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The motherboard is always one of the most important components picks regardless of your PC’s purpose. It enables all the parts of your PC to connect and communicate with each other. If you have a highly specialized build in mind, like gaming or home entertainment, there are certain areas you will need to pay extra attention to.
Size is an obvious place to start with choosing your motherboard. What are the dimensions of your case? You’ll need a motherboard that will fit within it, so keep those measurements in mind when shopping.
You’ll need to reference your CPU when selecting a motherboard and vice versa because compatibility is a major concern here. If you are going to use a newer CPU, a BIOS update may well be necessary with most motherboards. Luckily, motherboard manufacturers often have a list of compatible CPUs on their websites.
Different motherboards are equipped with chipsets that enable different functions and capabilities. Make sure the one you choose has a chipset that supports your purpose. For instance, if you want to overclock, make sure your motherboard supports that.
And now we come to graphics cards. It’s not unusual for custom PC builders to require an unusually high number of graphics card slots. If you are building specifically for high-performance gaming, for instance, this will be a main area of concern. Most GPUs on the market today use PCIe x16 slots. Lots of motherboards will come with two of these slots, but here’s the catch: Once a card is inserted into the first slot, the second slot with automatically be lowered to 8x or 4x (This only applies with consumer grade chipsets). And if you plan to use two NVIDIA cards, you’d better make sure it’s not 4x; NVIDIA cards will not run on less than 8x.
What about non-graphics cards? You need to make sure the board offers enough PCIe x8, x4, and x1 slots to host them (sometimes plain old PCI slots will work too). Even if you don’t plan on using a ton of non-graphics cards, you need to check carefully, because graphics cards often take up two or three expansion slots, blocking off access to the smaller slots.
PCIe lanes are electrical pathways, and they will differ in how they’re laid out on various motherboards between the slots. Make sure that you have enough lanes for your cards’ needs. NVIDIA cards need at least eight lanes to work.
If you will be using the onboard graphics, there or special considerations to be taken. The number of display ports needed and VGA port requirements, which some motherboards have been doing away with altogether lately, are among them.
Onboard sound, if used, will require you to look at audio connections -- how many will you need? HDMI is extremely common, but coaxial and optical connections are needed for some surround sound systems.
The majority of boards will come with a CPU fan connector and some case fan connectors -- typically two to four. You may add splitter cables or a separate fan connector if you need more.
Other things to consider are the number of network connections needed and what drives will be installed.
If you want to overclock your memory, you’ll have to make sure the motherboard supports your goal speeds.
Visit our product pages to choose the perfect motherboard for your build at a great price. And if you have questions, our expert staff is happy to assist you. Contact us @ support@gear-up.me.
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