I need to raplace my Mother board.

(don't ask me how I know).

Price - within your pocketbook.

Match processor with motherboard as in choose the processor then find a motherboard that accepts it.

Choose speed, core. Do you need a dual core or single core? Dual core is good for running several high intensity processes at once. Single core is good for 90% of average users.

RAM - match it with the motherboard. One Gig is fine, two Gig close to overkill. Above two Gig is for bragging rights only unless you are trying to decode the human genome.

Hard and optical drives - most motherboards today have both IDE and SATA ports. Match the board to your existing drive types. Don't get a full SATA board if your drives are IDE, they won't work together.

Video, audio - If you have on board video and audio, find a board with the same. If you have cards, find a board that will accept what you currently have. If you have on board and want to upgrade to cards, find the motherboard that will accept sound and video cards of your choice. Video cards come in many flavors and unless you are a hard core gamer, 128 Meg of video RAM is enough. Same with sound. Unless you want to run digital out with surround sound, a standard board is fine. I bought a full blown digital sound card with optical out and 7.1 surround sound. I've never used the features.

Dialup - need a modem? Most motherboards do not have built in analog modems.

Ethernet - the newer boards have Gigabit LAN ports built in. But they work with all, 10/100/1000, LAN facilities.

Have fun.

Wayne

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There's really only one way to install a motherboard, so there's no easy or hard way, because those imply multiple options.

I will say that if you don't feel confident in your skills, to have someone else do it for you. It's real easy to screw something up, even if you know what you're doing. I made a simple mistake not too long ago, and shorted out a motherboard while I was switching cases. It was a learning experience to say the least, but a somewhat painful one since I had only my laptop for about a week while waiting for a replacement.

It'd be worth the extra money to have some computer shop do it. That way, if they make a mistake, they're the ones who are obliged to fix it at no additional cost to you.

You may need to reformat after you replace your motherboard, therefore, before you go any further, make backups of everything. Make sure you have all necessary disc's, like windows xp, sp2, drivers, etc. In addition, you may get some direct support from the computer maker, if they have a forum for such things. Like dealing with heat sinks, glue, etc.
Good luck,
Eddie

You need a motherboard for what computer model? Is it for the SHUTTLE model you mentioned in another discussion? If so, you may have to purchase from a small group of motherboards that will fit your case.

I'd total a cost figure for the repair and weigh that against getting a new computer.