Types of Computer Motherboard

Motherboard

The motherboard is the most significant component of your PC. It is the main printed circuit board in the computer. A Motherboard is called the mainboard, system board, baseboard, circuit board, logic board, or planar board. It is a PCB with expandable capacity. It is the main board of all the elements attached to it, so it is called the mother. A Motherboard is the connectivity point that is the backbone of a computer's central communications. All components, peripherals, and other additional components connect through the expansion slots.

The motherboard has many principal electronic components. As the central processing unit (CPU), RAM, memory, and all other computer hardware. It allows all these components to communicate with each other. It also provides connectors for other peripherals. It consists of several subsystems, such as the central processor, the chipset's input, output, memory controller, interface connector, and other components.

A Motherboard consists of peripherals, interface cards. It also includes sound cards, video cards, network cards, and hard drives. It also has TV tuner cards, cards that provide additional USB or FireWire slots, and other custom components. A motherboard that connects all these elements is the link.

Your PC needs to have a good quality motherboard to run the computer system properly. It is also significant to know the features to perform specific tasks with a good motherboard. For Example, If you are going to use your PC for animation, you may need to select NVMS SSD for faster rendering times. However, to use NVMS SSD, you need to make sure that it has an NVM M2 slot. Similarly, many factors depend on your motherboard for compatibility.

When choosing the right motherboard, you need to have an idea about the motherboard. and motherboard components. Like, what is the nature of your work? What kind of processor can you use? How much RAM does it have? You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Types of Motherboards

ATX Motherboard

Micro ATX Motherboard

Mini ATX Motherboard

ETX Motherboard

1. ATX- Motherboard

ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended) is a motherboard and power supply configuration a specification developed by Intel in 1995 to improve previous de facto standards like the AT design. It was the first change in desktop computer enclosure, motherboard, and power supply design in many years, improving standardization and interchangeability of parts. The specification defines the dimensions, the mounting points, the I/O panel, and the power and connector interfaces among a computer case, a motherboard, and a power supply.

ATX is the most common motherboard design. Other standards for smaller boards (including microATX, flexATX, nano-ITX, and mini-ITX) usually keep the basic rear layout but reduce the number of expansion slots and the size. Dimensions of a full-size ATX board are 12 × 9.6 in (305 × 244 mm), which allows many ATX chassis to accept microATX boards.

The ATX specifications were released by Intel in 1995 and revised numerous times since. The newest ATX motherboard specification is version 2.2. The most recent ATX12V power supply unit specification is 2.4, released in April 2013. EATX (Extended ATX) is a bigger version of the ATX motherboard with 12 x 13-inch dimensions. An advantage of having an EATX motherboard is dual-socket support.

Advantages of ATX motherboard

Below is a list of all the advantages of other types of motherboard form components of ATX motherboards.

1. The ATX motherboard includes advanced control features, where the BIOS program continuously monitors the CPU temperature and voltage, cooling fan RPM, and so on. If overheating occurs, the PC shuts down automatically.

2. USB supports up to modern I / O standards like USB.

3. On the ATX motherboard, more distance is placed from the socket extension slots, allowing longer boards to place more easily. There are long extension slots.

4. The ATX 2.01 has a single worm, Molex internal power supply connector that cannot place improperly. However, its standby voltage must be higher than 720 mA. The Molex power connector allows for 5v and 3.3v.

5. Processor and memory upgrade easy.

6. Energy management is now possible with proper BIOS support.

7. The computer cannot be shut down when it is booted. However, if the computer freezes as soon as it turns on, you can turn it off by pressing the power button for five seconds.

8. Lack of cables

9. Reduced cost.

The full-size ATX board measures 12 × 9.6 inches (305 × 244 mm), allows most ATX chassis to adopt microATX boards. There are also several variants of ATX, with slightly different form components. It includes the following.

1. FlexatX - 9 × 7.5 inches (229 × 191 mm)

2. MicroAATX - 9.6 × 9.6 inches (244 × 244 mm)

3. Mini ATX - 11.2 × 8.2 inches (284 × 208 mm)

4. Extended ATX (EATX) - 12 × 13 inches (305 × 330 mm)

5. Workstation ATX (WTX) - 14 × 16.75 inches (356 × 425 mm)

2. MicroATX Motherboard

MicroATX is known as MATX. The maximum size of the MicroATX motherboard is 9.6 × 9.6 inches (244 × 244 mm). The standard ATX size is 25% higher, 12 × 9.6 inches (305 × 244 mm). Some manufacturers have reduced the dimensions to 9.6 x 8.1 inches. Most modern ATX motherboards have a maximum of seven PCI Express expansion slots, while microATX boards have four expansion slots.

Micro ATX  motherboards use as full-size ATX. They also use the same power connector as the ATX motherboard.

Micro ATX  boards most often use the same chipset as Northbridge and Southbridge as full-size ATX boards, allowing them to use the same components.

Advantages of a micro-ATX motherboard over an ATX motherboard

1. These ATMs are compact and smaller than motherboards.

2. It offers more ports and slots than ATX.

3. These are budget motherboards compared to other ATX or ITX motherboards.

3. Mini ATX Motherboard

The motherboard of the Mini ATX is 17 x 17 cm (6.7 x 6.7 inches). This motherboard was developed in 2001 by VIA Technologies. These are smaller than other traditional motherboards. These motherboards use in small-configured computer systems.

Features of Mini ATX motherboard

Size

With dimensions of 15 × 15 cm, a mini-ATX motherboard can place in a single-DIN space for standard application conditions such as a car, rack mount, tower case, wall mount, etc. The small form factor Nano-ITX motherboard lacks a CPU socket module that limits its flexibility for applications.

Noise

Since mobile CPUs require less energy, the CPU generates less heat because of the internal components and thermal design.

Stability

Mini-ATX motherboards use surface-mount technology, solid-state capacitors, and an 8-layer PCB design to increase reliability.

Flexibility

The DC-to-DC converter solution design removes the power supply unit from the mini-ATX case. It makes the external power supply unit more flexible when deploying the system.

4. ETX Motherboard

ETX, embedded technology XANDER is an integrated and compact 95 × 125mm (3.7 × 4.9 inches) computer-on-module (COM) form factor, which can use in design applications as an integrated circuit component. USB, audio, graphics, and Ethernet.

3.0 Specification

The ETX features a compact form factor, measuring 95 x114 mm (mm 7 x 4.4 inches). It enhances the original ETX standard and connects two serial ATA interfaces.

Features of ETX motherboard

1. Connector X1: PCI bus, USB audio

2. Connector X2: ISA bus

3. Connector X3: VGA, LCD, Video, COM1, COM2, LPT / Floppy, IRDA, Mouse, Keyboard

4. Connector X4: IDE1, IDE2, Ethernet, narrow

5. SATA: Two ports via a connector at the top (as in version 3.0)

In this article, we have given detailed information about computer motherboards, different types of motherboards. We hope you find this information useful. Thanks!