Selecting a New Motherboard: A Beginner's Guide

Posted by Michael Quarles on: 2006-09-10 17:26:36

Are you looking for a new motherboard? With so many models available, deciding which to buy can be difficult. However, if you use this checklist, considering each motherboard feature, you should be able to find one thatâ€™s right for you.

1. Socket type: What socket type does your CPU require? A 775 for Intel Pentiums? Perhaps a 939 AMD. Start to narrow your selection with this most basic criteria, matching motherboard socket to CPU.

2. Form factor: The board has to fit your case. The size of the board is its â€œform factorâ€. An ATX form factor case will accept 12x9.6 inch boards. But a microATX requires boards no larger than 9.6x9.6. Please note that any of the smaller boards can be mounted in an ATX case.

3. RAM: Youâ€™ll probably buy a board that uses PC3200 RAM. But be aware that some older boards still on the market call themselves â€œPC3200 capableâ€ but can only use it in up to two banks. Also, some boards only have two slots, rather than the more common number of three. If you need to run 3 GB of RAM, for extreme game play, youâ€™ll need a three-slot board.

4. Front Speed Bus: Itâ€™s an oversimplification to say this number is the speed information passes through your motherboard, but itâ€™s a good enough definition for our purposes. Faster is better, but keep in mind that speed is money, if youâ€™re on a budget. The tops on AMD based systems is a whopping 2000MHz.

5. Video and sound on the motherboard: Do you want these two items built into the board, or would you rather buy cards and plug them in? Video on the motherboard is usually adequate, unless youâ€™re a gamer. In that case youâ€™ll want to forgo it in favor of the next feature.

6. AGP port: Gamers, video editors, 3-D animators, all want the best graphics card they can get, so they require an Accelerated Graphics Port. Most all boards have them, but make sure they will handle 8X or better speed, if youâ€™ve got your heart set on a really fast card.

7. PCI slots: How many slots will you need for things like modems, capture cards, and the like? Some of the microATX boards come with only two, which may be inadequate. I favor boards with 4 or more slots, giving plenty of expansion capability.

8. Firewire: If you shoot and edit video, 1394 IEEE, otherwise known as firewire, is a necessity. If a board youâ€™re considering doesnâ€™t have it, figure on using one of your PCI slots for a card.

After youâ€™ve gone through these eight items, you should be well on the way to making your selection.

Michael Quarles is the author of Building a PC for Beginners.

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Components directly attached to the motherboard include:

The central processing unit (CPU) performs most of the calculations which enable a computer to function, and is sometimes referred to as the "brain" of the computer. It is usually cooled by a heat sink and fan. Newer CPUs include an on-die Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).
The chip set mediates communication between the CPU and the other components of the system, including main memory.
RAM (random-access memory) stores resident part of the current running OS (OS core and so on) and all running processes (application parts, using CPU or input/output (I/O) channels or waiting for CPU or I/O channels).
The BIOS includes boot firmware and power management. The Basic Input Output System tasks are handled by operating system drivers. Newer motherboards use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface instead of BIOS.
Internal buses connect the CPU to various internal components and to expansion cards for graphics and sound.

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