Motherboard vs. Circuit Board: What’s the Difference?
Technical lingo can be very confusing, and anyone who isn’t tech-savvy can be thrown overboard. It’s all too easy to find oneself adrift amidst a sea of terms like circuits, HDD, SSD, and countless others. Two terminologies always used in juxtaposition are the motherboard and the circuit board.
While the terms motherboard and circuit board may initially appear interchangeable, it’s essential to recognize their disparities, as they fulfill distinct functions in electronic devices.
Motherboard vs. Circuit Board
The motherboard features connectors for peripheral devices, the CPU, RAM, and hard disk, and expansion slots for inserting additional components, like storage devices, graphics cards, sound cards, and network cards. This makes the motherboard the main circuit board in a computer.
A circuit board, or printed circuit board (PCB), uses conductive “traces” to connect components such as resistors and capacitors necessary for electronic products like TVs, radios, and smartphones to work.
Here’s a caveat: while all circuit boards are not motherboards, a motherboard is a circuit board. But how are they different?
1. Functions
A motherboard is essential for making a computer come alive because it connects all the electronic components and accessories and enables them to work together. Without a motherboard, a computer would be as useless as a pile of metal and plastic.
Circuit boards feature in almost all electronic appliances or devices and can serve different functions depending on their use. For example, a circuit board might be responsible for controlling the display in a television while another controls the audio output. Similarly, a circuit board in a microwave oven might control the cooking functions while another controls the timer.
Picture it this way: a motherboard is like a tailor-made suit that fits only your computer, while a circuit board is a generic T-shirt any electronic device can put on (though often tailor-made for specific devices).
2. Components
A motherboard usually has more complex and diverse components and connections than a typical circuit board. It can have slots for processor chips, memory cards, adapter cards, and other pluggables, while a circuit board may have simpler components like resistors, capacitors, and transistors.
Another difference between these boards is how many layers of conductors–a material that allows electricity to flow through it–they have. A motherboard often only has one layer of conductors, simplifying connections to other components. However, a circuit board can be single, double, or multi-layered.
Because a motherboard packs many components and connectors for such an intricate setup, it is often bigger and heavier than regular circuit boards. It must also follow certain form factors that determine its size and shape. Some common motherboard form factors areAdvanced Technology Extended (ATX), Extended-ATX (EATX), Mini-ITX, and Micro-ATX.
Whereas circuit boards are fabricated to perform specific functions in the electronic products they are made for. A circuit board can be smaller and lighter than a motherboard if it has fewer components and circuits for a simpler device. However, a circuit board may also be larger and heavier than a motherboard if it has more components and circuits for a more advanced device.
Regular circuit boards are pretty cheap. Well, motherboards are a different story. They cost more because they have to match the system they will support. Things like the chipset, socket, form factor, ports, and so on can affect the price of a motherboard.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to circuit boards' prices as they come with different features, designs, and layers, affecting the cost and quality of the circuit board. But circuit boards are generally cheaper than motherboards due to their increasing complexity components.
Motherboards and Circuit Boards Are Not the Same
There you have it! Motherboards and circuit boards are essential components of computers and electronic devices but have varying functions, components, sizes, and costs. Motherboards are the main boards that connect and communicate with other parts of the system, while circuit boards are smaller boards that perform specific functions within a device.
Motherboards are usually more complex and expensive than circuit boards but offer more flexibility and customization. Circuit boards are simpler and cheaper but have limited functionality and compatibility.
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