The motherboard is plastic board that contains all of the circuitry and connectors required for the different parts of a computer. The circuits on top of the motherboard are very thin pieces of copper or aluminum foil that link the different connector ports. The back of the board is made out of a non-conductive material.
The panel on the rear of the motherboard can be seen on the outside of a computer. These are ports for various cables, such as USB ports, display ports, audio and Ethernet ports. The motherboard also contains a series of slots for peripheral components. Peripheral components include sound cards, certain wireless cards and graphic cards. Another connector on the motherboard is the CPU socket. The CPU is responsible for the computer's processing speed.The connector for the power source is also located on the motherboard.
The fan ports also connect to the motherboard, keeping the inside of the computer cool. It is especially important to keep the CPU cool, as excessive heat can damage the device. Many CPUs come with integrated fans for this reason. Modern disk and hard drives are connected to the motherboard through SATA connectors. Older disk drives are connected through an IDE connector for data extraction.
