Motherboard
Pritiranjan
Motherboard
1.What is a Motherboard?
A motherboard is also known as a main board, system board and logic
board. A common abbreviation is 'mobo'. They can be found in a variety
of electrical devices, ranging from a TV to a computer. Generally,
they will be referred to as a motherboard or a main board when
associated with a complex device such as a computer, which is what we
shall look at. Put simply, it is the central circuit board of your
computer. All other components and peripherals plug into it, and the
job of the motherboard is to relay information between them all.
Despite the fact that a better motherboard will not add to the speed
of your PC, it is none-the-less important to have one that is both
stable and reliable, as its role is vital.
A motherboard houses the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), which is
the simple software run by a computer when initially turned on. Other
components attach directly to it, such as the memory, CPU (Central
Processing Unit), graphics card, sound card, hard-drive, disk drives,
along with various external ports and peripherals.
2.Difference between motherboards?
There are a lot of motherboards on the market to choose from. The big
question is, how do you go about choosing which one is right for you?
Different motherboards support different components, and so it is
vital you make a number of decisions concerning general system
specifications before you can pick the right motherboard.
If you purchase your case before the rest of the components, the first
factor to think about concerning motherboards is the size, or form
factor. A form factor is a standardised motherboard size. If you think
about fitting a motherboard in a case, there are a number of mounting
holes, slot locations and PSU connectors. The most popular motherboard
form factor today is ATX, which evolved from it's predecessor, the
Baby AT, a smaller version of the AT (Advanced Technology) form
factor. Generally speaking, nowadays a standard computer will have an
ATX form factor motherboard: only special cases require different form
factors.
So now you know which size you need, what comes next? The following
are all factors you need to consider.
The first important differential is which CPU the board supports. Two
of the biggest makes of CPUs at the moment are Intel and AMD, yet you
cannot buy motherboards that support the use of either: it will
support one or the other, due to physical differences in the
connectors. This is often referred to as a type of platform; for
example, an 'Intel platform motherboard' means a motherboard with an
Intel CPU. Furthermore, you must choose a specific type of processor;
for example, an AMD Athlon 64 or Pentium 4. Therefore, you must choose
which CPU you want before you can choose your motherboard. Both Intel
and AMD processors are capable of running the same applications, but
there are differences in price and performance depending on which one
you choose.