Have you ever, out of curiosity, opened up the case of your CPU? If yes, you may have seen a whole load of small and medium sized circuit boards. You may have also noticed that all these circuit boards are connected to a bigger circuit board. This is what is known as a motherboard. All the various parts of your computer such as the VGA, RAM, hard disk, sound cards, CPUs are all plugged into the appropriate slots in the motherboards.

There are different types of motherboards, which are made to suit different people's budgets and requirements. The most basic motherboard will have the basic slots and a BIOS, so that you can control the way your motherboard is set up. Many people prefer a particular type of BIOS over another one, and choose a motherboard, in part, based on the manufacturer of the BIOS. e.g. gaming enthusiasts prefer the NVIDIA BIOS as it provides the best gaming experience.

When selecting a motherboard, you should take note of what type of CPU that it will provide support. Some of them support Intel processors, while the others support AMD processors. There are different types of processors, known as 64-bit and 32-bit, each of which require a different socket. Therefore, if you're assembling a computer by yourself, first choose your CPU before you choose your motherboard.

Another important thing to keep in mind is the number and type of RAM cards that it will support. It's always a good idea to make sure that the motherboard supports the use of more RAM than you need, so that you won't have to spend some more money on buying a new motherboard if your speed requirements increase!

The amount of PCI slots that your motherboard will have varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, as is with other slots like the SATA slots, USB ports, and so on. Nowadays, motherboards have the sound and video cards built in the motherboard itself, but some people prefer to disable these and fit separate sound and video cards to enhance the computing experience. Motherboards also come in different sizes, which matter when purchasing the casing for your CPU. Motherboard manufacturers also tend to recommend a list of power supplies that have been tested with the motherboard.

There are a whole load of sites that review new motherboards. Therefore, if you plan to buy one, you would do well by researching well. Typically, a good board won't be too hard to set up, will support most hardware, and will make sure you are not outdated till the near future. However, such a motherboard might be more expensive, so weigh your options before you commit to buying one.

Summery: This article describes the various types of motherboards available in the market, what features they have and what factors you should take into account when choosing a motherboard for your PC.