A motherboard is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in a computer system that serves as the central platform for mounting, powering, and interconnecting all major hardware components. It provides both electrical connections and logical communication pathways that allow components to operate together as a single system.
At a hardware level, the motherboard physically houses critical components such as the central processing unit (CPU) socket, random access memory (RAM) slots, chipset, firmware chip (UEFI/BIOS), and connectors for storage devices, expansion cards, and external peripherals. Copper traces embedded within the PCB act as data buses, control lines, and power delivery paths, enabling high-speed communication between components.