Go Back to Learn About Computers main page!
to return to the main site, close this window.....

THIS PAGE UNDER CONSTUCTION




Motherboards: (other names: Mainboard, Mobo) The Motherboard is the main circuit board located within a computer. It serves many purposes most of which are very important to a computer.




Motherboards




Motherboards are the central location of a computer just about everything connects to it somehow. A Motherboard houses many important features on your computer, one of them being a processor (or CPU)

Below is a picture of an Asus Brand motherboard, labeled with numbers to tell which parts are what.



1) The Processor slot - This Is where the Processor (or CPU) of the computer is located. Many Motherboard have different size slots for different types of processors.

2) The Chipsets - These are very important to the motherboard. The chipsets are the control units of the motherboard, there are usually 2 or more of these chips, one usually contolls the processor directly, the other usually controls the rest of the board such as the expansion slots.

3) The Ram Slots - This is where the RAM (or short term memory)of the computer is placed. Most Motherboards have more than one of these. Some have more than one type for different kinds of RAM.

4) Expansion Slots - These are very nice, yet important features of a motherboard. These slots allow you to add other components to your computer, such as a modem, sound card or video card. There are also several different types of expansion slots. In the picture above there are PCI slots (the white slots )which are used for nearly anything, and there is an AGP slot (to the right of the 4) which is primarily used for video cards. There are many other expansion slots such as ISA, AMR, ect...

5) The Battery - The Battery is on the motherboard to save all settings on the motherboard (in the BIOS) so you don't have to re-program your settings everytime that you turn on your computer.

6) The I/O Ports - Also known as Input/Output Ports these allow you to connect external devices to the computer, such as a mouse, printer, or scanner.

7) Motherboard Power Connector - This is a connection where the motherboard is connected to the Powersupply, Giving the Motherboard Power to operate.

8) The Ide and Floppy Cable connectors - This is where all the cables that come from other parts of the computer (such as the Floppy Drive,CD Drive or Hard Drive) connect to the motherboard

9) Front Panel Connectors - These connectors connect all of the buttons and lights you use on the front of your computer, such as the power button, Many computers have connections for USB ports and a headphone jack on the front panel.

10) The BIOS Chip - Also Known as the Basic Input/Output System, The BIOS is held within this chip, which controls all the most basic (and vital ) functions of a computer)

11) Processor Power Connector - This connection connects to the Power supply, and sends direct power to the Processor.