Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible, Sixth Edition

Design Approaches

Nothing about computers requires a motherboard. You could build a computer without one—at least if you had sufficient knowledge of digital circuits and electronic fabrication, not to mention patience that would make Job seem a member of the television generation. Building a computer around a single centralized circuit board seems obvious, even natural, only because of its nearly universal use. Engineers designed the very first mass-market computers around a big green motherboard layout, and this design persists to this day.

Motherboards exist from more than force of habit, however. For the computer manufacturer, the motherboard design approach has immediate allure. Building a computer with a single large motherboard is often ...