A - What Does That Motherboard Terminology Mean?
AC ’97 (Audio Codec ‘97):
This is the audio standard/architecture developed by Intel in 1997. It delivers multi-channel 16-bit, 48 KHz recording and playback, with optional support of 18-bit and 20-bit resolution and up to 96 KHz sampling frequency (stereo). AC ’97 is widely used in on-board audio, modems and sound cards.
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP):
The AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slot on the computer motherboard is designed specifically for AGP graphics cards. AGP 8X can provide 16 times the bandwidth of the common 32-bit PCI slot. AGP is currently being phased out in favor of PCI Express on PC systems. This is an expansion slot specially for graphics cards, offering high bandwith.
Advanced Communication Riser (ACR):
This is a new slot for audio/modem riser developed by VIA and AMD, similar to intel's CNR.
Advanced Technology Extended (ATX):
Developed by Intel in 1995, ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) was designed to replace the AT/Baby AT form factor. An ATX motherboard is essentially a Baby AT motherboard rotated 90 degrees within the case with a new mounting configuration for the power supply so that the IDE connectors are closer to the drive bays and the CPU is closer to the power supply and cooling fan. There are many variants of the ATX form factor for smaller boards (such as microATX and Flex ATX), usually providing the basic rear layout but reducing the board size and the number of expansion slots.
Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA):
ATA is the acronym for Advanced Technology Attachment, and it has become an industry standard hard drive interface for 15 years. ATA uses a 16-bit parallel connection to make the link between storage devices and motherboards, and is also called PATA (Parallel ATA) to distinguish it from the newer SATA standard. In additional, ATA is also known as IDE or EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics). Currently the two most popular standards for ATA hard drives are the ATA-6 (which is also known as Ultra ATA 100 or Ultra DMA 100) and ATA 133. The maximum bandwidth for the former is 100MB/s, and 133 MB/s for the latter.
Audio Modem Riser (AMR):
This is an expansion slot for audio/modem riser or modem riser cards.
AGP Pro:
The AGP Pro is an extension to the AGP interface specification; it is designed to meet the increasing power requirement of workstation level graphics cards by delivering additional electrical power. AGP Pro graphics cards and slots are often longer than their standard AGP counterparts.
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