Computer Bytes - No. 50 Computers have come a long way since the days of mainframes and those elevated floors hiding miles of cable in a room cold as a refrigerator. Today your computer is run by a single circuit board called a motherboard. All of the components of the computer interface with this board. This includes the central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), optical and disk drives. If you were to open up your computer, you would see a rectangular, flat circuit board that everything seems to connect to. This is the motherboard - the primary element of your computer. While the motherboard can come in different configurations depending on need and budget, at the very least, it will always have the necessary interfaces for the different computer components, as well as, a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). The BIOS controls the basic functions of the computer. If you are having a computer built with special requirements in mind, i.e. gaming, the motherboard and BIOS system are two things to pay special attention to. The number of ports or slots on a motherboard usually will vary from computer to computer. On the motherboard you will find slots used for the attaching of support systems and peripheral hardware. There will also be slots for accelerated video graphics, interface for hard disk drives, and RAM/memory cards as well as other specialized functions. The motherboard works just like any circuit board by providing connections, lines and pathways for all the components of the computer to connect to one another. Simply put, the motherboard connects the CPU ('chip') where the processing takes place to everything else in the computer. The most popular chip on today's market is Intel's Pentium series. This 'chip' is designed to perform a multitude of tasks with an assembly of over 4 million transistors and other devices. The 'chip' resides in a 'socket' on the motherboard and is connected through the board's printed circuits to all of the computers other components. The most important of these 'other' components are the chipsets. These are divided into two 'groups' - northbridge and southbridge. The northbridge connects the 'chip' to the main computer memory (hard disk and RAM. The southbridge connects the 'chip' to the computers peripherals. The BIOS chip is the next most important element in your computer, after the motherboard. It performs functions such as checking the power supply, operating system, and hard disk drive before the computer starts 'booting up'. When you turn on your computer the BIOS chip automatically begins to perform these functions. On completion of the check, it will begin to power up the CPU which in turn will power up the rest of the computer. If you find your computer needing additional memory, this is accomplished by adding memory via the motherboard. I'll address how to increase your computer's memory next week. Moncrief Web2 Home Page Moncrief Web Design Computer Bytes Index Web Design | Search Engine Optimization | Site Maintenance & Management | Request Information | About Us ~ Sample Sites Send Us an Email | Home Page Copyright 2007-2008. All rights reserved. Computer Bytes articles may not be reprinted, published, quoted, copied, or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of David Moncrief.