| A | B |
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| AT (advanced technology) | Model name of the second generation, 80286-based IBM computer. Many aspects of the AT, such as BIOS, CMOS, and expansion bus, have become de facto standards in the PC industry. The physical organization of the components on the motherboard is called the AT form factor. |
| ATX (AT eXtended) | Popular motherboard form factor that generally replaced the AT form factor |
| Audio modem riser (AMR) | Proprietary slot used on some motherboards to provide a sound inference- free connection for modems, sound cards, and NICs. |
| Balanced Technology eXtended (BTX) | Motherboard form factor designed as an improvement over ATX |
| Burn-in failure | Critical failure usually associated with manufacturing defects |
| Catastrophic failure | Occurs when a component or whole system will not boot; usually related to a manufacturing defect of a component. Could also be caused by overheating and physical damage to computer components |
| Chipset | Electronic chips, specially designed to work together, that handle all of the low-level functions of a PC. In the original PC, the chipset consisted of close to 30 different chips; today, chipsets usually consist of one, two, or three separate chips embedded into a motherboard. |
| Communications and networking riser (CNR) | Proprietary slot used on some motherboards to provide a sound inference-free connection for modems, sound cards, and NICs |
| Component failure | Occurs when a system device fails due to manufacturing or some other type of defect |
| FlexATX | Motherboard form factor. Motherboards built in accordance with the FlexATX form factor are very small, much smaller than microATX motherboards |
| Form factor | Standard for the physical organization of motherboard components and motherboard size. Most common form factors are ATX and BTX. |
| I/O Controller Hub (ICH) | Official name for Southbridge chip found in Intel’s chipsets |
| LPX | First slimline form factor; replaced by NLX form factor. |
| Memory Controller Hub (MCH) | Intel-coined name for what is now commonly called the Northbridge |
| microATX (uATX) | Variation of the ATX form factor, which uses the ATX power supply. MicroATX motherboards are generally smaller than their ATX counterparts but retain all the same functionality. |
| microBTX | Variation of the BTX form factor. MicroBTX motherboards are generally small than their BTX counterparts but retain all the same functionality |
| motherboard | Flat piece of circuit board that resides inside your computer case and has a number of connectors on it. You can use these connectors to attach a variety of devices to your system, including hard drivers, CD-ROM drives, floppy disk drives, and sound cards. |
| motherboard book | Valuable resource when installing a new motherboard. Normally lists all the specifications about a motherboard, including the type of memory and type of CPU that should be used with the motherboard. |
| NLX | Second form factor for slimline systems. Replaced the earlier LPX form factor. (NLX apparently stands for nothing; it’s just a cool grouping of letters) |
| P8/P9 | Provides Power to AT-style motherboards |
| picoBTX | Variation of the BTX form factor. picoBTX motherboards are generally smaller than their BTX or microBTX counterparts but retain the same functionality |
| printed circuit board | Copper etched onto a nonconductive material and then coated with some sort of epoxy for strength |
| riser card | Special adapter card, usually inserted into a special slot on a motherboard, that changes the orientation of expansion cards relative to the motherboard. Riser cards are used extensively in slimline computers to keep total depth and height of the system to a minimum. Sometimes called a daughterboard |
| slimline | Motherboard form factor used to create PCs that were very thin. NLX and LPX were two examples of this form factor |
| soft power | Characteristic of ATX motherboards, which can use software to turn the PC on and off. The physical manifestation of soft power is the power switch. Instead of the thick power cord used in AT systems, an ATX power switch is little more than a pair of small wires leading to the motherboard. |
| Standouts | Small connectors that screw into a computer case. A motherboard is then placed on top of the standouts, and small screws are used to secure it to the standouts |
| Super I/O chip | Chip specially designed to control low-speed, legacy devices such as the keyboard, mouse, and serial and parallel ports |
| Thermal unit | Combination heat sink and fan designed for BTX motherboards; blows hot air out the back case instead of just into the case |
| Traces | small electrical connections embedded in a circuit board. |
