Motherboards:

The motherboard is what links all the components of your computer together. There are many different types of motherboards.  There are non- integrated motherboards and a integrated motherboards.  The non- integrated motherboard lets you choose your video & sound cards, and they are easier to upgrade.  The integrated motherboard has the video built into the motherboard and usually requires part of your system memory to operate.  This means if you have 128MB of memory on your system, and the video requires 16MB, you only have 112MB of memory left for Windows to use.  Some motherboards also have onboard sound.  If you ever want to upgrade your video or sound, you have to set jumpers on the motherboard to do it.  Motherboards also range in bus speeds, number of PCI & ISA slots, memory speeds, and much more.

Each motherboard contains the system BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slots, ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) slots, memory slots, & processor slot. Integrated motherboards may also contain on-board video, sound, modem & NIC (Network Interface card).

The main thing you need to know about your motherboard is "Is it upgradeable"?  Make sure your motherboard can handle a higher speed processor incase you want to upgrade your PC in the future.