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THE COMPUTER MOTHERBOARD
AND ITS COMPONENTS
Compiled By:

Jishnu Pradeep
Content
 Introduction : What is a Motherboard?
 Main Components of Motherboard
 CPU Socket

 Memory Slots
 CMOS Battery
 ISA, PCI and AGP Slots
 Power Connectors
 Chipset
 Graphical Devices
 Back Panel and Ports
INTRODUCTION: What is a
Motherboard?
A motherboard (sometimes
alternatively known as the
mainboard, system board or mobo) is
the main printed circuit board (PCB)
found in computers and other
expandable systems. It holds many of
the crucial electronic components of
the system, such as the central
processing unit (CPU) and memory,
and provides connectors for other
peripherals.
Motherboard and its components
CPU SOCKET
A CPU socket or CPU slot is a
mechanical component(s) that
provides mechanical and
electrical connections between
a microprocessor and a printed
circuit board (PCB). This allows
the CPU to be replaced without
soldering.
Common sockets have retention
clips that apply a constant
force, which must be overcome
when a device is inserted. For
chips with a large number of
pins, either zero insertion force
(ZIF) sockets or land grid array
(LGA) sockets are used instead.
Motherboard and its components
MEMORY SLOTS
A memory slot, memory socket, or
RAM slot is what allows computer
memory (RAM) to be inserted into the
computer. Depending on the
motherboard, there will usually be 2
to 4 memory slots (sometimes more on
high-end motherboards) and are what
determine the type of RAM used with
the computer. The most common
types of RAM are SDRAM and DDR for
desktop computers and SODIMM for
laptop computers, each having various
types and speeds. In the below
picture, is an example of what
memory slots may look like inside a
desktop computer. In this picture,
there are three open available slots
for three memory sticks.
TYPES OF RAM
Motherboard and its components
CMOS BATTERY
Nonvolatile BIOS memory
refers to a small memory
on PC motherboards that is
used to store BIOS settings.
It was traditionally called
CMOS RAM because it used
a volatile, low-power
complementary metaloxide-semiconductor
(CMOS) SRAM (such as
Motorola MC146818 or
similar) powered by a small
battery when system
power was off.
Motherboard and its components
ISA, PCI & AGP SLOTS
ISA, or Industry Standard
Architecture, is an 8bit or 16bit
parallel bus system that allowed up to
6 devices to be connected to a PC.
Virtually all IBM-compatible PCs made
before the Pentium were based on the
ISA (IBM's PC AT) bus. This
asynchronous bus architecture uses
16-bit addresses and an 8-MHz clock
and handles a maximum data
throughput of 2 MB/s to 3 MB/s.
AGP, Accelerates Graphics Port is a
high-speed point-to-point channel for
attaching a video card to a
computer's motherboard. The
primary advantage of AGP over PCI is
that it provides a dedicated pathway
between the slot and the processor
rather than sharing the PCI bus.

PCI, Peripheral Component
Interconnect bus uses a local bus
system; this system is independent
of the processor bus speed. The PCI
architecture incorporates its own
chip set which link the local bus to
the main bus, these links are called
bridges, there are two bridges
which "north and south bridge”
Motherboard and its components
POWER CONNECTORS
CHIPSET
A chipset is a set of electronic
components in an integrated
circuit that manages the data
flow between the processor,
memory and peripherals. It is
usually found in the
motherboard of a computer.
Chipsets are usually designed
to work with a specific family
of microprocessors. Because it
controls communications
between the processor and
external devices, the chipset
plays a crucial role in
determining system
performance.
Motherboard and its components
SOUTHBRIDGE
The southbridge is one of the
two chips in the core logic
chipset on a personal
computer (PC) motherboard,
the other being the
northbridge. The southbridge
typically implements the
slower capabilities of the
motherboard in a
northbridge/southbridge
chipset computer
architecture.
Motherboard and its components
NORTHBRIDGE
The northbridge typically handles
communications among the CPU, in
some cases RAM, and PCI Express
(or AGP) video cards, and the
southbridge.[4][5] Some
northbridges also contain
integrated video controllers, also
known as a Graphics and Memory
Controller Hub (GMCH) in Intel
systems. Because different
processors and RAM require
different signaling, a given
northbridge will typically work
with only one or two classes of
CPUs and generally only one type
of RAM.
Motherboard and its components
GRAPHICAL DEVICES
A video card (also called a
video adapter, display card,
graphics card, graphics board,
display adapter or graphics
adapter and sometimes
preceded by the word discrete
or dedicated to emphasize the
distinction between this
implementation and integrated
graphics) is an expansion card
which generates a feed of
output images to a display
(such as a computer monitor).
BACK PANEL CONNECTORS AND
PORTS
Motherboard and its components

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Motherboard and its components

  • 1. THE COMPUTER MOTHERBOARD AND ITS COMPONENTS Compiled By: Jishnu Pradeep
  • 2. Content  Introduction : What is a Motherboard?  Main Components of Motherboard  CPU Socket  Memory Slots  CMOS Battery  ISA, PCI and AGP Slots  Power Connectors  Chipset  Graphical Devices  Back Panel and Ports
  • 3. INTRODUCTION: What is a Motherboard? A motherboard (sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) found in computers and other expandable systems. It holds many of the crucial electronic components of the system, such as the central processing unit (CPU) and memory, and provides connectors for other peripherals.
  • 5. CPU SOCKET A CPU socket or CPU slot is a mechanical component(s) that provides mechanical and electrical connections between a microprocessor and a printed circuit board (PCB). This allows the CPU to be replaced without soldering. Common sockets have retention clips that apply a constant force, which must be overcome when a device is inserted. For chips with a large number of pins, either zero insertion force (ZIF) sockets or land grid array (LGA) sockets are used instead.
  • 7. MEMORY SLOTS A memory slot, memory socket, or RAM slot is what allows computer memory (RAM) to be inserted into the computer. Depending on the motherboard, there will usually be 2 to 4 memory slots (sometimes more on high-end motherboards) and are what determine the type of RAM used with the computer. The most common types of RAM are SDRAM and DDR for desktop computers and SODIMM for laptop computers, each having various types and speeds. In the below picture, is an example of what memory slots may look like inside a desktop computer. In this picture, there are three open available slots for three memory sticks.
  • 10. CMOS BATTERY Nonvolatile BIOS memory refers to a small memory on PC motherboards that is used to store BIOS settings. It was traditionally called CMOS RAM because it used a volatile, low-power complementary metaloxide-semiconductor (CMOS) SRAM (such as Motorola MC146818 or similar) powered by a small battery when system power was off.
  • 12. ISA, PCI & AGP SLOTS ISA, or Industry Standard Architecture, is an 8bit or 16bit parallel bus system that allowed up to 6 devices to be connected to a PC. Virtually all IBM-compatible PCs made before the Pentium were based on the ISA (IBM's PC AT) bus. This asynchronous bus architecture uses 16-bit addresses and an 8-MHz clock and handles a maximum data throughput of 2 MB/s to 3 MB/s.
  • 13. AGP, Accelerates Graphics Port is a high-speed point-to-point channel for attaching a video card to a computer's motherboard. The primary advantage of AGP over PCI is that it provides a dedicated pathway between the slot and the processor rather than sharing the PCI bus. PCI, Peripheral Component Interconnect bus uses a local bus system; this system is independent of the processor bus speed. The PCI architecture incorporates its own chip set which link the local bus to the main bus, these links are called bridges, there are two bridges which "north and south bridge”
  • 16. CHIPSET A chipset is a set of electronic components in an integrated circuit that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. It is usually found in the motherboard of a computer. Chipsets are usually designed to work with a specific family of microprocessors. Because it controls communications between the processor and external devices, the chipset plays a crucial role in determining system performance.
  • 18. SOUTHBRIDGE The southbridge is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a personal computer (PC) motherboard, the other being the northbridge. The southbridge typically implements the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a northbridge/southbridge chipset computer architecture.
  • 20. NORTHBRIDGE The northbridge typically handles communications among the CPU, in some cases RAM, and PCI Express (or AGP) video cards, and the southbridge.[4][5] Some northbridges also contain integrated video controllers, also known as a Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) in Intel systems. Because different processors and RAM require different signaling, a given northbridge will typically work with only one or two classes of CPUs and generally only one type of RAM.
  • 22. GRAPHICAL DEVICES A video card (also called a video adapter, display card, graphics card, graphics board, display adapter or graphics adapter and sometimes preceded by the word discrete or dedicated to emphasize the distinction between this implementation and integrated graphics) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display (such as a computer monitor).