NT1110 Short Answer 3.1
1/25/15

In this essay I will be describing what the major components of a motherboard are, why upgrading just the motherboard wouldn’t be necessary because it is limited, and deviate the need for different busses on the motherboard with 64bit busses and 32bit.
Basically the processor socket is the input socket for the processor, the ddr2 memory slots are for the ram (random access memory), and the heat sink acts as a radiator for the processor on the north bridge, the south bridge chip is the side of the motherboard that manages Legacy, Bios, IDE, ISA, USB, and PCI. The PCI slot is for adapters for optional video input or modems, the CMOS battery remembers the BIOS of the motherboard even when pc is turned off or unplugged, unless it is removed and the board is discharged while everything is unplugged and removed and the power button is held down for a certain amount of time depending on the manufacturer of the product, the port cluster is the I/O(input output) port holes of the motherboard, The SATA host adapter is for high speed connection usually on laptop HDDS but are now on desktops as well, the ATX12 power connector is a cluster of resistors and components that transfer the power prom the external source, and the mounting holes are the holes to mount the motherboard to the tower.
Just upgrading the motherboard isn’t going to give you much more performance increases, other hardware is required such as more ram, a faster processor, a more efficient heat sink and fan and many other factors that go into more performance.
The need for all the different busses on the motherboard are data width, cycle rate, device management and type. The data width and cycle rate are used to determine the bandwidth, or the total amount of data the bus can transmit. The device management indicates the maximum number of supported devices and the difficulty of configuring them. The memory bus is the interface between the RAM and the motherboard. These buses cannot be replaced with a single bus because there isn’t a bus fast enough to handle all these jobs at the same time and still be sufficient.
With 64-bit busses available, 32-bit busses should be available because there is a lot of software programs that still run off of 32-bit busses. If 32-bit busses weren’t available then programs wouldn’t run on a 64-bit buss only motherboard.

Source: Computer Structure and Logic Ch. 4