What is the name given to the main printed circuit board onto which all components and peripherals are connected to?

A rigid, flat board that holds chips and other electronic components. The printed circuit board (PCB) is made of layers, from two to a dozen or more, that interconnect components via copper pathways. The main board in a computer is called the "system board" or "motherboard," while smaller ones that plug into slots on the main board are called "boards" or "cards." See motherboard, expansion card and flexible circuit.

Etched Circuits

The "printed" circuit is an etched circuit. A copper foil is placed over a fiberglass or plastic base of each layer and covered with a photoresist. Light is beamed through a negative image of the circuit paths onto the photoresist, hardening the areas that will remain after etching. When passed through an acid bath, the unhardened areas are washed away, and the finished layers are then glued together. The etching process is also used to create integrated circuits (chips).

Starting in the 1940s

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) were first used in the 1940s to connect discrete components together. By the 1960s, they were widely used in all electronic systems, and as integrated circuits emerged in the 1970s, chips were increasingly mounted on the boards. Today, PCBs hold a few discrete elements but mostly chips, and each chip contains from thousands to billions of transistors (see chip). See surface mount, via and discrete component.

Motherboard and Expansion Cards This Baby AT board is an example of an early PC motherboard. It accepted both ISA and PCI cards containing peripheral controllers. See ISA and PCI.

Boards Can Be Very Small This earlier WOW HD board from SRS Labs created a more dynamic music experience. The complex processing that takes place on tiny PCBs such as this was unthinkable in the early days of computing. (Images courtesy of SRS Labs, Inc.)

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Motherboard
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10 Questions 10 Marks 7 Mins

The correct answer is the Motherboard.

Important Points

The motherboard is the main circuit of the computer.
It is also called a system board or logic board.
It holds and allows connection between all the peripheral devices of the computer.
It acts as a connector between CPU and memory.
It has a subsystem called a Central Processor.
It is also called a Printed circuit board.
The motherboard has the expansion slots to add more peripheral devices to the computer.
It has sound cards, video cards, network cards, host bus adapters, TV tuner cards, IEEE 1394 cards, and a variety of other custom components.
A typical motherboard has a microprocessor, main memory, and other important essential components.
Other important components like sound or video cards are attached to them by plugins or via cables.

Additional Information

Important Components of Motherboard

Components	Description
1.Mouse and keyboard slot	All the desktops or PCs have a keyboard port directly connected to the motherboard. The most common is the DIN port and most of the recent PCs are using style connectors.
2. USB (Universal serial bus)	It is the general-purpose connection for PC. It is recognizable in a rectangular shape. USB can be added or removed from the motherboard.
3. Parallel port	Printers use a special connector called Parallel Port. It carries data of more than one wire. Parallel Port uses a 25 pin DB connector
4.CPU Chip	A CPU chip is also called a Chipset. A chipset is a set of electronic components in an integrated circuit. They are designed to work with a specific family of microprocessors. It controls communications between the processor and external devices.
5. RAM slots	Random-Access Memory stores programs and data being used by the CPU. RAM has been packaged in many different ways. The most current package is called a 168-pin Dual Inline Memory Module.
6. Floppy controller	The floppy drive connects to the computer via a 34-pin ribbon cable. A floppy controller is used to control the floppy drive.
7.IDE controller	IDE controller is responsible for controlling the hard drive.
8. PCI slot	The PCI bus is used to connect I/O devices to the main logic of the computer.
9. CMOS Battery	The CMOS battery powers your computer BIOS firmware. It is responsible for booting up your computer and configuring data flow.