Chapter 1

Motherboards, Processors, and Memory

  1. A personal computer (PC) is a computing device made up of many distinct electronic components that all function together

  2. Most PCs today are modular

    • components that can be removed and replaced with another component

  3. The ā€œbig threeā€ - are the:

    1. motherboard

    2. processor

    3. memory

  4. The spine of the computer is the motherboard, otherwise known as the system board or mainboard

    1. This is the printed circuit board (PCB), which is a conductive series of pathways laminated to a nonconductive substrate that lines the bottom of the computer and is often of uniform color, such as green, brown, blue, black, or red. It is the most important component in the computer because it connects all the other components together

  5. All other components are attached to this circuit board.

  6. On the system board, you will find:

    1. the central processing unit (CPU) slot or integrated CPU

    2. underlying circuitry

    3. expansion slots

    4. video components

    5. random access memory (RAM) slots

    6. variety of other chips

System Board Form Factors

  1. System boards are classified by their form factor (design):

    1. ATX

    2. micro ATX

    3. ITX

  2. Some cases are less accommodating than others, and they might not be physically compatible with the motherboard you choose.

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