The motherboard has been an integral part of most personal computers for more than 20 years. Think of a motherboard as a scale model of a futuristic city with many modular plug-in buildings, each using power from a common electrical system. Multiple-lane highways of various widths transport data between the buildings. The motherboard is the data and power infrastructure for the entire computer.

Motherboards (also called mainboards ) are actually a carryover from architecture used for years in mainframe computers . Various circuit cards performing various functions all plug into many similar sockets on a common circuit board. Each circuit card performs a unique function in the computer and gets its power from the socket.