is closely related to the number of phases of power supply the product has, the PWM chip must have the corresponding number of control capabilities.

Therefore, the motherboard needs to use a multi-phase power supply method to share the load of each power supply to maintain the power supply. The safety of the power supply circuit and the controllability of the heat generation.

Finally, to correct the opinion on the Internet, "each phase of power supply works at the same time". In fact, in the design of PWM circuit, each phase of power supply is separate. And operate independently. In other words, it is wrong to say that the more power supply phases there are, the smaller the current shared by each phase is.

Here are some examples of motherboards:

1. Take ASRock's B360M PRO4 as an example:

First look at the controller. The controller can give you a rough idea of ??the design structure of the motherboard's power supply, but it does not mean that you can determine the power supply form.

The following is an analysis of ASRock's B360M PRO4 power supply phase number:

Motherboard power supply

The red color is VCCGT power supply, one up and two down, one phase and one inductor.

Yellow is VCC power supply, two up and two down, one phase and two inductors.

The green part is easily misunderstood by many people. In fact, it belongs to VCCIO or VCCSA, and it does not belong to the PWM controller tube anyway.

Therefore, the actual power supply design of this motherboard is 4 2 phases. Generally speaking, the power supply specifications belonging to one channel will be the same, including MOS bridge, inductors and capacitors. Even using different ones will make them have the same numerical value.

2. MSI B360M BAZOOKA PLUS motherboard analysis.

The motherboard below is actually a 4+2-phase power supply, but it is designed to be disguised as a 4+3-phase motherboard, which can easily cause some misunderstandings.

It can be seen that if you simply look at the inductance, it is easy to think that this is a 4-3 phase power supply. In fact, the capacity of the power supply inductor at the bottom is LR82.

The other inductor capacity is LR22.

Therefore, this motherboard is 4 2, where VCC is two up and two down, one phase and one inductor. VCCGT is one up and two down, one phase and one inductor.

The above is the relevant knowledge about checking the number of power supply phases on the motherboard. This article is just to tell you that checking the number of phases on the motherboard is sometimes not as simple as counting the number of inductors. It may be applicable to ordinary motherboards, but for some comparisons Complex motherboards basically won’t work.

If it is more complicated to check the motherboard phase number, you can check the motherboard parameters online or the detailed parameters on the purchase page or the motherboard introduction. The number of power supply phases of the motherboard is usually marked.

Motherboard

Parameters

In general, all motherboards follow the principle of "you get what you pay for". The following is the final summary:

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1. It is impossible for entry-level motherboards and mid-range motherboards to use double-phase power supply, that is, most of them use 4+2-phase power supply, 4+3-phase power supply, and even some entry-level motherboards use 3+2-phase power supply. It's nothing more than putting in a few more inductors to fool novices.

2. The inductor is very hot, so don’t think that if it is hot, it means the motherboard is going to be broken. In many extreme environments, the inductor can reach around 120 degrees.

4. It’s useless to know the phases of power supply. It’s useless to know what MOS bridge and controller they use. The design of each circuit is closely related, and it is not possible to know the other just by seeing one. Most power supply designs will proactively meet the TDP design of all current processors, which means that no matter how bad it is, the TDP must be met first. As for how much you can get after exceeding the TDP upper limit, it depends purely on luck. Anyway, there is never any luck with cheap motherboards. Some motherboards may deliberately lock TDP to prevent circuit overload in order to avoid performance defects of their own circuits. Some motherboards have no measures, and will suffer from voltage drops and other phenomena, exposing their own insufficient power supply. So while analyzing which motherboard has the best power supply all the way (especially for those who are on a tight budget), it is better to look at how much money you spent and have some ideas in mind.

5. Enhancing power supply and heat dissipation is beneficial to power supply. I have not yet seen any motherboard manufacturer design a circuit that is locked to the TDP upper limit. Even so, due to the characteristics of MOS, as long as you can keep up with the heat dissipation , he can still perform very well, just pay a little attention to the power supply of the motherboard and cool down appropriately. The motherboard will also perform much better.

Instructions for installation users: What obscure knowledge do you need to know about the computer motherboard?

1. What is the function of the fine holes on the motherboard?

On the motherboard There will be some fine holes all over, and no component pins are soldered on them. These holes are called through holes.

They are used to connect signals or power on different levels of the PCB circuit board and play a conductive role.

There are three types of through holes, including "Through Via Hole" that penetrates the entire board, "Blind Via Hole" that only connects to the board surface but does not fully penetrate, and there are also "Blind Via Hole" that do not penetrate the board. The "Buried Via Hole" is connected to the surface but buried inside the board. Of course, the "Buried Via Hole" cannot be directly observed.

2. Why are the heat sinks on the motherboard and graphics card made of aluminum instead of iron?

In terms of thermal conductivity, the thermal conductivity of aluminum is about 100W/m℃, and that of iron The thermal conductivity is about 30~40W/m℃, so the heat sink is made of aluminum, not iron. In addition, the thermal conductivity of copper is larger than that of aluminum and iron, but the cost of copper is relatively high, and its weight is heavier than aluminum and iron. Therefore, aluminum is the best material for heat sinks.

3. Why are the cooling fins on many high-performance boards black?

The surface of the cooling fins is black because it uses an oxidation blackening process, like this It can effectively prevent the cooling fins from being oxidized. In addition, in terms of decoration, the black heat dissipation fins look cooler and more high-end.

4. Is the black PCB board better than the green one?

There is no direct relationship between the color and quality of the PCB board, and the black PCB board is not transparent because it is Due to the light, it will be more difficult to repair, which greatly increases the difficulty and cost of repair.

Nowadays, manufacturers use black PCBs on many of their mid-to-high-end products. If there is a problem, it is easiest for the manufacturer to repair it, which also shows the manufacturer's confidence in product quality and service. At the same time, black often gives people a sense of visual nobility.

5. Why should the interface on the back of the motherboard be made into a specific color?

This follows the PC99 specification, that is, in the interface on the back of the motherboard, the interface and the plug inserted into the interface must be same color. For example, the previously common (now rare) purple PS/2 interface was used to connect the keyboard, and the PS/2 plug of the keyboard was usually purple, which complies with the PC99 specification.

Little knowledge about computer motherboards, what are BIOS and UEFI

About BIOS

BIOS is actually a read-only chip or flash memory chip stored on your motherboard A small piece of code in . We usually call it motherboard "firmware" because it is the bridge between software and hardware. Your motherboard's BIOS does something very basic to crucial. Without it, your computer wouldn't even turn on, but the BIOS can't do things like render images.

BIOS

When you turn on your computer, the BIOS is the first to enter state and wake up other computer components. The BIOS will first check the CMOS chip storage setting items to start the system according to the user settings. These settings are the BIOS setting tool that you enter after repeatedly tapping the delete key or the F2 key when booting. The BIOS will then refer to these settings to initialize your device. Such as CPU, memory, graphics card, peripherals, etc.

BIOS is an important firmware of the motherboard

After completing these self-tests, BOIS will perform a power-on self-test (POST), the purpose is to determine whether the various components in your chassis are normal. If there are no problems, you will hear a "beep" sound, which means everything is going well, provided that the small speaker that comes with your motherboard is installed. If you hear a "beep" sound when there is an error, it means there is a problem with your graphics card or memory installation. You need to reinstall the memory or graphics card or check other computer hardware devices.

If there is no problem with the self-test, it will boot normally.

After completing the above operations, the BIOS will look for a bootable device. To put it simply, it is a device with an operating system, and then the control of the computer is handed over to the operating system. Older BIOSes tend to provide a connection between your mouse and other devices and the operating system.

However, newer operating systems, such as newer Windows, will directly control the hardware, so once you enter the Windows desktop, your BOIS will basically sleep until you wake up next time you need to start it.

The unified extensible firmware interface, commonly known as UEFI, is more powerful and more user-friendly

UEFI for ASUS Master motherboards

For a long time, the traditional BIOS implementation There are many restrictions. The most significant limitation is driver support. The traditional BIOS has a small system specifically used to access mechanical hard disks or SSDs, called the master boot record, or MBR for short. It can only control 2TB partitions, which was fine for a long time in the past, but with the development of modern hard drives that store more data, this limitation must be broken.

UEFI can control millions of petabytes of storage devices

The unified extensible firmware interface, commonly known as UEFI, was born. Not only can it control larger storage devices, its upper limit can reach millions of petabytes. It boots faster than a traditional BIOS, and can also call a real graphical exchange interface with animations and mouse support. The old BIOS interface still looks like a blue screen. But we should be content. After all, the blue background is much better than the BIOS of ancient times. At that time, there was no such interface. In order to change the settings, you need to manually change the position of the motherboard pick-up line.

Traditional BIOS settings

BIOS settings tips

How to enter the BIOS

You press the delete key or F2 when booting By pressing the button, you can enter a menu with a lot of options, which is the motherboard's BIOS. It is firmware that controls the basic, low-level, necessary functions of your computer. How do you use it. First, let's take a look at some common settings that both novices and veterans should pay attention to in order to make the system run at its best.

BIOS settings are very important

BOOT PRIORITY MENU

Let’s start with the settings you should check first when the computer does not start normally, the priority boot menu , it is simply called the "BOOT PRIORITY MENU". When you start your computer, it will look for a drive with a boot loader. Generally, this drive will have the operating system installed on it. Generally speaking, this refers to a mechanical hard drive or SSD with a Windows system. If you are a hardcore User, then the installed one may be Linu__. But sometimes you may boot from a USB or even use a CD for system repair or some special applications. Adjust your boot priority so that the media you want to load comes first, allowing you to boot from where you want it.

The sequential startup of modern computers is very user-friendly

Secure Boot

Speaking of startup, you may have seen an option called "Secure Boot", which is more The new feature is designed to prevent rootkits from infecting your bootloader. If infected, it may cause problems that your anti-malware software will never detect. You should leave it on. But if you need to load some operating systems such as Linu__ and encounter problems, turning off the option may solve these problems. Because Secure Boot will also prevent non-original Microsoft systems from operating.

Secure Boot

Fast Boot

Turn on an option called "Fast Boot" or "Quick Boot" to reduce startup time by skipping error detection. time. But if there is a problem, it may prevent you from booting properly.

Moving on, if a feature of your computer seems to be completely malfunctioning, it may simply be because it has been turned off in the BIOS. There are many options such as SATA hot-plugging of mechanical hard drives and SSDs, onboard sound cards, Ethernet, USB Interfaces, specific PCIe slots, and even the bright flashing RGB lights built into the motherboard can all be turned on or off using options in the BIOS. Generally speaking, just leave everything on, but it's also good to turn these options off to prevent the system from using these built-in features. This is useful if you have a separate sound card or network card and you don't want to clutter the audio settings menu with redundant options.

Fast Boot

RAID options (disk array)

However, if you have a slightly higher-end configuration, there are the following things that you need to pay attention to, if If you want to use multiple hard drives as a unit, be sure to find the option (disk array) in the Storage Options that allows you to switch to RAID. If you've set it up like this before, then restored your computer from something like an overclocking failure and were completely confused as to what went wrong, you may have forgotten this step. That's how I live.

Servers generally use disk arrays

Other options

Most BIOS now allow you to select an __MP configuration file from the menu, which allows you to quickly And easily let your high-performance model memory operate at the manufacturer's nominal speed and timing. If you want to overclock, look for options like EIST Step or C-State. Turning these settings off may be useful. But keep in mind that if you don't throttle the CPU, it may result in higher temperatures and power consumption.

If you often use Windows passwords, but the BIOS allows you to set another password, adding a layer of security, it will allow you to log in to the BIOS every time you try to enter the BIOS or boot from any operating system. It's definitely useful to have a separate password, but don't forget that with some special exceptions, the password will be cleared as soon as you remove the coin cell battery from the motherboard, and they won't stop an intruder from taking your computer apart.

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