Motherboard explained
The motherboard is the main component
of any branded or assembled PC, laptop, tablet or a mobile phone. Now
you must be curious, why it is called the motherboard? The motherboard
is a Printed Circuit Board which acts as the main platform for
communication between all other components of a system. All the other
computer parts are either directly installed or connected to various
motherboard components and all the data is transferred between them through the motherboard.
Different types of motherboards:
AT Motherboards
The
oldest of the main boards, these motherboards were used in earlier
286/386 or 486 computers. The AT means the board consists of advanced
technology(AT) power connectors. There are two power connectors of 6 pin
each mounted on the AT motherboards. The AT motherboards were available
in the early 80’s.
ATX Motherboards
The
ATX motherboards started in 90’s and are still available. The ATX
connector on the motherboard consists of a single connector. These
boards are used for P2/P3 or P/4 processors.
Motherboard for P1/P2 processors:
Pentium 4 motherboard
Motherboard Components
The
motherboard consists of various components which have their own role to
play in the functioning of a computer. Let us discuss various
motherboard components and know their definition and role.
Expansion Slots
ISA slots.
These were the oldest expansion slots in the history of motherboards.
They were found in AT boards and are identified by black color.
Conventional display cards or sound cards were installed in these slots. The full form of ISA is
Industry Standard Architecture and is a 16- bit bus.
PCI Slots.
The full form of PCI is Peripheral Component Interconnect. The PCI slot
is one of the important motherboard components today and is vastly used
to install add-on cards on the motherboard
. The PCI supports 64-bit high-speed bus.
PCI express.
Also known as PCIe, these are the latest and the fastest component of
the motherboard to support add-on cards. It supports full duplex serial
bus.
AGP slot. Accelerated graphics port(AGP) is
specifically used to install a latest graphics card. AGP runs on a
32-bit bus and both PCIe and AGP can be used to install high-end gaming
display cards.
RAM(memory) slots
SIMM slots. The full form is a single in-line memory module. These slots were found in older motherboards, up to 486-boards. The SIMM supports 32-bit bus.
DIMM slots. The full form of DIMM is a Double inline memory module. These are the latest RAM slots which run on a faster 64-bit bus. The DIMM used on Laptop boards are called SO-DIMM.
CPU Socket
Another vital motherboard component is the CPU socket which is used to install the processor on the motherboard. Some important sockets are explained below.
Socket7. It is a 321 pin socket that supported older processors like Intel Pentium 1/2/MMX, AMD k5/K6, and Cyrix M2.
Socket370. It is a 370 pin socket that supports Celeron processors and Pentium-3 processors.
Socket 775. It is a 775-pin socket that supports Inter dual core, C2D, P-4 and Xeon processors.
Socket 1156. Found on latest types of motherboards, it is an 1156-pin socket that supports latest Intel i-3, i-5 and i-7 processors.
Socket 1366. The socket is of 1366 pins and supports latest i-7 900 processors.
BIOS
The
full form of BIOS is Basic Input Output System. It is a motherboard
component in the form of a Integrated chip. This chip contains all the
information and settings of the motherboard which you can modify by
entering the BIOS mode from your computer.
CMOS Battery
The
battery or a cell is a 3.0 Volts lithium type cell. The cell is
responsible for storing the information in BIOS and the full form is
Complementary Metal Oxide Semi-Conductor.
Power Connectors
In order to receive power from SMPS
, there are connectors mounted on the motherboards.
AT connector. It consists of 2 number of 6 pin male connectors and is found on old types of motherboards.
ATX connector.
The latest in the series of power connectors, they are either 20 or 24
pin female connectors. Found in all the latest types of motherboards.
IDE connector
The
Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) connectors are used to interface
disk drives. The 40-pin male connector is used to connect IDE hard disk drives and the 34-pin male connector connects to Floppy Disk Drive.
SATA connector
Latest
in the series, the connectors, Serial Advance Technology
Attachment(SATA) are 7-pin connectors to interface latest SATA hard
disks or optical drives. They are much faster than IDE interface.
Co-Processor
The
co-processor is one of the important motherboard components and helps
the main processor in mathematical calculations and computer graphics.
Cabinet connections
The
cabinet in which the motherboard is installed has many buttons that
connect to the motherboard. Some of the common connectors are Power
Switch, Reset Switch, Front USB, Front Audio, Power indicator(LED) and HDD LED.
I/O interface connectors

Choosing
a right type of motherboard that is compatible with other parts of
computer is vital step in determining the overall speed of your PC. Once
you learn about various motherboard components, you can easily assemble your own PC or solve the basic hardware issues in motherboard.