Motherboard

the heart of the computer

 
The motherboard a.k.a. mainboard ties the parts in your computer together.
 
If the processor is the brain of your computer, the main board's function is the nerves,
transferring the electronic impulses between the installed parts making them work the way
they're supposed to.

There are many parts to a motherboard but I will only cover the most important. The first most
prominent part is the socket (sometimes slot) it is a square shape usually off-white with lots of
small holes in it , this is where the processor plugs into. The next most important component is
the chipset, these are two large chips (Northbridge top, southbridge bottom) which may or may
not have a heatsink on them, common makers include SIS, VIA, Nvidia, ATI,and Intel. The
chipset directs information to where it is needed. The next most prominent component are
memory slots, these are usually black and run parallel the the length of the motherboard. You
plug memory into these slots of course. The AGP port is usually a brown slot below the north
bridge, Video cards plug into this. PCI slots are the white slots below the AGP port and there are
anywhere from 1-6. Next are the ports, these are at the top left of the board and include USB,
parallel, serial, PS2, firewire, RJ45, sound, onboard video ports and/or a game port. These ports
are used for things such as mice, keyboards. printers, LAN cables, joysticks, speakers and
monitors. The IDE ports are usually black and have pins surrounded by a small rectangular
"wall", hard-drives and cd-readers use these ports. Serial ATA ports are small black ports which
hard-drives can also use. The next main part of the motherboard is the power connector and is
most likely a clear plastic piece with 20 small boxes (10x2) all the systems power comes through
this next to it may be a series or capacitors and green rings with copper wire wrapped around
them. There also may be a 4 pin connector for additional power.

Connects to

Microprocessors via one of:

 Sockets
 Slots (on older motherboards)
 Direct soldering (on dedicated and embedded system mainboards)

Main memory via one of:

 Slots
 Sockets for external chips (on old motherboards)
 Direct soldering of individual chips (on special purpose motherboards)
Peripherals via one of:

 External ports
 Internal cables

Expansion cards via one of:

 PCI Express bus

 PCI bus
 AGP bus
 ISA bus (on older motherboards)
 Others

Form factors ATX

microATX
AT (on older motherboards)
Baby AT (on older motherboards)
Others Common manufacturers ASUS
Gigabyte Technology
Intel
MSI
Foxconn
Others

important component of a motherboard is the microprocessor's supporting chipset, which

provides the supporting interfaces between the CPU and the various buses and external
components. This chipset determines, to an extent, the features and capabilities of the
motherboard.

Modern motherboards include, at a minimum:

 sockets (or slots) in which one or more microprocessors may be installed[3]

 slots into which the system's main memory is to be installed (typically in the form of
DIMM modules containing DRAM chips)
 a chipset which forms an interface between the CPU's front-side bus, main memory, and
peripheral buses
 non-volatile memory chips (usually Flash ROM in modern motherboards) containing the
system's firmware or BIOS
 a clock generator which produces the system clock signal to synchronize the various
components
 slots for expansion cards (these interface to the system via the buses supported by the
chipset)
 power connectors, which receive electrical power from the computer power supply and
distribute it to the CPU, chipset, main memory, and expansion cards.[4]
A CPU socket or slot is an electrical component that attaches to a printed circuit board (PCB) and is
designed to house a CPU (also called a microprocessor). It is a special type of integrated circuit socket
designed for very high pin counts. A CPU socket provides many functions, including a physical structure
to support the CPU, support for a heat sink, facilitating replacement (as well as reducing cost), and most
importantly, forming an electrical interface both with the CPU and the PCB. CPU sockets can most often
be found in most desktop and server computers (laptops typically use surface mount CPUs), particularly
those based on the Intel x86 architecture on the motherboard. A CPU socket type and motherboard
chipset must support the CPU series and speed. Generally, with a newer AMD microprocessor, you need
only select a motherboard that supports the CPU and not be concerned with the chipset.

or example, the ECS RS485M-M,[6] a typical modern budget motherboard for computers based
on AMD processors, has on-board support for a very large range of peripherals:

 disk controllers for a floppy disk drive, up to 2 PATA drives, and up to 6 SATA drives
(including RAID 0/1 support)
 integrated ATI Radeon graphics controller supporting 2D and 3D graphics, with VGA
and TV output
 integrated sound card supporting 8-channel (7.1) audio and S/PDIF output
 Fast Ethernet network controller for 10/100 Mbit networking
 USB 2.0 controller supporting up to 12 USB ports
 IrDA controller for infrared data communication (e.g. with an IrDA-enabled cellular
phone or printer)
 temperature, voltage, and fan-speed sensors that allow software to monitor the health of
computer components

Expansion cards to support all of these functions would have cost hundreds of dollars even a
decade ago; however, as of April 2007 such highly integrated motherboards are available for as
little as $30 in the USA.

Basic computer components Input devices

Keyboard · Light pen · Mouse · Microphone · Webcam
Output devices
Monitor  · Speakers  · Printer
Removable data storage
Floppy disk · Compact Disc ReWritable/DVD Drive · USB flash drive · Memory card
Computer case
Central processing unit · RAM · Video card · Sound card · Motherboard · Power supply · Hard
drive
Data ports
Serial port · Parallel port · Universal Serial Bus (USB)
Block diagram of a modern motherboard, which supports many on-board peripheral functions as
well as several expansion slots.
Motherboard Components

If you open your computer's case, the motherboard is the flat, rectangular piece of circuit board
to which everything seems to connect to for one reason or another. It contains the following key
components:

 A microprocessor "socket" which defines what kind of central processing unit the motherboard
uses;
 A chipset which forms the computer's logic system. It is usually composed of two parts called
bridges (a "north" bridge and its opposite, "south" bridge), which connects the CPU to the rest
of the system;
 A Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) chip which controls the most basic function of a computer,
and how to repair it; and
 A real-time clock which is a battery-operated chip which maintains the system's time, and other
basic functions.

The motherboard also has slots or ports for the attachment of various peripherals or support
system/hardware. There is an Accelerated Graphics Port, which is used exclusively for video
cards; Integrated Drive Electronics, which provides the interfaces for the hard disk drives;
Memory or RAM cards; and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), which provides
electronic connections for video capture cards and network cards, among others.

1 - Firewire header

Firewire is also known as IEEE 1394. It is basically a high performance serial bus for digital and
audio equipment to exchange data. The technology preceded USB but yet is faster than any
current USB port. Often used for transferring digital video to the PC straight from a digital
camera. The FireWire header onboard means you can install a FireWire port on your machine.
Again these cables are often supplied as an optional extra which you will need to check with the
retailer to see if they are supplied with your board.

2 - PCI Express 16x slots

Now the most common slot for Graphics cards, the PCI Express 16x slots provides 16 separate
lanes or data transfer. PCI express 1.0 slots offer a data transfer rate of 250MB/s the second
generation of PCI express (PCI Express 2.0) offers twice the data rate at 500MB/s. Currently in
development is PCI Express 3.0 which offers 1GB/s of data transfer. PCI Express 16x slots are
also the basis for both SLI and Crossfire multi graphics card setups. With the increasing demands
graphics cards are putting on systems, no less than a 16 lane slot will be good enough for any
modern graphics card.

3 - PCI Express 1x Slot

Like the PCI Express 16x above the 1x slot uses exactly the same system but only has a single
lane of serial data transfer. These slots are used for expansion cards that do no require the same
amount of data transfer that a graphics card requires. You will usually find components such as
tv tuners, network cards and sound cards make use of the PCI Express 1x slot. You will also
notice the difference in size between the 1x and the 16x slots. The PCI Express 1x slot is
noticeably smaller and easy to spot.

4 - Chipset - North Bridge (with heatsink)

The Motherboards chipset can be described as what sets it apart from other boards in its
category. Different chipsets contain different features and components. A chipset is a number of
integrated circuits built onto the board to provide specific functions e.g. one part of the chipset
may be an onboard component such as a modem or sound chip. Other parts may be used to
control the CPU functions. Most chipsets are designed to work with only one "class" of CPU
although now many older chipsets support more than one type of CPU such as socket 7 which
supports the Pentium, Cyrix 686, Cyrix MII, AMD K6 and K6-2. There are certain restrictions
though to what type of processor a chipset can handle because of the logic that the CPU uses to
access the memory and its cache etc. Since these chips are working harder with each generation,
motherboard manufacturers have started to put heatsinks and active coolers (fans) on the main
parts of the chipset to disperse some of the heat. For more information on chipsets see our What
does a chipset do article.

5 and 8 - ATX Power connector

The standard ATX power connector, the cable for this will be coming from the PSU, a clip is
normally provided to make sure you get them in the correct order. As a tip, don't try to push too
hard if its stuck, check to see that it is in the correct way, I have seen plenty of power connectors
where the pins have pushed out some of the connectors, these can be difficult to get back into
place, so its best to be careful.

6 - CPU (Central Processing Unit) socket

All the CPU "sockets look very similar, however they are different in the way they have different
amount of pins and in different layouts. There are currently two major CPU socket types PGA
and LGA. PGA or Pin Grad Array uses a system of pins on the CPU and holes on the socket to
line up and hold a CPU in place. The introduction of the ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket for
PGA types allowed the CPU's to be lined up without any pressure on the CPU until a level is
pulled down. LGA or Land Grid Array uses a system of gold plated copper pads that make
contact with the motherboard. It is very important to read your motherboard manual to discover
what types of CPU's you motherboard supports as most motherboards are aimed at a specific
type of CPU.

7 - DIMM (Double Inline Memory Module) slots

DIMM's are by far and away the most used memory types in today's computers. They vary in
speeds and standards however and they need to match up to what your motherboard has been
designed to take. The four standards of DIMM's being used at the moment are SDR (Single Data
Rate), DDR (Double Data Rate), DDR2 and DDR3. The speeds of memory can vary between
66Mhz to 1600Mhz.
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9 - Motherboard controls

Not available on all motherboards, but some allow direct control of the motherboard via simple
buttons. Power switch, error checking, CMOS clearing, passwords and more features can be
accessed directly on the motherboard on some models.

10 - Chipset - South Bridge

When we talk about chipsets you mainly only ever hear about the North bridge. Even those into
PC technology have a hard time naming the south bridges without looking them up. Names like
Nforce 2 and KT600 are North bridges. The South Bridge does an important job as well. It
handles things like the PCI bus, onboard Network and sound chips as well as the IDE and S-
ATA buses.

11 - Serial ATA Connector

Serial ATA or more commonly seen as S-ATA is a new way of connecting your Hard Drives to
your PC. S-ATA drives have the capability of being faster than the IDE counterparts and also
have smaller thinner cables which help with the airflow of the system. S-ATA hard disks are fast
becoming the norm for hard drive technology. Current motherboards feature both IDE and S-
ATA connectors to facilitate all types of storage hardware.

12 - USB 2.0 header

As well as having USB ports on the rear of the motherboard, motherboard manufacturers often
add a couple of USB headers so you can connect optional cables for extra USB ports. These
cables are often supplied and you only need to add them on if you need the extra connectivity.
USB 2.0 replaced USB 1.1 as a much faster solution. It is backwards compatible meaning all
USB 1.1 devices will work in these new USB 2.0 ports.

13 - Motherboard Battery

The battery gives the board a small amount of power in order to store some vital data on your
machine when the power is off. Data stored is that like the time and date so you don't have to
reset them every time you boot the machine up. Motherboard batteries are usually long lasting
Lithium batteries. Removing this can reset all the data on your machine including the BIOS
settings, however not replacing this correctly can lead to irreparable damage to the motherboard.
Only remove the battery if it is dead or if you can't have access any other way to resetting the
data on your machine by use of the clear CMOS jumper or something similar.

14 - PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slot 

The PCI bus (not PCI express) is now an older technology and although the PCI slots are still
available, they have decreased in number and are being replaced by the PCI Express 1x slots. Its
unlikely that you will get a motherboard without a PCI slot at the moment due to the fact that a
lot of components still use the standard PCI slot. It would be awkward to upgrade to a system
without PCI slots as it may mean upgrading more components than you would like to,

15 - Floppy Drive Connector 

More simple than the IDE connector you only have to remember to get the red line to pin 1 of the
connector and the red line to pin 1 on the floppy drive, This port is only to be used with floppy
drives. You may not have a floppy controller on your motherboard as its slowly being phased out
as more people are using writable CD's and DVDs to transfer data, to store data and to use as
boot up discs.

16 - IDE connector Not on Diagram

The connector to which you will insert an IDE cable (supplied with motherboard) IDE cables
connect devices such as hard disks, CD Drives and DVD Drives. The current 4 standards of IDE
devices are ATA 33/66/100 and 133. the numbers specify the amount of data in Mb/s in a max
burst situation. In reality there is not much chance of getting a sustain data rate of this
magnitude. Both the connectors and devices are backwards compatible with each other, however
they will only run at the slowest rated speed between them. All IDE cables will come with a red
line down one side, this red line is to show which way it should be plugged in. The red line
should always connect to pin one of the IDE port. Checking your motherboard documentation
should show you which end is pin one. In some cases it will be written on the board itself.

In the case of ATA 66/100/133 there is a certain order that you plug devices in, the cable is
colour coded to help you get them in the correct order.

 The Blue connector should be connected to the system board

 The Black connector should be connected to the master device

 The Grey Connector should be connected to the slave device

17 - BIOS (Basic Input Output System) Chip - Not on Diagram

The BIOS holds the most important data for your machine, if configured incorrectly it could
cause your computer not to boot correctly or not at all. The BIOS also informs the PC what the
motherboard supports in terms off CPU etc. This is why when a new CPU is introduced that
physically fits into a slot or socket you may need a BIOS update to support it. The main reason
for this is that different CPU's use different logics and methods and so the BIOS has to
understand certain instructions from the CPU to recognise it.