page_title: Motherboard
hierarchical_section_title: Motherboard
context_page_description: A motherboard is the main printed circuit board in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows communication between many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the central processing unit and memory, and provides connectors for other peripherals. Unlike a backplane, a motherboard usually contains significant sub-systems, such as the central processor, the chipset's input/output and memory controllers, interface connectors, and other components integrated for general use.
  Motherboard means specifically a PCB with expansion capabilities. As the name suggests, this board is often referred to as the "mother" of all components attached to it, which often include peripherals, interface cards, and daughtercards: sound cards, video cards, network cards, hard drives, and other forms of persistent storage; TV tuner cards, cards providing extra USB or FireWire slots; and a variety of other custom components.
context_section_description: A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, system board, baseboard, planar board, logic board, and mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows communication between many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the central processing unit (CPU) and memory, and provides connectors for other peripherals. Unlike a backplane, a motherboard usually contains significant sub-systems, such as the central processor, the chipset's input/output and memory controllers, interface connectors, and other components integrated for general use.
  Motherboard means specifically a PCB with expansion capabilities. As the name suggests, this board is often referred to as the "mother" of all components attached to it, which often include peripherals, interface cards, and daughtercards: sound cards, video cards, network cards, hard drives, and other forms of persistent storage; TV tuner cards, cards providing extra USB or FireWire slots; and a variety of other custom components.
  Similarly, the term mainboard describes a device with a single board and no additional expansions or capability, such as controlling boards in laser printers, television sets, washing machines, mobile phones, and other embedded systems with limited expansion abilities.
  The term Logic board is brand specific, coined by Apple in the early 1980s for the motherboards in Macintosh computers.
caption: Motherboard for a desktop personal computer, showing the typical components and interfaces that are found on a motherboard. This model follows the microATX form factor, a common motherboard layout used in many desktop PCs.
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