mother board

The main circuit board of a microcomputer. The motherboard contains the connectors for attaching additional boards. Typically, the motherboard contains the CPU,  BIOS,  memory  mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel ports, expansion slots and all the controllers  required to control standard peripheral devices such as the display screeen keyboard and disk drive. Collectively, all these chips that reside on the motherboard are known as the motherboard's chipset.

On most PC's  it is possible to add memory chips directly to the motherboard. You may also be able to upgrade to a faster PC by replacing the CPU chip. To add additional core features, you may need to replace the motherboard entirely.

Introduction to motherboards

The primary component of a computer is the motherboard (sometimes called the "mainboard"). The motherboard is the hub which is used to connect all of the computer's essential components.

As its name suggests, the motherboard acts as a "parent" board, which takes the form of a large printed circuit with connectors for expansion cards, memory modules, the processor, etc.

Characteristics

There are several ways in which a motherboard can be characterised, in particular the following:

• the form factor,
• the chipset
• the type of precessor socket used,
• the input outpur connectors.

Motherboard form factor

The term "form factor" is normally used to refer to the motherboard's geometry, dimensions, arrangement, and electrical requirements. In order to build motherboards which can be used in different brands of cases, a few standards have been developed:

• AT baby/AT full format is a format used in the earliest 386 and 486 PCs. This format was replaced by the ATX format, which shape allowed for better air circulation and made it easier to access the components;
• ATX: The ATX format is an upgrade to Baby-AT. It was intended to improve ease of use. The connection device on an ATX motherboard is designed to make plugging in peripherals as easy as possible (for example, the IDE connectors are located beside the disks.) What's more, motherboard components are arranged in parallel, so as to improve heat removal.
  • ATX standard: The ATX standard format is traditionally 305x244 mm. It includes an AGP  connector and 6 PCI connectors.
  
  BTX: The BTX format (Balanced Technology eXtended), supported by Intel, is a format designed to improve upon the arrangement of components, so as to optimise air circulation, acoustics, and heat dissipation. The various connectors (memory slots, expansion slots) are aligned in parallel, in the direction in which air circulates. Additionally, the microprocessor is located in the front end of the case, by the air intake, where the air is freshest. The BTX power cord is the same as with ATX power supplies.