Understanding Your Motherboard - The What's and How's of the Motherboard

Most of us are familiar with the basic parts of the computer. Those who are not as adept in operating a personal computer at least know what and where the monitor, the keyboard and the processor are located. But one thing that we tend to overlook is where everything is plugged into.

The 'great' motherboard

The motherboard(mobo) is the central board making up any electronic system or device. Simply put, it's that part of the computer which holds everything and where pretty much everything is plugged into. It allows all the parts of the computer to receive power and communicate with one another by holding the computer's microprocessor chip and letting everything else connect to it. A typical mobo has a lot of slots where the different individual components of the computer go. Its form factor (layout) can affect where the various parts of the computer will go and the general shape of the computer's case.

Choosing a motherboard

In selecting your motherboard, you need to verify what kind of processor you are using. Compatibility is important as not all mobos can support all CPU's. Also make sure that the mobo can support the speed of your processor since this particular detail varies across different labels and models.

Another detail to consider is the chipset. The chipset is the main controller on the mobo. In relation to this, don't forget to make sure that it supports the type and amount of RAM you're using. To play safe, you can opt for a chipset that supports a higher memory so that your system can function efficiently.

Since the mobo is the part of the computer to which everything is plugged into, the number of expansion slots and connectors on it is important particularly when you are planning to plug in a lot of things into the PC. So you better check if your motherboard has more than enough PCI slots to hold each one of your peripherals.

Beginner?s guide to motherboards

A complete Guide to MOTHER BOARDS is available in Picky Guide, one of the fastest growing online magazines giving free consumer advice and product information.

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What's in the Box - The Motherboard

A computer is a fairly complicated device containing lots of different parts. This month I am going to take a look at one of the parts that you will find inside of your computer case and give you some idea of what its various components do. Armed with this knowledge you will have a better idea of what you are looking at when next you go to buy a computer.

The most complicated part of the computer is the flat circuit board (called the motherboard) into which most of the other devices within the computer are plugged. We'll start by considering what components are found on the motherboard and what part that they play in the operation of your computer.

There are a number of processing chips that are hard wired onto your motherboard. One of these is the BIOS chip (basic input output system) which contains the permanent memory that contains the instructions that tell your computer how to start up and load the operating system. The information contained within the BIOS chip can be updated to correctly reflect the setup of your computer by running a special program contained within the chip when you first start the computer. This program is accessed by pressing a special key combination (usually just the delete key) just after the computer first starts up. Some motherboards have a second BIOS chip to provide additional protection against the content of the BIOS memory getting corrupted. Most modern BIOS chips also allow you to change the programs stored in the chip by running a special program. This is known as flashing the BIOS.

One chip on the motherboard needs to run constantly even when your computer is off. For this reason this chip is powered by a battery that you will also find on the motherboard. This chip is the RTC chip (real time clock) which keeps track of the current date and time.

The two biggest chips that you will find hard wired to your motherboard are known as the north bridge and south bridge chips. The north bridge chip is responsibe for controlling the central processing unit and all of the random access memory that are plugged into your motherboard. The south bridge chip controls most of the other devices on the motherboard such as the PCI bus which has most of the peripheral devices either built into the board and hence permanently connected or which can be plugged into the various "slots" that can be found along the back edge of the motherboard. Computer motherboard manufacturers have recently been working on redesigning the method that these two chips use to communicate with one another as the increasing speed of the many other components within the system mean that this has rapidly approached the point of becoming the bottleneck in communications within your computer. It is these two chips which between them control the communications between all of the other components in your system.

These days there are usually a number of computer sub-systems built into the motherboard which in the early computers had to be plugged in separately. In the earliest computers even the RTC chip had to be installed via a plug in card. Today the EIDE hard disk controller, the floppy drive controller, serial port controller, parallel port controller, and USB port (universal serial port) controllers are almost always built into the motherboard and run off of the PCI bus that is controlled by the south bridge chip. Some computers even have integrated sound or networking and while this adds to the expense of the motherboard and makes upgrading more difficult this may be the ideal solution for a cheap business system. Other controllers are also occasionally integrated into motherboards eg. SCSI controller.

Also to be found on the motherboard are a number of sockets and slots that allow you to plug other components into the motherboard in order to convert it into a complete computer. Attached to the north bridge are the processor slot or socket where the CPU chip is plugged in as well as the memory sockets where the main memory gets plugged in. The design of these sockets (as well as the programming incorporated into the various chips on the motherboard) will determine the type and speed of the processor and memory that can be used with this motherboard.

Attached to the south bridge are the main slots along the back of the computer where the various other devices get plugged in. In early computers these slots consisted mostly (or entirely) of 8 bit or 16 bit ISA slots with perhaps one slot extended to the VESA standard to take the graphics card. Some 386 computers through early pentium systems also had a 32 bit version of the ISA slot called an EISA slot. More modern computers use PCI slots (mostly the 32 bit variety but a longer 64 bit version also exists). They may also have a single AGP slot that is designed to take the graphics card. Finally there will be a number of sockets on the motherboard providing the means whereby the integrated controllers previously mentioned can communicate with their associated devices.

As you can see from the above, the motherboards that you find in different computers can vary quite significantly from one another in terms of the options supplied on the board, the slots available to plug other components into the board, and even in the means and speed at which the various components on the board communicate with one another. The choice of which motherboard that will be used in a given computer can dramatically effect the speed of the computer as well as determining what other parts can be incorporated into the computer.

Stephen Chapman runs a computer help website at http://www.felgall.com/
Internet design/development ebooks and software at http://members.felgall.com/
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News Media Bias - Do You Know What's Really Going On?

Technology makes the instantaneous and virtually ubiquitous observation of world events possible, but evidence of bias in the news media can make you wonder whether you can believe what you see and hear. World news is being transmitted by a global media, through a prism of sometimes deliberate and sometimes inadvertent bias.

The most timely and blatant example of  bias in the media continues to be the coverage of President Obama, which began in earnest during his presidential campaign and has gathered momentum ever since. The mainstream media's favoritism for Barack Obama during the general election was even more egregious than that alleged by the Hillary Clinton campaign during the democratic primary. Studies show that candidate Obama received more media coverage overall than other candidates and much less negative press than his opponents. The media's extraordinary deference to the president often makes us wonder if the media is acting more as an eager extension of his public relations team than as a group of supposedly impartial journalists. They appear to be advocating rather than reporting on the president's activities.

 

Members of the media would have us believe that the appearance of bias is a figment of our imaginations, but do not publicize the fact that more than a third of them identify themselves as liberal compared to less than ten percent who claim a conservative orientation. The media also does not readily admit that most journalists tend to vote emphatically democratic, and have done so for decades. Most interesting, however, is that although they fail to see bias in themselves, more than two-thirds of reporters, editors, producers, and executives of mainstream media outlets readily agree that Fox News is decidedly conservative. Are we really supposed to believe that the media's obvious orientation toward liberal ideas and democratic candidates has no bearing on its objectivity? You may draw your own conclusions.

 

In addition to the obvious lopsided political orientation of the media generally, mounting commercial pressures in journalism are also causing many media sources to succumb to sensationalism in order to capture market share, attain popularity in ratings and ultimately to make profits. Is it any wonder that we question the integrity of our news media?

 

Bias takes many forms. Facts may be distorted in news stories or may be conveniently omitted. Newsworthy stories may be completely excluded from newspapers or TV programs or buried so far back in printed media, or so late in televised programs to insure that they are glossed over or missed altogether. Other sources of bias may be less obvious, such as when stories load up with expert testimony to support one viewpoint, or when stories use language to "spin" the facts to favor one side over another.  

 

What is the average person to do in order to get to the truth? First, know the difference between news commentary or editorials and the news itself. The former is, by definition, opinion and likely to be biased; the latter is supposed to offer a balanced view of all sides of a story. Unfortunately, traditional news outlets, such as The New York Times, NBC, and many others, have blurred the line between traditional news reporting and opinionated commentary. On cable TV, chances are high that if a "news program" is interesting and entertaining, it is probably news commentary. Offerings such as "Hardball," with Chris Matthews and "Hannity's America," with Sean Hannity are examples.

 

Second, ascertain the most knowledgeable sources and focus on individuals who substantiate their viewpoints with concrete examples or experience. I have found only a handful of politicians, government officials, industry experts, and media pundits that actually provide thoughtful insight and meaningful perspective on topics and issues. (Many commentators speak in generalities, make non-committal comments or repeat the mainstream view.) Verify the credibility of the sources you choose by researching their backgrounds and their affiliations on the internet. Understanding their backgrounds and professional ties may help you to verify expertise and identify conflicts of interest that may bias a source's perspective on a topic.

 

Third, limit your news venues, such as newspapers, televised programs or internet-based media, to those offering the most substance and a broad range of perspectives. In addition, for national political, economic and societal matters, you should consider viewing C-SPAN, which televises congressional hearings, important speeches and other events on numerous topics. Although a time-inefficient medium, C-SPAN provides a valuable opportunity to hear directly from people creating the news, without the filter of a third party.

 

These are difficult times and decisions are being made today by our leaders that will have a far-reaching and profound effect on our lives for many years to come. As citizens of a free democracy, we have both a right and an obligation to get to the truth.

More articles by this author are available at http://joedelcasino.blogspot.com Books are available at http://www.Xlibris.com

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What's Your Social Media Marketing Plan?

If you are a marketer you'll already be familiar with a marketing strategy and plan. Social Media Marketing is no different - to succeed you must have a strategy.

Whether you want to use Social Media Marketing to launch a new product, promote an existing one, improve customer loyalty or improve brand awareness, a social media strategy is crucial for knowing where you are going, what you want to achieve from your Social Media Marketing efforts and what resources you will need. As with most things in business, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  

So what should your Social Media strategy contain?

I recommend that you include details of these 9 important areas and add as many more as you need for your particular business. Use this article as a checklist and brainstorming tool.

1. Your target audience - who are they and how do they prefer to network? What Social Media tools do they currently use?

2. Your goals - what are they and how do you plan to achieve them? Do you want to attract more prospects? Improve customer loyalty? Attract a new audience? Get buzz for your project? You must know the answers to these questions.

3. Your success measures - how will you know you've succeeded? Will it be through product downloads or trials? The number of people clicking through to your site? Or the number of qualified leads you gain?

4. Your competitors - Do they have a large Social Media presence or none at all? What type of campaigns are they doing? If they are doing nothing, you could grab the advantage. Google your competitors and see what you find.

5. Your Social Media content - are you planning to use video, audio, or written content?  See what your audience likes and use what they like to use.

6. What's "your soft offer?" - How will you convert your prospects into sales or customers? What's your lead capture/nurturing plan? It could be a free whitepaper or a case study or a report. Whatever it is, outline it in your plan

7. Your Social Media Tools - Will you use YouTube, a blog, Twitter, Facebook? Community forums? Not every tool will work for you, some will work better than others. Often  the only way to  find out is to try them and see. Having a strategy makes it easier because you can make a decision as to what to try and why.  You can track the results of each tool you try.

8. Your resources - Most Social Media tools cost little or nothing to set up and run. However, there is a considerable investment of time required for any Social Media effort to have long term success. For example, who will keep your blog updated? How will you address comments so that the blog is truly interactive and conversational?  How many people do you need to allocate? What's your plan for tracking - and acting on what your stats tell you?

Most people don't consider these questions until after they've started. If you can answer these questions early on you will be prepared and more likely to avoid frustration and failure.   You should also carefully consider the time you can afford to invest compared to what's actually needed.

9. Last, but certainly not least, how will you encourage word of mouth marketing and the viral nature of Social Media? How do you plan to get people talking about you without "you talking about you?"  This is a significant advantage of using Social Media, however it doesn't simply happen.

The sheer volume of social media tools and opportunity can be overwhelming. A Social Media strategy will help you cut through the noise, make better choices and select what works for your audience, your company and your objectives. It will position you to meet many of the seemingly huge hurdles to getting started and will almost certainly make you more successful in your Social Media efforts.

Think of it as your road map to success.

Nicky M. Jameson is a results-oriented B2B and Social Media Copywriting Expert who helps mid-sized and entrepreneurial technology companies stay profitable, competitive and successful. She's the author of the ground-breaking report The 19 "New" Rules of Social Media Copywriting. Grab yourself a free copy of her special report at http://www.copywritingstudio.com/special-report.html
Contact and find out more about Nicky at http://www.copywritingstudio.com

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What’s Left of the Ryan Plan?

By James Kwak

Jennifer Steinhauer in the Times reports that some Republicans are running away from the Ryan Plan (you know, the one that changes Medicare from a health insurance plan to an underfunded subsidy), while others are trying to figure out if they should support in order to gain Tea Party votes. As policy, of course, it never had a chance to pass the Senate or of being signed by President Obama (and every Republican staffer Politico could find agrees), so it was pure political theater from the start. As Paul Krugman points out, the goal may have been to win over the pundits — a group that is vastly more concerned with the deficit than ordinary voters — but even that failed. (They got Jacob Weisberg, but he backpedaled furiously, and they got David Brooks, which was mainly amusing because then we got to watch Krugman trying to observe intra-Times decorum by not going after Brooks by name). Now Republicans are wondering if the loss of a Congressional seat in a conservative New York district was Ryan’s fault.

But while I’d like to think that the nation is recovering its senses, at least on what Republicans mean for Medicare, I’m not optimistic. Brad DeLong put it well:

“the political lesson of the past two years is now that you win elections by denouncing the other party’s plans to control Medicare spending in the long run — whether those plans are smart like the Affordable Care Act or profoundly stupid like the replacement of Medicare by RyanCare for the aged — sitting back, and waiting for the voters to reward you.”

Remember that at the same time they were plotting the destruction of Medicare as we know it,* the Republicans were also attacking the Obama administration for planning to reduce Medicare spending (from its projected levels, not its actual levels). Remember when Mitch McConnell’s office released press releases, on consecutive days, saying, “Cutting Medicare Is Not What Americans Want” and “Expanding Medicare ‘A Plan for Financial Ruin’”? Politically, the only mistake they made — if they made one at all — was putting out those press releases on consecutive days from the same office. I’m certain that a majority of Americans would agree with both of those positions, standing on their own.

Most likely, the Republicans will reposition the Ryan Plan as an attempt to “save Medicare” (wait, they’re already doing that). They will try to eliminate the provisions in the Affordable Care Act that attempt to reduce Medicare costs by making Medicare spending more efficient, like the Independent Payment Authorization Board, demonizing them as government intrusion into medical treatment decisions. The answer, they will say, is a “Medicare” system free of government involvement. And if they can create enough gridlock to make sure the Affordable Care Act fails, then five or ten years from now, when the debt projections are even worse, they will take another shot at privatizing Medicare. Remember, this wasn’t the first one: Newt Gingrich took a shot back in 1995. As long as the Republicans can use voters’ fears of “big government” to block real reforms to Medicare, time is on their side. At some point, even if they have to wait twenty years, the fiscal imbalance will be so big that they will be able to eliminate Medicare.

The Obama administration knows this game. They knew what they were doing when they put cost-control measures into the Affordable Care Act, and I’m sure Obama will veto anything that prevents those measures from working. But it’s still an uphill battle.

* No, I don’t think this is an overstatement. The Ryan Plan would change Medicare from a guaranteed level of health insurance coverage to a voucher that may or may not buy you health insurance at all.

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