The motherboard, or mainboard, is called that because all of the other components plug into it, and it is used as a hub of sorts for all of the components to communicate with each other. When buying a motherboard, the most important things to know is what CPU it is compatible with, what kind of memory, or RAM, it is compatible with, and the speed of the frontside bus.

CPU Compatibility:

The two main types of Motherboards follow along with the two main brands of CPU