Abstract:
A motherboard includes a north bridge circuit, a central processing unit (CPU) socket coupled to the north bridge circuit through a hypertransport bus; a first slot coupled to the north bridge circuit; and an upgrade slot, coupled to the second slot and the hypertransport bus, for installing a removable tunnel module. When the removable tunnel module is installed inside the upgrade slot, the motherboard is capable of supporting a computer component installed inside the second slot.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a mother board. More particularly, the present invention relates to a motherboard capable of selectively supporting dual graphic engine.  
         [0003]     2. Description of Related Art  
         [0004]     With continuous development of computer technology, theoretically, bandwidth of data communication usually increases in proportional to wide development of speed of data communication, so as to raise the whole performance of computer speed. As for data communication, bottleneck of bandwidth always occurs between the north bridge chip and the south bridge chip. Therefore, a communication method of so-called hypertransport protocol has been developed by the industries to solve above problems by providing a higher communication bandwidth between the north bridge chip and the south bridge chip.  
         [0005]     Broadly speaking, hypertransport technology is a packet-based protocol. Basically, the hypertransport technology is an interface of protocol rather than physical. The hypertransport technology can be upgraded according to a new application program. In the hypertransport protocol, data are cut into packets or blocks of  64  bytes in maximum. In other words, computer components can transfer data, like packet, by the manner of point to point, via the hypertransport technology, so that the computer components can interconnect and communicate mutually. The communication bandwidth can be up to 12.8 GB. Besides, only is one hypertransport tunnel needed under hypertransport construction, then a connection to the other computer components can be easily done. For example, the computer can serve as a dual-CPU computer when the computer couples with another CPU.  
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a diagram, schematically showing the conventional device under hypertransport construction. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a hypertransport host  100  is coupled to a hypertransport peripheral  120  by a hypertransport bus  110 , which includes a hypertransport tunnel  130 . Therefore, the hypertransport host  100  can be coupled to another hypertransport peripheral  140  by the hypertransport tunnel  130 . For example, the hypertransport host  100  can be a CPU, the hypertransport peripheral  120  can be a north bridge circuit and the hypertransport peripheral  140  can be a graphic card (certainly, as shown above, another CPU can be added). Then, it can be understood that the whole computer system can additionally support a graphic card (or CPU) between the north bridge circuit and the CPU.  
         [0007]      FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram, schematically showing a motherboard  200  utilizing hypertransport technology of  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the motherboard  200  includes a CPU socket  210 , a north bridge circuit  220 , a south bridge circuit  230 , a tunnel chip  240 , a hypertransport bus  250  and graphic card sockets  260 ,  270 . Here, it is assumed that the CPU socket  210  is a 939/754 CPU and the CPU socket  210  is coupled to the north bridge circuit  220  by aforesaid hypertransport bus  250 . Besides, the tunnel chip  240  is used to connect to a path of the hypertransport bus  250  so that the motherboard  200  can support graphic card, installed in the graphic card socket  260 . As general known by the manufacturers, the graphic card socket  270  is coupled to the north bridge circuit  220  so that motherboard  200  can support the graphic card installed in the graphic card socket  270 . In other words, the motherboard  200  can support dual graphic card because of tunnel chip  240 . Here, please note that the south bridge circuit  230  is coupled to the north bridge circuit  220 , the function of the south bridge circuit  230  and the north bridge circuit  220 , such as the signal transferring, should known in the ordinary skill art, and is not further described. Besides, the motherboard  200  can include a memory socket, audio card and so on (not shown in  FIG. 2 ) which are not described herein for simple descriptions.  
         [0008]     Aforesaid motherboard  200  can support dual graphic card at the same time. However, for the users without need of this function, the built-in tunnel chip  240  may waste resource and cost. In other aspect, users may only buy a usual motherboard that only supports a single graphic card. When the computer system is developed up to a certain level, many software or display need two graphic cards to drive. As a result, the users must additionally buy a motherboard that supports dual graphic cards. Obviously, it&#39;s not an economical solution.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     Therefore, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide motherboard capable of selectively support dual graphic card to solve prior issues.  
         [0010]     According to claims of the present invention which discloses a motherboard, the mother board includes a north bridge circuit, a central processing unit (CPU) socket coupled to the north bridge circuit through a hypertransport bus; a first slot coupled to the north bridge circuit; a second slot; and an upgrade slot, coupled to the second slot and the hypertransport bus, for installing a removable tunnel module. Wherein, when the removable tunnel module is installed inside the upgrade slot, the motherboard is capable of supporting a computer component installed inside the second slot.  
         [0011]     According to claims of the present invention which discloses a motherboard, the motherboard includes a north bridge circuit, a south bridge circuit coupled to the north bridge circuit through a hypertransport bus; a first slot coupled to the north bridge circuit; a second slot; and an upgrade slot, coupled to the second slot and the hypertransport bus, for installing a removable tunnel module. When the removable tunnel module is installed inside the upgrade slot, the motherboard is capable of supporting a computer component installed inside the second slot.  
         [0012]     The motherboard of the present invention includes an upgrade socket which is used to install a removable tunnel module so that the motherboard can support the graphic card installed in the graphic card socket while the removable tunnel module installed inside the upgrade socket and the motherboard cannot support the graphic card installed in the graphic card socket while the removable tunnel module doesn&#39;t be installed inside the upgrade socket. Therefore, the motherboard of the present invention can selectively support dual graphic cards or single graphic card depend on users&#39; favor. In other words, the users need only to install removable tunnel module to upgrade the motherboard while the users need the dual graphic cards to provide high display performance for the purpose of two graphic cards. Therefore, the motherboard of the present invention can not only save users&#39; cost, but also provide another choice of display performance for the users. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]     The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 1  is a diagram, schematically showing the conventional device under hypertransport construction.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a diagram, schematically showing a functional block diagram of a motherboard utilizing hypertransport technology of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is a diagram, schematically showing the motherboard, according to a first embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  is a diagram, schematically showing a motherboard comprising removable tunnel module of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  is a diagram, schematically showing the motherboard, according to a second embodiment of the motherboard.  
         [0019]      FIG. 6  is a diagram, schematically showing the motherboard with removable tunnel module of  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]      FIG. 3  is a diagram, schematically showing a motherboard  300 , according to a first embodiments of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the motherboard  300  also includes a CPU socket  310 , a north bridge circuit  320 , a south bridge circuit  330 , a hypertransport bus  330 , a hypertransport  350  and graphic card sockets  360  and  370 . Their functions are not described here for those having the same components as the components of  FIG. 2 . For example, in the present embodiments, the CPU socket  310  can be a 939/754 CPU socket so that the CPU socket  310  is coupled to the north bridge circuit  320  by the hypertransport bus  350 .  
         [0021]     Here, please note that the motherboard  300  further includes an upgrade socket  340 , coupled to the graphic card socket  360  and the hypertransport bus  350 . The upgrade socket  340  is used to install a removable tunnel module, for example, the removable tunnel module can be an interface card including aforesaid tunnel chips. Thus, the motherboard can support the graphic card installed in the graphic card socket by the tunnel chip on the interface card while the removable tunnel module installed inside the upgrade socket and the motherboard cannot support the graphic card installed in the graphic card socket while the removable tunnel module doesn&#39;t install inside the upgrade socket. For example, as shown in  FIG. 3 , communications of the CPU socket  310  and the north bridge circuit  320  is done by communicating directly through the hypertransport bus  350  and the upgrade socket  340  while the motherboard doesn&#39;t include the removable tunnel module.  
         [0022]      FIG. 4  is a diagram, schematically showing a motherboard  300  including the removable tunnel module of  FIG. 3 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , signals between the graphic card socket  360  and the north bridge circuit  320  or the CPU socket  310  may transmit to the hypertransport bus  350  by the removable tunnel module  380  while the upgrade socket  340  installs the removable tunnel module  380 . Therefore, in addition to the original graphic card socket  370  supported by the north bridge circuit  320 , the motherboard  300  can further support the graphic card socket  360 , in operation of supporting a dual-graphic-card.  
         [0023]      FIG. 5  is a diagram, schematically showing a motherboard  500 , according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the motherboard  500  also comprises a CPU socket  510 , a north bridge circuit  520 , a south bridge circuit  530 , a hypertransport bus  550  and graphic card sockets  560  and  570 . Their functions won&#39;t describe here for those the same components as the components of  FIG. 2 . However, please note that herein the CPU socket  510  is a 775 CPU socket, which means that the CPU socket  510  is coupled to the north bridge circuit  520  by a front side bus (FSB )  590  rather than an original hypertransport bus.  
         [0024]     However, in the present embodiment, the north bridge circuit  520  and the south bridge circuit  530  are coupled mutually by a hypertransport bus  550 . Therefore, as described above, by using the characteristics of the upgrade socket and the removable tunnel module, hypertransport bus  550  can be used. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the motherboard  500  further includes an upgrade socket  540  coupled to the graphic card socket  360  and the hypertransport bus  350 . Similarly, the upgrade socket  540  can install a removable tunnel module so that the motherboard can support the graphic card installed in the graphic card socket while the removable tunnel module installed in the upgrade socket.  
         [0025]     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the north bridge circuit  520  and the south bridge circuit  530  transmit signals through the hypertransport bus  550  and the upgrade socket  540  while the motherboard doesn&#39;t comprise a removable tunnel module. And please refer to  FIG. 6 , which is a diagram, schematically showing the motherboard  500  with the removable tunnel module  580  of  FIG. 5 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , signals between the graphic card socket  560  and the north bridge circuit  520  or the south bridge circuit  530  may transmit to the hypertransport bus  350  by the removable tunnel module  580  while the upgrade socket  540  installs the removable tunnel module  580 . Therefore, in addition to the original graphic card socket  570  supported by the north bridge circuit  520 , the motherboard  500  can further support the graphic card socket  560  so as to be one that supports dual graphic cards.  
         [0026]     Here please note that the present invention is not restricted to the types of graphic cards necessary to install in the graphic card sockets  360 ,  370 ,  560 ,  570 . In other words, aforesaid graphic card sockets  360 ,  370 ,  560 ,  570  can install different kinds of graphic cards. For example, the graphic card sockets  360 ,  370 ,  560 ,  570  can install PCI Express (such as PCI 16) graphic card or general AGP graphic card. Such corresponding modifications shall be within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0027]     Additionally, types of upgrade sockets  340 ,  350  are also not restricted in the present invention. In other words, the upgrade socket may be practiced by all kinds of sockets such as AGP socket and so on that possesses necessary pins to couple to graphic card sockets  360 ,  560  to support subsequent data transmission of hypertransport bus. Such corresponding modifications are also within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0028]     Comparing the present invention with prior arts, the motherboard of the present invention comprises an upgrade socket which is used to install a removable tunnel module so that the motherboard can support the computer components installed in the second socket while the removable tunnel module installed inside the upgrade socket and the motherboard doesn&#39;t support the computer components installed in the second socket while the removable tunnel module doesn&#39;t install inside the upgrade socket. Therefore, the motherboard of the present invention may selectively support dual graphic card or single graphic card by users&#39; preference. In other words, the users need only to install the removable tunnel module to upgrade the motherboard if it is needed to use dual graphic card to provide higher display performance to achieve the goal of dual graphic card. Therefore, the motherboard of the invention not only can save users&#39; cost, but also can provide another choice of display performance for users.  
         [0029]     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing descriptions, it is intended that the present invention covers modifications and variations of this invention if they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.