How to choose the Motherboard
Quick review of Motherboard technology
The choice of motherboard (mobo) is critical because it determines which
components you can or cannot install in your build. The mobo also
determines how upgradeable your computer is in the future.
Before you even start you need to decide whether you want to use an Intel
CPU or an AMD CPU. You can't install an Intel CPU on an AMD platform mobo
and vice versa.
Next you need to decide which chipset you want on your mobo. A chipset
is a bundle of chips on the mobo that gives it different features. The more
features in the chipset the more expensive the mobo. Chipsets in the past
were two chips, a north bridge chip and a south bridge chip, now there is a
trend toward a single chip.
In deciding which chipset to use, you need to make another decision
whether the chipset should include integrated graphics. Integrated graphics
are recommended for the majority of PC users but serious gamers instead
should install a separate powerful video card.
We have covered integrated graphics chipsets in our section How we
choose the Video Card. Here we'll cover chipsets without integrated
graphics meant for higher end computers with separate video cards. These
chipsets are called discrete chipsets.
Intel, AMD and NVIDIA are big in the chipset business. Each of these
companies offer multiple chipsets to choose from.
AMD's chipsets have CrossFireX technology, which is similar to NVIDIA's SLI,
allowing for dual or multiple AMD ATI video cards. We like the AMD 890GX
chipset for AMD CPUs for both price and features. This chipset also has
integrated graphics but should really be used with a separate powerful
video card. The AMD 890GX does a better job of providing bandwidth to the
new USB 3.0 and Sata 6 Gbps standards, than does Intel's P55 Express
chipset.
The Intel P55 Express chipset, for you guessed it Intel CPUs, licenses
CrossFireX technology from AMD and also SLI technology from NVIDIA. We
think the Intel P55 Express chipset again falls into a good price to features
ratio.
A short list of other features we think a mobo should support include:
For computer enthusiasts it is also critical that the motherboard provides
access to advanced BIOS settings to overclock our PC. It's part of the fun of
having a computer, and can convert a great computer into an even better
one without spending more cash!
The motherboard should also allow upgrading to the next level of technology
in the future. For example if one chooses integrated graphics now, the
motherboard should include a spare PCI Express x16 slot to add a video card
at a later date, when prices have fallen. Or if one chooses a separate video
card solution now, the motherboard should allow for dual SLI or CrossFireX
video cards at a later date.
ATX form factor is the recommended motherboard size for a gaming
computer otherwise micro ATX is just fine and is cheaper. Mini ITX, smaller
than micro ATX, is also very appealing but strangely enough these ultra small
motherboards are quite expensive.
There are several high quality enthusiast mobo manufacturers of which
GIGABYTE, Asus, MSI and ECS to name a few offer a range of good boards.
Quick review of Motherboard technology
The choice of motherboard (mobo) is critical because it determines which
components you can or cannot install in your build. The mobo also
determines how upgradeable your computer is in the future.
Before you even start you need to decide whether you want to use an Intel
CPU or an AMD CPU. You can't install an Intel CPU on an AMD platform mobo
and vice versa.
Next you need to decide which chipset you want on your mobo. A chipset
is a bundle of chips on the mobo that gives it different features. The more
features in the chipset the more expensive the mobo. Chipsets in the past
were two chips, a north bridge chip and a south bridge chip, now there is a
trend toward a single chip.
In deciding which chipset to use, you need to make another decision
whether the chipset should include integrated graphics. Integrated graphics
are recommended for the majority of PC users but serious gamers instead
should install a separate powerful video card.
We have covered integrated graphics chipsets in our section How we
choose the Video Card. Here we'll cover chipsets without integrated
graphics meant for higher end computers with separate video cards. These
chipsets are called discrete chipsets.
Intel, AMD and NVIDIA are big in the chipset business. Each of these
companies offer multiple chipsets to choose from.
AMD's chipsets have CrossFireX technology, which is similar to NVIDIA's SLI,
allowing for dual or multiple AMD ATI video cards. We like the AMD 890GX
chipset for AMD CPUs for both price and features. This chipset also has
integrated graphics but should really be used with a separate powerful
video card. The AMD 890GX does a better job of providing bandwidth to the
new USB 3.0 and Sata 6 Gbps standards, than does Intel's P55 Express
chipset.
The Intel P55 Express chipset, for you guessed it Intel CPUs, licenses
CrossFireX technology from AMD and also SLI technology from NVIDIA. We
think the Intel P55 Express chipset again falls into a good price to features
ratio.
A short list of other features we think a mobo should support include:
- Hexa, quad, triple and dual core cpu chips to keep the cpu upgrade
path open - PCI Express x16 slot(s) for a separate video card(s)
- Dual channel DDR3 memory
- USB 2.0 and the new USB 3.0 standard
- SATA 3 Gbps drives, and the new SATA 6 Gbps standard optionally
- eSATA optionally
- RAID drives
- Gigabit LAN
- 7.1 channel HD Audio
- S/PDIF digital audio output for digital audio output
- IEEE 1394a (FireWire) optionally but is losing popularity
For computer enthusiasts it is also critical that the motherboard provides
access to advanced BIOS settings to overclock our PC. It's part of the fun of
having a computer, and can convert a great computer into an even better
one without spending more cash!
The motherboard should also allow upgrading to the next level of technology
in the future. For example if one chooses integrated graphics now, the
motherboard should include a spare PCI Express x16 slot to add a video card
at a later date, when prices have fallen. Or if one chooses a separate video
card solution now, the motherboard should allow for dual SLI or CrossFireX
video cards at a later date.
ATX form factor is the recommended motherboard size for a gaming
computer otherwise micro ATX is just fine and is cheaper. Mini ITX, smaller
than micro ATX, is also very appealing but strangely enough these ultra small
motherboards are quite expensive.
There are several high quality enthusiast mobo manufacturers of which
GIGABYTE, Asus, MSI and ECS to name a few offer a range of good boards.
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