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This article was excerpted from: PCs All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies:

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Upgrading your central processing unit (CPU)/motherboard is the most costly and the most complex upgrade that you can make to your PC. In many cases, you probably shouldn't upgrade this combo at all.

If you do decide to shop for a new motherboard to match your CPU of choice, keep these guidelines in mind:

• Determine what type of motherboard fits in your PC's case. Virtually all PCs manufactured in the last few years use ATX cases and ATX motherboards, but it never hurts to make sure. Older cases might use AT or Baby AT motherboards. If you need help with classifying your case, take it to your local computer shop and have a technician tell you.

• FSB means Front Side Bus. The higher the bus speed on your new motherboard, the better the performance - and the more expensive the RAM modules. (At higher bus speeds, more data is sent to the CPU at one time, and the data arrives there faster; from an efficiency and performance standpoint, this is a good thing.) Most CPUs will work with a range of bus speeds.

• Shop for the best controllers. Today's motherboards have onboard hard drive controllers that vary widely in performance - for example, a motherboard might have both SATA and EIDE controllers onboard, and SATA hardware is significantly faster than EIDE. Therefore, make sure that you compare the motherboard controller's rated speeds and supported hard drives when shopping for a motherboard.

• Consider onboard FireWire, Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, sound and network hardware. Why force yourself to add a separate adapter card later when you can buy a motherboard with networking, FireWire, Dolby Surround sound, and USB 2.0 ports built in?

• RAM capacity is important. Check what type of RAM is supported and the maximum amount of RAM that the motherboard can accept.

Consider buying a package deal - a CPU already installed on the motherboard of your choice - offered by many PC Web stores. This will simplify both your shopping (you're guaranteed to buy a motherboard and CPU that work together well) and your installation.

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