3/1/2022

Information
Technology
Assignment:
Motherboard Write-Up

Group Members: Naya Narine, Anaaya Jain,

Devine Amsterdam, Jared Richmond, Enkofi
Moses, Donnesha Azore
 Queen’s College

What is a Motherboard?
A motherboard is the main printed circuit board in general-purpose computers and other
expandable systems. It allocates power and allows communication to and between the CPU, RAM,
and all other computer hardware components. The motherboard is alternatively referred to as the
MB, mainboard, mboard, mobo, mobd, backplane board, base board, main circuit board etc.

History of a motherboard
First Motherboard
The IBM Personal Computer featured the first motherboard as we know it, though IBM called it a
"planar." It housed the computer's CPU and RAM, provided audio as well as many other functions,
supplied ports for keyboard and cassette tape, and had expansion slots for add-on cards, as well as
a system called a bus to manage these information flows. Released in 1981, the original PC, with
its simplicity and openness, set the standard for many computer hardware specifications in "IBM-
compatible" computers — now often simply called "PCs" — for years to come.

Parts and functions of a motherboard

1. RAM chip and RAM Slot- RAM is an abbreviation for Random Access Memory. It is
also known as the main memory. RAM is a temporary data storage device found in
computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in RAM is erased as soon as the power
is turned off. The RAM slots are often found in pairs, usually close to the CPU and are
sometimes color-coded for identification.

1|Page
 Queen’s College

2. CPU Chip and Socket- CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. Because the CPU
performs all of the computer's decision-making tasks, it is regarded as the brain of the
computer and other electronic devices. It is a large printed circuit board on which all of the
components and peripherals are either directly or indirectly connected. The CPU's primary
function is to carry out basic arithmetic, logical, and input/output operations.

3. PCI Slots and PCI Chip- PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnected and is an
attached hardware component of the motherboard that allows you to connect various
hardware components such as modems, disk controllers, NIC cards, Sound Cards, graphics
cards, SSD add-on cards, RAID cards, and extra USB and serial ports without having to
add or replace the motherboard.

2|Page
 Queen’s College

4. ROM Chip (BIOS) - ROM is nonvolatile storage whose content will not get erased even
after power is cut off. Content stored in ROM is impossible or very difficult to modify. The
BIOS information is kept in ROM, which is only a few KB in size and tells how to start,
what to do when it starts, which driver to load, CPU fan speed information, boot sequences
information, system date time, and so on.

5. SATA Port and Connector- The serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) ports
are generally known as connectors, and they are used to connect hard drives to
motherboards. There are two SATA ports on the motherboard. They are designed to carry
data between the motherboard and the drive, using a SATA data cable.

3|Page
 Queen’s College

6. USB Port- Universal Serial Bus is the abbreviation for Universal Serial Bus. USB’s are
used to attach keyboards, mice, printers, external storage and mobile devices to the
computer. It is also used for charging portable products It’s transfer rates are faster than
the PS/2 connector, hence we don't see a PS/2 port on recent computers. USB ports come
in a variety of shapes and sizes for example, the USB type A ports and the USB type C
ports.

4|Page
 Queen’s College

7. USB 3.0 Ports- USB 3.0 (aka USB 3) is a specific generation of USB ports. The main
difference between USB versions is their transfer rate (speed) and how many connector
pins they have. The USB 3.0 plug and receptacle are intended primarily for small portable
devices such as smartphones, digital cameras and GPS devices.

5|Page
 Queen’s College

8. USB 2.0 Ports- USB 2.0 is an external interface that is used on computers and other digital
devices to transport data via a cable. The mark "2.0" refers to the interface's standard or
version, which was released in 2000. Although USB 3.0 became a standard in 2008, it is
backward compatible with previous versions. The key difference between each iteration
has been a significant boost in transfer rates, with USB 2.0 outperforming the initial release
and 3.0 outperforming it even further.

9. Floppy disk drive (FDD)- A floppy disk drive (FDD), or floppy drive, is a hardware
device that reads data storage information. It was invented in 1967 by a team at IBM and
was one of the first types of hardware storage that could read/write a portable device. FDDs
are used for reading and writing on removable floppy discs.

6|Page
 Queen’s College

10. IDE- IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) is an electronic interface standard that defines the
connection between a bus on a computer's motherboard and the computer's disk storage
drive.

11. SYS Fan- This is known as the Chassis Fan or System Fan Header and is used for
connecting case fans to the motherboard. It provides the connected fans with voltage
control, speed control and monitoring.

7|Page
 Queen’s College

12. Parallel Port- In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers
for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send
multiple bits of data at once, as opposed to serial communication, in which bits are sent
one at a time.

13. Serial Port- A serial port is an interface that allows a PC to transmit or receive data one
bit at a time. It is one of the oldest types of interfaces and at one time was commonly used
to connect printers and external modems to a PC.

8|Page
 Queen’s College

14. S/PDIF Out connector- S/PDIF (- (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is an optical audio
cable format that allows the transfer of digital audio signals from device to device without
needing to convert to an analog signal first.

15. PS/2 port, Keyboard/Mouse- The PS/2 (Personal System/2) port, also referred to as the
mouse port or keyboard port, was developed by IBM. It is used to connect a computer
mouse or keyboard to an IBM compatible computer.

9|Page
 Queen’s College

16. RJ45 Network- RJ45, which incidentally stands for registered jack 45, is the most
recognized and popular connector type in the IT industry. An RJ45 cable is fundamentally
utilized to connect devices over an Ethernet connection. Devices like computers, printers,
network storage devices, and cable or DSL modems are able to use an RJ45 connection.

17. Chipset- In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components in an integrated

circuit known as a "Data Flow Management System" that manages the data flow between
the processor, memory and peripherals.

10 | P a g e
 Queen’s College

18. Audio line in/out/mic- Alternatively referred to as audio out and sound out, the line out
jack is found on computer sound cards. It allows external speakers, headphones, or other
output devices to connect to the computer, transferring computer generated audio to the
devices so that it can be heard.

19. PCIe Express 1- PCIe x1 slot is used to plug in low demanding PCIe expansion cards that
do not have a very high throughput (transfer rate) such as Network Adapters, Port
Expansion Cards, Sound Cards and Certain Riser Cards

11 | P a g e
 Queen’s College

20. PCIe Express 16- The PCI-E x16 ports, with a theoretical maximum of around 15GBps
on the 3.0 revision, are used for almost all modern graphics cards designed by NVIDIA
and AMD. Most discrete graphics cards use a full PCI-E x16 slot.

21. ATX Power Connector- An ATX style connector is a replacement for the older P8 and
P9 AT style connector. It is one of the largest connectors inside a computer. It connects a
power supply to an ATX style motherboard.

12 | P a g e
 Queen’s College

22. CMOS Battery- CMOS stands for "Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor" and is
found in both laptop and desktop PCs in the form of a small circular coin. CMOS stores a
variety of system data such as the current system clock, date, time, pulses, commonly used
hardware settings, BIOS configuration settings, BOOT sequences, BIOS master/admin
password, GPU, and virtualization settings, power management, and so on.

23. Front Panel Connectors- The Front Panel Connectors, also known as the Front Panel
Header or FPanel, is a block of connectors on a motherboard that control the power on,
power reset, beep code speaker and the LED light indicators on your PC case/chassis.

13 | P a g e
 Queen’s College

24. CD-IN: Alternatively referred to as the optical drive audio connector, the CD-IN is a
four-pin connector found on a computer's motherboard or sound card that connects an
optical drive's audio.

14 | P a g e
 Queen’s College

Bibliography
1. Parts of Motherboard and its Function Explained. (n.d.). Our Tech Room. Retrieved
March 1, 2022, from https://ourtechroom.com/tech/parts-of-motherboard/
2. Computer Hope. (2019, April 2). Computer Motherboard History. Retrieved March 1,
2022, from
https://www.computerhope.com/history/motherboard.htm#:%7E:text=The%20first%20m
otherboard%2C%20originally%20called,in%20the%20IBM%20Personal%20Computer.
&text=The%20AT%2C%20or%20Full%20AT,by%20IBM%20in%20August%201984.
&text=IBM%20introduced%20the%20Baby%20AT%20motherboard%20form%20factor
%20in%201985.&text=The%20microATX%20motherboard%20and%20specification%2
0was%20introduced%20by%20Intel%20in%20December%201997.
3. Wikipedia contributors. (2022, February 28). Motherboard. Wikipedia. Retrieved March
1, 2022, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherboard

15 | P a g e