The Computer's Highway System - Blog Post 3

Hello and welcome back! Today, we're starting our adventure into the motherboard, the highway system of the computer. Everything that needs to happen on the computer will at one point or another be making its way through the motherboard. There are many components to the motherboard that can't all be covered, so I decided to cover the most important for the computer to run properly and a few auxiliary additives for customization called expansion cards.

Memory Slots: The memory slot is what allows for RAM storage to inserted into the computer. Depending on which motherboard you have, there could be between 2 and 4 RAM slots (on high-end motherboards there could be 6 or more).

- This is an older model of a motherboard and only has two RAM slots

CPU Socket: The CPU socket is the housing unit where the processor sits on the motherboard. On the bottom of the processor and the face of the CPU sockets, there's a grid called a pin grid array (PGA) that forms an electrical interface with the processor. Basically, the pin array allows the processor to talk to the motherboard to perform the functions the person using the computer

- All of the little gold bumps are the pins that make contact with the CPU and pass electricity between them

Power Connectors: Every motherboard needs electricity to run. No, we don't just plug a wall plug into a motherboard and yell at it to turn on, we use a series of power connectors called AT/LPX and ATX. Each power supply unit (PSU) that transfers the electricity from the wall into usable electricity for the computer comes with sets of connectors that connect to the motherboard on different pins. (Pins are the electrical conductors that everything connecting to the motherboard connects to.)

- Circled in red this connector only has 4 prongs as opposed to some that have 20. It depends on which PSU you buy.

Expansion Slots (PCI Bus): Many users, maybe you too, like to customize their computer's specs and make their motherboards unique to what they're using their PC for. For example, gamers use extra graphics and sound cards for the extra speed and quality of their game (they might also add extra hard drive space, I'll tell you guys about the hard drive later this week). These all are placed into PCI or bus slots that are exactly like RAM  memory slots but are for your extra cards. Most motherboards typically come with 2 or 3

-This motherboard has 3busses for video, network, and graphics cards

Northbridge and Southbridge: The northbridge is one of two chips in the core logic architecture of the PC. The northbridge is connected directly to the CPU via the front-side bus, making it responsible for tasks that require the highest performance. The southbridge is the opposite: it processes slower performance tasks.

- This is the northbridge

- This is the southbridge

There are also a few types of expansion cards I've mentioned called video cards, sound cards, and network cards. I don't have a sound card to show you, but I do have the other two. Let's start with...

This is a video card

Video cards: Also referred to as graphics cards, video cards generate output images for display on the monitor. Video cards contain their own processor, cooling mechanisms, memory, and connections to the motherboard via a PCI slot.

This is a network card (ethernet)

Network Cards: These are used for wireless connections (WiFi) or wired connections (Ethernet). They obtain the internet. Without these, you'd have a rather large, rather expensive, tech-brick with no internet connection.

Sound Cards: Sound cards allow sound to pass through speakers or headphones from the motherboard. Not all computers need a sound card because they come with an onboard sound card (built into the motherboard).












Hey, everyone who made it through this update, thanks for staying with my blog, I'm grateful for the tips and comments and I'll be sure to upload a video on the next section of the computer...the RAM and power supply!