Motherboard

What to look for when buying a Motherboard

So you're looking at buying a computer motherboard. A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) of a computer and is alternatively known as the mainboard or system board. It holds most of the computer components such as RAM, processor and chipsets.

A motherboard can cost anywhere from $100 to $1000. The average motherboard will cost around $200. Cheaper models will limit processor support, graphics and expansion options. Some common motherboard brands are ASUS, Gigabyte, Intel, MSI, DFI and ASRock.

Key factors to consider when comparing motherboards are compatible processors, storage controller ports and chipset. Some compatible processors are Intel Core2 Duo, Intel Core2 Quad, Intel Celeron, Intel Core2 Extreme, Intel Pentium D, AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon 64. Storage controller ports can be DMA/ATA-100 (Ultra), DMA/ATA-133 (Ultra), DMA/ATA-33 (Ultra), DMA/ATA-66 (Ultra) or Serial ATA. Chipsets include Intel P45 Express, Intel G31, AMD-780G, Intel G31 Express, Intel X48, Intel 945GC, AMD 790GX and Intel G41 Express.

Other factors to consider are input/output ports, expansion slots, maximum supported RAM, form factor, socket type, video interface and maximum supported CPUs. Common supported ports are HDMI port, parallel, LAN and USB port. Expansion slots can be PCI, PCI-express and PCI-X. The maximum support RAM can go up to 12 GB and most motherboards support 1 CPU but some models can hold 2 or more.