A motherboard forms the base for any system. Each component is directly or indirectly connected to it. Invariably it's the type of motherboard that deter mines what CPU it can accommodate. The Intelbased motherboard will not accommodate CPU from competing vendors. In fact, there is even a possibility that it might not even accommodate a higher gigs CPU from the same vendor. Generally, all entry-level or budget-range motherboards don't have support for Quad cores; they only support single and dual core processors. Such is the need of various applications today, that you at least need a motherboard that has support for dual core processors. But the big question remains: what processor to go for? With Intel and AMD dishing out so many options, it's always difficult to pick the right one as per your need. Well, if your need is very basic and you simply need a system to run office applications and connect to the Net, then any budget range processor such as Intel Pentium IV, Intel Core Solo or AMD Sempron would suffice. But it's still advisable to opt for a motherboard that has support for dual core processors such as Intel Core 2 Duo, Pentium Dual Core, and AMD Athlon, so that to¬morrow when your needs increase you can upgrade the processor rather than entirely changing your motherboard.

With the entry of Quad Core in the desktop seg¬ment, we even have motherboards with support for Quad Core processors. In case, you are a professional gamer or a high-end power user, then going for moth¬erboards having support for a Quad Core processor makes sense. Also, there is a move towards the 45 nm technology, so checking whether your motherboard has support for that or not is also an intelligent move. We already have a quad core processor based on this technology from Intel, AMD will be joining the band¬wagon soon, and we also believe that processors based on 45nm technology will rule the market in near future. So, this surely is an important criterion when we think in terms of upgradability.