For some the acronym PC has nothing to do with technology and the term "motherboard" sounds like a slight against women. We can use the term "mainboard" just as well, but the fact is that this is the central component of the personal computer system that really helps everyone talk and get along. If you've ever looked under the hood of your high horsepower web surfing machine you've seen what a terrific jungle it is with cables and jagged silicon parts crammed together. Every part of your computer finds makes some sort of connection to the motherboard because that is the home of the central processing unit (CPU), which is the brains of the whole operation. Now there's a boost for Womens' Lib.

When you're shopping for a good desktop or notebook PC you want to make sure that the motherboard is up to the task of the kind of work or gaming that you'll be doing. It can get a big overwhelming when you realized the variations in mainboard sizes, manufacturers, speeds, and component slots. There's not enough space here to cover it all, but let's get to the basics. The whole motherboard is based around the design of the CPU, and the main suppliers Intel, AMD and Motorola dictate the specifications for the architecture. There are many motherboard manufacturers, but they all conform to the basic architectures to accommodate the CPUs.

The mainboards also have their own operating clock (the bus speed) which multiplies the operating speed of the whole system. You should also keep in mind the size of the board for fitting to different computer cases, then you take into consideration what kind of power supply will work. Now this is where the possibilities grow exponentially. Interfacing with peripherals, that is everything beyond the motherboard, involves knowing in advance just what kinds of devices you want to have on your system.

Hard drives, graphics cards, networking, multi-media drives, and others all have compatibility needs and motherboards are built to fit just certain components. There are at least four kinds of video/graphics card expansion slots, two kinds of hard drive interfaces, and so on. When it comes to an error with a motherboard there's usually not much you or anyone can do to repair them. They have been engineered to pack oodles of sophisticated circuits and electronic components on a small board. If a circuit chips or a part is broken most of us mere mortals will only hurt ourselves and destroy the board even further by trying to fix it. Typically in a case like that it's time to get a new one.