Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
“legacy-free” motherboards if you still use peripherals with those types of connections.
Most motherboards feature integrated sound, and many have optional integrated video.
All the integrated ports are supported either directly by the motherboard chipset or by an
additional Super I/O chip and additional interface components (such as a chip for USB
3.0, which is not yet integrated into most chipsets). Adding the optional video and sound
interfaces directly to the motherboard saves both money and the use of an expansion slot,
especially important in the less expensive systems sold today. In the case of integrated
video, however, you're likely to incur a performance hit as compared to having a separate
PCI Express video card.
Ifthesedevicesarenotpresentonthemotherboard,variousSuperI/Oormulti-I/Oboards
that implement all these ports are available. Again, most of the newer versions of these
boards use a single-chip implementation because it is cheaper and more reliable.
See
“
Super I/O Chips
,”
p.
214
(
Chapter 4
).
The primary drawback of having functions such as video and networking built in to the
motherboard, of course, is that you have little or no choice about the features or quality of
the integrated adapters. Integrated components such as these are nearly always of service-
ablequality,buttheycertainlydonotpushtheperformanceenvelopeofhigher-endexpan-
sion cards. Most people who decide to build a system do so because they want optimum
performancefromeverycomponent,whichyoutypicallydonotgetfromintegratedvideo
and sound.
Buying a motherboard with integrated adapters, however, does not preclude you from
adding expansion devices of the same type. You usually can install a video or sound card
into a system with integrated video or sound without major problems, except that in most
cases the integrated devices have to be disabled and cannot be used in conjunction with
the card. If you want the convenience of integrated video but want to maintain the option
of installing a faster PCI Express video card later, look for systems that provide both in-
tegrated video and the PCIe x16 slot you need for a video card.
See
“
Integrated Video/Motherboard Chipsets
,”
p.
605
(
Chapter 12
, “
Video Hard-
If you have four or more USB ports, they often are split among two or more buses, with
one set of connections on the back of the board and another set as a pin-header connect-
or on the motherboard. A cable then plugs in to this connector, enabling you to route the
second USB bus port to the front of the PC case. Most newer cases have provisions for
front-mounted USB ports in this manner, which makes temporarily connecting devices
such as flash drives, digital cameras, gamepads, wireless input device receivers, USB
heaphones, portable media players, or smartphones easier.