You’ve probably heard the term motherboard a thousand times, but do you know what it really means and how it relates to the rest of your computer?

The form factor of a motherboard determines the specifications for its general shape and size. It also specifies what type of case and power supply will be supported, the placement of mounting holes, and the physical layout and organization of the board. Form factor is especially important if you build your own computer systems and need to ensure that you purchase the correct case and components.

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Make sure your motherboard is physically and electrically compatible with your processor. The two main factors to consider are: the processor form factor and bus speed support. Desktop processors come in the following form factors: Socket 7 for Pentium, Cyrix, and AMD K5/K6 series; Socket 370 for Pentium III (Coppermine, Tualatin), Celeron/II; Socket A/462 for AMD Thunderbird, Athlon, Duron, XP, MP; Socket 423 for older Pentium 4 CPUs under 2.0GHz; Socket 478 -for the current generation of Pentium 4 processors and Celeron Processors; Slot 1 for older Pentium II, Pentium III (under 1 GHz), and some Celeron processors; and Slot A for original classic Athlon processors and some older Thunderbird processors (under 1GHz).

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Changing a motherboard from one type to another with different BIOS/chipset usually requires reinstallation of your operating system, particularly under Windows 9x. This happens because Windows 9x is designed to be “smart” enough to recognize some hardware; however, once it is set you can’t change it easily. This can be an upgrade nightmare if you are not prepared for it. Be prepared to do a full operating system install/re-install when you change a motherboard!

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