Motherboards

The Mother of PCs: Your Motherboard

The classic motherboard resembles a tiny metropolis and, much a like a real city, a motherboard acts as the central hub and main conduit of smaller satellite components; namely, the rest of your system build. The motherboard facilitates communication between all of your computer hardware via the CPU and memory-meaning if your motherboard fails to function or breaks down, then so will your computer. The myriad of motherboard options out there on the market-with their wide range of specs, uses and capabilities-can make choosing the right one for your needs a tricky process, particularly if you’re an overclocking beginner. Read on to get a better idea of which motherboard your computer requires, and to gain an insight into this essential piece of kit, with Overclockers UK.

Motherboards for Intel or AMD Processors

Each motherboard (also known as a mainboard) includes a specific type of CPU socket-one that corresponds to the CPU chipset that the motherboard supports. It is vital that you check the socket type of a motherboard prior to purchase. Most will be designed to work with processors from the two biggest manufacturers in the industry: Intel and AMD. By ensuring that you buy a motherboard and a CPU with the matching socket type, your combination should be compatible and allow your system to run smoothly. A socket type refers to the part of a motherboard that connects to the processor, and comprises pre-set, pre-soldered pins that were produced in accordance with the processor’s configurations-exactly why buying a processor with the incorrect socket type is so costly.

Motherboards for Intel are not backwards or forwards compatible, so if you purchase an Intel Processor with an updated socket type you will also have to buy a suitable motherboard. Many AMD processors that come with corresponding motherboards are available on the market, such as the AM3, AM3+, FM1, and FM2 models. If your trust lies with the products of other brands, then you will find a number of motherboards that are compatible with your preferred CPU; Asus, ASRock, SuperMicro, MSI, and Gigabyte all make motherboards that work with Intel and AMD.

Motherboards and Form Factor

Motherboards are made in a range of shapes and sizes; this is known as the computer form factor, and some pertain to specific computer manufacturers. Motherboards in systems that are compatible with IBM are also produced to fit multiple case sizes. Since 2007, the majority of desktop computer motherboards adhere to the ATX form factor standard, even ones that have not been constructed from commodity parts, such as those seen in Macintosh and Sun computers. When it comes to cases, the motherboard and PSU form factor have to match; however, a few smaller form factor motherboards from the same line may fit bigger cases. For instance, an ATX case will normally accept a motherboard from MicroATX. Laptop motherboards, on the other hand, are integrated into the computer system, being much smaller and customized to the form factor. This makes upgrades difficult and leads to costly repairs, since when one component of a laptop fails, then the entire motherboard will also need replacing. Generally, this is more expensive than a desktop motherboard because of the high number of integrated components and their custom form factor.

If you want to upgrade your system and continue to use the same computer case, then you will need to keep in mind the form factor of your motherboard, and whether your new motherboard is suitably sized. ATX is the standard size; others include E-ATX-mostly for server builds-Micro ATX and Mini ITX. Micro ATX and Mini ITX offer fewer PCI slots and fan headers, although Mini ITX motherboards do provide ample room for a surprising number of top-tier gaming features. The Asus Impact line of Mini ITX motherboards is one of the most popular and favoured gaming motherboards in the smaller form category.

ATX, Micro ATX and Mini ITX motherboard dimensions and benefits

Motherboards and Chipsets

A chipset refers to the hardware found within a processor, and its type is categorised by a series of numbers and letters. It is the most vital component of a motherboard, acting as the main hub through which all communication passes, and creates an all-important interface between the CPU’s front-side bus, the main memory, and the peripheral buses. Together, your chipset and socket type determine the CPU and memory you need, as well as the number of USB and SATA ports you will be able to use.

Popular chipsets and their properties:

• 990FX: AMD's flagship chipset for gaming motherboards provides support for four-way Crossfire and SLI. Supporting AM3+ socket Bulldozer, Piledriver and Athlon CPUs and DDR3 Memory.
• H110: Intel's budget platform for office work and beginners takes advantage of the Intel HD graphics capabilities of Intel Skylake processors to offer dual display output. Featuring USB 3.0, PCI-Express 2.0 and up to four SATA 6.0Gb/s ports, the H110 is a great board for entry level gaming too.
• Z170: Intel's latest and greatest gaming motherboard platform, Z170 is truly feature packed. Storage technologies suck as M.2, U.2 and SATA Express enable support for the fastest consumer drives available today including NVMe solid state drives such as the Samsung Polaris SM961 drives capable of read speeds exceeding 3000Mb/s, hundreds of times faster than a traditional hard drive. 
  Z170 supports unlocked K edition Skylake processors, PCI-Express 3.0, Two-way SLI and Three-Way Crossfire for the most popular pro gaming PC configurations. Suitable for serious gamers.
• X99: Intel's extreme platform, suitable for overclocking, benchmarking and extreme gaming. Haswell-E, Broadwell-E and Xeon processors featuring up to 22 physical cores, Quad Channel DDR4 memory and up to four graphics cards make X99 the platform of choice for the extreme user. At home whether in use as a gaming system or a professional graphics/video rendering machine.

More about Overclockers UK

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