FACs of MOBOs

[greengoose1]

Sitting here this afternoon bringing up online one of my computers, I was struck by the fact that if a person looks at the periphials attached to the computer tower such as the monitor, keyboard, scanner, printer, SCSI Kit, and maybe external drives of some type; that they all are tied together through the motherboard (MOBO). The same goes for the internal drives - hard drives (HDDs), floppy drive, CD ROM and similar drives. Picture it in your mind. And if you have not been into a computer tower before there are interconnecting cables from the drives to the MOBO whereas external components are connected to the back or front of the tower and then to the MOBO again through cables.

The computer components are hooked together physically which is needed. but we need to also interconnect all the components with little software programs called drivers.

Once this is done picture in you mind a MOBO that has been interconnected correctly. What goes on in this board and how is it accomplished? Just what Factors and Concepts do we need to know to work with a MOBO? :)

[hongman]

Wow this is a hard one :D

[hongman]

Ok. Well I suppose the concept of a motherboard is to have a central piece of hardware that conforms to a set of standards (namely the Form Factor) to that different parts from different manufacturers can all work together with as least hassle as possible (i.e the same group of devices all use the same connectors, protocols, etc).

When we start looking through the list of components a motherboad has/can have, a lot more standards become apparent. For example, all IDE devices have 40 pin connectors, and jumpers to mark it as Master, Slave or Cable Select.

...is this the sort of thing you are looking for?

[greengoose1]

You are warm hongman. Again - "What goes on in this board and how is it accomplished? Just what Factors and Concepts do we need to know to work with a MOBO?"

Concerning the first question. As MOBOs developed so were they enhanced with more functions which meant more circuits that had certain jobs. The south bridge now has taken on more importance where it used to take a back seat to the north bridge. There are now two fans that can be associated with the mobo as components work harder and need more cooling. The BIOS chip can handle more memory work. This is but a part of the whole mobo.

I guess in working with a mobo you first need to know what functions you want to have before you even buy one if you are building and if you want an off the shelf computer and want it for a certain function; say a gamer or general purpose you need to know what to look for.

In other words various factors and concepts once decided upon will then allow a person to "spec" a mobo out. Time and time again we see people ask "what is the best mobo?" The answer of course is the one that will support the job tasks you have chosen for it. This means you obtain the one you know will work and not one someone else says is good. This thinking applies to all components of a computer system. And hopefully in this thread we can develop the thinking on this subject so more people can make their own informed decision and why they did what they did.

[DrMDJ]

Goose,

So are you looking to get in to such things here as:
- A component level breakdown of a motherboard from the hardware standpoint (the key ones, generically)
- Functional information in regard to the specific components
- Functional information in regard to the interaction and dependencies between components
- Some assessment of what might be important to consider (look at) when comparing specific components or the components collectively on one board vs another

[greengoose1]

Goose,

So are you looking to get in to such things here as:
- A component level breakdown of a motherboard from the hardware standpoint (the key ones, generically)
- Functional information in regard to the specific components
- Functional information in regard to the interaction and dependencies between components
- Some assessment of what might be important to consider (look at) when comparing specific components or the components collectively on one board vs another

Bingo DrMDJ. And one more thing. In doing this take away any mystery and confusion regarding motherboards so a computer user can think and make decisions concerning them.

If a person picks up a set of specifications for a motherboard that person needs to be able to understand what is being read. Not everyone wants to know what is under the "hood" but those that are curious should be able have a layman's lanquage understanding of the motherboard. This understanding then makes understanding of the rest of the components that can be associated with the MOBO more easilyu understood and how they fit into the computer picture. :)

[Ridgerunr]

Hi GG1,,If a person gives it some thought,the name pretty much gives you a clue. "Mother"board. Is indeed the Mother of a computers hardware functions. Some good basic reading can be found here: http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/tutorials/44/1/

Although it's a' bit dated,some good basic info over here (http://www.redhill.net.au/ib.html) also. Check the links for more.