The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator, or GMA, is Intel's current line of integrated graphics processors built into various motherboard chipsets.

These integrated graphics products allow a computer to be built without a separate graphics card, which can reduce cost, power consumption and noise. They are commonly found on low-priced notebook and desktop computers as well as business computers, which do not need high levels of graphics capability. 90% of all PCs sold have integrated graphics.^[1] They rely on the computer's main memory for storage, which imposes a performance penalty, as both the CPU and GPU have to access memory over the same bus.

The GMA line of GPUs replaces the earlier "Intel Extreme Graphics", and the Intel740 line, which were discrete units in the form of AGP and PCI cards. Later, Intel integrated the i740 core into the Intel 810 chipset.

The original architecture of GMA systems supported only a few functions in hardware, and relied on the host CPU to handle at least some of the graphics pipeline, further decreasing performance. However, with the introduction of Intel’s 4th generation of GMA architecture (GMA X3000) in 2006, many of the functions are now built into the hardware, providing an increase in performance. The 4th generation of GMA combines fixed function capabilities with a threaded array of programmable executions units, providing advantages to both graphics and video performance. Many of the advantages of the new GMA architecture come from the ability to flexibly switch as needed between executing graphics-related tasks or video-related tasks. While GMA performance has been widely criticized in the past as being too slow for computer games, the latest GMA generation should ease many of those concerns for the casual gamer.

Despite similarities, Intel's main series of GMA IGPs is not based on the PowerVR technology Intel licensed from Imagination Technologies. Intel used the low-power PowerVR MBX designs in chipsets supporting their XScale platform, and since the sale of XScale in 2006 has licensed the PowerVR SGX and used it in the GMA 500 IGP for use with their Atom platform.

Intel has begun working on a new series of discrete (non-integrated) graphics hardware products, under the codename Larrabee.

Connection method:

Computer networks can also be classified according to the hardware and software technology that is used to interconnect the individual devices in the network, such as Optical fiber, Ethernet, Wireless LAN, HomePNA, Power line communication or G.hnr. Ethernet uses physical wiring to connect devices. Frequently deployed devices include hubs, switches, bridges and/or routers.

Wireless LAN technology is designed to connect devices without wiring. These devices use radio waves or infrared signals as a transmission medium.

ITU-T G.hn technology uses existing home wiring (coaxial cable, phone lines and power lines) to create a high-speed (up to 1 Gigabit/s) local area network.
Wired Technologies:

Twisted-Pair Wire - This is the most widely used medium for telecommunication. Twisted-pair wires are ordinary telephone wires which consist of two insulated copper wires twisted into pairs and are used for both voice and data transmission. The use of two wires twisted together helps to reduce crosstalk and electromagnetic induction. The transmission speed range from 2 million bits per second to 100 million bits per second.

Coaxial Cable – These cables are widely used for cable television systems, office buildings, and other worksites for local area networks. The cables consist of copper or aluminum wire wrapped with insulating layer typically of a flexible material with a high dielectric constant, all of which are surrounded by a conductive layer. The layers of insulation help minimize interference and distortion. Transmission speed range from 200 million to more than 500 million bits per second.

Fiber Optics – These cables consist of one or more thin filaments of glass fiber wrapped in a protective layer. It transmits light which can travel over long distance and higher bandwidths. Fiber-optic cables are not affected by electromagnetic radiation. Transmission speed could go up to as high as trillions of bits per second. The speed of fiber optics is hundreds of times faster than coaxial cables and thousands of times faster than twisted-pair wire.

A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in many modern computers, and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main board, system board, or, on Apple computers, the logic board.^[1] It is also sometimes casually shortened to mobo

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Prior to the advent of the microprocessor, a computer was usually built in a card-cage case or mainframe with

components connected by a backplane consisting of a set of slots themselves connected with wires; in very old designs the wires were discrete connections between card connector pins, but printed-circuit boards soon became the standard practice. The central processing unit, memory and peripherals were housed on individual printed circuit boards which plugged into the backplane.

During the late 1980s and 1990s, it became economical to move an increasing number of peripheral functions onto the motherboard (see below). In the late 1980s, motherboards began to include single ICs (called Super I/O chips) capable of supporting a set of low-speed peripherals: keyboard, mouse, floppy disk drive, serial ports, and parallel ports. As of the late 1990s, many personal computer motherboards supported a full range of audio, video, storage, and networking functions without the need for any expansion cards at all; higher-end systems for 3D gaming and computer graphics typically retained only the graphics card as a separate component.

The early pioneers of motherboard manufacturing were Micronics, Mylex, AMI, DTK, Hauppauge, Orchid Technology, Elitegroup, DFI, and a number of Taiwan-based manufacturers.

Popular personal computers such as the Apple II and IBM PC had published schematic diagrams and other documentation which permitted rapid reverse-engineering and third-party replacement motherboards. Usually intended for building new computers compatible with the exemplars, many motherboards offered additional performance or other features and were used to upgrade the manufacturer's original equipment.

The term mainboard is archaically applied to devices with a single board and no additional expansions or capability. In modern terms this would include embedded systems, and controlling boards in televisions, washing machines etc. A motherboard specifically refers to a printed circuit with the capability to add/extend its performance/capabilities with the addition of "daughterboards".

The history of computing hardware is the record of the constant drive to make computer hardware faster, cheaper, and store more data.

Before the development of the general-purpose computer, most calculations were done by humans. Tools to help humans calculate are generally called calculators. Calculators continue to develop, but computers add the critical element of conditional response, allowing automation of both numerical calculation and in general, automation of many symbol-manipulation tasks. Computer technology has undergone profound changes every decade since the 1940s.

Computing hardware has become a platform for uses other than computation, such as automation, communication, control, entertainment, and education. Each field in turn has imposed its own requirements on the hardware, which has evolved in response to those requirements.

Aside from written numerals, the first aids to computation were purely mechanical devices that required the operator to set up the initial values of an elementary arithmetic operation, then propel the device through manual manipulations to obtain the result. An example would be a slide rule where numbers are represented by points on a logarithmic scale and computation is performed by setting a cursor and aligning sliding scales. Numbers could be represented in a continuous "analog" form, where a length or other physical property was proportional to the number. Or, numbers could be represented in the form of digits, automatically manipulated by a mechanism. Although this approach required more complex mechanisms, it made for greater precision of results.

Both analog and digital mechanical techniques continued to be developed, producing many practical computing machines. Electrical methods rapidly improved the speed and precision of calculating machines, at first by providing motive power for mechanical calculating devices, and later directly as the medium for representation of numbers. Numbers could be represented by voltages or currents and manipulated by linear electronic amplifiers. Or, numbers could be represented as discrete binary or decimal digits, and electrically-controlled switches and combinatorial circuits could perform mathematical operations.

The invention of electronic amplifiers made calculating machines much faster than mechanical or electromechanical predecessors. Vacuum tube amplifiers gave way to discrete transistors, and then rapidly to monolithic integrated circuits. By defeating the Tyranny of numbers, integrated circuits made high-speed and low-cost digital computers a widespread commodity.

This article covers major developments in the history of computing hardware, and attempts to put them in context. For a detailed timeline of events, see the computing timeline article. The history of computing article treats methods intended for pen and paper, with or without the aid of tables. Since all computers rely on digital storage, and tend to be limited by the size and speed of memory, the history of computer data storage is tied to the development of computers.

The Intel 80386, also known as the i386, or just 386,^[1] was a 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were used as the central processing unit (CPU) of many personal computers and workstations. As the original implementation of the 32-bit extensions to the 8086 architecture, the 80386 instruction set, programming model, and binary encodings are still the common denominator for all 32-bit x86 processors. This is termed x86, IA-32, or the i386-architecture, depending on context.

The 80386 could correctly execute most code intended for earlier 16-bit x86 processors such as the 80286; following the same tradition, modern 64-bit x86 processors are able to run most programs written for older chips, all the way back to the original 16-bit 8086 of 1978. Over the years, successively newer implementations of the same architecture have become several hundreds of times faster than the original 80386 (and thousands of times faster than the 8086). A 33 MHz 80386 was reportedly measured to operate at about 11.4 MIPS.^[2]

The 80386 was launched in October 1985, and full-function chips were first delivered in 1986.^[vague] Mainboards for 80386-based computer systems were at first expensive to buy, but prices were rationalized upon the 80386's mainstream adoption. The first personal computer to make use of the 80386 was designed and manufactured by Compaq.^[3]

In May 2006, Intel announced that production of the 80386 would cease at the end of September 2007.^[4] Although it has long been obsolete as a personal computer CPU, Intel and others had continued to manufacture the chip for embedded systems. Embedded systems that utilise a 80386 or one of its derivatives are widely used in aerospace technology.

The bland official name of Intel's DP55KG motherboard—the "Intel Desktop Board DP55KG Extreme Series"—doesn't suggest that the company's motherboards are no longer limited to dull, corporate options for system builders. It takes just one look at the actual board, though, to get the point. With a blue-backlit motherboard boasting a glowing white skull, whose eerie red eyes flash in sequence with hard drive accesses, the DP55KG doesn't need an edgy name to get across that it's not aimed at the IT-manager crowd. With SLI and CrossFire support, deep overclocking options, and support for Intel's latest Core i5 and i7 processors, the DP55KG is aimed dead-on at the enthusiast market. We tested one out with two of Intel's latest Core i5 and i7 processors, and we think it hits the target in most aspects—even if, at around $200, it remains a premium-priced board.

The DP55KG is one of the first motherboards built around Intel's P55 Express chipset, design to support the new "Lynnfield"-series Core i5 and Core i7 processors. Though it's not as powerful as the high-end X58 chipset (which mates with Intel's highest-end, Socket 1366-based Core i7 chips), the P55 chipset is no slouch. It moves from the dual Northbridge/Southbridge format that Intel has used for many years to a single-chip solution. The most significant differences compared with the X58 chipset are its support for dual-channel memory instead of triple-channel, and its support for up to two graphics cards, versus up to four with the X58 chipset.

The P55 chipset used in the DP55KG also introduces a new CPU socket: Socket 1156. You can install either a Core i5 or one of the two new 800-series Core i7 processors in it. It's not compatible with the 900-series Core i7 chips (which require Socket 1366 motherboards based on the X58 chipset) or with older Core 2 chips.

The DP55KG includes four memory slots, supporting up to 16GB of DDR3 memory at up to 1,600MHz. X58-based Core i7 motherboards use triple-channel memory and require you to install three identical memory modules to take full advantage of the available memory bandwidth. The DP55KG, on the other hand, uses dual-channel memory, so you can add DIMMs in pairs. Despite the board not having as much bandwidth as a triple-channel design would allow, we saw very little speed difference when comparing similarly clocked Core i7 chips on P55 and X58 motherboards.

The board features one PCI Express (PCIe) x16 slot, a PCIe x8 slot for a second graphics card, a pair of PCIe x1 slots, and two ordinary PCI slots. The DP55KG supports dual graphics cards using either Nvidia SLI or ATI CrossFireX technologies. Note, though: Because the second graphics-card slot is only an x8 slot, you won't be able to take advantage of the full bandwidth of both cards, and performance is likely to be slower than it would be on an X58-chipset board with dual PCIe x16 slots.