Hi
If you are buying a motherboard take care of few things:-
Your BUDGET
Chipset Features: (Intel Chipset Comparision)
Processor FSB support 800/1066/1333/1600 MHz (Higher the better)
RAM DDR2 or DDR3, RAM FSB support Such as 533/667/800/1066/1333. Dual Channel RAM support (higher the better)
No of SATA ports 4/6/8 etc. (higher the better)
No of PCI x 16 and x1 slots and specification of X16 slot for eg. Ver 1.1 or Ver. 2.0 (You can finde PCIeX16 ver 2.0 in Intel P45, P43, G45, G43 for Intel and AMD 780 in case.
Motherboard layout (After selecting your Chipset)
No of RAM slots on Motherboard.
Size ATX or mATX. --- Usually most of Performance chipset boards such as P45, P43, P35, P31, P965 etc. come in ATX Size. Some onboard Graphic chips such as G945, G31, G45 comes in ATX sizes also. ATX size bords has higher prices than mATX bords, usually most of ATX boards supports overclocking as well.
Check CPU support for the motherboard and see whether it supports your CPU or not.
Are going to USE SLI then no. of X16 slots.
No of USB and Fire Wire ports.
Sound Output 5.1/6.1/7.1, SPDIF.
Is Motherboard Manufacturer has good After Sales Service record?