Motherboard - this is the main detail of a modern computer.It is a plate of insulating material with conductive paths, on which most of the computer parts and connectors are located. They can be divided into external and internal ones.
External connectors serve to exchange information with the outside world.These connectors are connected to the keyboard, mouse, monitor, printers and other peripherals. All these connectors are mounted at the edge of the motherboard so that when you install it in a computer they go to the back wall. Through the external LAN connector (Local Area Network), the computer goes to the local (local) network and the Internet.
At present, there is a trend towardsreducing the number of kinds of external connectors. For example, old LPT (parallel) and COM (serial) ports on many new cards are not installed. These ports have a low data rate and are replaced by USB ports (Universal Serial Bus, universal serial bus).
The motherboards of the latest developments have a USB 3.0 specification. To distinguish port of such specification it is possible on blue connector.A very useful feature of the USB port is that it allows a "hot" replacement. In this case, the device (for example, a laser or inkjet printer) can be switched "on the go", without turning it neither, nor the computer.
This is achieved by a special design of the connectors.In this case, the power contacts (the terminal terminals of the connector) are connected first and switched off last. Old connectors for "mice" and PS / 2 keyboards could not be switched "on the go", this was fraught with a failure of the device or even damage to the motherboard.
Internal connectors of the motherboard can be of several types:
• for the processor,
• for memory,
• for expansion cards,
• Discrete (connectors-combs).
Currently in computers is used inIn most cases, the processors of two companies - AMD and INTEL. Processors of even one class, but different firms, have differences in architecture and differ in the number of conclusions, so they are not interchangeable. And the INTEL processor can not be inserted into a board designed for AMD processors.
However, in this case, the boards are made so that one socket supports multiple processors one firm. Note that the latest processors have more than 1000 conclusions.
The motherboard contains several (minimumtwo) slots for memory modules. The memory modules have contacts on both sides and two types of keys - ledges on the underside (where the contacts are) and on the side. Side lugs serve to fix the modules in the connector. The lower ledges are "protection from a fool".
The fact is that at the present time memory canto be of several types (in household and office computers DDR2 and DDR3 modules are used), each of which operates at its frequencies and supply voltages. Therefore, "not your module" is inserted into the connector can not. This protection prevents the memory modules and the motherboard from failing.
Module contacts are covered with a protective conductivelayer (gold, I must say, has not been used for a long time), but sometimes the contact is weakened 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 extending the functionality of the computer. So, the graphics board (or graphics card) has its own processor and graphics memory on board. It takes the graphic information output to itself, thereby unloading the processor and the computer's RAM.
It should be noted that the connectors for expansion cards are only available in computers with open architecture (they are also called IBM compatible). Computers from Apple have a closed architecture. Currently, graphics cards use the PCI eXpress connector.
More details about the device motherboard computer can be read in the article Online . There you can see photos of good quality.
