Scribd
Upload
444 views3 pages

Lecture 4 - CSS Motherboard

A motherboard holds together crucial computer components like the CPU, memory, and connectors for input/output devices. It consists of a non-conductive sheet with copper traces that form circuits connecting components. A motherboard contains sockets and slots that connect the CPU, memory, hard drives, graphics card, and other peripherals. Key components include the CPU socket, chipset containing the Northbridge and Southbridge, memory slots, expansion slots, and BIOS chip. The motherboard is the central component that connects all the parts of a computer system.

Uploaded by

Charmis Tubil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
444 views3 pages

Lecture 4 - CSS Motherboard

A motherboard holds together crucial computer components like the CPU, memory, and connectors for input/output devices. It consists of a non-conductive sheet with copper traces that form circuits connecting components. A motherboard contains sockets and slots that connect the CPU, memory, hard drives, graphics card, and other peripherals. Key components include the CPU socket, chipset containing the Northbridge and Southbridge, memory slots, expansion slots, and BIOS chip. The motherboard is the central component that connects all the parts of a computer system.

Uploaded by

Charmis Tubil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Motherboard: Definition

A motherboard is one of the most essential parts of a computer system. It holds


together many of the crucial components of a computer, including the central
processing unit (CPU), memory and connectors for input and output devices. The base
of a motherboard consists of a very firm sheet of non-conductive material, typically
some sort of rigid plastic. Thin layers of copper or aluminum foil, referred to as traces,
are printed onto this sheet. These traces are very narrow and form the circuits between
the various components. In addition to circuits, a motherboard contains a number of
sockets and slots to connect the other components.

Parts of a Motherboard
If you were to open up your computer and take out the motherboard, you would
probably get pretty confused about all the different parts. Depending on the make and
model of your computer, it might look something like this.

Photograph of a typical motherboard of a


desktop computer

To understand how computers work, you don't need to know every single part of the
motherboard. However, it is good to know some of the more important parts and how
the motherboard connects the various parts of a computer system together. Here are
some of the typical parts:

 A CPU socket - the actual CPU is directly soldered onto the socket. Since high
speed CPUs generates a lot of heat, there are heat sinks and mounting points for
fans right next to the CPU socket.
 A power connector to distribute power to the CPU and other components.
 Slots for the system's main memory, typically in the form of DRAM chips.
 A chip forms an interface between the CPU, the main memory and other
components. On many types of motherboards, this is referred to as the
Northbridge. This chip also contains a large heat sink.
 A second chip controls the input and output (I/O) functions. It is not connected
directly to the CPU but to the Northbridge. This I/O controller is referred to as the
Southbridge. The Northbridge and Southbridge combined are referred to as
the chipset.
 Several connectors, which provide the physical interface between input and
output devices and the motherboard. The Southbridge handles these
connections.
 Slots for one or more hard drives to store files. The most common types of
connections are Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) and Serial Advanced
Technology Attachment (SATA).
 A read-only memory (ROM) chip, which contains the firmware, or startup
instructions for the computer system. This is also called the BIOS.
 A slot for a video or graphics card. There are a number of different types of slots,
including the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and Peripheral Component
Interconnect Express (PCIe).
 Additional slots to connect hardware in the form of Peripheral Component
Interconnect (PCI) slots.

Photograph of a typical motherboard with the


most important parts labeled

There are certainly a lot of acronyms to get used to! Don't worry too much about trying
to remember all the parts and their acronyms. The key is to remember that
the motherboard contains the central processing unit, the memory, and all the
connectors to the rest of the hardware of the computer system. The board is the
'mother' of all components - that's where it gets its name.
Schematic Diagram
Another useful way to look at the motherboard is as a schematic diagram. This is more
of a logical organization of how the various parts are connected rather than where they
are physically located on the sheet of plastic. The connections between these
components are referred to as buses. So there is a CPU bus, a memory bus, etc.

Schematic diagram of a typical motherboard

 To unlock this lesson you m

You might also like