Hello everyone, welcome to another article by yours truly. Today I'm going to talk about that one all-important purchase you have to make when putting together a PC for the first time, ATX motherboards!
Today's market is absolutely flooded with motherboards in every imaginable shape and size with different features making them more or less compatible with your case or computer components.
This is why it can be a little confusing for new PC enthusiasts to know where to begin when buying a motherboard, so I'll tell you right now what your priorities should be before we get into the nitty-gritty of each individual board.
Let's have a look at some things you'll need to consider before purchasing a motherboard:
- Form Factor
- Overclocking
- Processor Support
- Memory Type
- Integrated Audio
- Onboard Graphics
- Number of SATA Ports
- Integrated LAN
- Additional Features
- Price
So there you have our 10 points to consider before buying a motherboard, now lets get on with the show!
Form Factor
This should be the very first thing you look at when buying a motherboard! You need to make sure your case can fit the form factor of your motherboard, ATX motherboards are the standard for full-sized cases while Micro ATX boards are usually for smaller cases.
Micro ATX
This is a reduced-size motherboard, usually with two expansion slots and support for smaller cases.
ATX
This is the standard motherboard size, mostly full-sized it allows for more space between components and longer CPU coolers.
Mini-ITX
This is a small form factor board designed to fit in cases with small footprints and generally only support one expansion slot.
The majority of new cases should allow for both Micro ATX and full-size boards, however, it is always best to double-check before purchasing!
Overclocking
As hardcore PC users, we all love a little performance boost in our gaming rigs, this is where overclocking comes in. Some motherboards are better optimized than others when it comes to overclocking, generally, the cheaper boards have less optimized bios settings. You'll want to look at how much you can overclock your CPU in a stable fashion and make sure your board supports this.
If you plan on overclocking your processor to its limits be sure to get a board that supports OC genie or similar features which automatically apply settings for you such as voltage and multiplier.
Processor Support
For those building their first gaming pc the biggest question is always "what processor should I get?", well luckily most motherboards have a list of compatible processors on their box so you can be sure it will work with your CPU. This is important to check before buying a motherboard because some cheaper boards only support processors at their stock speeds, so be careful when purchasing.
Memory Type
There are 3 common memory types DDR2, DDR3, and DDR4. You will want to check your motherboard supports the type of memory sticks you intend to use. The answer is usually written on the box if not take a quick gander inside to make sure it matches up with your RAM, some motherboards support different types of memory so it is always best to check.
Integrated audio
Now, this isn't a huge issue anymore but the motherboard still needs an audio chipset onboard for 5.1 surround sound and general audio output. You can get away without having a dedicated sound card if you have a good enough motherboard chipset such as the Realtek ALC 892. This allows the board to produce 5.1 surround sound output and works well with most onboard audio capacitors.
Onboard Graphics
Motherboards have been able to power a dedicated graphics card for a while now, but if you're going all out on being a budget gamer you might want to get a board with an onboard graphics chip such as the Intel HD chips. This frees up space and power for other components such as overclocking possibilities.
Number of SATA ports
This is only something worth considering if you plan on using more than 2 drives simultaneously, external drives can easily be added through USB or atx power so don't let this be something holding you back from a motherboard purchase.
USB 3.0
Now the main benefit of USB 3.0 is being able to transfer large video files faster, so if you planning on purchasing an external hard drive just for transferring files then there isn't much point in getting a board with USB 3.0 but if you're looking to incorporate it into an enthusiast gaming rig then it is a must.
PCI Slots
As hardcore gamers we all want everything and the kitchen sink thrown at our rigs, so be sure to check how many PCI-e slots your motherboard has because you could possibly need more than one slot for multiple graphics cards if you're going SLI or Crossfire.
Temperature Control
Motherboards have been implementing temperature variable settings into their bios for a while now, not all motherboards have the same features so be sure to check your motherboard of choice has a decent feature set for this sort of stuff.
Overclocking is always fun and it can give you a good performance boost but please be aware you can brick your motherboard doing this, please research how to overclock and be careful.
All the best
I hope you found this article on How To Buy A Motherboard useful and informative, if you have any further questions or suggestions please let me know in the comments section!
Thanks for reading:)
