the fundamental physical component within all of our computers is the motherboard the motherboard generally contains the cpu spaces for memory there's connectivity to power you've got additional slots that you can use to expand the capabilities of the system and everything involving the entire process of using your computer begins and ends with the motherboard as you can imagine there are different motherboards that have different sizes depending on your requirements and in this video we'll look at some of the most popular sizes that are in use today there's usually a basic layout on these motherboards regardless of the size because most motherboards will include a cpu or slots for memory or expansion but the amount of expansion slots and the amount of additional memory slots may vary depending on the size of the motherboard one thing that doesn't seem to change much between motherboard versions though is the power connector all of these power connectors are very standardized and to keep compatibility through all of these different systems you'll find that most motherboards will use the same type of power connection we generally choose a motherboard based on the size of the case we might own or how much future expansion we might need and in some cases we might choose a motherboard based on how much airflow is required to keep that system cool if you look at wikipedia there are over 40 different sizes and types of motherboards thankfully there are only two or three that are very popular and generally you'll find motherboards that are relatively compatible between the different cases the big difference will be how many features and how much room do you need for this motherboard here's an example of where you might need to make decisions over the size of motherboard on the left side is a full-size desktop computer on the right side is a small form factor device you can see that the desktop computer has a lot of room for motherboards and you can fit a very large size especially when you compare it to the smaller devices that can only fit the smallest of motherboards the compti exam objectives tend to focus on which motherboard you might choose for a particular task and how you might install that particular motherboard you wouldn't generally have to memorize exact dimensions of particular motherboard models and generally you're choosing between two or three different motherboard types to answer one of these questions for example which motherboard would you use if you're putting together a media center maybe you have a video editing system or maybe you're using a thin client there's different motherboards and different sizes for each of these scenarios so it's useful to understand when you would use a particular motherboard for a particular task the compti exam objectives focus on two different motherboard families one is the atx family and the other is the itx family the standard atx is the motherboard that you'd most likely find in a desktop computer has a lot of real estate plenty of expansion slots lots of memory and there's plenty of room inside of a desktop for this size of motherboard the smaller systems though may require a much smaller motherboard and you can see this mini itx motherboard is very different in size than the larger standard atx you might use atx on a desktop system but a mini itx motherboard might be perfect for the small form factor computer that you keep next to your television these larger desktop motherboards are advanced technology extended motherboards or atx it's a standard that's been around since 1995 and it's one that's become very popular for desktop computers if you're buying a computer for a desktop today you're probably buying an atx motherboard there have been a number of updates to the atx standard over the years so the atx motherboard you find today will probably have a power connector that's 20 or 24 pins in size and there may be additional power on the motherboard for cpu here's a better view of this particular motherboard this is an asus maximus 7 hero atx motherboard and you can see the connection for the power we have a number of different expansion slots there are four slots available for memory and you can see the additional power right next to the cpu for cpus that require some additional voltage if you need more of a smaller form factor for your motherboard you might want to look at an itx motherboard this is a style of motherboard that was created by via technologies in 2001 and it's perfect for small form factors in smaller cases although this is relatively small compared to atx the screw holes in this motherboard are exactly the same as an atx motherboard so you could even install this very small motherboard into a much larger case than was originally designed for atx but the real value of these smaller motherboards is that you can fit them into much smaller cases which can then fit into much smaller areas i mentioned earlier having a computer right next to your television and in those cases it would be nice to have something in a much smaller case instead of having a full-size desktop system right next to your media center