Motherboards
The primary circuit board where all the components are connected
What is a motherboard and what does it do? A motherboard is the primary circuit board where all the other components are connected. The motherboard is comparable to the nervous system in the human body. The wires (nerves) within it, transfer data between all of the other components of the computer.
Why do I need one? It is the central nervous system of your computer. Without it nothing runs.
What is available and what are the benefits of each? Having a good quality motherboard is essential to a reliable computer. Higher quality motherboards generally offer better connectivity and will have more Ports and allow you to connect devices to your computer. E.g. Hard drives, Optical Drives and Interface Cards.
Different motherboards offer different options of connectivity, so there may be several that suit your needs.
How do I know what I need? It depends on what you want to use your computer for. The majority of motherboards will offer basic integrated graphics and sound. Higher end motherboards will allow you to connect more components to your computer which will benefit from increased performance / storage.
Your choice of Motherboard is dependent upon your brand and type of CPU. Intel motherboards are not compatible with AMD processors and vice versa.
The latest motherboards will allow the fastest multiple core processors and larger amounts of RAM to be installed to improve speed and processing power.
If you wish to play the latest games, a Motherboard with PCI-E 2.0 will allow you to install the latest graphic cards to enhance your gaming experience.
