Motherboard assembly

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The invention relates to a motherboard assembly, more particularly to a motherboard assembly with a hybrid expansion slot that complies with the PCI specification and the PCIE specification.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] A conventional computer motherboard normally includes expansion slots that comply respectively with the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) specification and the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE)-associated specification.

[0005] In view of the current trend toward miniaturization of electronic devices, there is always a need for reducing the size of the computer motherboard.

[0006] Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a computer motherboard that is capable of overcoming the aforesaid drawback associated with the prior art.

[0007] Accordingly, there is provided a computer motherboard that comprises: a board body; and an expansion unit provided on the board body and defining a hybrid expansion slot that complies with the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) specification and the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) specification.

[0012] FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the first preferred embodiment of a computer motherboard assembly according to this invention. The computer motherboard assembly includes a computer motherboard 1 and a riser card 2. The computer motherboard 1 includes: a board body 11; an I/O connector 13 provided on the board body 11; an I/O controller hub 14 provided on the board body 11; a graphic memory controller hub 15 provided on the board body 11; a central processing unit 16 provided on the board body 11; a power connector 17 provided on the board body 11; and an expansion unit 12 provided on the board body 11 and defining a hybrid expansion slot 120 that complies with the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) specification and the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) specification.

[0013] Since the PCI specification generally requires 124 conductive pins on two sides of a PCI expansion slot, and since the PCIE specification generally requires the total number of 164 conductive pins on two sides of a PCIE expansion slot, the total number of the conductive pins required for a hybrid expansion slot 120 with all of these pins would amount to 288, which would result in a large size for the expansion slot 120. Hence, there is a need to redefine first and second conductive pins 121, 122 of the hybrid expansion slot 120 so as to reduce the total number of the conductive pins while complying with the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) specification and the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) specification.

[0014] In this embodiment, the expansion unit 12 has 100 first conductive pins 121 that are marked from A1 to A100 and that are formed on one of two sides of the hybrid expansion slot 120, and 100 second conductive pins 122 that are marked from B1 to B100 and that are formed on the other of the two sides of the hybrid expansion slot 120. The first conductive pins 121 that are marked from A1 to A63 and the second conductive pins 122 that are marked from B1 to B63 correspond to pins of the PCIE×16 specification as noted in Table 1. The first conductive pins 121 that are marked from A64 to A100 and the second conductive pins 122 that are marked from B64 to B100 correspond to pins of the PCI specification as noted in Table 1. In addition, the first conductive pins 121 that are marked from A1 to A18 and the second conductive pins 122 that are marked from B1 to B18 correspond to pins of the PCIE×1 specification as noted in Table 1.

[0015] Table 1 illustrates the definitions of the first and second conductive pins 121, 122.

[0016]

TABLE 1
Pin	Definition	Pin	Definition	Specification
A1	RSNT1*	B1	12 V	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A2	12 V	B2	12 V	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A3	12 V	B3	12 V	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A4	GND	B4	GND	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A5	JTAG2	B5	SMCLK	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A6	JTAG3	B6	SMDAT	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A7	JTAG4	B7	GND	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A8	JTAG5	B8	3V3	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A9	3.3 V	B9	JTAG1	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A10	3.3 V	B10	3.3VAUX	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A11	PWRGD	B11	WAKE#	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A12	GND	B12	RSVD	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A13	REFCLK+	B13	GND	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A14	REFCLK−	B14	HSOP0	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A15	GND	B15	HSON0	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A16	HSIP0	B16	GND	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A17	HSIN0	B17	PRSNT2*	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A18	GND	B18	GND	PCIE × 16 and
				PCIE × 1
A19	HSIP1	B19	HSOP1	PCIE × 16
A20	HSIN1	B20	HSON1	PCIE × 16
A21	GND	B21	GND	PCIE × 16
A22	HSIP2	B22	HSOP2	PCIE × 16
A23	HSIN2	B23	HSON2	PCIE × 16
A24	GND	B24	GND	PCIE × 16
A25	HSIP3	B25	HSOP3	PCIE × 16
A26	HSIN3	B26	HSON3	PCIE × 16
A27	GND	B27	GND	PCIE × 16
A28	HSIP4	B28	HSOP4	PCIE × 16
A29	HSIN4	B29	HSON4	PCIE × 16
A30	GND	B30	GND	PCIE × 16
A31	HSIP5	B31	HSOP5	PCIE × 16
A32	HSIP5	B32	HSON5	PCIE × 16
A33	GND	B33	GND	PCIE × 16
A34	HSIP6	B34	HSOP6	PCIE × 16
A35	HSIN6	B35	HSON6	PCIE × 16
A36	GND	B36	GND	PCIE × 16
A37	HSIP7	B37	HSON7	PCIE × 16
A38	HSIN7	B38	HSON7	PCIE × 16
A39	GND	B39	GND	PCIE × 16
A40	HSIP8	B40	HSOP8	PCIE × 16
A41	HSIN8	B41	HSON8	PCIE × 16
A42	GND	B42	GND	PCIE × 16
A43	HSIP9	B43	HSOP9	PCIE × 16
A44	HSIN9	B44	HSON9	PCIE × 16
A45	GND	B45	GND	PCIE × 16
A46	HSIP10	B46	HSOP10	PCIE × 16
A47	HSIN10	B47	HSON10	PCIE × 16
A48	GND	B48	GND	PCIE × 16
A49	HSIP11	B49	HSOP11	PCIE × 16
A50	HSIN11	B50	HSON11	PCIE × 16
A51	GND	B51	GND	PCIE × 16
A52	HSIP12	B52	HSOP12	PCIE × 16
A53	HSIN12	B53	HSON12	PCIE × 16
A54	GND	B54	GND	PCIE × 16
A55	HSIP13	B55	HSOP13	PCIE × 16
A56	HSIN13	B56	HSON13	PCIE × 16
A57	GND	B57	GND	PCIE × 16
A58	HSIP14	B58	HSOP14	PCIE × 16
A59	HSIN14	B59	HSON14	PCIE × 16
A60	GND	B60	GND	PCIE × 16
A61	HSIP15	B61	HSOP15	PCIE × 16
A62	HSIN15	B62	HSON15	PCIE × 16
A63	GND	B63	GND	PCIE × 16
A64	PCI_INTE-	B64	−12 V	PCI
A65	PCI_INTG-	B65	PCI_INTF-	PCI
A66	SERIRQ	B66	PCI_INTH-	PCI
A67	PCIRST	B67	PCICLK1	PCI
A68	PCI_GNT-	B68	GND	PCI
A69	GND	B69	PCICLK2	PCI
A70	PCI_PME-	B70	GND	PCI
A71	AD30	B71	PCI_REQ2-	PCI
A72	AD28	B72	AD31	PCI
A73	AD26	B73	AD29	PCI
A74	AD24	B74	AD27	PCI
A75	AD22	B75	AD25	PCI
A76	AD20	B76	C_BE-(3)	PCI
A77	AD18	B77	AD23	PCI
A78	AD16	B78	AD21	PCI
A79	3.3 V	B79	AD19	PCI
A80	PCI_FRAME-	B80	AD17	PCI
A81	PCI_TRDY-	B81	C_BE-(2)	PCI
A82	GND	B82	GND	PCI
A83	PCI_STOP-	B83	PCI_IRDY-	PCI
A84	3.3 V	B84	PCI_DEVSEL	PCI
A85	SMB_CLK_STBY	B85	GND	PCI
A86	SMB_DAT_STBY	B86	PCI_LOCK-	PCI
A87	GND	B87	PCI_PERR-	PCI
A88	PCI_PAR	B88	PCI_SERR-	PCI
A89	AD15	B89	C_BE-(1)	PCI
A90	AD13	B90	AD14	PCI
A91	AD11	B91	AD12	PCI
A92	AD9	B92	AD10	PCI
A93	C_BE-(0)	B93	AD8	PCI
A94	AD6	B94	AD7	PCI
A95	AD4	B95	AD5	PCI
A96	AD2	B96	AD3	PCI
A97	AD0	B97	AD1	PCI
A98	PCI_REQ1-	B98	PCI_GNT1-	PCI
A99	5 V	B99	5 V	PCI
A100	5 V	B100	5 V	PCI

[0017] The riser card 2 is connected removably to the hybrid expansion slot 120, is formed with at least a first expansion slot 21 that complies with the PCI specification and a second expansion slot 22 that complies with the PCIE specification, and includes a goldfinger 23 that is formed with conductive pins on two opposite sides thereof. The conductive pins on the sides of the goldfinger 23 correspond respectively to the first and second conductive pins 121, 122 of the expansion unit 12. When the graphic memory controller hub 15 supports PCIE×1 specification, the PCIE×4 specification, the PCIE×8 specification, the second expansion slot 22 of the riser card 2 and the PCIE interface card (not shown), which is to be inserted into the second expansion slot 22, comply with one of the PCIE×1 specification, the PCIE×4 specification, the PCIE×8 specification, and the PCIE×16 specification. When the graphic memory controller hub 15 supports only the PCIE×1 specification and the PCIE×16 specification, the second expansion slot 22 of said riser card 2 and the PCIE interface card comply with one of the PCIE×1 specification and the PCIE×16 specification. Since the PCI specification supports up to four PCI interface cards, the riser card 2 can be formed with up to four PCI expansion slots 21 for connection with four PCI interface cards.

[0018] FIG. 3 illustrates an interface card 3 that complies with the PCIE×1 specification, that includes a goldfinger 31, and that can be directly used in conjunction with the expansion slot 120 on the computer motherboard 1.

[0019] Since the computer motherboard 1 of this invention is provided with the hybrid expansion slot 120 that complies with both the PCI specification and the PCIE specification, the size of the computer motherboard 1 can be reduced, thereby permitting miniaturization of the computer that is installed with the computer motherboard 1.

[0020] While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.