What is a motherboard in a computer

The motherboard is the main part of a modern computer. It is a plate of insulating material with conductive paths, on which most of the computer parts and connectors are located. They can be divided into external and internal ones.

External connectors serve to exchange information with the outside world. These connectors are connected to the keyboard, mouse, monitor, printers and other peripherals. All these connectors are mounted at the edge of the motherboard so that when you install it in a computer they go out to the back. Through the external LAN connector (Local Area Network), the computer goes to the local (local) network and the Internet.

At present, there is a tendency to reduce the number of types of external connectors. For example, old ports LPT (parallel) and COM (serial) to many new boards are not installed. These ports have a low data rate and are replaced by USB ports (Universal Serial Bus, universal serial bus).

The motherboards of the latest developments have a USB 3.0 specification. You can distinguish the port of this specification by the blue color of the connector. A very useful feature of the USB port is that it allows a "hot" replacement. In this case, the device (for example, a laser or inkjet printer) can be switched "on the move", without turning it neither, nor the computer.

This is achieved by a special design of the connectors. In this case, the power contacts (the terminal terminals of the connector) are connected first and switched off last. Old connectors for "mice" and PS / 2 keyboards could not be switched "on the go", this was fraught with the failure of the device or even damage to the motherboard.

Internal connectors of the motherboard can be of several types:

• for the processor ,

• for memory,

• for expansion cards ,

• Discrete (connectors-combs).

Currently, in computers, in most cases, the processors of two companies - AMD and INTEL - are used. Processors of even one class, but different firms, have differences in architecture and differ in the number of conclusions, so they are not interchangeable. And the INTEL processor can not be inserted into a board designed for AMD processors.

However, in this case, the motherboards are made so that one socket supports several processors of the same company. Note that the latest processors have more than 1000 conclusions.

The motherboard contains several (at least two) slots for memory modules. The memory modules have contacts on both sides and two types of keys - ledges on the underside (where the contacts are) and on the side. The side projections serve to fix the modules in the connector. The lower ledges are "protection from a fool".

The fact is that at present memory can be of several types (in household and office computers DDR2 and DDR3 modules are used), each of which works on its frequencies and voltage voltages. Therefore, you can not insert the module into your connector. This protection prevents the memory modules and the motherboard from failing.

Module contacts are covered with a protective conductive layer (gold, I must say, has not been used for a long time), but sometimes the contact is weakened anyway. This may cause the computer to malfunction. It is recommended to remove the module, wipe its contacts with isopropyl (or ethyl) alcohol and reinsert it into the connector.

There are internal connectors for expansion cards. Expansion cards are complete modules for extending the functionality of the computer. So, the graphics board (or graphics card) has its own processor and graphics memory on board. It takes the graphic information output to itself, unloading the processor and the computer's RAM .

It should be noted that the connectors for expansion cards are available only in computers with open architecture (they are also called IBM compatible). Computers from Apple have a closed architecture. Currently, graphics cards use the PCI eXpress connector.

More details on the device motherboard can be read in the article "What is the motherboard" on the site "Computer and Life." There you can see photos of good quality.