Parts of the Motherboard

Connect to the power switch, reset switch, power LED, hard drive LED, and front audio ports of a computer case.

Allow additional USB connections to be added to the computer.

Connects to the 4-pin power cable of a power supply unit which supplies power to the CPU

Alternatively known as expansion bus. It provides an installation point for a hardware expansion card to be connected.

Supply power to the CPU fan and computer case fans

Allow the computer to close an electrical circuit and allowing the electricity to flow certain sections of the circuit board. Consist of a set of small pins that can be covered with a small plastic box (jumper block).

It connects a power supply to an ATX style motherboard. It has 20 or 24-pin female connectors

it sets a password for accessing the computer.

Also known as the Input/Output Controller Hub (ICH). The chipset that allows the CPU to communicate with PCI slots, PCI-Ex1, SATA connectors, USB ports, Ethernet ports, and on-board audio. Normally located near the expansion slots.

Also known as Memory Controller Hub (MCH). The chipset that allows the CPU to communicate with the RAM and graphics card. Normally located near the processor.

This is where the RAM (Memory) is inserted.

These ports are located at the back of the computer and are often color-coded.

Supplies power to store BIOS settings and keep the real-time clock running. Responsible for keeping all the information intact when the entire system is shut down

a standard for auto-detecting connected devices. It should be set to "Yes" if your computer and operating system both support it

– it saves your changes, discard your changes or restore default settings.

This is where all the information and settings for the motherboard are stored

One of the primary functions of BIOS

This is where your CPU (processor) is installed

Connects to older hard drive disks and optical drives for data transfer.

Connect to modern hard disk drives, solid state drives and optical drives for data transfer