The motherboard is the base through which everything that makes your computer a computer connects and communicates. The most important ones for our purposes are the ATX, microATX, and mini ITX.
Parts Of A Motherboard
1. The chipset. Arguably, the motherboard itself is a chipset, but typically this means the piece that handles communications between the CPU and the peripherals. In older computers, there was a Northbridge chipset that handled the high speed/data rate connections, and a Southbridge that handled everything else. In most modern computers, “Northbridge” connections are handled by the CPU directly, but you still sometimes see these terms used as a shorthand for high speed/priority connections vs. general connections.
2. The bus slots. Technically a lot of things are bus slots, including RAM slots and SATA connections. A bus is any array of either single wires (serial) or groups of wires (parallel) that carry data from one place to another. But usually people mean expansion bus slots when they talk about bus slots. Most modern computers have PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect express) slots, but some still have the older PCI slots as well. These allow you to plug in additional hardware, such as dedicated graphics/video cards (sometimes called GPUs), audio cards, wifi cards, and much more.
3. The RAM slots. These let you add Random Access Memory to the computer, which lets it keep more data pulled up immediately to hand so you can use it faster. On ATX boards, they usually run perpendicular to the PCIe slots.
4. SATA connectors. These are the main connection points for optical drives (CD, DVD, Blu-Ray) and data storage (hard drives, solid state drives).
5. Ports. These let you connect peripherals that aren’t installed inside the case. They include USB (2.0 and 3.0), audio (line in, line out, speaker, mic), LAN (RJ45, the ethernet socket), and FireWire/IEEE 1384 (for plugging in media devices for faster, smoother playback than USB would give you).
6. Power connectors. These allow the power source to power things. Typically, there’s a CPU power socket for just providing power to the CPU, and a main power socket for everything else.
7. CPU socket. This is where the CPU goes. It can be an innie or an outie. Both are terrifying in their own ways.
8. CMOS battery. It powers the CMOS.
Motherboard Form Factors:
again, there are a lot, but for now we only care about three kinds.
Standard ATX (Advanced Technology Extended)
- the largest of the three
- 20 or 24-pin main power connector, 4 or 8 pin CPU power connector
- most PCIe and RAM slots, for higher performance and more peripherals/customization
- ideal uses: computers that need to be able to run challenging software, may require the extra processing power of a dedicated video/graphics card, or need to be versatile/flexible. Good for programming/software engineering, art/graphic design, audio production/mixing, and gaming.
Micro ATX
- more compact version of the ATX
- same main power connectors as standard ATX, may or may not have the dedicated CPU connectors
- fewer PCIe slots, and usually fewer kinds of PCIe slots
- often has poorer airflow and, depending in part on the case chosen, may also have fewer active cooling options
Ideal uses: average desktops, small dedicated servers, media/home theater computers
Mini ITX
- the smallest; this is what you use when you absolutely need things to take up as little space as possible
- also designed for low power consumption
- never has dedicated CPU power socket
- fewer RAM slots, may only have one PCIe
- because it's so compact, it can have overheating issues if pushed too far
Ideal uses: any small device with a single dedicated function
Other Notes On Motherboards: Technically we're not quite done with motherboards, because I want to talk about expansion bus slots on their own, and also every other part of the computer connects to the motherboard so it'll come up as we talk about all the other components. This will do for an overview, though. There are two main goals here, arguably equal in importance: be able to identify the parts of a motherboard and what they do, and be able to identify the right motherboard for a job. In service to both these goals, it's important to read the documentation for your motherboard and especially to check its compatibility with all of your other components. Compatibility checking will often be the most important motherboard-related step.
Motherboards rarely go bad, but when they do, there's rarely anything you can do about it aside from replacing them entirely. It's better to focus on prevention by handling them carefully, protecting them with a good case, having a good cooling system, and making sure dust doesn't build up inside the case.
And that's the Snail's Pace Review for motherboards! Next time: PCIe slots and common peripherals!