image03Motherboard or mainboard acts like a body of the computer where you can connect the CPU and other peripherals such as hard disk, RAM, SATA, PCI supported cards. From my personal experience I have made a list of the key points that you need to know before buying a motherboard.
Previously we had a series of articles on what to know about stuffs. You can have a look at them.

We are happy to present you here the top things that you should know before buying a motherboard.


Here is a picture of the motherboard

asus_rampage_ii_extreme

Pic Source : PantherProducts.co.uk

1. IEEE 1394 Port
2. PCI Express 16x slots
3. PCI Express 1x slot
4. Chipset North bridge
5. ATX Power Connector (8 pin)
6. CPU Socket
7. DIMM Slots
8. ATX Power Connector (24 pin)
9. Motherboard controls
10. Chipset South Bridge
11. S-ATA Connectors
12. USB Headers
13. Motherboard Battery
14. Standard PCI Slot
15. Floppy Connector

PCI Express Slot

Mainly two types of PCI Express Slots are available namely 16X Slots indicated by no. 2 and 1X Slots indicated by no. 3. 16X Slots have 16 separate lanes of data transfer and 1X has only 1 of them. PCI Express 1.0 slots offer data transfer of 250MB/s and 2.0 slots offer 500MB/s data rate. The 1x PCI slots are noticeably smaller.

North Bridge Chipset with HeatSink

Different chipsets contain different features and component with a number of integrated circuits built onto the board to provide specific functions such as a modem or a sound chip. Other parts of the chip may be used to control different CPU functions. Generally, the chipsets are designed for a specific processor because different processors use different logic to access the memory, its cache etc. The newer chipsets are now equipped with heatsinks and cooler fans to disperse some of the heat.

ATX Power Connector

Shown in no. 5 and 8 the ATX power connector will be connected to the PSU. There is a clip to make sure that the connector is inserted in the correct order.

CPU Socket

The CPU socket indicated at no. 6 are built for a specific CPU which have a fixed number of pins and layout. PGA and LGA are two major type of socket. Read your motherboard to know which type of CPU your motherboard will support.

DIMM Memory Moudule

Indicated at no. 7, this is the most popular memory system. The four standards of DIMM’s being used at the moment are SDR (Single Data Rate), DDR (Double Data Rate), DDR2 and DDR3. The speeds of memory can vary between 66Mhz to 1600Mhz.

Serial ATA Connector

Indicated in no. 11, it is  a new way of connecting your hard drive to the motherboard. It transfer data at a higher rate than the PATAs. Read our article on SATA vs PATA for more information on this subject.

Motherboard Battery

Shown in at the figure as no. 13, the battery gives the board little power so that it can maintain the date and time and you don’t have to reset it everytime you boot up the machine. The batteries used today is long lasting lithium batteries. Removing this batteries will reset all data on your machine including BIOS Setting.

PCI Slot

This is an old version of the PCI Express Slot. They are necessary as some manufacturers still make cards that will fit into the PCIs. Now, they are replacing them with PCI 1X standards. It is shown in no. 14 on the picture

Floppy Drive Connector

They are now becoming more and more obsolete as days pass on. Connecting the Floppy Drive is simple and easy. The connector is indicated by no. 15 on the picture.

BIOS (Basic Input Output System)

It holds the most important data for your machine. This informs the PC what the motherboard supports and what CPU is there etc. If you change the CPU and for that reason it should be updated to support it.