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1. HISTORY OF MOTHERBOARD
The motherboard was first introduced to the world by IBM in 1981 and was called the “planar.” It housed
a CPU and RAM and served a very basic purpose. The board had chips wired together and ports for a
keyboard, mouse, and cassette tapes.

2. TYPES OF MOTHER BOARD

ATX Motherboard

If you want a PC with an extended ATX, than AT motherboard is the best choice as they have bigger physical
dimensions. You cannot use them for mini desktops.

Mini ITX Motherboard

The Mini ITX serves as the smallest possible form factor motherboard you can run full-size PC components
into. You can still find these new on the shelves today

BTX

The BTX includes features such as a more efficient layout to facilitate cooling, low profile, support for high-
mass motherboard components, and a scalable board

AT motherboard

A computer's motherboard is typically the largest printed circuit board in a machine's chassis. It distributes
electricity and facilitates communication between

ATX

Micro-ATX motherboards are very popular with home builders and organizations looking for the power of a
desktop without a large footprint. You can use a Micro

Extended ATX

eXtended ATX – This motherboard is 344*330 mm dimensions (these dimensions can vary with different
manufacturer). This motherboard is designed for both dual CPU

LPX motherboard

The LPX motherboard never could match the stratospheric success of the Baby AT form factor, but it did
remain a viable alternative throughout the early 1990s.
Nano ATX

Moving over to the next motherboard type, the nano-ITX are even smaller motherboards than the mini-ITX
ones, measuring around 4.7″ x 4.7″ only. Primarily, these

Baby AT

Introduced in 1995, the Baby AT motherboard form factor, short for Advanced Technology Extended,
represented an evolution of the earlier AT form factor.

Flex ATX

Flex ATX motherboards have a reduced size and feature set, making them suitable for space-constrained
environments while supporting basic computing needs.
Mini STX

The Mini-STX board is 7 millimeters longer from front to back, making it somewhat rectangular in shape.
This is in contrast to the shape of other tiny form

DTX

DTX motherboards balance space-saving and expandability, accommodating a few expansion slots and
components while fitting into smaller PC cases.

LPX

The size of an LPX motherboard is 9" wide and 13" deep, and used in the late 1980s and throughout the
1990s. As compared to other motherboards, it has several

NLX

In the late 1990s, the NLX motherboard came to the market. In March 1997, it was developed and finalized by
Intel. These motherboards can be removed easily.

Types of motherboards

Types of Motherboards. To comprehend what motherboards are and what they do, we must first examine
their various types and specifications.

Pico BTX

Pico BTX are smaller in size and the best choice if you are planning to develop a Hackintosh (desktop Mac)
computer. There are two expansion slots and riser

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3. PARTS OF THE MOTHERBOARD

CMOS BATTERY

CMOS BATTERY, ALSO CALLED MEMORY BATTERY, CLOCK BATTERY OR REAL-TIME CLOCK

(RTC), IS GENERALLY A CR2032 LITHIUM COIN CELL.

CPU

CPU IS THE ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY IN A COMPUTER THAT EXECUTES INSTRUCTIONS THAT

MAKE UP A PROGRAM. IT IS ALSO KNOWN AS A CENTRAL PROCESSOR OR THE MAIN

PROCESSOR.

MEMORY SLOTS

THE RAM SLOTS ARE WHERE THE MEMORY MODULES ARE INSERTED AND STORE
TEMPORARY DATA FOR FASTER ACCESS. THE PCIE SLOTS ARE WHERE THE EXPANSION

CARDS,

PCI

PCI EXPRESS IS A HIGH-SPEED SERIAL COMPUTER EXPANSION BUS STANDARD DESIGNED

TO REPLACE THE OLDER PCI, PCI-X AND AGP BUS STANDARD.

EXPANSION SLOTS

OFFERING EXPANSION SLOTS TO ADD OTHER COMPONENTS, SUCH AS GRAPHICS CARD,

NETWORK CARDS, ETC. IN OLDER DESKTOP COMPUTERS, THERE HAD VERY FEW
INTEGRATED

SOUTHBRIDGE

SOUTHBRIDGE IS A SINGLE SEMICONDUCTOR CHIPSET THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR

CONTROLLING ALL ONBOARD INPUT/OUTPUT FUNCTIONS OF A COMPUTER SUCH AS USB,

BIOS (FIREWIRE)

AGP

AGP WAS DESIGNED AS A HIGH-SPEED POINT-TO-POINT CHANNEL FOR CONNECTING A

VIDEO CARD (GRAPHICS CARD) TO A COMPUTER SYSTEM. PRIMARILY, IT WAS USED TO
ASSIST IN

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BIOS CHIP

THE CMOS CHIP STORES BIOS INFORMATION AND COMPUTER SETTINGS, EVEN WHEN
POWERED DOWN. THE CMOS BATTERY ALLOWS USERS TO SKIP

RESETTING BIOS CONFIGURATIONS

CHIPSET

SINCE THE CHIPSET IS ARGUABLY THE MAIN COMPONENT THAT'S PERMANENTLY

ATTACHED TO THE MOTHERBOARD (AS OPPOSED TO REMOVABLE CPU OR RAM), WE'LL

LIST THE PRIMARY

CHIPSET

SINCE THE CHIPSET IS ARGUABLY THE MAIN COMPONENT THAT'S PERMANENTLY

ATTACHED TO THE MOTHERBOARD (AS OPPOSED TO REMOVABLE CPU OR RAM), WE'LL
LIST THE PRIMARY

COOLING SYSTEMS

COOLING SYSTEMS EMPLOY A THERMAL CONDUCTOR TO COOL THE SYSTEM AND STOP

OVERHEATING OF COMPONENTS LIKE THE CPU, NORTH-SOUTH BRIDGE, ETC.

HEATSINK

ON THE MOTHERBOARD, THE HEATSINK IS USUALLY USED TO COOL CPU, GPU (GRAPHICS

PROCESSING UNIT), CHIPSETS AND RAM MODULES. 20. CLOCK GENERATOR.

MEMORY

SOME MEMORY CONTROLLERS ARE NOW BUILT INTO CPUS; THAT HAS ELIMINATED THE
NORTHBRIDGE CHIPS THAT PROVIDED MEMORY MANAGEMENT FROM THE MOTHERBOARD

CHIP ROM

THE BIOS INFORMATION IS KEPT IN ROM, WHICH IS ONLY A FEW KB IN SIZE AND TELLS

HOW TO START, WHAT TO DO WHEN IT STARTS, WHICH DRIVER TO LOAD, CPU FAN SPEED

FLOPPY CONTROLLER

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FDC (FLOPPY-DISK CONTROLLER) ... FDC IS A SPECIAL-PURPOSE CHIP AND ASSOCIATED
DISK CONTROLLER CIRCUITRY. IT CONTROLS AND DIRECTS READING FROM AND WRITING

INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS

LAPTOP AND NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS THAT WERE DEVELOPED IN THE

1990S INTEGRATED THE MOST COMMON PERIPHERALS. THIS EVEN INCLUDED

MOTHERBOARDS WITH NO UPGRADEABLE

JUMPER

JUMPER. A JUMPER IS A SHORT LENGTH OF CONDUCTOR THAT IS USED TO CLOSE, OPEN OR

BYPASS PART OF AN ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT. TYPICALLY, JUMPERS ARE USED TO SET UP

MOTHERBOARD DIAGRAM

HERE IS A DIAGRAM OF MAJOR PORTS, HEADERS, AND SLOTS COMMON ON TODAY'S

MOTHERBOARDS, PLUS A GUIDE TO EXPANSION SLOTS, RAM AND FORM FACTORS.

PARALLEL PORT

PARALLEL PORT CARRY DATA ON MORE THAN ONE WIRE, AS OPPOSED TO THE SERIAL
PORT, WHICH USES ONLY ONE WIRE. PARALLEL PORTS USE A 25-PIN FEMALE DB

CONNECTOR.

POWER CONNECTOR

THE MOTHERBOARD HAS A POWER CONNECTOR PLUG THAT CONNECTS THE COMPUTER
TO A POWER SOURCE AND CONVERTS IT INTO A FORM OF ELECTRICAL POWER THAT THE

COMPUTER

FRONT PANEL CONNECTORS

THESE FRONT PANEL CONNECTORS ARE USUALLY PLUGGED INTO SMALL PINS ON THE
MOTHERBOARD. ALTHOUGH THE PINS ARE GROUPED AND COLOR-CODED, THEIR LAYOUT

STRUCTURE

KEYBOARD AND MOUSE CONNECTORS

MOUSE AND KEYBOARD PORTS ... ALL COMPUTERS HAVE A KEYBOARD PORT CONNECTED

DIRECTLY TO THE MOTHERBOARD. THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF CONNECTORS.

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REAR PORTS

INPUT/OUTPUT PORTS ARE THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE CPU AND PERIPHERAL
DEVICES ON A MOTHERBOARD. THERE ARE TWO COMPLEMENTARY METHODS TO PERFORM

INPUT

IDE CONNECTOR

IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS) CONTROLLER; CMOS (COMPLEMENTARY METAL-

OXIDE-SEMICONDUCTOR) BATTERY; POWER SUPPLY CONNECTOR; MOUSE AND KEYBOARD
PORTS; DIP

CEDRIC JAMES B. VARGAS