Parts Of a Motherboard - Are you building a computer on your own? Are you assembling the hardware without the help of a professional? Then it is very essential to know the role of each component in your computer and especially more details about motherboard should be known. Motherboard is simple to look but its function is very vital and its connections are more complicated.

The parts of a motherboard are explained in this article

1. CPU socket 

The processor socket is more commonly known as CPU socket. This socket holds the processor in proper place. Sometimes, it is also called as ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket since it allows the processor to be inserted without much effort.

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2. Memory slot

The memory stick for the computer is inserted in the memory slot of the motherboard. It is also called as memory banks and they are of two types: Single channel and dual channel. The difference between them is with the single channel any number of memories can be installed while in dual channel memories in pair with identical size and speed could only be installed.

3. Chipset 

The chipset is the circuitry of the motherboard and it is classified into Northbridge and the Southbridge chipset. The communications between the processor, RAM, ROM BIOS, PCI-E and AGP takes place with Northbridge chipset. The slower capabilities of motherboard such as the SATA, IDE, USB, Audio and LAN are managed by Southbridge chipset. It can be summed up that the Northbridge is a memory controller for fast capabilities and the Southbridge is an I/O controller for slower capabilities.

4. Interface connectors

The motherboard and drives are connected with these connectors. Newer motherboard uses SATA (Serial Advance Technology Attachment) connectors for this purpose and it is much faster than the ATA. But the disadvantage is, it can only support one drive.

5. Expansion slots

There are three types of Expansion Slots. First is AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slot for video cards, second is PCI (Peripheral Component Interface) slot which can support all type of extra cards and the third slot is the latest one which is the advanced version of PCI and called PCI-E (Peripheral Component Interface – Express) slot. This slot is mostly used for video cards and faster than all the other slots.

6. Back panel connectors

The CPU has casing both in front and back side. The front side ports are connected through cables and the back end port are directly connected to the motherboard. They are used to connect printer, mouse, keyboard, speakers and other peripherals.

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