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What is the processor's system bus frequency. System bus - what is it? Comparison of modern processors

X86 architecture processors (CPUs) are designed to interact with motherboards that have a hard-coded system bus frequency (Front Side Bus or FSB), which, for example, in most computers can be 133 MHz. The system bus frequency is one of two factors that determine the operating frequency of the CPU. Given this connection, it is technically possible to increase the system bus speed to increase the speed of the central processor, but this is a risky undertaking and can lead to negative effects, such as motherboard failure.

FSB and multiplier

The CPU usually has a built-in frequency multiplier or multiplier which, along with the system bus frequency, affects the final operating frequency. For example, modern Intel processor The Core i7-860 has a 21X multiplier (multiplier) and is designed to work in motherboards with a FSB of 133 MHz, which, when multiplied together, gives the resulting processor frequency of 2.8 GHz. The processor frequency, which is usually written on the protective metal cover of the processor or on its packaging, is actually not a hard value and can be changed by increasing the system bus frequency or changing the coefficient (multiplier).

Overclocking (overclocking)

The process of increasing the system bus clock frequency to higher values supported by the processor is called overclocking or overclocking. For example, increasing the system bus frequency from 133 MHz to 150 MHz will increase the processor frequency. Intel Core i7-860 to 3.15 GHz (multiply 150 MHz by 21 and you get this figure, which must be converted to gigahertz). Overclocking the processor allows you to increase the performance of the system, which is needed to run applications that are demanding on processor resources. Overclocking also helps save you money - thanks to it, you can buy a lower frequency processor with good overclocking potential, increase the frequency of the system bus and achieve from this processor the performance characteristic of more expensive and higher frequency processors (from the same line).

Overclocking risk

Most components personal computer use the system bus frequency for synchronous operation with each other. Therefore, do not forget that by overclocking the processor and increasing this frequency, you also increase it for other components of the system, including the processor cache. This can lead to the output of their modes of operation beyond the limits of the norm and disruption of the system as a whole. The effect of overclocking is hard to predict - it can lead to excessive heat generation and conflicts in the operation of the CPU and other components. Moreover, the computer may completely fail, or vice versa, you simply cannot overclock the computer due to the limitations set by the manufacturer.

If you're lucky, your computer may continue to operate normally, but it will become much faster. You should take into account that overclocking system components will automatically void the manufacturer's warranty. Typically overclocked computers are hand-built, assembled by enthusiasts or small companies from specially selected components. Large companies like Dell and HP protect their products from such risky operations.

Frequency reduction

Separately, it should be said that the reverse process is possible - reducing the frequency of the system bus. This leads to a decrease in system performance and a decrease in heat generation by its components. This course of action is taken when there are problems with the cooling of the system. For example, if the computer enters an aggressive environment or a closed, unventilated room. In addition, frequency reduction can be used to reduce power consumption when high performance processor is not required.

Multiplier blocking

As we have already figured out, changing the FSB system bus frequency leads to a change in the operating frequencies of all system components, but changing the multiplier is safer, since it only affects the processor itself. Therefore, overclocking by increasing the multiplier has a much better chance of success. But, to the great regret of overclockers, most processors (especially Intel) have a locked multiplier that cannot be changed. Only some models of premium processors have an unlocked multiplier and they are designed specifically for overclockers.

The motherboard is printed circuit board(PCB) that connects the processor, memory, and all of your expansion boards together to complete your computer. When choosing motherboard its form factor must be taken into account. The form factor is a world standard that determines the size of the motherboard, the location of interfaces, ports, sockets, slots, the place of attachment to the case, the connector for connecting the power supply.

Form Factor

Most motherboards made nowadays are ATX, these motherboards are 30.5 x 24.4 cm. The slightly smaller (24.4 x 24.4 cm) mATX form factor. Mini-ITX motherboards are quite modest in size (17 x 17 cm). The ATX motherboard has standard connectors such as PS/2 ports, USB ports, parallel port, serial port, built-in BIOS, etc. ATX motherboard is installed in a standard case.

motherboard chipset

As a rule, various slots and connectors are installed on the motherboard. The chipset is all the microcircuits on the motherboard that ensure the interaction of all subsystems of the computer. Major chipset manufacturers this moment are Intel, nVidia and ATI (AMD). The chipset contains north and south bridge.

Scheme Intel chipset P67

north bridge designed to support video card and random access memory and direct work with the processor. In addition, the northbridge controls the system bus frequency. However, today the controller is often integrated into the processor, which significantly reduces heat dissipation and simplifies the operation of system controllers.

south bridge provides input and output functions, and contains controllers for devices located on the periphery, such as audio, hard disk, and others. It also contains bus controllers to facilitate connection peripherals e.g. USB or PCI bus.

The speed of the computer depends on how coordinated the interaction of the chipset and processor. For greater efficiency, the processor and chipset must be from the same manufacturer. In addition, it must be borne in mind that the chipset must match the amount and type of RAM.

Processor socket

A socket is a type of connector on a motherboard that will match your processor socket and is designed to connect to it. It is the socket connector that separates the motherboards.

Sockets starting with AM, FM, and S support AMD processors.
Sockets starting with LGA have support for Intel processors.

What type of socket corresponds to your processor, you will learn from the instructions for the processor itself, but in general, the choice of the motherboard occurs simultaneously with the choice of the processor, they are, as it were, selected for each other.

RAM slots

When choosing a motherboard, the type and frequency of RAM is of great importance. At the moment, DDR3 memory with a frequency of 1066, 1333, 1600, 1800 or 2000 MHz is used, before it was DDR2, DDR and SDRAM. One type of memory cannot be connected to the motherboard if its connectors are designed for another type of memory. Although at the moment there are models of motherboards with slots for both DDR2 and DDR3. Despite the fact that the RAM is connected to a motherboard designed for a higher frequency, it is better not to do this, as this will negatively affect the operation of the computer. If you plan to increase the amount of RAM in the future, then you need to choose a motherboard with big amount connectors for it (the maximum number is 4).

PCI slot

The PCI slot accepts expansion cards such as sound card, modem, TV tuners, LAN card, map wireless network WiFi, etc. We would like to note that the more these slots, the more additional devices you can connect to the motherboard. The presence of two or more identical PCI-E x16 slots for connecting video cards indicates the possibility of their simultaneous and parallel operation.

In view of the fact that modern additional devices include cooling systems and simply have an overall appearance, they can interfere with connecting another device to an adjacent slot. Therefore, even if you are not going to connect a bunch of internal additional boards, anyway, you should choose a motherboard with at least 1-2 PCI slots so that you can easily connect even a minimal set of devices.

PCI Express

Slot PCI Express required to connect a PCI-E video card. Some boards with 2 or more pci-e connectors support SLI or Crossfire configuration to connect multiple video cards at the same time. Therefore, if you need to connect two or three identical video cards at the same time, for example, for playing games or working with graphics, you must choose a motherboard with the appropriate number of PCI Express x16 slots.

Bus frequency

The bus frequency is the total bandwidth of the motherboard, and the higher it is, the faster the performance of the entire system will be. Please note that the processor bus frequency must match the motherboard bus frequency, in otherwise processor with higher bus frequency than supported motherboard, will not work.

Hard Drive Connectors

The most relevant today is the SATA connector for connecting hard drives, which replaced the old IDE connector. Unlike IDE, SATA has a higher data transfer rate. Modern SATA 3 connectors support speeds of 6 Gb / s. The more SATA connectors, the more hard drives you can connect to the motherboard. But keep in mind that the number of hard drives may be limited by the case of the system unit. Therefore, if you want to install more than two hard drives, then make sure that this option is in the case.

Despite the fact that the SATA connector is actively replacing the IDE, new models of motherboards are still equipped with an IDE connector. To a greater extent, this is done for the convenience of upgrading, that is, by updating the computer components in order to save all the available information on an old hard drive with an IDE connector and not experience difficulties with copying it.

If you are buying new computer and plan to use an old hard drive, we recommend that you use it as an additional hard drive as a maximum. Still, it is better to rewrite the existing information to a new HDD with a SATA connection, since the old one will noticeably slow down the entire system.

USB connectors

Pay attention to the quantity USB connector ov on the back of the motherboard. The more of them, the better, respectively, since almost all existing additional devices have a USB connector for connecting to a computer, namely: keyboards, mice, flash drives, mobile phone, wifi adapter, printer, external hard drive, modem, etc. To use all these devices, you need a sufficient number of connectors for each device.

USB 3.0 is new standard transmission of information through USB interface, the data transfer rate reaches up to 4.8Gb/s.

Sound

Every motherboard has a sound controller. If you are a fan of listening to music, we recommend choosing a motherboard with a large number of audio channels.

2.0 - the sound card supports stereo sound, two speakers or headphones;
5.1 - the sound card supports a surround sound audio system, namely 2 front speakers, 1 center channel, 2 rear speaker and subwoofer;
7.1 - support for a surround sound system, has the same architecture as for the operation of a 5.1 system, only side speakers are added.

If the motherboard has support for a multi-channel audio system, then you can easily build a home theater based on a computer.

Additional functions

Fans can be connected to any motherboard that has connectors for fans (coolers) to ensure reliable and good cooling of all internal components in system block. It is recommended to have several of these connectors.

ethernet- This is a controller installed on the motherboard, using it to connect to the Internet. If you plan to use the Internet extensively and your ISP supports 1Gb/s, then buy a motherboard that supports that speed. In general, if you buy a motherboard for a rather long period of time, and do not plan to change it in the next 3 years, then it is better to immediately take a card with gigabit network support, given the pace of technology development.

Wi-Fi built-in module, you will need therefore if you have WI-FI router. By purchasing such a motherboard, you will get rid of extra wires, but the truth is that Wi-Fi will not be able to please you with high speed, like Ethernet.

Bluetooth- a very useful thing, because thanks to the bluetooth controller you can not only download content from your computer to your mobile phone, but also connect wireless mouse and a keyboard and even a Bluetooth headset, thereby getting rid of wires.

RAID controller- with it you can not be afraid for the safety of files on your computer in the event of a hard drive failure. To enable this technology, you must install. at least 2 of the same hard drives in mirror mode, and all data from one drive will be automatically copied to another.

Solid Capacitors- this is the use of capacitors containing a polymer that are more resistant to load and temperature. They have a longer service life and they tolerate high temperatures better. Almost all manufacturers have already switched to them in the manufacture of motherboards.

digital system food- provides power to the processor and the rest of the circuit without drops and in sufficient volume. There are both cheap digital blocks on the market that are no better than analog ones, as well as more expensive and skillful ones. You will need it if you have a weak power supply or poor-quality power supply, and you do not use UPS, or you will overclock the processor.

Buttons for fast acceleration- allow you to increase the frequency of the bus or the supplied voltage with one click. Useful for overclockers.

ESD protection- this problem seems insignificant until you reach for your pet in winter, after removing your sweater. And although this happens so infrequently, it is still very disappointing to burn the board with one careless movement.

military class- this is the passage of testing the board in conditions of high humidity, dryness, cold, heat, temperature changes and other stress tests. If the motherboard passed all these tests, then only a lightning bolt can disable it. There are different classes that differ in the set of tests passed.

multi-biosity save you money and nerves after bad experiences with BIOS or UEFI. Otherwise, you receive a non-working fee. And to restore it, you will need to find another working motherboard, preferably of the same type. In multi-bios boards, you can simply switch to the fallback UEFI. In some boards, this is implemented as a rollback to the original UEFI. Very useful for lovers of experiments.

Overclocked USB or LAN ports is a technology found on almost all motherboards. Thing is USB speed increases only under certain conditions. And you will notice an increase in the speed of the LAN network only with a decrease in ping in online games

The central processor of a computer has a number of technical characteristics that determine the most important characteristic of any processor - its performance, and it is useful to know about the meaning of each of them. Why? In order to be well versed in reviews and tests, as well as CPU markings in the future. In this article I will try to reveal the main technical characteristics of the processor in a presentation that is understandable for beginners.

The main technical characteristics of the central processor:

Frequency and bit depth of the system bus;

Let's take a closer look at these characteristics.

Clock frequency

Clock frequency is an indicator of the speed of execution of instructions by the central processor. Tact - the period of time required to perform an elementary operation.

In the recent past clock frequency The central processor was identified directly with its performance, that is, the higher the clock frequency of the CPU, the more productive it is. In practice, we have a situation where processors with different frequencies have the same performance, because they can execute a different number of instructions in one cycle (depending on the core design, bus bandwidth, cache memory).

The processor clock speed is proportional to the system bus frequency (see below).

Bit depth

Processor bit depth - a value that determines the amount of information that the central processor is able to process in one clock cycle.

For example, if the processor bit depth is 16, this means that it is able to process 16 bits of information in one cycle.

I think everyone understands that the higher the bit depth of the processor, the greater the amount of information it can process.

Usually, the larger the bit depth of the processor, the higher its performance.

Currently, 32- and 64-bit processors are used. The bitness of the processor does not mean that it must execute instructions with the same bitness.

Cache

First of all, let's answer the question, what is cache memory?

Cache memory is a high-speed computer memory designed for temporary storage of information (code of executable programs and data) needed by the central processor.

What data is stored in the cache?

The most commonly used.

What is the purpose of cache memory?

The fact is that the performance of RAM, compared to the performance of the CPU, is much lower. It turns out that the processor is waiting for data to arrive from the RAM - which reduces the performance of the processor, and hence the performance of the entire system. Cache memory reduces the processor's waiting time by storing the data and code of executable programs that are most often accessed by the processor (the difference between cache memory and computer RAM is that the speed of cache memory is ten times higher).

Cache memory, like conventional memory, has a capacity. The higher the bit depth of the cache memory, the more data it can work with.

There are three levels of cache memory: cache memory of the first (L1), second (L2) and third (L3). Most often in modern computers apply the first two levels.

Let's take a closer look at all three cache levels.

L1 cache is the fastest and most expensive memory.

L1 cache is located on the same chip as the processor and operates at the CPU frequency (hence the highest performance) and is used directly by the processor core.

The capacity of the cache memory of the first level is small (due to the high cost) and is calculated in kilobytes (usually no more than 128 KB).

L2 cache is a high-speed memory that performs the same functions as the L1 cache. The difference between L1 and L2 is that the latter has more low speed, but larger (from 128 KB to 12 MB), which is very useful for resource-intensive tasks.

The L3 cache is located on the motherboard. L3 is significantly slower than L1 and L2, but faster than RAM. It is clear that the volume of L3 is greater than the volume of L1 and L2. L3 cache is found in very powerful computers.

Number of Cores

Modern processor manufacturing technologies allow more than one core to be placed in one package. The presence of several cores significantly increases the performance of the processor, but this does not mean that the presence of n cores gives an increase in performance by n times. In addition, the problem of multi-core processors lies in the fact that today there are relatively few programs written taking into account the presence of several processor cores.

Multi-core processor, first of all, allows you to implement the function of multitasking: to distribute the work of applications between processor cores. This means that each individual core works with “its own” application.

Frequency and bit width of the system bus

System bus processor (FSB - Front Side Bus) is a set of signal lines for the exchange of information between the CPU and internal devices (RAM, ROM, timer, I / O ports, etc.) of the computer. The FSB actually connects the processor to the rest of the devices in the system unit.

The processor system bus includes an address bus, a data bus, and a control bus.

The main characteristics of the bus are its capacity and frequency of operation. The bus frequency is the clock frequency at which data is exchanged between the processor and the computer's system bus.

Naturally, the higher the bit depth and frequency of the system bus, the higher the processor performance.

The high data transfer rate of the bus enables the processor and computer devices to quickly receive the necessary information and commands.

There is one important point to note here.

The frequency of operation of all modern processors is several times higher than the frequency of the system bus, so the processor works as much as the system bus allows it to. The amount by which the processor frequency exceeds the system bus frequency is called the multiplier.

xiod.ru

System bus - what is it?

Hello, dear readers of the Pc-information-guide.ru blog. Very often on the Internet you can find a lot of any computer terminology, in particular - such a thing as "System Bus". But few people know what exactly this computer term means. I think today's article will help clarify.

The system bus (backbone) includes the data, address and control bus. Each of them transmits its own information: on the data bus - data, addresses - respectively, the address (of devices and memory cells), controls - control signals for devices. But now we will not delve into the wilds of the theory of organization of computer architecture, we will leave it to university students. Physically, the highway is presented in the form of numerous tracks (contacts) on the motherboard.

It was not by chance that I pointed to the inscription "FSB" in the photo for this article. The fact is that the FSB bus, which stands for "Front-side bus" - that is, "front" or "system" bus, is responsible for connecting the processor to the chipset. And its frequency is an important parameter, which is usually guided by when overclocking the processor, for example.

There are several varieties of the FSB bus, for example, on motherboards with Intel processors, the FSB bus is usually of the QPB type, in which data is transferred 4 times per clock cycle. If it's about AMD processors, then data is transferred there 2 times per clock, and the type of bus is called EV6. And in latest models AMD CPU, and at all - there is no FSB, its role is played by the latest HyperTransport.

So, between the chipset and the central processor, data is transmitted at a frequency that is 4 times higher than the FSB bus frequency. Why only 4 times, see paragraph above. It turns out that if 1600 MHz (effective frequency) is indicated on the box, in reality the frequency will be 400 MHz (actual). In the future, when we talk about overclocking the processor (in the following articles), you will learn why you need to pay attention to this parameter. For now, just remember, the higher the frequency value, the better.

By the way, the inscription "O.C." means literally "acceleration", this is an abbreviation for the English. Overclock, that is, this is the maximum possible system bus frequency that the motherboard supports. The system bus can easily operate at a frequency significantly lower than that indicated on the package, but not higher than it.

The second parameter characterizing the system bus is the throughput. This is the amount of information (data) that it can pass through itself in one second. It is measured in Bit/s. The bandwidth can be independently calculated using a very simple formula: bus frequency (FSB) * bus width. You already know about the first multiplier, the second multiplier corresponds to the processor capacity - remember, x64, x86(32)? All modern processors already have a bit depth of 64 bits.

So, we substitute our data into the formula, as a result it turns out: 1600 * 64 = 102,400 Mbps = 100 Gbps = 12.5 Gbps. This is the bandwidth of the line between the chipset and the processor, or rather, between the north bridge and the processor. That is, the system, FSB, processor buses are all synonyms. All motherboard connectors - video card, HDD, random access memory "communicate" with each other only through the highway. But FSB is not the only one on the motherboard, although the most important one, of course.

As you can see from the figure, the Front-side bus (the thickest line) in fact connects only the processor and the chipset, and already from the chipset there are several different buses in other directions: PCI, video adapter, RAM, USB. And it’s not at all a fact that the operating frequencies of these sub-buses should be equal or a multiple FSB frequency No, they can be completely different. However, in modern processors, the RAM controller often moves from the north bridge to the processor itself, in which case it turns out that there is no separate RAM highway, all data between the processor and RAM is transferred via FSB directly with a frequency equal to the FSB frequency.

That's all for now, thanks.

pc-information-guide.ru

The processor is one of the key components of the computer, it performs calculations and executes commands received from programs. IN modern world There are two most established computer processor manufacturers, Amd and Intel. In order to do everything right when choosing a computer, you need to familiarize yourself with the technical characteristics in detail.

Clock speed and number of cores

The clock frequency is a parameter that is measured in gigahertz, for example, 2.21 GHz indicates that a particular processor is capable of performing 2,216,000,000 operations in one second. Thus, a higher such frequency allows faster data processing. This is one of the most important parameters that you should pay attention to when choosing a processor.

No less important is the number of cores, the fact is that the clock frequency at this stage of development can no longer be increased, this prompted the development to continue development in the direction parallel computing, which is expressed in an increase in the number of nuclei. The number of cores informs about how many programs can be run simultaneously without losing performance. However, it should be borne in mind that if the program is optimized for two cores, then even with more of them, the computer will not be able to fully use them. [ content ]

Cache and processor bus frequency

The bus frequency indicates the rate at which information is transmitted to and from the processor. The larger this indicator, the faster the exchange of information occurs, gigahertz are used as units of measurement here. Of great importance is the processor cache, which is a high-speed block of memory. It is located directly on the core and serves to improve performance, since data is processed at a much higher speed in it than in the case of RAM. There are three levels of cache memory:

L1 - the first level is the smallest in volume, but the fastest, its size varies between 8 - 128 KB.
L2 - the second level, much slower than the first, but exceeds it in volume, here the size varies between 128 - 12288 KB.
L3 - the third level, loses in speed to the first two levels, but the most voluminous one, by the way, it may be completely absent, as it is provided for special editions of processors or server solutions. Its size reaches 16384 KB, it can be present in such processors as Xeon MP, Pentium 4 Extreme Edition or Itanium 2.

Other processor parameters

Less significant, but still relevant when choosing a processor, are characteristics such as socket and heat dissipation. A socket is a socket where the processor is installed on the motherboard, for example, if the AMZ socket is shown on the processor marking, then you need a corresponding motherboard with an identical socket. By indicators of heat dissipation, you can determine the degree of heating of the processor during operation. This will be a direct guide to the selection of the appropriate cooling system. This indicator is measured in watts, and it varies between 10 - 165W.

Such a characteristic as support for various technologies determines a set of commands designed to improve performance, for example, it can be SSE4 technology. It is a set of fifty-four commands designed to increase processor performance when working with media content, gaming applications, 3D tasks modeling.

The scale of technology, determined by the size of semiconductor elements, is called the technical process. Semiconductor elements form the basis of the internal circuit of the processor, consisting of transistors, which are interconnected in an appropriate way. As technology improves and the size of transistors decreases proportionally, the performance of processors increases. For example, the Willamette core, made in accordance with the 0.18 micron process technology, has 42,000,000 transistors. At the same time, the Prescott core, corresponding to the 0.09 micron process technology, has 125,000,000 transistors. [ content ]

Comparison of modern processors

Let's try to apply the knowledge gained in practice and compare two modern processors, as an example, consider the AMD FX-8150 Zambezi and the Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge. In this case, AMD boasts a higher clock speed of 3600MHz, while Intel caps at 3400GHz. This characterizes AMD as a faster processor. As for the number of cores, here AMD is again in the lead with 8 cores, but Intel has only 4 cores, but this is a very slippery moment, because applications may not be optimized to work even with 4 cores, let alone with 8- Yu. In terms of cache size, here Intel also loses significantly to its competitor, the largest one, that is, the L3 level 3 cache is only 6144 KB here, while AMD has this figure of 8192 KB. L2 cache volumes differ even more dramatically: 1024 KB for Intel against 8192 KB for a competitor. Based on these key characteristics, you need to choose a processor. In our case, I would prefer the AMD FX-8150 Zambezi.

Now you know all the key parameters and you can choose the processor that suits you.

myblaze.com

Repair of computers and laptops in Kharkov

Details Posted on 08 December 2013 Posted by Roman

The motherboard is the printed circuit board (PCB) that connects the processor, memory, and all of your expansion cards together to make your computer work. When choosing a motherboard, you need to consider its form factor. The form factor is a world standard that determines the size of the motherboard, the location of interfaces, ports, sockets, slots, the place of attachment to the case, the connector for connecting the power supply.

Form Factor

Most motherboards made nowadays are ATX, these motherboards are 30.5 x 24.4 cm. The slightly smaller (24.4 x 24.4 cm) mATX form factor. Mini-ITX motherboards are quite modest in size (17 x 17 cm). The ATX motherboard has standard connectors such as PS/2 ports, USB ports, parallel port, serial port, BIOS built into the motherboard, etc. ATX motherboard is installed in a standard case.

motherboard chipset

As a rule, various slots and connectors are installed on the motherboard. The chipset is all the chips on the motherboard that provide the interaction of all subsystems of the computer. The main manufacturers of chipsets at the moment are Intel, nVidia and ATI (AMD). The chipset includes a northbridge and a southbridge.

Intel P67 Chipset Diagram

The northbridge is designed to support the video card and RAM and work directly with the processor. In addition, the northbridge controls the system bus frequency. However, today the controller is often integrated into the processor, which significantly reduces heat dissipation and simplifies the operation of system controllers.

The southbridge provides input and output functions, and contains controllers for devices located on the periphery, such as audio, hard disk, and others. It also contains bus controllers that facilitate the connection of peripheral devices, such as USB or PCI bus.

Processor socket

A socket is a type of connector on a motherboard that will match your processor socket and is designed to connect to it. It is the socket connector that separates the motherboards.

Sockets starting with AM, FM, and S support AMD processors.
Sockets starting with LGA have support for Intel processors.

RAM slots

When choosing a motherboard, the type and frequency of RAM is of great importance. At the moment, DDR3 memory with a frequency of 1066, 1333, 1600, 1800 or 2000 MHz is used, before it was DDR2, DDR and SDRAM. One type of memory cannot be connected to the motherboard if its connectors are designed for another type of memory. Although at the moment there are models of motherboards with slots for both DDR2 and DDR3. Despite the fact that the RAM is connected to a motherboard designed for a higher frequency, it is better not to do this, as this will negatively affect the operation of the computer. If in the future it is planned to increase the amount of RAM, then it is necessary to choose a motherboard with a large number of connectors for it (the maximum number is 4).

PCI slot

You can connect expansion cards to the PCI slot, such as a sound card, modem, TV tuners, network card, wireless card WiFi networks etc. We would like to note that the more these slots, the more additional devices you can connect to the motherboard. The presence of two or more identical PCI-E x16 slots for connecting video cards indicates the possibility of their simultaneous and parallel operation.

In view of the fact that modern additional devices include cooling systems and simply have an overall appearance, they can interfere with connecting another device to an adjacent slot. Therefore, even if you are not going to connect a bunch of internal additional boards to your computer, it is still worth choosing a motherboard with at least 1-2 PCI slots so that you can easily connect even a minimal set of devices.

PCI Express

A PCI Express slot is required to connect a PCI-E video card. Some boards with 2 or more pci-e connectors support SLI or Crossfire configuration to connect multiple video cards at the same time. Therefore, if you need to connect two or three identical video cards at the same time, for example, for playing games or working with graphics, you must choose a motherboard with the appropriate number of PCI Express x16 slots.

Bus frequency

The bus frequency is the total bandwidth of the motherboard, and the higher it is, the faster the performance of the entire system will be. Please note that the processor bus frequency must match the motherboard bus frequency, otherwise a processor with a bus frequency higher than that supported by the motherboard will not work.

Hard Drive Connectors

If you are buying a new computer and plan to use an old hard drive, then we recommend that you use it as an additional hard drive as a maximum. Still, it is better to rewrite the existing information to a new HDD with a SATA connection, since the old one will noticeably slow down the entire system.

USB connectors

Pay attention to the number of USB connectors on the back of the motherboard. The more of them, the better, respectively, since almost all existing additional devices have a USB connector for connecting to a computer, namely: keyboards, mice, flash drives, mobile phone, Wi-Fi adapter, printer, external hard drive, modem, etc. .P. To use all these devices, you need a sufficient number of connectors for each device.

USB 3.0 is a new standard for transferring information through the USB interface, the data transfer rate reaches up to 4.8 Gb / s.

Sound

Every motherboard has a sound controller. If you are a fan of listening to music, we recommend choosing a motherboard with a large number of audio channels.

2.0 - the sound card supports stereo sound, two speakers or headphones;
5.1 - the sound card supports a surround sound audio system, namely 2 front speakers, 1 center channel, 2 rear speakers and a subwoofer;
7.1 - support for a surround sound system, has the same architecture as for the operation of a 5.1 system, only side speakers are added.

If the motherboard has support for a multi-channel audio system, then you can easily build a home theater based on a computer.

Additional functions

Fans can be connected to any motherboard that has connectors for fans (coolers) to ensure reliable and good cooling of all internal components in the system unit. It is recommended to have several of these connectors.

Ethernet is a controller installed on the motherboard that connects to the Internet. If you plan to use the Internet extensively and your ISP supports 1Gb/s, then buy a motherboard that supports that speed. In general, if you buy a motherboard for a rather long period of time, and do not plan to change it in the next 3 years, then it is better to immediately take a card with gigabit network support, given the pace of technology development.

Wi-Fi built-in module, so you will need it if you have a WI-FI router. By purchasing such a motherboard, you will get rid of unnecessary wires, but the truth is that Wi-Fi will not be able to please you with high speed, like Ethernet.

Bluetooth is a very useful thing, because thanks to the bluetooth controller you can not only download content from your computer to your mobile phone, but also connect a wireless mouse and keyboard and even a Bluetooth headset, thereby getting rid of wires.

RAID controller - with it you can not be afraid for the safety of files on your computer in case of hard drive failure. To enable this technology, you must install. at least 2 identical hard drives in mirror mode, and all data from one drive will be automatically copied to the other.

Solid capacitors are the use of more load and temperature resistant capacitors containing a polymer. They have a longer service life and they tolerate high temperatures better. Almost all manufacturers have already switched to them in the manufacture of motherboards.

Digital power system - provides power to the processor and the rest of the circuit without drops and in sufficient volume. There are both cheap digital blocks on the market that are no better than analog ones, as well as more expensive and skillful ones. You will need it if you have a weak power supply or poor-quality power supply, and you do not use UPS, or you will overclock the processor.

Fast Overclocking Buttons - Allows you to increase the bus frequency or supply voltage with a single push. Useful for overclockers.

Static protection - this problem seems insignificant until you reach for your pet in winter, after removing your sweater. And although this happens so infrequently, it is still very disappointing to burn the board with one careless movement.

Military Class - this is the passage of testing the board in conditions of high humidity, dryness, cold, heat, temperature changes and other stress tests. If the motherboard passed all these tests, then only a lightning bolt can disable it. There are different classes that differ in the set of tests passed.

Multi-biosity will save you money and nerves after bad experiences with BIOS or UEFI. Otherwise, you receive a non-working fee. And to restore it, you will need to find another working motherboard, preferably of the same type. In multi-bios boards, you can simply switch to the fallback UEFI. In some boards, this is implemented as a rollback to the original UEFI. Very useful for lovers of experiments.

"Overclocked" USB or LAN ports are a technology found on almost all motherboards. It consists in the fact that the USB speed increases only under certain conditions. And you will notice an increase in the speed of the LAN network only with a decrease in ping in online games

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How to choose the right motherboard and processor

Print entry

Undoubtedly, one of the most important elements that make up a computer is the processor and motherboard, with the latter being the main platform for the computer. Therefore, the process of choosing a motherboard must be approached very carefully, since the efficiency of the entire system directly depends on this. Ten years ago, the motherboard was only the basis of a computer system that united all devices and ensured their correct and joint functioning. Now, both a sound card and a graphics accelerator processor can be built into the “motherboard”, but more on that later. So how to choose a motherboard and a processor for it, let's take a closer look.

Motherboard

When choosing a motherboard, the main attention should be paid to its purpose, connection socket, size, bus frequency and chipset. About everything about this in order a little lower.

Before choosing a motherboard, you need to decide on its purpose, that is, for what needs you need it. The first option for work, the second for entertainment, watching movies, computer games. For work, you can choose a motherboard of medium parameters. This will be inexpensive, but the performance of the computer will be at the level. The game option will cost more, because for modern games system requirements will be increased.

Motherboards come in a variety of sizes. The standard "motherboard" (ATX) has a size equal to 12 × 9.62 inches. There are also micro-ATX, flex-ATX, mini-ITX. It is worth remembering that the smaller the form factor of the motherboard, the less its performance and functionality. For example, on a mini-atx motherboard, there will be fewer connectors for connecting additional modules than on an ATX-type motherboard, and it will heat up accordingly.

Socket is a connector on the computer motherboard, which ensures the correct operation of the processor with the device. The socket can be of different architecture, for example, Socket775 or Socket1155. It is precisely because of the different socket architecture that you first need to purchase a motherboard, and then a processor.

A chipset is a set of logical chips that ensures the compatibility and control of all devices with each other. The chipset consists of North and South bridges. The northbridge is designed for joint operation of the computer processor with the system's video card and its random access memory. Also, this bridge sets the frequency of the special FSB bus. If the Northbridge is provided with a cooling radiator, then this is only a plus. The south bridge ensures compatibility and proper operation of the processor with flash drives, hard drives, USB connectors and others. The copper heatsink is a plus.

The FSB system bus is characterized by frequency. When choosing a motherboard, it is necessary that the bus frequency be compatible with the FSB frequency of the processor bus. As a rule, the motherboard bus supports several frequencies, however, in some models, the maximum possible bus frequency is available only after updating the system BIOS'a factory settings.

Now about the built-in sound and video cards in the motherboard. As a rule, such modules do not have high power and performance, however, for everyday listening to music and watching movies in normal quality, these devices are suitable. If you need something more powerful, then it is better to purchase sound and video cards separately.

CPU

The processor is the main electronic device of the computer, which is responsible for the speed of information processing. Therefore, processors should be selected based on their requests and system requirements motherboard. Only in this case the computer will quickly process the data.

There are many manufacturers of processors, but the first positions are occupied by processors from Intel and AMD. The system will function normally if the processor type and motherboard type match. If they are different, the performance of the system may be impaired.

Main system tool The speed of a processor is its clock speed. The clock frequency is the number of operations performed by the computer per second of time. For example, if the specified processor frequency is 2.9 GHz, then this means that the "Stone" is able to process 2 billion 900 million operations per second. The higher this indicator, the faster the system will function.

The next selection criterion is the processor socket. As a rule, the processor is already chosen for a specific motherboard, so the sockets of the "motherboard" and "stone" must match.

Cache memory is an ultra-fast processor buffer for storing frequently accessed data. The processor cannot wait until the computer's RAM responds to its requests, so the cache is an important system criterion when choosing a processor. The cache itself has three levels, denoted by the English letter L. So the cache of the first level L1 is the fastest, although the smallest in volume. The amount of stored data is only 16-128 KB, L2 is larger in volume, but slower in performance, L3 is the largest cache in terms of data. It is intended for watching movies or for games with complex graphics.

The processor also has an FSB system bus. Its frequency can reach 1333 GHz, this is the maximum value of the parameter. When choosing a processor for the motherboard, it is necessary to compare the frequency of this bus for both devices. If the values of the motherboard parameter do not match the readings of the processor bus parameters, then it is better to look for another motherboard or another processor.

As an example, we can take a motherboard with the following parameters: ASUS P8Z77-V Intel Z77 (Socket 1155; FSB 5000 MHz), 1xLGA1155, 4xDDR3 DIMM, 3xPCI-E x16, integrated audio: HDA, 7.1, Ethernet: 1000 Mbps , ATX form factor, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, USB 3.0.

From these parameters it follows that we need to find a processor with a socket 1155 series, with a processor system bus frequency of about 5000 MHz and built according to Intel technologies. This motherboard is compatible with 2nd and 3rd processors. Generations of Intel Core i7, i5, or i3.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Very often on the Internet you can find a lot of any computer terminology, in particular - such a thing as "System Bus". But few people know what exactly this computer term means. I think today's article will help clarify.

The system bus (backbone) includes the data, address and control bus. Each of them transmits its own information: on the data bus - data, addresses - respectively, the address (of devices and memory cells), controls - control signals for devices. But now we will not delve into the wilds of the theory of organization of computer architecture, we will leave it to university students. Physically, the trunk is represented as (contacts) on the motherboard.

It was not by chance that I pointed to the inscription "FSB" in the photo for this article. The point is that for processor to chipset connection it is the FSB bus that answers, which stands for "Front-side bus" - that is, "front" or "system". And, which is usually guided by when overclocking the processor, for example.

There are several varieties of the FSB bus, for example, on motherboards with Intel processors, the FSB bus is usually of the QPB type, in which data is transferred 4 times per clock cycle. If we are talking about AMD processors, then data is transferred there 2 times per clock, and the type of bus is called EV6. And in the latest AMD CPU models, there is no FSB at all, its role is played by the latest HyperTransport.

So, between and the central processor, data is transmitted at a frequency that is 4 times higher than the frequency of the FSB bus. Why only 4 times, see paragraph above. It turns out that if 1600 MHz (effective frequency) is indicated on the box, in reality the frequency will be 400 MHz (actual). In the future, when we talk about overclocking the processor (in the following articles), you will learn why you need to pay attention to this parameter. For now, just remember, the higher the frequency value, the better.

The second parameter characterizing the system bus is. This is the amount of information (data) that it can pass through itself in one second. It is measured in Bit/s. The bandwidth can be independently calculated using a very simple formula: bus frequency (FSB) * bus width. You already know about the first multiplier, the second multiplier corresponds to the processor capacity - remember, x64, x86(32)? All modern processors already have a bit depth of 64 bits.

So, we substitute our data into the formula, as a result it turns out: 1600 * 64 = 102,400 Mbps = 100 Gbps = 12.5 Gbps. This is the bandwidth of the line between the chipset and the processor, or rather, between the north bridge and the processor. That is system, FSB, processor buses - all these are synonyms. All motherboard connectors - video card, hard drive, RAM "communicate" with each other only through the highways. But FSB is not the only one on the motherboard, although the most important one, of course.

As you can see from the figure, the Front-side bus (the thickest line) in fact connects only the processor and the chipset, and already from the chipset there are several different buses in other directions: PCI, video adapter, RAM, USB. And it's not at all a fact that the operating frequencies of these sub-buses should be equal or a multiple of the FSB frequency, no, they can be completely different. However, in modern processors, the RAM controller often moves from the north bridge to the processor itself, in which case it turns out that there is no separate RAM highway, all data between the processor and RAM is transferred via FSB directly with a frequency equal to the FSB frequency.

That's all for now, thanks.

Today, together with IT Expert specialists, we understand what an unlocked multiplier (multiplication factor) is and why it is needed.

Quite often we come across in the news that Intel or AMD has released such and such a process with an unlocked multiplier to the delight of enthusiasts and overclockers. It is clear that the multiplier is only for processors, and that it can be locked and unlocked (allowed to be changed) by the processor manufacturer.

Overclocking an unlocked processor, RAM, and motherboard is a way to customize your computer. You can adjust power, voltage settings, cores, memory, and other important system metrics to maximize performance. Overclocking speeds up components - and gameplay. It also allows you to optimize tasks that require a large number CPU resources such as image processing and transcoding.

"Unlocked multiplier" means that in the BIOS of a personal computer, you can change the processor multiplier up or down. So what is this multiplier? Before answering this question, let's find out how the processor frequency is obtained.

Let's take a motherboard with a certain bus frequency (FSB), for example 533 Mhz (megahertz), and a processor with a multiplier of 4.5. As a result (533 x 4.5), we get the desired processor clock speed of 2398.5 MHz. Now, if we raise the multiplier to 7.5, then at the output we will get a speed increase of 1599 megahertz. If we reduce it to 3.5, the processor frequency will drop to 1.8 GHz.

The formula for calculating the multiplier looks like this:

FSB (system board bus frequency - motherboard)
CPU Multiplier (CPU multiplier)
DDR Multiplier (aka 400/533/667/800 aka 1/1.33/1.66/2.0)

e.g. DDR2=FSB*multuplier*2 (specified)

Regular processors go on sale with a multiplier locked up. The manufacturer can be understood. After all, it turns out that why do we need to buy a processor for $200, when you can buy a simpler model for $100, change one parameter in the BIOS and get the same processor for $200? You can lower the multiplier for any processor.

However, a locked multiplier does not mean that it is impossible to overclock the processor, that is, increase its frequency. After all, the processor takes as a basis the frequency of the motherboard. Therefore, the enthusiast simply increases the frequency of the motherboard (system bus) and gets a higher processor frequency without increasing the multiplier.

Extreme Edition processors from Intel and Black Edition processors from AMD go on sale with unlocked multipliers. Also, an unlocked Intel processor can be identified by the letter K in the name. For example, 3570 and 3570K. The second one is unlocked.

These processors are noticeably more expensive than their locked counterparts and are aimed at computer enthusiasts and overclockers - people who overclock computer hardware for the sake of a result that can be recorded and demonstrated to the community. For an ordinary person, an unlocked multiplier can give a margin of safety for a system upgrade for a couple of years. When it seems that the computer has stopped "pulling", you can simply overclock its frequency

11.04.2020

Computer

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