Computer Mother Board: Engr. Nuzhat Madina

Lecture 07
Computer mother board

ENGR. NUZHAT MADINA
Computer Mother Board
The motherboard serves as a single platform to connect
all of the parts of a computer together. A motherboard
connects CPU, memory, hard drives, optical drives, video
card, sound card, and other ports and expansion cards
directly or via cables. It can be considered as the
backbone of a computer.
Features of Motherboard
A motherboard comes with following features:
Motherboard varies greatly in supporting various types of
components.
Normally a motherboard supports a single type of CPU and few types
of memories.
Video Cards, Hard disks, Sound Cards have to be compatible with
motherboard to function properly
Motherboards, cases and power supplies must be compatible to work
properly together.
Description of Motherboard
The motherboard is mounted inside the case and is
securely attached via small screws through pre-drilled
holes. Motherboard contains ports to connect all of the
internal components. It provides a single socket for CPU
whereas for memory, normally one or more slots are
available.
Motherboards provide ports to attach floppy drive, hard
drive, and optical drives via ribbon cables. Motherboard
carries fans and a special port designed for power
supply.
A CPUCPUsocket (central
sockets processing unit) or slot is an electrical
component that attaches to a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and is
designed to house a CPU (also called a microprocessor). It is a special
type of integrated circuit socket designed for very high pin counts. A
CPU socket provides many functions, including a physical structure to
support the CPU, support for a heat sink, facilitating replacement (as
well as reducing cost), and most importantly, forming an electrical
interface both with the CPU and the PCB.
CPU sockets on the motherboard can most often be found in most
desktop and server computers (laptops typically use surface mount
CPUs), particularly those based on the Intel x86 architecture. A CPU
socket type and motherboard chipset must support the CPU series
and speed.
Integrated peripherals
With the steadily declining costs and size of
integrated circuits, it is now possible to include
support for many peripherals on the
motherboard. By combining many functions on
one PCB, the physical size and total cost of the
system may be reduced; highly integrated
motherboards are thus especially popular in
small form factor and budget computers.
Important Motherboard Facts
Desktop motherboards, cases and power supplies all come in different sizes called form factors.
All three must be compatible to work properly together.
Motherboards vary greatly with respect to the types of components they support. For example,
each motherboard supports a single type of CPU and a short list of memory types. Additionally,
some video cards, hard drives, and other peripheralsmay not be compatible. The motherboard
manufacturer should provide clear guidance on the compatibility of components.
In laptops and tablets, and increasingly even in desktops, the motherboard often incorporates
the functions of the video card and sound card. This helps keep these types of computers small
in size. However, it also prevents those built-in components from being upgraded.
Poor cooling mechanisms in place for the motherboard can damage the hardware attached to
it. This is why high performance devices like the CPU and high-end video cards are usually
cooled with heat sinks, and integrated sensors are often used to detect the temperature and
communicate with the BIOS or operating system to regular the fan speed.
Devices connected to a motherboard often need device drivers manually installed in order to
make them work with the operating system. See How to Update Drivers in Windows if you need
help.
Physical Description of a Motherboard
In a desktop, the motherboard is mounted inside the case, opposite the most easily accessible
side
It is securely attached via small screws through pre-drilled holes.
The front of the motherboard contains ports that all of the internal components connect to. A
single socket/slot houses the CPU. Multiple slots allow for one or more memory modules to be
attached. Other ports reside on the motherboard, and these allow the hard drive and optical
drive (and floppy drive if present) to connect via data cables.
Small wires from the front of the computer case connect to the motherboard to allow the
power, reset, and LED lights to function. Power from the power supply is delivered to the
motherboard by use of a specially designed port.
Also on the front of the motherboard are a number of peripheral card slots. These slots are
where most video cards, sound cards, and other expansion cards are connected to the
motherboard.
Physical Description of a Motherboard
On the left side of the motherboard (the side that faces the back end
of the desktop case) are a number of ports. These ports allow most of
the computer's external peripherals to connect such as the monitor,
keyboard, mouse, speakers, network cable and more.
All modern motherboards also include USB ports, and increasingly
other ports like HDMI and FireWire, that allow compatible devices to
connect to your computer when you need them - devices like digital
cameras, printers, etc.
The desktop motherboard and case are designed so that when
peripheral cards are used, the sides of the cards fit just outside the
back end, making their ports available for use.

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Lecture 07

Computer mother board

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