Storage device and motherboard for supporting the storage device

A motherboard for supporting a storage device, the motherboard comprising:

• a circuit board;
• a platform controller hub (PCH) mounted on the circuit board;
• a central processing unit (CPU) mounted on the circuit board;
• a switch unit mounted on the circuit board, and connected to the PCH and the CPU;
• a power circuit mounted on the circuit board;
• and
• an expansion slot mounted on the circuit board, and comprising a protrusion arranged in the expansion slot, four hard disk drive (HDD) signal pins connected to the switch unit, a plurality of power pins connected to the power circuit, a plurality of ground pins, and a plurality of memory signal pins connected to the switch unit;
• wherein when non-volatile storage capacity of the motherboard needs to be expanded, the switch unit is switched to a first state, the PCH outputs an HDD signal through the switch unit and the HDD signal pins;
• when random access memory capacity of the motherboard needs to be expanded, the switch unit is switched to a second state, the CPU outputs a memory signal through the switch unit and the plurality of memory signal pins;
• when non-volatile storage capacity and random access memory capacity both need to be expanded, the switch unit is switched to a third state, the PCH outputs an HDD signal through the switch unit and the HDD signal pins, and the CPU outputs a memory signal through the switch unit and the plurality of memory signal pins.

A motherboard assembly comprising:

• a motherboard comprising a first circuit board, an expansion slot mounted on the first circuit board, a platform controller hub (PCH) mounted on the first circuit board, a first power circuit mounted on the first circuit board, a central processing unit (CPU) mounted on the first circuit board, and a switch unit mounted on the first circuit board, the expansion slot comprising a protrusion, four first hard disk drive (HDD) signal pins electrically connected to the switch unit, a plurality of first power pins electrically connected to the first power circuit, a plurality of first ground pins, and a plurality of first memory signal pins connected to the switch unit;
• and
• a storage device comprising a second circuit board, a second power circuit arranged on the second circuit board, an solid state storage unit arranged on the second circuit board and connected to the second power circuit, a random access memory (RAM) unit arranged on the second circuit board and connected to the second power circuit, and an edge connector and a notch set on a bottom side of the second circuit board to be detachably engaged in the expansion slot of the motherboard, the edge connector comprising four second HDD signal pins connected to the solid state storage unit, a plurality of second power pins connected to the second power circuit, a plurality of second ground pins, and a plurality of second memory signal pins connected to the RAM unit;
• wherein in response to the edge connector of the expansion card being engaged in the expansion slot of the motherboard, the protrusion is engaged in the notch, the first HDD signal pins of the expansion slot are connected to the second HDD signal pins of the storage device, the plurality of first power pins of the expansion slot is connected to the plurality of second power pins of the storage device, the plurality of first ground pins of the expansion slot is connected to the plurality of second ground pins of the storage device, and the plurality of first memory signal pins of the expansion slot is connected to the second plurality of memory signal pins of the storage device.