Motherboard The streets of the computer What is

Motherboard The streets of the computer

What is it? • The motherboard is the main circuit board of the computer • All other components of the computer are connected to the motherboard in some way • The motherboard contains the “streets” on which all the communication between the other parts travels

Form Factor – Refers the shape and layout of the motherboard – Determines what components your computer can use – Examples • • AT Baby AT ATX BTX

Chipsets – Connects the CPU to the motherboard – Determines how fast the CPU can communicate with the rest of the computer – The are two parts the northbridge and southbridge – The other components of a computer talk to the CPU via the chipset – CPU are optimized to work with specific chipsets

Buses – Buses are the circuits that connect one computer component to another – Determines how fast components communicate with each other – The front side bus connects the CPU to the northbridge – Other buses • • • Back side bus Memory bus IDE, ATA AGP PCIe

Memory – RAM – Random Access Memory – Determines how fast a computer can access information – In general, the more RAM the better – Examples • DRAM – Dynamic RAM • SDRAM – Synchronous DRAM • DDR – Dual Data Rate • RDRAM – Rambus DRAM

Onboard Accessories – Newer motherboards now come with onboard peripherals eliminating the need to buy extra peripheral cards – These offer convenience at a potential cost of performance – Examples • Sound • Video • Ethernet