what is motherboard of a computer

what is motherboard of a computer

Microcomputers have usually included most their essential electronics on a single printed circuit board, called the motherboard. It supports the CPU. The CPU controls the whole computer. But it is difficult for the CPU to contact with all other devices of a computer. To solve this problem maximum devices of a computer are connected with the motherboard and the motherboard is connected with the CPU. Thus the CPU orders only the motherboard and the motherboard carries the order to specific devices.


Components of a Motherboard
A Motherboard has the following components:

•  CPU: It is the central device. It controls the whole computer through the motherboard.
•  RAM: It is the Random Access Memory. The CPU stores and retrieves data in RAM
•  ROM: It is the Read Only Memory. It contains the program that is run during the startup period. It also contains basic routines to control different I/O devices.
•  Bus: It is a set of connecting wires. Different devices on the motherboard connect with each other through the bus.
•  Bus slots: Different external cards are connected with the motherboard through the bus slots.
  

Motherboard Makes a Computer Easy to Upgrade Upgrading means improving the computer by only changing a portion. Today all the motherboards are standardized. Standard means, these fit in a standard sized case and takes standard boards and drives. To upgrade it, just buy a new motherboard and swap it out for the old one. For example, to upgrade a 66 MHz 486 computer to a 266 MHz Pentium computer, all that you need is a new motherboard with a processor.


Multifunction Board
A computer has different devices. All of them are not directly controlled by the CPU. For many devices like keyboard, display unit, disk drives there are separate controllers. These controllers are used to decrease the workload of the CPU. For example to write a block in hard disk, the CPU just orders the controller and the controller does everything like rotating disk, writing, error checking etc.

Controller cards contain the circuitry for these controllers. Controller cards that contain many controllers are called multi-function board. A multi-function board may contain controllers for printer, hard disk, floppy disk, mouse etc. Nowadays, many motherboards contain these controllers built-in.

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