The motherboard of a computer is the platform where you will be plugging in everything from your CPU to your storage. While unifying the components into a single system sounds rather basic, choosing the wrong motherboard can set you on a course for failure.

As an example, if your motherboard is too big for your PC case, you can’t really build a viable system. Choose a motherboard with the wrong CPU socket and you will have to replace one of them. As such, choosing a motherboard requires careful consideration for the entirety of the system you want to build, down to the sort of storage you want to use.

Tools like PCBuilder make it easy to build a custom computer without having to know why things work the way they do. However, being a well informed PC builder means that you can optimise your PC while staying within a budget.

Without further ado then, these are the seven things you should consider when choosing a motherboard.

FFF – Form factor first

Whether you’re building a video editing rig or a gaming monster, the physical size of your motherboard is an important consideration. Simply put, if your motherboard doesn’t fit in your case it’s not going to be of much use.

The three most common form factors – from largest to smallest – are ATX, micro-ATX (M-ATX) and mini-ITX (sometimes referred to as ITX). While larger ATX motherboards may have more features, this doesn’t necessarily mean that ITX motherboards have fewer. Our advice is to decide on a set of core capabilities that you cannot live without such as WiFi, Bluetooth or PCIe 5.0 support and base your purchase on which motherboard meets those needs.

Socket size

After physical size, the type of socket in the motherboard is the next important consideration. The main CPU makers are Intel and AMD, but even within these brands there are different processor socket sizes. Thankfully, motherboard manufacturers display this information clearly and you just need to make sure that the CPU you select fits the motherboard you want to use.

Memory is important

Dual in-line memory modules or DIMM are often referred to as RAM slots as they are where the RAM sticks are plugged into. The physical size of the motherboard will often dictate the number of DIMM slots available, but the chipset can also limit the number of available slots. Keep in mind that more DIMM slots can help you reach your RAM requirements more affordably, but as higher-end motherboards are usually where you will find more DIMM slots, the price difference means you may want to stick to 16GB and 8GB sticks across two slots.

What is a chipset?

Modern motherboards include a pre-installed chipset that manages the high-speed peripherals of your PC. The chipset can be found in the name of the motherboard, so for example an ASUS TUF B450 Gaming motherboard features the B450 chipset. While most chipsets will get the job done, if you make use of multiple high-speed peripherals, you may need a beefier chipset.

PCIe and you

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express or PCIe is the standard through which high-speed components can interact with each other. Multiple components can make use of PCIe connections, but the most common to use them are GPUs, network adapters and storage drives.

However, PCIe support on a motherboard can differ from slot to slot. This difference is in the amount of bandwidth that can be called on. Ideally you want at least one PCIe x16 slot for a GPU, but you may need more if you have several GPUs and other PCIe peripherals.

Connectivity

The number of USB ports, front panel connectors and the like are important considerations but none is more important than the connectivity options. While the LAN/RJ45 connection is present on all motherboards, the bandwidth of this connector can differ from motherboard to motherboard so if you need gigabit networking, be sure to look for a model that supports it.

WiFi and Bluetooth aren’t standard features in modern motherboards and if you need that functionality you will need to either find a motherboard that supports it out of the box or purchase third-party accessories.

Before you click Checkout

A finished PC isn’t only about the components, it needs to look aesthetically pleasing and manage temperatures effectively. When shopping for a motherboard look out for features like fan headers, all-in-one liquid cooling pump headers and make sure that there are enough to meet your cooling needs.

You should also consider whether you want to use RGB in your build and how that RGB will be connected to the motherboard. Frankly, the world of RGB lighting for PCs is vast and you need to be careful when buying fans, RGB strips and more.

The cooling for voltage regulation modules (VRMs) is largely out of your control unless you’re making use of a custom cooling solution. To that end, be sure to consider how well the VRM is cooled as an increase in temperature can lead to inefficient power delivery to the CPU. Most motherboard manufacturers do a great job in this regard but it’s worth choosing a component that has more cooling rather than less.

As we have mentioned previously, PCBuilder on Computer Mania makes building a PC easy without you needing to know what components plug in where. Simply head to PCBuilder, select your desired budget and then customise your PC with the components that meet your needs.

Once you’re done, Computer Mania will get you your new rig in 72 hours.

Try PCBuilder today by heading to this link.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]