What is a Motherboard?:
The
motherboard serves to connect all of the parts of a computer together. The CPU, memory, hard drives,
optical
drives, video card,
sound
card and other ports and expansion cards all connect to the motherboard
directly or via cables.
The
motherboard can be thought of as the "back bone" of the computer.
Motherboard components
Below
is a listing of links that describe each of the above mentioned motherboard
components in additional detail. Links are listed in clockwise order going from
the top-left corner of the image. Components not listed above or found on other
motherboards are listed in the next section.
- Expansion slots (PCI Express, PCI, and AGP)
- 3-pin case fan connectors
- Back pane connectors
- Heatsink
- 4-Pin (P4) power connector
- Inductor
- Capacitor
- CPU Socket
- Northbridge
- Screw hole
- Memory slot
- Super I/O
- Floppy connection
- ATA (IDE) disk drive primary connection
- 24-pin ATX power Supply connector
- Serial ATA connections
- Coin cell battery (CMOS backup battery)
- RAID
- System panel connectors
- FWH
- Southbridge
- Serial port connector
- USB headers
- Jumpers
- Integrated circuit
- 1394 headers
- SPDIF
- CD-IN
Other
motherboard components
Below
is a listing of other motherboard components that are not shown in the above
picture or have been part of older computer motherboards.
- BIOS
- Bus
- Cache memory
- Chipset
- Diode
- Dip switches
- Electrolytic
- Fuse
- Game port and MIDI header
- Internal speaker
- Keyboard controller
- LCC
- Network header
- Obsolete expansion slots (AMR, CNR, EISA, ISA, VESA)
- Obsolete memory slots (SIMM)
- Onboard LED
- Parallel port header
- PS/2 header
- Resistor
- RTC
- Serial port header
- Screw hole aka mounting hole
- SCSI
- Solenoid
- Voltage regulator
- Voltage regulator module (VRM)
Motherboard Description:
The
motherboard is mounted inside the case, opposite the most easily accessible
side. It is securely attached via small screws through pre-drilled holes.
The front of the motherboard contains ports that
all of the internal components connect to. A single socket/slot houses the CPU.
Multiple slots allow for one or more memory modules to be attached. Other ports
reside on the motherboard which allow the floppy drive,
hard drive and optical drive to connect via ribbon cables. Small wires from the
front of the computer case connect to the motherboard to allow the power, reset
and LED lights to function. Power from the power supply is delivered to the
motherboard by use of a specially designed port.
Also on the front of the motherboard are a number
of peripheral card slots. These slots are where most video cards, sound cards
and other expansion cards are connected to the motherboard.
On the left side of the motherboard (the side
that faces the back end of the case) are a number of ports. These ports allow
most of the computer's external peripherals to connect such as the monitor,
printer, keyboard,
mouse,
speakers, phone line, network cable and more. Most motherboards also include USB and FireWire
ports here that allow compatible devices to connect to your computer when you
need them - devices like digital still and video cameras.
The motherboard and case are designed so that
when peripheral cards are used, the sides of the cards fit just outside the
back end, making their ports available for use.
Motherboard form factors
As
computers advanced, so have motherboards. Below is a listing of the various
motherboard form factors and additional information about each of these form
factors including ATX the most commonly used motherboard form factor today.
Since
there is a motherboard, is there a fatherboard?
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