Motherboards      

The motherboard is interface which allows all the hardware to communicate effectly with each other .

This multi layered printed circuit board (PCB) is one of the most important components of a pc .

The pcb sometimes called main board or system board comes in different physical sizes with different screw fixings and connectors based on which form type you chose .

The modern form types are ATX , Micro-ATX ,Flex-ATX  and NLX.

The use of Baby-AT, Full Size AT and LTX are  rarely used these days and are becoming obsolete.

The ATX is the most common used in today's desktop systems.

A Motherboard will consist of  at  least the following components

• Processor Interface i.e. Socket A , socket 478 , socket 423 and connection for processor fan
• Memory interface  i.e. Rdram , sdram sockets
• Ports for mouse , keyboard , printer , serial , vga , mike , audio out , audio in , USB
• Hard Disk and Floppy disk interface
• Power Supply Connectors
• Chipset
• keyboard controller chip
• Bios chip and backup battery
• Pci and AGP expansion slots
• Audio codec ship (if you have onboard sound)
• Connectors for case lights , switches , speaker and fans

In a ATX form factor motherboard the board power is from a power supply unit which converts 230 volt AC to +3.3 Volt , +5 volt , + 12 volt , -12 volt and -5 volt  all being DC .

Some the latest boards require additional auxially power supplies from your power supply unit for power hungry processor such as Pentium 4 and PCI buses.

When choosing pick a well known supplier of motherboards and  make sure you have all the options you require.

Picking a well known supplier will insure easy availability to bios upgrades and drivers for your board.

Normally the higher the specification the better and this will aid further upgrades at a later date

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