Personal Computing For Dumbasses
and Business majors. Oh wait...


Motherboards
This is the spinal cord of the computer. Pretty much everything you will ever use that's related to your computer is running off the motherboard. It is also what holds the computer together. CPU, RAM, expansion cards, disc/k drives, et al, plug into this essential component.

Think of the motherboard as your circulatory system. At the "heart" of it are the North- and Southbridges, usually both from the same manufacturer. These are the chipsets that dictate what your motherboard can and can't do. Need Firewire? If the instruction set in the Northbridge wasn't designed for it, you'll need a separate expansion card for this. I won't get into too much detail about chipsets. If you are interested, however, click here to read a little more.

Now here's one of those rare times you go to your closet, dust off the old gray matter, and think about what you want to use your computer. Do you want to play the latest and greatest games? Or do you simply want to check your e-mail? That matters for several reasons, here's just a few of them:

Motherboard specs that matter to YOU
Video If you are going to play first-person shooters [FPS], you'll need a good graphics card. In order to use a good graphics card, you'll need either an AGP slot, or a PCI Express 16x slot. If all you want to



Note about chipsets
 Although generally its rarely necessary to know exactly what your chipset is capable of supporting, you should still pay attention to who manufactures the one for your motherboard, as some are better performers than others. For Intel processors [Pentium 4, Celeron, Celeron D], Intel usually makes exceptionally good North- and Southbridges. If not available, go with a Via. Some people would argue that ATI and Nvidia are better alternatives, but unless you know of a specific feature that either has, there isn't much to be gained from either. And finally, Sis. Not generally the greatest, but not the worst either. "Adequate," comes to mind.

For AMD processors [Athlon XP, Athlon 64, Duron, Sempron], go with a Via chipset. Rarely does AMD release an official chipset, but when they do, they'd be my first choice. The same recommendations I made for Intel I'll make for AMD as far as ATI, Nvidia, and Sis.

01. Introduction
02. Processors [CPUs]
03. Motherboards
04. Memory [RAM]






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