Computer motherboard terms

Updated: 11/12/2023 by Computer Hope

Computer motherboard terms with full definitions and information on each term. Explore this list of over 110 terms like BIOS, USB, CMOS, and ATX. Navigate quickly through the list by clicking one of the letters below; for example, click 'P' to find terms like 'POST' in the 'P' section.

All processor definitions found on our processor overview.
Top 10 motherboard terms
CMOS battery

Full-ATX
BIOS
USB
Expansion slot
CMOS
Address bus
Serial Port
System panel cables
POST
IDE

Number

1394 header

A
ATX style power connector

ABIOS
AC'97
Address bus
AGP
AMR
ASUS Express Gate
AT
AT Bus
AT Keyboard
ATX
ATX-style connector
Auxiliary connector

B

Baby AT
Back panel
Back-side bus
BAT
Berg connector
BIOS
BTX
Bus

C

Chipset
CMOS
CNR
Communication and Network Riser
Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor
Controller

D
DB connector

Data bus
Daughterboard
DB-9
DB-15
DB-19
DB-25
DB-37
DB-50
D-sub connector
DTS
DTX
Dual BIOS
DVMT
Dynamic Video Memory Technology

E

EFI
EIDE
EISA
ESDI
Expansion slot

F

FireWire
FlexATX
Form factor
Front-side bus
FSB
Full AT
Full-ATX
FWH

G

Currently, no listings.

H

Hard disk controller
HyperSpace
HyperTransport

I

I2C
IDE
IHA
Industry Standard Architecture
Input/output bus
Input/output controller
Intel 82371
Internal speaker
I/O plate
ISA
ITX

J

Currently, no listings.

K

Currently, no listings.

L

L3 cache
Local bus
LPX

M

Main board
mb
MCA
Memory bus
microATX
Mini-ATX
Mini-ITX
Mini PCI
Mobile-ITX
Motherboard

N

Nano-ITX
NLX
Northbridge
NuBus

O

Onboard

P
Keyboard and mouse PS/2 ports on back of computer

P1
P4
P8 connector
P9 connector
PCI
PCIe
PCI Express
PCI-X
Pico-ITX
Piggyback board
PIIX
PIIX3
PIIX4
PIIX5
POST
Power On Self-Test
PS/2

Q

Quartz crystal

R

Riser board
RTC

S
Socket 370 or PGA370

Sandy Bridge
Serial Port
SIO
Slot
SMB
SMBus
Socket
Socket 939
Solenoid
Southbridge
Standout
Super I/O
System bus
System panel cables
System panel connector

T

Currently, no listings.

U

UEFI
USB
USB header

V

VESA Local Bus
VL Bus
VMEbus
VRM

W

Currently, no listings.

X

Currently, no listings.

Y

Currently, no listings.

Z

Currently, no listings.

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