Kurdistan Technical Institute

IT/Department

First Semester

Group of B

Motherboard
Prepared by:
Sara Abdulla Ali

Supervised by:
Mrs/Nawroz

2021-2022
Content:
 Motherboard: Definition

 What Is a Motherboard?

 Parts of a Motherboard

 Form Factor

 Chipset

 CPU Socket

 Slots

 Data Bus

 Putting Them Together: How

 It All Works
Motherboard: Definition
A motherboard is one of the most essential parts of a computer system.
It holds together many of the crucial components of a computer,
including the central processing unit (CPU), memory and connectors for
input and output devices. The base of a motherboard consists of a very
firm sheet of non-conductive material, typically some sort of rigid
plastic. Thin layers of copper or aluminum foil, referred to as traces, are
printed onto this sheet. These traces are very narrow and form the
circuits between the various components. In addition to circuits, a
motherboard contains a number of sockets and slots to connect the other
components.

What Is a Motherboard?
A motherboard is a circuit board with various components that
work in unison to make a computer function.
We’ve established that a motherboard is the headquarters of a
large corporation. But surely, the headquarters is not the only vital
aspect to making a company successful. Just like there are
different branches of a company, a motherboard has different
parts within it that work together to transmit data to each other.

Parts of a Motherboard
If you were to open up your computer and take out the motherboard, you
would probably get pretty confused about all the different parts.
Depending on the make and model of your computer, it might look
something like this.

Photograph of a typical motherboard of a desktop computer

To understand how computers work, you don't need to know every

single part of the motherboard. However, it is good to know some of the
more important parts and how the motherboard connects the various
parts of a computer system together. Here are some of the typical parts:
 A CPU socket - the actual CPU is directly soldered onto the
socket. Since high speed CPUs generate a lot of heat, there are heat
sinks and mounting points for fans right next to the CPU socket.
 A power connector to distribute power to the CPU and other
components.
 Slots for the system's main memory, typically in the form of
DRAM chips.
 A chip forms an interface between the CPU, the main memory and
other components. On many types of motherboards, this is referred
to as the Northbridge. This chip also contains a large heat sink.
 A second chip controls the input and output (I/O) functions. It is
not connected directly to the CPU but to the Northbridge. This I/O
controller is referred to as the Southbridge. The Northbridge and
Southbridge combined are referred to as the chipset.
 Several connectors, which provide the physical interface between
input and output devices and the motherboard. The Southbridge
handles these connections.
 Slots for one or more hard drives to store files. The most common
types of connections are Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) and
Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA).
 A read-only memory (ROM) chip, which contains the firmware, or
startup instructions for the computer system. This is also called the
BIOS.
 A slot for a video or graphics card. There are a number of different
types of slots, including the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and
Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe).
 Additional slots to connect hardware in the form of Peripheral
Component Interconnect (PCI) slots.
Photograph of a typical motherboard with the most important parts labeled

There are certainly a lot of acronyms to get used to! Don't worry too
much about trying to remember all the parts and their acronyms. The key
is to remember that the motherboard contains the central processing
unit, the memory, and all the connectors to the rest of the hardware
of the computer system. The board is the 'mother' of all components
- that's where it gets its name.

Form Factor
The form factor is basically how a motherboard is formed, or how
it physically looks regarding its specifications (namely size,
shape, and layout).
Take McDonald’s for instance. While all McDonald’s restaurants
operate the same way, some are set up differently. Some have
play centers, fancy self-ordering touch screens, and unbroken ice
cream machines.

It’s the same with form factors. While all motherboards operate
the same way, different models have different kinds of ports,
dimensions, and mounting holes. Popular form factors include:

 ATX: The prom queen of form factors, the ATX is a popular

choice and features large dimensions (most being 12 x 9.6
inches)

 microATX: A smaller version of the standard ATX with fewer

parameters

 Mini-ATX: Smaller than the micro version, these are designed

for mobile CPUs
  Mini-ITX: Smaller than an ATX board (6.7 x 6.7 inches), the
mini-ITX form factors are quiet and don’t use a lot of power

 Nano-ITX: In between a Pico and Mini-ITX, this works well

with thin devices

 Pico-ITX: Really tiny with a 3.9 x 2.8 in. dimension size and
holds up to 1 GB

Other discontinued form factors include BTX, LPX, and NLX.

Chipset
The chipset allows data to flow between various components,
namely the CPU, peripherals, ATA drives, graphics, and memory.

It can be divided into these two categories:

 Northbridge: Located on the “north” side of a chipset, it

“bridges” together the following components: CPU, RAM, and
PCIe

 Southbridge: Located on the “south” side of a chipset, it

“bridges” together the following components: BIOS, USB,
SATA, and PCI

Think of a chipset like the CEO of a large company, with the

Northbridge and Southbridge acting as the CFO and COO.

In business these three C’s (or the C-Suite) work together within
the headquarters of a company to delegate tasks to their
subordinates. In the case of motherboards, the C-Suite is
comprised of the big bosses that make sure information is
flowing between the subordinates (like the BIOS, CPU, RAM, etc.).

CPU Socket
This is basically a little habitat for the CPU to rest in. A CPU is a
small square with a bunch of pins and connectors underneath it
that help to interpret and transmit data carried out by the
northbridge part of a chipset.

Think of the CPU like the overachieving office assistant to a

CFO/COO. The office assistant resides in its own cubicle (or in
this case, the CPU socket) to execute various kinds of tasks.

It’s like a CFO/COO telling an office assistant to schedule

meetings, make phone calls, and go on coffee runs. The office
assistant, or CPU, carries out these kinds of tasks (but in a more
mathematical kind of way, as the CPU reads input and output
instructions).

Having a high-quality CPU (and office assistant for the matter) is

important to the overall speed and efficiency of a computer.

Slots
Think of slots like different branches/departments of a company.

Most companies have departments for things like marketing,

human resources, accounting, research, etc.

Slots are like these kinds of departments for a motherboard, with

branches like:

 Memory/DIMM Slots: Used for holding memory/RAM

  PCI: Connects expansion cards like video, network, and
sound cards

 PCIe: A modern version of PCI but with a different interface

that can work with almost any kind of expansion card

 USB: Used for USB connectors like flash drives, although not
very common

 SATA: Used for optical/hard disk/solid-state drives

Data Bus
All of the components mentioned above would not work in unison
without the necessary data buses that connect everything
together.

Think of data buses as a form of communication.

So in a large company, if the CFO/COO wants to tell an office

assistant what to do, how would they go about it? Email? Phone?
An in-person conversation? It doesn’t matter as long as there is
some form of communication going on.
It’s the same idea with a motherboard. All of the components
transmit data to one another through data buses.

Putting Them Together: How It All Works

When you turn your computer on, power is sent from the power
supply on to the motherboard.

Data is transferred via data buses and goes through the

northbridge and southbridge part of the chipset.

The northbridge part bridges data to the CPU, RAM, and PCIe. The
RAM begins to send inputs to the CPU, which “interprets” these
actions as an output. Data to the PCIe is then transferred to an
expansion card, depending on which type you have.

The southbridge part bridges data to the BIOS, USB, SATA, and
PCI. Signals to the BIOS allow your computer to boot up, while
data to the SATA “awakens” your optical, hard disk, and solid-
state drives. Data from the SATA is used to power up your video,
network, and sound cards.

Reference:
https://
www.buildcomputers.net/what-
is-a-motherboard.html

https://
www.maketecheasier.com/how-
motherboard-works/