What is a motherboard?
It is a printed board that contains the principle component of a computer or any other device. It comes with other connectors for the other circuit boards to be slotted. It is also known as the mobo, mb, mainboard, mobd, backplane board, baseboard, planar board, main circuit board or a logic board on an Apple computer. It is a printed circuit board that is considered but is also the foundation of a computer. It allocates power and also allows the communication to the RAM, CPU and the various other computer hardware components.
The largest component of the computer is the foundation of the computer system. It helps to provide pathways for all the devices whether external or internal and it also helps to communicate with one another. If you are planning to buy a motherboard then you must spend a considerable time for researching a motherboard with a good quality.
Main Specifications of a Motherboard
Let us begin by understanding the components of a motherboard.
Chipset
It consists of the main chipsets on a motherboard the Southbridge and the Northbridge controller. The Northbridge handles all the communications and the components are of a high speed such as the memory, CPU, graphic card. On the contrary the Southbridge handles the communication from the low speed devices such as the hard drives, on-board audio, BIOS.
The motherboards are designed around the two chips which are Southbridge and the Northbridge. Where the Northbridge dictates which kind of memory types and CPU’s are supported whereas the Southbridge dictates the things like number of built in USB ports and whether or not the board comes with RAID, LAN, integrated audio and video etc.
CPU
TheCPU is inserted directly into the socket of the motherboard and it is responsible for all the processing instructions.The various types of CPU supportedby the motherboard depend upon the Northbridge controller chip.
Expansion Slots
The expansion slots on the motherboard allows to connect with the external components such as the sound cards, RAID controllers, graphic cards and various other add-on components. The slots come in varying speeds and some of which are intended for the high-speed components such as AGP slots and PCI-E x16 for the graphic cards.
Memory
RAM or sticks of memory are inserted into a special memory slots on the motherboards typically have four to three slots. Motherboards only support one single type of memory e.g. DDR, DDR2, DDR3, Rambus since the different types have different number of pins that are further connected to the slot.
Internal I/O Connectors
These are the connections that connect directly to the motherboard from the internal components of your computer case. The many examples include power connectors from the power supply, hard drive, fan connections, USB, internal SATA connections from hard drives etc.
Back Panel Connectors
These are the connections that you can easily find on the back of your computer case where there is a plugin for the mouse, Ethernet, printer, keyboard, printer etc. The number and the type of connections are dependent on the motherboard which you purchase and that mostly depends on the Southbridge chipset used in the motherboard.
Form Factor
It refers to the size and the shape of the motherboard i.e. its dimensions. When you are purchasing a new motherboard you need to aware of its form factor because the certain cases and power supplies only work with the certain form factors. One of the most common form factors is ATX and nowadays most of the motherboards are based upon the ATX form factor.
Some Special and Unique Features of a Motherboard are:
Ultra Durable
Some motherboards use the newer solid-state capacitors that are more or less likely to leak or become defective. This is a relatively new feature and it is nice to have it you are able to find it.
Advanced Cooling
Some motherboards come with extra heat sinks to certain chips on the motherboard as well along with the heat pipe for the north bridge this further allows the motherboard to run a bit cooler and it is also useful if you wish to heavily over-clock your system.
Other things that you need to consider before buying a motherboard
Look for the motherboards that come with some on-board functionality such as USB ports, on-board LAN and SATA connections. You do not have to worry about the high prices as you can find endless options at really very reasonable prices.
Esaitech 