What is a Motherboard?
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The motherboard is
the main circuit board inside your PC. Every components at some point
communicates through the motherboard, either by directly plugging into it
or by communicating through one of the motherboards ports. The motherboard
is one big communication highway. Its purpose inside your PC is to provide
a platform for all the other components and peripherals to talk to each
other.
The type of
motherboards depends on the CPU it was designed for. You can therefore
categorise motherboards by which socket type they have. e.g. Socket A,
Socket 478 etc. The Type of motherboard you buy is very important, as it
will need to house your CPU, and they are not interchangeable. When buying
a motherboard, it will always tell you what socket type it has.
As everything you
have on the PC at some point needs the motherboard, you need to consider
these components when buying a motherboard. Foe example, if you have a lot
of devices with a PCI interface that you wish to use, there is little
point buying a motherboard that only offers you 3 PCI slots. Like wise
with memory, you have to make sure that there is enough slots for the
amount of memory you have or wish to have.
The motherboard
also needs the correct type of interface for your Memory, Graphics card,
Hard disks and other items as well. You will find that most motherboards
offer everything you need however it needs checking on when buying. Its
especially important to pay detail to your motherboard if you want to use
older components, which a new motherboard may or may not support.
The major
difference between motherboards that support the same CPU is the model of
the chipset (more on the chipset later). Different chipsets offer
different performance and different features in terms of memory support,
AGP port speed, Multiplier numbers, Bus speeds and much more.
Motherboards have
got to be one of the hardest components to measure the speed of.
Performance can really only be measured by benchmarking using the same
components in several motherboards of the same type. You often find that
motherboards with the same chipset have roughly the same performance in
real world tests. The minor differences that do occur are down to the
quality of the materials used and the quality of the manufacturing.
The Motherboards
speeds that are quoted on the box are maximum supported speeds for other
components. For example motherboards will quote the maximum FSB (Front
Side Bus) speed. However without a CPU that also supports this speed, it
will never be reached. Likewise when it quotes the maximum memory speed.
The memory of this speed has to be present.
A motherboard
chipset controls all the data that flows through the data channels (buses)
of the motherboard. The primary function of the motherboard chipset is to
direct this data to the correct area's of the motherboard, and therefore
the correct components.
If you wish to
have a more in depth look at the workings of a motherboard chipset take a
look at our article on What is a
motherboard chipset
The motherboard
contains many connections for all type of components. Motherboards contain
expansion slots such as the ISA, PCI, AGP and DIMM sockets. It also
contains external connections for your onboard sound card, USB ports,
Serial and Parallel ports, PS/2 ports for your keyboard and mouse as well
as network and Firewire connections.
So the motherboard
has a massive part to play in the workings of your PC. Components that you
buy all rely on the motherboard to have the correct connections are
available and working. Its best to buy a decent motherboard especially if
you plan on buying extra's in the future.
More articles in the What is Category
What is your CPU
What is your Graphics card
What is your RAM
What is your Hard Disk
Still unsure? please ask at the
PantherProducts Forums where we may be able to help you out?
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