The motherboard is the main part of a modern computer. It is a plate of insulating material with conductive tracks, on which most computer parts and connectors are located. They can be conditionally divided into external and internal.
External connectors are used to exchange information with the outside world. A keyboard, mouse, monitor, printers, and other peripheral devices are connected to these connectors . All these connectors are mounted at the edge of the motherboard so that when you install it in the computer, they go to the back wall. Through an external LAN connector (Local Area Network), the computer goes to the local (local) network and the Internet.
Currently, there is a tendency to reduce the number of types of external connectors. For example, the old LPT (parallel) and COM (serial) ports are not installed on many new boards. These ports have a low data rate and are being superseded by USB (Universal Serial Bus, Universal Serial Bus) ports.
The latest motherboards have the USB 3.0 specification. You can distinguish a port of this specification by the blue color of the connector. A very useful feature of the USB port is that it is hot-swappable. In this case, the device (for example, a laser or inkjet printer) can be switched on the go, without turning it off, nor the computer.
This is achieved by the special design of the connectors. In this case, the power contacts (extreme terminal pins) are connected first and disconnected last. Old connectors for “mice” and PS / 2 keyboards could not be switched “on the go”, this could lead to device failure or even damage to the motherboard.
The internal connectors of the motherboard can be of several types:
• for the processor ,
• for memory,
• for expansion cards ,
• discrete (comb connectors).
Currently, computers use in most cases the processors of two companies - AMD and INTEL. Processors of even one class, but of different companies, have differences in architecture and differ in the number of conclusions, therefore they are not interchangeable. And the INTEL processor cannot be inserted into a board designed for AMD processors.
However, in this case, the boards are made in such a way that one socket supports several processors of the same company. Note that the latest development processors have more than 1000 conclusions.
The motherboard also contains several (at least two) slots (slots) for memory modules. Memory modules have contacts on both sides and two types of keys - tabs on the bottom side (where the contacts are) and on the side. The side tabs serve to fix the modules in the connector. The lower protrusions are "protection against the fool."
The fact is that at present the memory can be of several types (DDR2 and DDR3 modules are used in home and office computers), each of which operates at its own frequencies and supply voltages. Therefore, “not your module” cannot be inserted into the connector. Such protection prevents the failure of memory modules and the motherboard.
The contacts of the modules are covered with a protective conductive layer (gold, I must say, have not been used for a long time), but sometimes the contact weakens anyway. This may cause the computer to malfunction. It is recommended to remove the module, wipe its contacts with isopropyl (or ethyl) alcohol and reinsert it into the connector.
There are internal connectors for expansion cards. Expansion cards are complete modules for expanding the functionality of a computer. So, a graphics card (or video card) has its own processor and graphics memory on board. She takes the output of graphic information on herself, thereby unloading the processor and RAM of the computer.
It should be noted that slots for expansion cards are available only in computers with an open architecture (they are also called IBM compatible). Apple computers have a closed architecture. Currently, graphics cards use the PCI eXpress slot.
Read more about the device of the computer motherboard in the article on the site . There you can see photos of good quality.