Motherboard

Overview
1. Inside a PC
2. The Motherboard
3. RAM
4. ROM
5. CMOS Memory

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1. Inside a PC
CD-ROM
Power drive
supply
Hard disk
drive
Mother
board Floppy
disk drive

Sound/network
cards
Wires and
ribbon cables

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2. The Motherboard
The most important part of a PC is the motherboard. It holds:
◦ the processor chip
◦ memory chips
◦ chips that handle input/output (I/O)
◦ the expansion slots for connecting peripherals

Some chips are soldered onto the motherboard(permanent), and

some are removable (so they can be upgraded).

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 Motherboard Picture

Read-only
Random Access
Memory
Memory (RAM)
(ROM)
chips.
chips

Expansion slots
Processor chip
(the CPU)

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3. RAM
Random Access Memory (RAM).
RAM is used to hold programs while they are being executed, and
data while it is being processed.
RAM is volatile, meaning that information written to RAM will
disappear when the computer is turned off.

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4. ROM
Read-Only Memory can
be read but not changed.
It is non-volatile storage: it remembers its contents even when the
power is turned off.

ROM chips are used to store the instructions a computer needs during
start-up, called firmware.
Some kinds of ROM are PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, and CD-ROM.

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5. CMOS Memory
A computer needs a semi-permanent
way of keeping some start-up data the battery
◦ e.g. the current time, the no. of hard disks
◦ the data may need to be updated/changed

CMOS memory requires (very little) power to retain its contents.

◦ supplied by a battery on the motherboard

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6. The CPU
The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the chip on the motherboard that
acts as the "computer's brain"
◦ it does calculations, and coordinates the other motherboard components
◦ CPU examples: the Pentium, the PowerPC chip

The CPU is also known as the processor or microprocessor.