Factors of Motherboard

 The main form factor for the motherboard is size and shape. The other factors are physical layout, mounting holes, and board organization.

In the below section, some of the form factors are mentioned below:

1. ATX

In this type, the standard locations were defined for mouse, keyboard, input/output devices, video connectors, and other devices. In the year 1990, the ATX form factor was developed. The expansion slot given new location as in this form factor expansion slot were given separate space so that they can be connected with the motherboard.

2. Micro-ATX

The benefit obtained from the Micro-ATX is the same as from the ATX form factor. The main difference is an improvement in system design so that the overall cost of the component can be reduced as the size of the motherboard is reduced in this form factor. The size is reduced by reducing the I/O slots number on the motherboard.

Uses of Motherboard

The motherboard is the main component in the computer system that is used for connecting all the components of the computer system so that they can perform several tasks and functions in the system. The motherboard is considered as the spine of the system as all components are connected to a single circuit board for performing their functions. The motherboard is a costly device and once it gets damaged the user needs to spend a lot of money to buy a new motherboard for a computer system. The motherboard is a central device where all devices are get connected and maintain the flow in the computer system.

Where is the motherboard located?

A computer motherboard is located inside the computer case and is where most of the parts and computer peripherals connect. With tower computers, the motherboard is on the left or right side of the tower and is the biggest circuit board.

Motherboard components- Below are links to pages with more details for each of the motherboard components mentioned in the previous section. The links are listed in clockwise order starting from the top-left corner of the image. Components not labeled on the image above are found in sections later on this page.

• Expansion slots (PCI Express, PCI, and AGP)
• 3-pin case fan connectors
• Back pane connectors
• Heat sink
• 4-pin (P4) power connector
• Inductor
• Capacitor
• CPU socket
• Northbridge
• Screw hole
• Memory slot
• Super I/O
• ATA / IDE disk drive primary connection
• 24-pin ATX power supply connector
• Serial ATA connections
• Coin cell battery (CMOS backup battery)
• RAID
• System panel connectors
• FWH
• Southbridge
• Serial port connector
• USB headers
• Jumpers
• Integrated circuit
• 1394 headers
• SPDIF
• CD-IN

Older motherboard components-  The following list contains links to components that are not shown in the picture above or were part of older computer motherboards.

• BIOS
• Bus
• Cache memory
• Chipset
• Diode
• Dip switches
• Electrolytic
• Floppy connection
• Fuse
• Game port and MIDI header.
• Internal speaker
• Keyboard controller
• LCC
• Network header
• Obsolete expansion slots: AMR, CNR, EISA, ISA, and VESA.
• Obsolete memory slots: SIMM.
• Onboard LED
• Parallel port header
• PS/2 header
• Resistor
• RTC
• Serial port header
• SCSI
• Solenoid
• Voltage regulator
• VRM (voltage regulator module)