Beginpc.com - Motherboard

Motherboard

The motherboard is arguably the most important component in the computer. It is on the motherboard that all additional adapters and modules are installed on, and drives are attached to it by wide ribbon cables.

The motherboard is the largest component installed in the computer and is usually attached to the side of the case. This allows all the additional cards to lie horizontally so that they can be accessed from the back of the machine. The motherboard handles most of the jobs, but most of these jobs go on entirely in the background, transparent to you, unless a problem occurs in which case you would be notified. The main role of the motherboard is it acts as the communications infrastructure for the entire computer, the motherboard is criss-crossed by information superhighways, some as wide as 64 lanes, which move information and instructions from one part of the computer to another.

Modern computers use the ATX style motherboard, this is shown below.