WHAT IS MOTHERBOARD

WHAT IS MOTHERBOARD

Motherboard is the Main circuit board in Any electronics gadgets, where each and every components are connected to the motherboard by internally or externally and it's help to control and communicated each an other. This article mainly discusses computer motherboard, so that you can gain a better understanding of motherboards.

A motherboard is an large or medium size PCB(Printed Circuit Board) board, it's have many fiberglass layer and copper connector for internal connection . on a motherboard have lots of external connector ports ( CPU socket, PCI/AGP slots, RAM slot, IDE socket, P/S2sockt,VGA,LAN,USB,AUDIO, ATX connector, M.2 and many more ) for connect lots of different external devices .not only ports, it's have lots of integrated circuits such as GMCH,ICH,BIOS,PWM IC,CLOCK IC, NETWORK IC etc for control the whole systems . each ICs have an own working principal . also in a motherboard have lots of semiconductor components like diode,mosfet,registor,capacitor,coil,coms battery etc. the top most computer motherboard manufacturing companies are INTEL,GIGABYTE,MSI,ASUS,ASROCK,ZEBRONIC etc.

Below I have discussed in detail about all these pots, components and their functions, so that all your confusion about the motherboard and all these component will be eliminated.

BLOCK DIAGRAM OF MOTHERBOARD :

Today's motherboard have very upgraded and advanced features as compare to the older day motherboard and we all hope ,It will be upgraded in the future and will offer many more advanced features . in older motherboard had limited feature and work limit and had lots of pots or connector to connect  in/output devices (such as ISA,PCI,parallel port,dvi,ide pots,fllopy etc.) which is not show in newly motherboards . and it's have upgrade and advance pots and ICs like PCI-X,HDMI,M.2 etc.  it is not have any GMCH,ICH integrated circuit . it have only single chip IC called PCH(Platform Controller Hub), it also known as one chip board . also have much more advance protection feature like short-circuit protection, power failure protection. Below is a block diagram of the motherboard that will help you better understand about the motherboard upgrade.

PARTS OF A MOTHERBOARD AND THEIR FUNCTION :

Hopefully by reading the article and block diagram above, there is some knowledge about the motherboard upgrade. Now I'm discussing some of the motherboard's different pots and ICs and some of their general functionality. 

The main body of the motherboard is highlighted in the picture above so that you can identify the main parts very easily.

we can start first as :-

• CPU socket: CPU socket use to connect CPU in motherboard  . CPU upgrades and motherboard upgrades as well as CPU sockets have changed, normally we can see two types of cpu socket like LGA and PGA . in LGA(Land grid array) socket all connector pins have in motherboard ,but there are no pins in CPU . Likewise, the opposite is the case for PGA(Pin grid array) sockets. it have all pins in CPU but there are no pins in motherboard's CPU socket . different types of CPU socket :- LGA775,LGA1150,1151,1156 etc.

• CPU FAN socket: CPU fan used to reduce the cpu temperature .Almost all motherboard's cpu fan connector usually have beside the CPU socket.

• RAM slot :  RAM slot used to connect ram on motherboard . Depending on the different types of ram, the pin numbers of the ram slot changes and also ram voltage change. generally most of the motherboards have two ram slot but few newly motherboard have four ram slot .

• GMCH: GMCH stands for Graphics and Memory Controller Hub. also known as Northbridge . it’s one of the most important IC in motherboard . GMCH communicate with CPU interface, graphic controller, and memory interface. it also directly connect with ICH . it was known as a MCH in older motherboard .

• ICH: ICH stands for Input Controller Hub .it also known as Southbridge . it's another most important IC in motherboard . ICH is responsible for control the I/O controller, external storage devices (HDD,flopy,SSD), BIOS, PCI, ethernet, USB and integrated hardware like sound card, video card if installed in motherboard .

• I/O controller : it is another important IC in motherboard. early or new motherboard all have this IC . normally this IC used to control the Input/output devices . It helps to check the post code on the motherboard, check the power good voltage and turn on the computer.

• BIOS:  BIOS stands for Basic Input-Output System . this is one of the motherboard important ICs .  it have set of computer programs for control the input/output device and start the booting process. it is non-volatile memory so after computer power failure , it's don't remove any computer programs . bios is the good example of ROM . Unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI) is an upgrade version of the BIOS. It’s have more advance feature. and supports mouse interface in bios setting .

also have CLOCK IC (used for frequency generator ) . AUDIO IC (used for AUDIO amplification, digital to analog control, etc.). NETWORK IC (used for network connection). PWM(Pulse Width Modulation ) IC (used for VRM section control).

• 24+4 PIN ATX CONNECTOR: This connector use to connect 24 pin male ATX connector, which is come from power supply of computer system. its have lots of varieties voltages like 12V,5V,3.3V,-12V,PS ON,PG voltage, SB voltage  .The connector provides power to almost all internal devices connected to the motherboard. also some external device .

on motherboard you can see, also have  4pin connector is called 4pin ATX connector . It is used to power the CPU .This is usually beside to the CPU socket and VRM(voltage regulator module) section.

• PCI slot: PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect . It's a kind of external slot for attaching different types of external cards to the motherboard, such as graphic cards, audio cards, NIC cards, etc. in 1992 intel first created the PCI .and it is first used in IBM PC . in year 2004 PCI has been upgraded as PCI-X slot, after that most of the newly motherboard not have the PCI slot, only few motherboard's have PCI slot.

• AGP slot : AGP stands for Accelerated Graphics Port. it is a one type of high speed P2P external slot for connecting a video card to a motherboard . in 1996 intel first created the AGP. but 2004 it is upgraded as PCI-X slot . after that only few model were AGP slot had been available.

• PCI-X slot : PCI-X stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended . it is upgraded version of PCI slot and any other external slot . PCI x offer higher clock speed as compare to the PCI slot. in since 2004 PCIX has been created but 2008 it is most available in market. this port comes after some new expensive motherboard. but now new motherboard's almost all of them available this port .

• IDE slot : IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) it is a one types of external slot for used connect IDE drive to computer's motherboard . IDE generally 40 pin connector and it offer 133 MB/S data transfer rate. 1990 ANSI first adopted the IDE slot. IDE also known as PATA . in a single IDE port maximum two pata drive is connect through the single IDE cable. most of the newly motherboard not have this port.

• SATA port: SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment . sata port used to connect sata drive in computer's motherboard . it's generally 7 pin connector of which 4 pins are for data transfer(data send, data receive) and the remaining 3 pins are ground. sata normally offer 300MB/S data transfer rate . old and new almost every motherboard have this port. a single SATA port can be connected to a maximum of one SATA drive .

now start with motherboard back panel and I/O connector .

• PS/2 connector : Personal System/2(PS/2) connector is a 6 pin din connector for connecting mouse and keyboard to a computer's motherboard. it is first used in IBM  PC. the pin configuration of PS/2 is Pin 1 - +DATA, Pin 2 - NC, Pin 3 - GND, Pin 4 - Vcc(+5v), Pin 5 - CLK+, Pin 6 - NC . new motherboards have not this port .

• VGA  port: VGA(Video Graphics Array) is a standard connector because the port has all the earlier and new motherboards. it's first created in 1987 . VGA is an analog interface used to connect motherboard and monitor. it is 15 pin connector . latest motherboard this port does not appear. new motherboard have show HDMI port.

• USB port: USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. Universal Serial Bus (USB) . it is an standard connector between the devices for connection , communication and power supply. based on data transfer USB has an different class like USB 1.0,2.0,3.0,3.1. the pin configuration of USB is 1. VCC(+5v) , 2.DATA+ , 3.DATA- , 4.GND .

• LAN port : This port on the motherboard is used for Ethernet connection .almost every motherboard have this port . RJ 45 connector use for this port.

• AUDIO port : this port on motherboard is used for connect different types of sound devices in computer system . almost every motherboard have this audio port . and Some basic audio ports are built-in (line in, line out, mic in ).

also in motherboard have some front panel connector like front USB connector, front audio connector, CMOS CLR and front panel connector (POWER LED,POWER SWITCH, HDD LED, RESET SWITCH etc.)

• CONCLUSION:

I know this post is too long but If you study patiently, you will have a lot of knowledge about motherboards.