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UPGRADING REPAIRING PCs

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34<br />

Chapter 2—System Components and Configuration<br />

Table 2.9 PC99 Color-Coding Standards for Ports Continued<br />

Port Type Color<br />

IEEE-1394 (i.Link, FireWire) Grey<br />

Microphone Pink<br />

MIDI/Gameport Gold<br />

Parallel port Burgundy<br />

Serial port Teal or turquoise<br />

Speaker out (subwoofer) Orange<br />

Right-to-left speaker Brown<br />

USB Black<br />

Video out Yellow<br />

SCSI, network, telephone,<br />

modem, and so on<br />

None<br />

Power Supplies<br />

Power supplies actually convert high-voltage AC (alternating current)<br />

into low-voltage DC (direct current) for use by <strong>PCs</strong>. Power<br />

supplies come in several form factors, and they also feature various<br />

motherboard connectors to correspond with the newer motherboard<br />

designs on the market. Table 2.10 illustrates which power<br />

supplies are most likely to be used with various motherboards.<br />

Table 2.10 Matching Power Supplies and Motherboards<br />

Motherboard Most Common PS Other PS Form<br />

Form Factor Form Factor Used Factors Used<br />

Baby-AT LPX style Baby-AT, AT/Tower,<br />

or AT/Desk<br />

LPX LPX style None<br />

ATX ATX style None<br />

MicroATX ATX style SFX style<br />

NLX ATX style None<br />

LPX Versus ATX Power Supplies<br />

Some motherboards are designed to handle either LPX or ATX<br />

power supplies. The ATX is the preferred design because it provides<br />

the lower voltage needed by today’s CPUs, offers foolproof installation,<br />

and also provides better cooling than older designs.<br />

Table 2.11 compares two of the more common power supply form<br />

factors used in computers today, and Figure 2.5 shows an LPX<br />

power supply.

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