A motherboard is the main circuit board in a computer, connecting components like the CPU, RAM, storage, and expansion cards. It serves as the backbone, allowing these parts to communicate and function together effectively.
While a motherboard doesn’t directly impact performance, it ensures compatibility and stability, which indirectly affect it. High-end motherboards support faster memory, improved power delivery to the processor, and the latest features, all of which influence the overall performance of the build.
To determine if a motherboard is right for you, check its compatibility with your CPU, RAM, case, and other components. A good motherboard should be compatible with all these parts, offer room for upgrades, and suit your intended use.
There are a few key factors to consider before buying a motherboard.
- Form Factor
- Chipset
- Socket
- Memory Support
- Power Delivery
- Expansion Slots
- IO Connectivity
- Onboard Features
- Pricing
1. Form Factor
A motherboard form factor defines its physical layout, dimensions, mounting hole locations, and component placement. It also determines compatibility with cases, specifications, and potential for future upgrades.
The most common motherboard form factors are E-ATX (the largest), ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX (the smallest). Other form factors, like Pico-ITX and Nano-ITX, are also available but are primarily used in servers and home appliances.
Motherboard form factor can influence its features, expansion options, and cooling capabilities. Choosing the right form factor is essential, as it affects compatibility with the case and other components in your build.
Let’s break down each motherboard form factor, explore how they differ, identify the cases they fit best, and help you decide which one suits your needs.
ATX
The ATX form factor measures 305 x 244 mm with ten mounting holes (four of which are optional). The wide range of compatibility with components makes ATX motherboards a very popular choice for mainstream and enthusiast builds.
Most ATX motherboards come with four RAM slots, allowing for up to 128GB of memory. These motherboards can support up to seven PCIe slots, with 16 lanes for the primary graphics card slot and additional slots for other expansion cards.
ATX motherboards can easily fit into ATX, mid-tower, and full-tower cases. Some SFF (Small Form Factor) or compact cases also support ATX motherboards.
ATX motherboards are great to consider for future upgrades. They offer ample slots for RAM, PCIe cards, and storage drives, though the exact configuration varies from model to model.
Compared to E-ATX, an ATX motherboard is slightly smaller but still offers enough slots and features for most users, while E-ATX is suited for multi-GPU setups. Micro-ATX motherboards are more compact than ATX, limiting some expansion options but fitting easily into smaller cases.
Micro-ATX
The Micro-ATX (mATX) form factor measures 244 x 244 mm and includes four mounting holes, fitting cases that support Micro-ATX or larger motherboards. These motherboards are popular and widely available, which can sometimes make it challenging for users to choose from the many options available.
Micro-ATX motherboards typically offer two or four RAM slots, although a few models come with six. They generally include two or four PCIe slots, with one x16 slot dedicated to a graphics card and additional slots for other expansion cards. Depending on the chipset, these boards can support up to 24 PCIe lanes.
Micro-ATX motherboards can fit into most Mid Tower, Full Tower, and compact cases, with only a few exceptions.
Most Micro-ATX motherboards offer options for future expansion in terms of memory, graphics cards, and storage. However, some models support only two memory slots, which may require compromises on memory upgrades.
Unlike ATX, Micro-ATX is a smaller board with fewer slots and ports but offers more versatility than the Mini-ITX form factor, providing additional slots and functionality while maintaining a compact size.
Mini-ITX
The Mini-ITX is a compact motherboard form factor, measuring 170 x 170 mm, with four mounting holes similar to the Micro-ATX standard. Although manufacturers typically release just one Mini-ITX motherboard per chipset, there are still plenty of options available on the market to choose from.
Nearly all Mini-ITX motherboards come with two memory slots, supporting dual-channel memory configurations. These compact boards typically feature a single PCIe x16 slot for a graphics card, providing up to 16 PCIe lanes depending on the chipset.
Mini-ITX motherboards are highly compatible with a wide range of PC cases, fitting seamlessly into Mid Tower, Full Tower, and compact cases alike.
The limited number of expansion slots on Mini-ITX motherboards can restrict future upgrades, typically limiting options to RAM upgrades, additional storage, or replacing the graphics card.
Compared to ATX, Mini-ITX motherboards are significantly smaller and lack the multiple expansion slots and features offered by larger boards. The compact layout of Mini-ITX boards can lead to heat buildup, making good airflow and potentially more expensive cooling solutions essential.
2. Chipset
The chipset is the first and foremost thing you should check when shortlisting a motherboard. You simply won’t be able to install the processor with the wrong chipset. Multiple chipsets are available for every generation of processors, which comes down to performance, I/O capabilities, PCI-E lanes, etc.
When it comes to the latest motherboard chipsets, AMD Ryzen 9000-series processors are compatible with X870/E, X670/E, B650/E, and A620. The A-series chipsets are the most basic chipsets; the B-series chipsets are suitable for most mid to high-end users, while the X-series chipsets are the premium ones.
On the other hand, with Intel, you get a wider variety of chipsets. For 14th-generation Intel Core i-series processors, you get Z790, Z690, H770, H670, B760, B660, and H610 chipsets. The Z-series chipsets are the premium ones, offering features like complete overclocking support, while the H and B-series chipsets are budget chipsets, with the exception of the H610, which is an entry-level chipset.
3. Socket
The socket is a unique specification of a motherboard. Before selecting a motherboard chipset, you should finalize the motherboard’s socket because the processor you have chosen needs to be compatible with the motherboard.
There are two major sockets for mainstream AMD systems; AM4 and AM5. We won’t delve into the Threadripper series, as they are not considered for average consumers. The AM4 socket is used for all the Ryzen processors before the Ryzen 7000 series. With the 7000 series, AMD announced the AM5 socket that is now also used for 9000-series processors.
As for the Intel, the latest mainstream socket for the Core i-series processors is the LGA-1700. This socket is used for 12th, 13th, and 14th-generation Core i-series processors. The 10th and 11th-generation processors used the LGA1200 socket, while the older processors used the LGA-1151 socket.
4. Memory Support
Motherboards highly affect the memory support of the system. First of all, better motherboards provide support for faster memory clock rates, which can increase the overall performance of the system. They provide better power delivery and other features that can be used to overclock the RAM.
Apart from the memory clock rates, some chipsets provide both DDR4 and DDR5 variants so that the customer can choose the motherboard according to the memory he has selected. This is only possible with Intel processors, as 12th, 13th, and 14th-generation processors can work with both DDR4 and DDR5 memory.
AMD does not provide this feature at all and if you use the Ryzen 7000-series processor or above, you must buy DDR5 memory and if you use the Ryzen 5000-series processor or older, you can only use DDR4 memory.
5. Power Delivery
One of the most crucial aspects of a motherboard is its power delivery. The Voltage Regulator Module is responsible for handling the power delivery to the processor and the memory. The better the VRM, the more your processor can be overclocked. The stability of the system also depends on the VRM.
Most commonly, the Z-series chipsets for the Intel platform and the X-series chipsets for the AMD platform provide better VRM compared to H-series or B-series motherboards, although there are some exceptions.
Mid-range motherboards usually come with around 10-phase VRM, which is sufficient for an average user who does slight overclocking, while premium motherboards provide more than 18 phases.
5. Expansion Slots
If you have a keen interest in PCI-Express-based devices, it would be a good idea to invest in a motherboard that provides three or more PCI-E slots. You are going to look at an E-ATX or ATX motherboard for this, as the smaller ones usually provide one or two PCI-E slots at best. The PCI-E slots can be used for graphics cards, NVMe cards, sound cards, etc.
Apart from slot count, there is a difference in slot versions as well. The latest motherboards come with PCI-E 5.0 slots. These are not found on budget motherboards. PCI-E 5.0 is roughly twice as fast as PCI-E 4.0, which matters a lot when you are using flagship graphics cards like GeForce RTX 4090 or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT.
Speaking of graphics cards, large graphics cards can cover multiple PCI-E slots as well, which is why you might have to look for a motherboard that provides many PCI-E slots if you have a couple of PCI-E devices.
6. I/O Connectivity
The Input/Output functionalities of a system are tied to the motherboard of the system, as most of the ports and slots of the system are part of the motherboard.
When it comes to selecting a motherboard based on I/O connectivity, the foremost factors include USB port versions, Type-C presence, dedicated buttons for BIOS functions, and networking ports such as RJ45. The audio ports can also be a deal breaker if you own a sound system with S/PDIF connectivity, as many motherboards don’t provide it.
Another important factor for keyboard selection is the presence of connectors and slots on the motherboard. High-end motherboards provide more SATA ports, M.2 slots, fan connectors, and RGB headers. Apart from that, there is a great difference in the quality as well, where you will find that most high-end motherboards come with large M.2 heatsinks and better-powered fan or pump connectors.
7. Onboard Features
There are dozens of motherboard manufacturers and all of them try to provide something unique. You can check the exclusive features of a motherboard on the manufacturer’s website and that can be a turning factor for some people. Many motherboards provide customized audio chipsets for better audio quality. This can also be said about the networking chipsets and I/O features.
8. Aesthetics
The color theme of a motherboard can be a dealbreaker for some people if it doesn’t match the other components, mainly the case and the graphics card. Most standard motherboards these days come in black color with RGB lighting but if you have selected a white case, you can also go for white-themed motherboards.
Gigabyte Aorus Ice series and Colorful CVN Frozen series motherboards are highly popular among enthusiasts for their pure white theme. NZXT also uses large white-colored covers for their black-PCB motherboards which provides a nice contrasty look. Other than that, ASRock, ASUS, and MSI provide partially white motherboards, where some of the components of the motherboard are white.
9. Pricing
The selection of a motherboard should be in accordance with the chosen processor. You should not buy a premium variant of a motherboard if you are going to couple it with a low-end processor. For someone who is solely interested in raw performance, only choose a high-end motherboard if you are planning to use it with at least an octa-core processor.
A premium motherboard can also be considered for its I/O features, in which case, coupling it with a low-end processor does not seem like a mismatch. Usually, the price of a motherboard is around half the price of the processor.
Which Motherboard Brand is Best?
The best motherboard brand depends on the user’s needs. ASUS is ideal for premium builds with advanced features. MSI offers great value for money and solid performance. Gigabyte is known for its durability and reliable mid-range options. ASRock provides dependable, budget-friendly boards that offer excellent performance for the price.
