Desktop Motherboard Ports & Their Functions

What is a Motherboard :

A Motherboard is an electronic PCB (Printed Circuit Board) also called system board, is a main-board in a computer system.It is made by Epoxy glass material. As,it is the origin of each and every board, so that it is called motherboard.

Some Motherboard Manufacturers are

1. Asus
2. ASRock
3. Biostar
4. ECS
5. Intel
6. Gigabyte Technology
7. MSI

                                        

                                  Desktop Motherboard Ports

PS/2 port (Mouse) : 'Personal System 2'. This port is used for connect PS/2 mouse. It is a female socket. Also called 6 pin DIN socket.The color code of this socket is Green. As shown on picture . It was developed by IBM in the year 1987.

PS/2 port (Keyboard) : 'Personal System 2'. Used for connect PS/2 Keyboard. It's also a female socket. Also called 6 pin DIN socket. The color code of this socket is Purple. As shown on picture. It was developed by IBM in the year 1987.

   
VGA Port : 'Video Graphics Array'. This port is responsible for display output. This port is Used for connect Monitor, projector to a computer. It has 15 pin on 3 rows . Each pin has a specific function. It is also called '15 pin D-Sub' port. It has a Maximum resolution of 640x480 with 16-color. The color code of this port is Blue. It was developed by IBM in the year 1987.

 
DVI-I :  'Digital Visual (or Video) Interface'. Its also an Interface used for display output like VGA. But there are Some difference between VGA & DVI-I. DVI-I has 29 Pin interface can be used for both Digital and Analog display. For digital displays connect with DVI cables or for analog displays with a DVI-VGA adapter cable. DVI-I is two type. 1.DVI-I Single link , 2.DVI-I Dual link.It was developed by 'Digital Display Working Group' in the year 1999.

 
HDMI : 'High Definition Multimedia Interface'. This is the latest type of interface for display output. This is also digital . But The main advantage of this interface is that it can transfer display & Audio both. It is a 19 Pin female connector.It was developed by HDMI founders & HDMI forum in the year 2002.

 
IEEE 1394a Port : IEEE stands for 'Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers' is a standard for a serial bus for High Speed communication. 1394a Port also called Firewire Port.It comparable with USB port. It was developed by apple Incorporated in the year 1994.  

 
Optical S/PDIF out : 'Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format' is a type of Digital interconnect cable used in consumer audio equipment to output audio over reasonably short distances. It transfer digital audio from CD/DVD players to amplifiers. The signal is transfer over a fibre optic cable or Coaxial cable.

 
USB 2.0 :  USB Stands for 'Universal Serial Bus'. This connector and communication protocol is used for Communication, data transfer and power supply between computer and electronic devices. Pen drive, External Hard disk, USB Keyboard, USB Mouse is connect to this port.It is a 4 pin connector. (Pin1 +5V) (Pin2 Data-) (Pin3 Data+) and (Pin4 Ground). The data transfer speed of this port is upto 480 megabits per second (mbps). It support upto 127 devices.

RJ 45 LAN PORT : 'Register Jack'. is used for Network Connectivity Purpose. It is a 8 pin connector. Help of this port we can connect a computer or Network device to a network. ex: we can create a LAN(Local Area Network) using this port.

ANALOG AUDIO PORTS : This ports are used for connect Speaker, Headphone, Microphone to the computer.

NORTHBRIDGE : The Northbridge is responsible for communicating with integrated video using AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) or PCIe(Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) and Processor to memory communication using Buses.The communication occurs between the processor and memory through FSB(Front Side Bus).And the communication between The processor to the cache memory through BSB(Backside Bus).It is also called GMCH(Graphics Memory Controller Hub) in intel system.

SOUTHBRIDGE : The Southbridge subset of the chipset is responsible for providing support to the onboard slower peripherals (PS/2, Parallel Port, Serial Port, Serial and Parallel ATA, and so on). I/O (Input Output) Controller also connected with Southbridge.It is also called ICH (Input Output Controller Hub) in intel system.