The mainboard or motherboard is the heart of the computer. It accomodates the processor, the main storage and the controllers with interfaces for hard disk and CD-ROM drive.
Additionally, enhancement cards such as sound, graphic or modem cards can be plugged into the PCI and AGP slots on the mainboard .
However, some of the mainboards, especially cheaper ones, already include graphic and sound cards.

A new mainboard is installed quite easily by screwing it into the casing. There are different processor sockets though, depending on the producer of the processer (Intel or AMD). Consultancy from specialised trade is recommended. The main storage has different speed on the the board, starting from 100 Mhz up to 266 Mhz. It is important to pay attention that the faster storage is supported by the board, otherwise no advantages in speed can be expected from the RAM.






Mainboard im deutschen Lexikon
Mainboard in het nederlandse encyclopedie