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A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in computers that holds many of the crucial components of the system,while providing connectors
for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple computers, the logic board.
History of Motherboards
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Before generation of Microprocessors i.e. in 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation computers, the computer was usually built in a card-cage case or mainframe with components connected by a backplane consisting of a set of slots themselves connected with wires; in very old designs the wires were discrete connections between card connector pins. But printed circuit boards soon became the standard practice in the late 1970s. The Central Processing Unit, memory and peripherals were housed on individual printed circuit boards which plugged into the backplane. (A backplane is a circuit board that connects several connectors in parallel to each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors, forming a computer bus.)
During the late 1980s and 1990s, it was found that increasing the number of peripheral functions on the PCB was very economical. Hence, single Integrated Circuits (ICs), capable of supporting low-speed peripherals like serial ports, mouse, keyboards, etc., were included on the motherboards. By the late 1990s, motherboards began to have full range of audio, video, storage and networking functions on them. Higher end systems for 3D gaming and graphic cards were also included later.
Micronics, Mylex, AMI, DTK, Orchid Technology, Elitegroup, etc. were few companies that were early pioneers in the field of motherboard manufacturing but, companies like Apple and IBM soon took over.
Today, motherboards typically boast a wide variety of built-in features, and they directly affect a