Motherboard - with 512K Pipline Burst Cache

The motherboard is the connecting device by which each part of the computer communicates with the other parts.  The motherboard is made up of several components.

Cache
Cache stores data that you have recently accessed on a very fast memory chip.  This will help speed up the computer as you use it during each session.  Based on a computer system with 32 MB of RAM or higher, you should have a motherboard with about 512K of cache.

Bus System
There are several kinds of bus systems on computers.  The most common on the newer Pentium based systems are PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), ISA and AGP.  So what do all of these mean?  If you have a PCI bus, you plug PCI cards into it such as a video card, network card or modem just to name a few. The PCI cards can transmit 32-bits at a time.  If you have a ISA bus, you use ISA cards with 16-bit technology.   Most buses have both PCI and ISA slots available.  ISA is the slowest and least expensive type of slot mostly used on older systems.  AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) is a newer type of port used for video cards to allow faster displaying of 3-D images.

Most motherboards have IDE or Integrated Drive Electronics (for hard drives) controllers built into them.  Others have serial and parallel ports built in to them.  This way it takes up one less slot, and makes your case less cluttered.  The serial ports are generally used for external modems, palm pilots, digital cameras and communication with other computers.

BIOS
The BIOS, or Basic Input Output Systems, records what size hard drive, how much RAM, and other system information.  Phoenix and Award are the big BIOS makers.  Make sure you get the most recent BIOS chip possible and you may save yourself some problems.   Often, BIOS chips have a flash upgrade that is available to fix certain bugs or increase the functionality of the motherboard.  Make sure that you follow all precautions before installing a flash BIOS on your motherboard, and remember as always, if your system is working well, then don't mess with it - in this fashion.

Analogy - The motherboard acts as the connecting road system that allows "computer traffic" or signals and data to travel between all of the parts of the computer system.

History - Motherboards have been around since the very beginning.  The main changes to motherboards have been within the bus systems and the available clock speeds.  As time has gone on, the clock speeds have risen and newer technologies have emerged that have allowed the speeds of motherboards to grow exponentially.

Manufacturers - There are many different manufacturers of motherboards.  Most of the popular computer manufacturers make their own boards.  This makes the market very proprietary and sometimes difficult on you to perform your own upgrades.  Most third party manufacturers of motherboards, are making simple easy to configure motherboards that will work on almost any system for a given case size.

What You Are Looking For - You want a motherboard with PCI ISA and AGP slots.  Make sure that there are left over PCI and ISA slots for future expansion.  You also want a minimum of 512K of cache, you will appreciate this when you run all of those programs.  The rest of the specifications are for the other components.