Motherboard
Motherboard
Motherboard
Function
�Diwas Poudel �May 17 2022 �TECH
What is a Motherboard?
The motherboard is a thin printed circuit board (PCB) which links all
different components inside your computer. So, we can say the
motherboard acts as a hub in a network. People call motherboard by
different names like mainboard, logic board, baseboard, system board,
mobo, etc.
Location of Motherboard:
In Desktop PC: A desktop PC is characterized by a large rectangular
computer case. When you open the case to see what's inside, you'll notice
a large square printed circuit plate in green/blue/brown/red. This plate is the
PC's motherboard.
In laptop: When you open the bottom cover of your laptop, you'll see the
large PCB board that serves as the motherboard.
In smartphone: When you open the back cover of your smartphone and
screw up some pins, you'll find your motherboard.
Types of Motherboard
Parts of Motherboard
In layman's terms, RAM is analogous to short term memory. RAM forgets its
content as soon as power is off, and the Information stored in short-term
memory will get lost after a few days.
RAM supports bidirectional data transfer from the CPU to memory during
a write operation and from RAM to the CPU during a read operation. It acts
as a bridge between the CPU and other devices such as HDDs, CDROMs,
and PEN drives.
RAM is named after the fact that any memory address in RAM can be
accessed directly from any location. Data in any memory location can be
accessed if the row and column numbers are known.
DRAM, SDRAM, DDR, SRAM, CMOS RAM, VRAM, and other types of
RAM are available on the market. RAM in the PC market typically ranges
from 2 GB to 16 GB.
The primary role of the CPU is to perform basic arithmetic, logical, and
input/output functions.
ALU: ALU is a CPU digital circuit (gates) that conducts all arithmetic and
logical operations. ALU is capable of performing basic arithmetic operations
such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. ALU is capable of
performing logical operations such as number and letter comparisons. A
single CPU can have many ALUs.
CU: The Control Unit (CU) is a digital circuit within the CPU that governs all
processes. It enables and instructs various logical units, I/O devices, and
the computer's memory on how to respond to program instructions from
various components, as well as the user.
If your motherboard only has a limited number of ports and slots for
connecting various types of hardware devices, such as graphics cards
(AGP ports), you can connect these cards using PCI slots and gain the
same advantage as if they were installed on the motherboard. Similarly, if
your computer system only has a limited number of USB ports and you
want more, you can buy a USB PCI card to add more USB ports to your
system.
Showing PCI slots, AGP slots, and ISA slots in the same picture:
General FAQs
1. What is the full form of PCI and PCIe(or PCI-E)?
Ans: Generally PCI slots are available on desktop PC but not in most
laptops do not have reusable PCI slots because of their compact size and
space. On some laptops, we can use it if you have ExpressCard Slots and
can get adaptors to use PCI or PCIe.
Ans: There are manual ways by going into the device manager. Better try
using CPU-Z software for getting a detailed view of all versions of installed
hardware.
4) ROM Chip
ROM is nonvolatile storage whose content will not get erased even after
power is cut off. Content stored in ROM is impossible or very difficult to
modify.
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 information, boot sequences information, system date time, and so
on.
6) North Bridge
North
the motherboard's
Bridge is also
primary
knowncontroller,
as Memory directing
Controller
traffic
Hub
to and
or Host
fromBridge.
the CP.It is
Characteristics of North Bridge:
It connects Southbridge to the CPU.
It handles and communicates faster components on the motherboard
like Main Memory, AGP, PCIe, ROM, and CPU.
It acts as a controller for bus speed on the motherboard.
Generally, it does lots of work with the CPU, so it is located near to
the CPU generally with the heatsink.
It is a core component and is directly connected to the CPU.
7) South Bridge
The southbridge is an IC chip that manages and controls IO functionality on
the motherboard. It does not have direct communication with the CPU,
unlike Northbridge. It typically handles low-speed devices due to its
slower communication speed. The CPU sends an instruction to the
northbridge, which then sends it to the southbridge. It is linked to the PCI
bus, ISA buses, IDE buses, audio, serial devices such as a mouse,
keyboard, USB ports, and so on, as well as a SATA hard disk connector.
They can save those sets for a longer period of time, ranging from 2 to 10
years. Because it is constantly holding all of the above-mentioned settings,
CMOS works even when your system is turned off.
It is also called the RTC(Real Time Clock) of the computer system because
even computer is shut down it is able to store all the required information
that the system required to boot the system next time.
CMOS FAQs
Ans: CMOS battery in PCs operates at 3V.If the CMOS battery goes
below 2.6V then CMOS has more chances to lose BIOS Settings and
hardware settings, dates, and times. Even sometimes the Operating
System will also not load.
fig. Power Supply Box provides power to the motherboard and devices like HDD, CDROM, Floppy
etc
8Pin connector can be split into two and each split part can be used as a 4
pin connector.
IV) Molex
Molex pin is 4 power pin which is required to supply power to older
CDROM and hard drives. Molex is nowadays used for Case Fan. (some
have some do not have)
Every PATA cable has two or three connectors, one of which is connected
to the adapter interfacing and the others to secondary storage devices. In
modern computers, it is not used. It is outdated technology and is replaced
by SATA Technology
Reduce Cable Size: The size of the SATA cable is shorter than the
PATA cable. The maximum cable length of SATA cable is 18 inch
and PATA's maximum cable length is ~ 39 inches.
Higher Bandwidth: The bandwidth ranges of various PATA cable is
between 16 MB/s - 133 MB/s. But bandwidth ranges of various SATA
cable is between 150 MB/s - 600 MB/s.
SATA has hot-swappable features: SATA cable from the devices
can be plugged in and out even system is ON(But don't try with
running hard disk or CDROM). Hot-swappable does not work with
PATA. Try it(Remove SATA cable from CDROM, Restart your PC
then insert SATA in CDROM, it will work.)
Try it (Remove PATA cable from CDROM, Restart your PC then insert
PATA in CDROM, it will not work. Precaution: Don't do this hot-swap with
PATA cable).
Type A
Type B
Type C
Type A Mini
Type B Mini
Type A Micro
Type B Micro
Type B Micro USB3
Also Read: Learn about USB port in depth
Green Color Port is a Line Out which is for headphones and stereo
speakers.
Pink /Light Pink Port for Microphones input.
Light Blue Port is line In which is for mp3 players, DVD players, CD
players, stereo receivers, turntables, electric guitar, and VCR audio
outputs.
Dolby Audio Black Port for rear speaker.
The orange/yellow port is the Center/Bass Channel which is for the
subwoofer
21) Heatsink
Heatsinks use a thermal conductor to reduce heat generated and prevent
overheating from hardware components like CPU, GPU, northbridge,
southbridge, RAM modules, etc. In general, that component that generates
heat required a heatsink.
CPU has to perform a large number of tasks every second. While
performing large tasks, it beings to generate heat and if heat is not
maintained then
the processor will destroy itself. Also at the top of the heatsink will have a
FAN and this FAN helps to cool down the heat sink. This is Air coolant
Heatsink
But in the market, we will have a liquid coolant heatsink as well generally
used in a high-end gaming environment, servers, and datacenter.
Switches and jumpers are used to reconfigure the circuit onto an existing
circuit board in a reversible way.
Jumper also called Jumper Shunt is a small circuit board used to close,
open or bypass part of an electronic circuit.
Closed Stage Jumper: If the plug is pushed down over two pins, the
jumper is referred to as jumpered.
Opened Stage Jumper: If there is no plug into the pin then it is an open
stage.
� Caution: Before adjusting jumper configuration make sure that the system is turned
off otherwise system may get damaged.
23) Capacitor
A capacitor is an electronic device used for filtering, decoupling, and timing
the circuit in the motherboard. There are more capacitors in the
motherboard which mostly does decoupling functionality, so those
capacitors are called decoupling capacitors. A decoupling capacitor is used
for stabilizing power in each IC used in the system.
25) Diode
The motherboard in your laptop and the mobile phone both have SMD
Diodes that are mounted on the motherboard.
The diode's primary function is to allow current to flow in only one direction,
much like a one-way street. It aids in the conversion of voltage spikes in the
motherboard by converting alternating current (AC) voltage spikes to direct
current.
26) VRMs
VRMs stands for Voltage Regulator module.VRMs are electronic circuits
located near the CPU and their main work is to provide steady and
consistent voltage to the processor. As the Powersupply unit converts
external voltage eg. 240 volts to 12V or 5 V, this voltage is again taken by
VRMs first and then again step down and regulates these voltages and
provides the continuous required power to the processor.
It is especially important for overclocking a CPU or GPU.
You simply have to pick a screw size that matches the size of mounting
holes in your motherboard, find a surface to which it will be mounted and
drill accordingly.