PARTS OF A MOTHERBOARD

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) Slot: Supports peripherals like sound cards, DVD decoders, and graphic accelerators with 32 bits at 33Mhz capabilities. There are usually anywhere from 1 to 6 PCI slots available on the motherboard.

AGP (Accelerated Graphic Port): This provides fast bus speed connectivity along with fast access to the main memory. It is designed for video cards that demand higher bandwidth.

Chipset-North Bridge: An integrated circuit that has special duties.

CPU (Central Processing Unit) Socket: A socket specifically for connecting your computer processor.

DIMM (Double Inline Memory Module) slots, SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) and RIMM: Different types of memory (RAM) can be installed into these slots.

Motherboard Battery: A battery compartment, which stores the battery used for storing data such as system date and time, when you shut down your system.

IDE Connector: Responsible for connecting the IDE cord used for hard disks, CD drives, and DVD drives.

Firewire header (IEEE 1394): A serial bus used to exchange digital and audio data with high performance abilities.

The following listed items are parts that are built within the motherboard with specific connective uses such as keyboards, mouse, and printers.

PS/2 Connectors: Each motherboard usually has 2 PS/2 connectors for the keyboard and the mouse.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) Port: There are usually a couple of these ports located on each motherboard used for connecting pen drives and external hard drives, like Ipods or Mp3 players.

Parallel or (LPT) Port: The place used to connect scanners and printers.

Game Port: The port to connect all gaming devices for example, a joystick.

Sound Card Connectors: Plug in your microphone or speakers here.

Display Connector: Connecting your monitor to the motherboard.

COM (Communication) Port: The port designed to connect your mouse and modem.