-------------------------------------------------
Exploring the Motherboard and Busses
Short Answer 3.1

07/20/2015
Michael Huffman
Brandon Rodgers

When looking at a motherboard, it can be very confusing to say the least. Some of the things you may see on one include; * CPU socket- This socket is where you would place your selected CPU * PCI slots- These slots are the places where you would add expansion cards i.e. Sound, video or network cards * DIMM slots- this is where your selected RAM is placed. (preferably in pairs) * CMOS battery. This battery is in charge keeping all the little thigs going, keeping the system clock etc. Up to date. This goes bad, you will have problems. * Various jumper ports and powering pin ports.
When looking to upgrade just the motherboard. You will have to take into account the possibility that your current CPU and other components listed above may not be compatible. Making sure it will fit into the chassis is very important due to the need for a ground. The minimum improvement may just be that. Better heat dissipation is a major improvement. But as before the throttle back with a slower out of date CPU would be a major non improvement.
The many different busses are in place for the many different components that are out there for use. The need is simple, not every component is built the same so there couldn’t be a single buss. In a perfect world possibly. The data management or Bandwidth is controlled by these busses, the demand form components vary greatly. The Front side bus is mainly controlling your CPU and RAM management. While the I/O Busses control your various add on cards; network, sound and video cards as examples.
The use of 64bit Busses make system management better by being able to handle the bandwidth slightly easier, and allowing for higher RAM capacity and CPU management as well. Keeping 32bit Busses are needed due to manufacturers not making 64bit programs or hardware supporting 64bit.