The Motherboard
The basic purpose of the motherboard is to provide the electrical and logical connections by which the other components of the system communicate.
A typical desktop computer is built with the microprocessor, main memory, and other essential components on the motherboard. Other components such as external storage, controllers for video display and sound, and peripheral devices are typically attached to the motherboard via edge connectors and cables, although in modern computers it is increasingly common to integrate these "peripherals" into the motherboard (e.g. onboard sound)
The motherboard of a typical desktop consists of a large PCB. It holds electronic components and interconnects, as well as physical connectors (sockets, slots, and headers) into which other computer components may be inserted or attached.
Most motherboards include, at a minimum:
Sockets in which one or more CPUs are installed
Slots into which the system's main memory is installed (RAM)
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 (Basic Input/Output System, you can control how the computer runs with this)
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). These slots include PCI-Express, AGP and PCI
Power connectors which receive electrical power from the computer power supply and distribute it to other components
Given the high thermal design power of high-speed computer CPUs and components, modern motherboards nearly always include heatsinks and mounting points for fans to dissipate excess heat.
This is an ASUS P5LP-LE motherboard. These are found in some HP computers
This is a pencil diagram of an ASUS P5LP-LE motherboard.
All the major details of a motherboard are outlined
PS/2 mouse port - used to connect traditional mouses with a USB connection
Parallel port - an old connection that use to be used for connecting printers
IEEE 1394a port (FireWire) - Transfer rates of upto 800mbs. Used to connect external hard drives and external DVD writers
RJ-45 LAN port (network) - used as a connection with other computers in the home, office or over a large corporation.
Side speaker out (gray) for 8-channel audio configuration
Rear speaker out (black) for 4, 6, or 8-channel configuration
Center/Subwoofer port (yellow)
Audio line-in (light-blue)
Audio line-out/front speaker out (lime green) - Microphone (pink)
- USB 2.0 ports - connecting common devices such as printers, scanners, digital cameras, MP3 players and external drives
- USB 2.0 ports - connecting common devices such as printers, scanners, digital cameras, MP3 players and external drives
- Coaxial S/PDIF out - Digital sound out, no interference or hissing noises when playing music with this connection
- Coaxial S/PDIF in - Digital sound in, no interference or hissing noises when recording sounds with this connection
- PS/2 Keyboard port - used to connect traditional keyboards with a USB connection
This page was last modified on Sunday, May 27, 2007 18:04:06