what is motherboard in computer

Motherboard, also known as the system board or mainboard is the backbone of the computer. Motherboard is a printed circuit board (PCB) that lines the bottom of the computer and is often of a uniform color, such as olive, brown, or blue. For those who are unfamiliar with the term PCB, it is a conductive series of pathways laminated to a nonconductive substrate. It connects all the components of a computer and thus it is the most important component of a computer. Figure 3 .1 shows a typical mother board, as mentioned above. All other components are attached to this circuit board.

Motherboard Types and Features

Motherboards are classified based on its form factor. Let us begin our discussion about various types of motherboard by understanding the term form factor.

Form Factor: The specifications for a motherboard’s general shape and size is determined by its form factor. Various other aspects of motherboard is also specified by its form factor like supported type of case and power supply, the placement of mounting holes, the physical layout and organization of the board etc.

AT Motherboard

It is impossible for an AT motherboard to fit in mini desktops because it is big enough to have dimensions in the order of some hundred millimeters. It is difficult for new drivers to be installed in this motherboard due to its dimensions. The concept of six pin plugs and sockets is implemented as the power connectors for this type of motherboards.

The inherent difficulty in distinguishing power connector sockets results in numerous cases of faulty connections, which lead to the damage of the device. This motherboard went into production in mid 80’s and lasted a good span from the Pentium P5 to the times when Pentium 2 had been started to be used.

ATX Motherboard

ATX, popularly known as Advanced Technology Extended, were produced by the Intel in mid 90s as an improvement from the previously working motherboards such as AT. The smaller dimensions of this motherboard along with the flexibility in interchanging the connected components make ATX motherboard different from AT motherboard. Moreover, The smaller dimension in this motherboard allowed proper place for the drive bays. Some good changes made to the connector system of the board included a keyboard connector and extra slots on the back plates and they were provided for various add-ons.

Micro ATX Motherboard

Micro ATX is a form factor that is designed to work in standard ATX cases, as well as its own smaller cases. Though micro ATX follows the ATX principle of component placement for enhanced cooling over pre-ATX designs and it has a smaller footprint. This is because the smaller form comes with some tradeoffs. For the compact use of space, the quantity of memory slots, motherboard headers, expansion slots, integrated components were decreased. There are fewer micro ATX chassis bays, although the same small-scale motherboard can fit into much larger cases if your original peripherals are still a requirement.

Micro ATX systems tend to be designed with lower wattage power supplies to help keep down power consumption and heat production. This is generally standard requirement for reduced micro ATX suite of components. However, as more offboard USB ports are added and larger cases are introduced with additional in-case peripherals, a larger power supply might be incorporated. Micro ATX motherboards and their larger cousins, ATX motherboards, share their width, mounting hole pattern, and rear interface pattern but are shallower and square, measuring 9.6 ′′ × 9.6 ′′ (244mm × 244mm). They were designed so that they can be fit into full-size ATX cases.

ITX Motherboard

The ITX line of motherboard form factors was developed for special uses, such as home-theater systems and as embedded components by VIA as a low-power, small form factor (SFF) board. ITX itself is not an actual form factor but a family of form factors consisting of the following form factors:

Mini-ITX 6.7 ′′ × 6.7 ′′ (170mm × 170mm)

Nano-ITX 4.7 ′′ × 4.7 ′′ (120mm × 120mm)

Pico-ITX 3.9 ′′ × 2.8 ′′ (100mm × 72mm)

Mobile-ITX2.4 ′′ × 2.4 ′′ (60mm × 60mm)

what is motherboard in computer