Motherboard Drivers
A motherboard is a PCB or a Primary Circuit Board of a computer that supplies different components of the computer with power and enables them to communicate with each other. A motherboard has a micro processor and main memory built into it. Devices such as external storage device, sound card, graphics card and hard disk, are connected to motherboard.
Over the last two decades motherboards have come a long way. Earlier motherboards came only with an inbuilt processor and card slots that were used to connect storage devices, memory cards, and so on. During the early 90s single ICs or Integrated Chips were added to the motherboard. These ICs supported low-speed peripherals such as keyboard, floppy drive, serial and parallel ports. As of today motherboards can support a wide range of advanced devices used for audio, video, storage and networking purposes.
A motherboard acts as connector between all computer devices and its microprocessor. The motherboard supports all the devices that help in running a computer as well as improving its performance. All the components or devices that are required to run a computer are either inbuilt on the motherboard or are connected to it through a socket or a port.
A motherboard consists of both internal and external connector and ports that are used to connect devices to the motherboard. Some of the main connectors and ports include:
- PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slot : There can be up to 6 PCI slots on a motherboard. A PCI bus runs with 32bits at 33Mhz. It can support a number of peripherals such as sound card, DVD decoders and graphics accelerators.
- AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port): An AGP port is required to support video cards that require higher bandwidth. AGP provides a faster bus speed and also a faster access to the main memory.
- Chipset - North Bridge : A chipset is an integrated circuit that provides a specific function.
- CPU (Central Processing Unit) socket: This is the socket in which you insert your computer’s processor.
- DIMM (Double Inline Memory Module) slots, SIMMs (Single Inline Memory Module) and RIMM's: These slots are used to insert different types of memory (RAM) chips on the motherboard.
- Motherboard Battery: This battery is used to provide the motherboard some power to store essential data, such as system date and time while the machine is off.
- IDE connector: This connector is used to insert IDE cable, which is used to connect devices, such as hard disks, CD Drives and DVD Drives.
- Firewire header (IEEE 1394): This is a high-performance serial bus used for exchanging digital and audio data.
The following are some of the ports that are inbuilt on the mother board to connect devices, such as keyboard, mouse and printers.
- PS/2 Connectors : There are usually two PS/2 connectors on motherboard. These ports are used to connect the mouse and keyboard.
- USB (Universal Serial Bus) Ports: These ports are used to connect external USB device, such as pen drives and external hard drives.
- Parallel (or LPT) Port: This port is generally used to connect scanners and printers.
- Game Port: This port is primarily used to connect gaming-related devices, such as joystick.
- Sound card Connectors: These connectors are used to connect speakers and microphone.
- Display Connector: The display monitor of your computer is connected to this port.
- COM (communications) Port: This port is used to connect serial devices like mouse and modems.
Some of the top manufactures of motherboards include Micronics, Mylex, AMI, DTK, Hauppauge, Orchid Technology, Elitegroup, and DFI are some of the early manufactures of motherboards.
Manufactures like Tyan, ASUS, Super Micro, Intel, Iwill, Diamond, First International Computer, Elitegroup Computer Systems, American Megatrends, and EFA are some the best in the field of motherboard manufacturing.
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