What is a computer motherboard?

All the vital internal components of a computer system are connected to a flat, rectangular circuit board known as the computer motherboard. If the CPU is known as the “brain” of a computer, the motherboard can be considered as the “heart”. In computing terminology, the motherboard is also called a logic board, motherboard, or system board. It is commonly abbreviated as “mobo” or MB.

While a motherboard doesn’t increase the speed of a computer, it is one of the most essential parts of a computer because it links all of the components that allow a computer system to function. If you’re buying a barebone system, it will always come with a motherboard that serves as the backbone or backbone onto which other computer components can be attached.

Most of the internal components of a computer connect directly to the motherboard through sockets or slots. A motherboard may contain an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) that can be used to connect an AGP video card, Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slots for PCI video cards and network cards, and drive electronics interfaces. integrated (IDE) for hard drives and optical devices. drives The computer’s motherboard also contains several ports for external peripherals such as monitor, printer, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and removable media.

A computer component may be built into the motherboard. Some examples are integrated sound cards, graphics cards, or network interface cards (NICs). An integrated computer component can be disabled in favor of a more powerful version.

In particular, the computer’s motherboard contains a socket that can accommodate a particular type of CPU. Some motherboards only support AMD CPUs, while others only support Intel processors. There is not yet a motherboard that can support all types of CPUs.

The computer motherboard also contains a northbridge chipset and a southbridge chipset. The north bridge connects the hard drive and RAM to the motherboard, while the south bridge connects other computer components, such as video cards and sound cards, to the motherboard.

In addition, the motherboard has a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) chip that checks the computer’s hardware, such as the power supply and hard drives, for faults. After performing its hardware check, the BIOS chip powers on the computer’s CPU. When you start your PC, the BIOS is the first program the computer runs before you take it to Windows or your favorite operating system.

The computer’s motherboard also includes a battery-powered real-time clock chip that determines the time. This is why they can still tell time correctly even if they haven’t seen any use in weeks or months.

Simply put, the motherboard serves as a hub where the CPU, RAM, hard drive, optical drive, graphics card, sound card, and other computing hardware can meet and mingle.