motherboard

A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main board, system board, or, on Apple computers, the logic board.^[1] It is also sometimes casually shortened to mobo.^[2]

Most computer motherboards produced today are designed for IBM-compatible computers, which currently account for around 90% of global PC sales^{[citation needed]}. A motherboard, like a backplane, provides the electrical connections by which the other components of the system communicate, but unlike a backplane, it also hosts the central processing unit, other subsystems, and devices.

Motherboards are also used in many other electronics devices such as mobile phones, stop-watches, clocks, and other small electronic devices.

A typical desktop computer has itsmicroprocessor, main memory, and other essential components on the motherboard. Other components such as external storage, controllers forvideo display and sound, and peripheral devices may be attached to the motherboard as plug-in cards or via cables, although in modern computers it is increasingly common to integrate some of these peripherals into the motherboard itself.

An important component of a motherboard is the microprocessor's supporting chipset, which provides the supporting interfaces between the CPU and the various buses and external components. This chipset determines, to an extent, the features and capabilities of the motherboard.

Modern motherboards include, at a minimum:

• sockets (or slots) in which one or more microprocessors are installed^[3]
• slots into which the system's main memory is installed (typically in the form of DIMM modules containing DRAM chips)
• a chipset which forms an interface between the CPU's front-side bus, main memory, and peripheralbuses
• non-volatile memory chips (usually Flash ROM in modern motherboards) containing the system'sfirmware or BIOS
• a clock generator which produces the system clock signal to synchronize the various components
• slots for expansion cards (these interface to the system via the buses supported by the chipset)
• power connectors, which receive electrical power from the computer power supply and distribute it to the CPU, chipset, main memory, and expansion cards.^[4]