Motherboard Pictures with English Translations

Hello again. I am starting with the In/Out panel of an ASROCK P67 Extreme 4 Gen 3. Why the back I/O panel? Well, prior to my current research, I had assumed that most computers would have a mouse port, a keyboard port and a Local Area Network as well as a modem. Imagine my chagrin when that just isn't so. Now, it also has specialized ports for audio and visual. Mulitple Universal Serial Bus ports.  Some even come with VGA, HDMI and DIV ports. Basically there is only so much room for a standard size back panel and you just can't everything in there, so there are trade offs. The I/O port can tell you much. I will get into that at the end, but if you can read between the lines, you will understand before I get to it.

With every one and his cousin's business using USB, sometimes there is no mouse input or keyboard input. There is usually at least one LAN. No modems. IEEE ports and SPDIF ports are usually there. And there is a new addition. USB 3.0 ports. Whew! Oh, I almost forgot. Some even have eSATA3 connector. Now, to the average Geek and people who have a passing knowledge of Geekese, this shouldn't come as a surprise. 

To me and to some people who really don't look at the back panel of their computer, it is huge surprise.

Typical I/O Panel for Desktop Computers.

This  panel is typical in that it has standard hookups for almost every thing needed to be hooked up. It isn't on every mother board. 

Going from the left to the right.

Mouse Input. This is a PS2 mouse input. Not always necessary since most mice have USB connectors. In fact it is now hard to find a specific mouse with a PS2 connector. 

PS2 Keyboard input. This is a PS2 keyboard input. Again not always necessary since most keyboards now have USB connectors. Gaming enthusiasts prefer motherboards with a PS2 connector. 

Clear CMOS Switch. It is used to clear the CMOS.....What it does is set all CMOS circuitry to zero. We aren't talking about ROM (Read Only Memory which is needed when starting up the computer.) We are talking about RAM and certain registers in the CPU. It helps when the computer gets stuck in some endless cycle and you wish to break it before you break the computer with a sledge hammer. 

Optical SPDIF and Coaxial SPDIF ports. Sony Phillips Digital Interfaces are more for the ones who don't have an HDMI connector to their home entertainment systems and also for those who are Geeky enough to want some thing different.

USB 2.0 ports, Basically a port to hook up Kindles, Ipods, Iphones, Ipads, Game controllers, and what not.

USB 3.0 ports. Same thing as USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 ports only faster. USB 2 components and below can be plugged into a USB 3.0 ports. USB 3.0 components can NOT be plugged into USB 2 and below ports. Guess what? Your XBOX controller can be plugged into this connector. Cool hunh? 

Local Area Network. Also known as Ethernet. It is the connection to router or modem. It also allows interconnections to other computers on the Local Area Network. LAN for short. 

IEEE 1394 port Basically an Apple design which is better and faster than USB. The problem is that for every 1394 port there is a fee to be paid to the originator. Usually there is only one on the I/O panel while there are 6 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports on this one.  

eSATA3 connector. The small e stands for external. Serial Advanced Technology Attachment is a hookup to a hard drive,  optical (DVD,CD, BLU-Ray) drive and solid state drive. It features hot-swap. That is, you can change hard drives while the computer is still running. Why do that? Well if you get a RAID setup...... and you understand Geekese thoroughly you will need to know that. In other words, that is a whole 'nother column. 

Last but not least, the audio for your speakers. Now you can have several different types of set ups. This is also set up to make surround sound possible from your computer. The days of just beep beep for your computer are long gone. You can have a set up that rivals some home entertainment. 

This Motherboard is considered a Gaming Board. Why? Well, it has no video output and it has a dedicated PS2 keyboard input. Gaming enthusiasts prefer PS2 keyboards and to select their video cards. Why PS2? Well that is for later. 

Microsoft has decided in it's vast infinite wisdom to forego any more drivers for PS/2 keyboards and mouses in Windows 8. I think it will back fire on them, since gaming enthusiasts prefer the discrete circuitry for just the keyboard. 

Next up: The Mother Board and the outputs in Geekese translated to English.