Motherboard or MOBO for short

The motherboard is the most important component in a computer. This controls not only every component in the computer, but to a large extent, your choices of components you can put into a computer.

The MOBO has slots for every component in the computer and carries the information from piece to piece. It also has the BIOS (Basic Input and Output System). The BIOS is like an OS (Operating System) for the motherboard. A good MOBO and BIOS are essential to a PC because no matter how good your components, you can never make up for MOBO limitations.

The MOBO also has jumpers on it that will perform a variety of functions and control important settings in the computer. Some will even wipe the BIOS completely, rendering the PC useless. Extreme care should be taken when changing BIOS or jumper settings on a MOBO.

MOBO Slots, Functions and Choices:

·         Upgrading: Most important choice you want to make when choosing a MOBO is how much, and how often, you plan to upgrade your PC. As you read on, look at the choices and limitations your MOBO puts on you as the years progress. Think not only performance now, but think long term when you want to run the newest game or latest version of Photoshop.

·         Buss Speed: The speed in which components transmit data to each other. This is one of the most notable performance enhancements in a PC.

·         Ram Slots: Controls the amount and type of RAM used in a PC.

·         PCI Slots: (Peripheral Component Interconnect) These are slots for add on cards such as: Video card, sound card, modems, NIC cards and many more. Just about anything you add to a PC besides RAM and a processor. Think about how many cards you may be adding in the future.

·         Processor: Determines brand, type and speed options of a processor.

·         AGP Slot: The AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) is a dedicated interface between the processor and the video card. Covered more under: Buss Speed.

·         USB Slots: Although you can buy expansion cards for more USB (Universal Serial Buss) ports (usually taking up a PCI slot), the MOBO does have a limited number of these. These also vary in speed and should be considered when choosing what external components you will be using.

·         PCIe: (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) is a faster PCI slot.

·         Integrated Components: A lot of MOBO’s come with integrated components on the card saving you money. In my experience, it is usually better to buy a separate card then use an integrated component, but on your quality MOBO’s some of these can be very good, especially for the money. Things like sound, video and networking are common and should be considered with a “bang for the buck” mentality.

·         IDE/ATA: (Integrated Drive Electronics) Also known as:  ATA, ATA/ATAPI, EIDE, ATA-2, Fast ATA, ATA-3, Ultra ATA, Ultra DMA and believe it or not, a few more. This is another form of interface for transferring data, most commonly used for controlling Hard Disk Drives (HDD’s). This standard of data transfer is challenged only by SCSI.

·         SCSI: SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) is yet another form of data transfer between components. Although, SCSI is not limited to HDD’s, any type of device can be present on this interface. SCSI is infinitely scalable, faster and supports more (quantity and type) components then IDE. This is typically found in high-performance PC’s or servers.

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