How to select the best Motherboard for your PC.

If you want to build your own pc then you probably know that the motherboard is one of the most important components of the PC and without it being good the PC will not function well.

The motherboard is also known as the “main board,” as it is the central circuit hub. It allows connection between all components and peripherals attached to the computer. It also allows all the components such as CPU, graphics card, hard drive and the memory to receive power from the attached power supply.

So, before constructing a PC of your own, one of the key components to buy is the Motherboard. It functions as the backbone of the computer and determines the features that your computer will support. So, this means that you cannot just pick any motherboard just because you liked it or it looked fancy. You need to be aware of the specifications and compatibilities of the motherboard before buying it. To make things easier, we’ve noted down some key attributes and functions that are necessary before you buy a motherboard.

CPU Support

The first and most important thing is that you need to decide which processor you are going to use. There are certain motherboards which don’t support certain types of processor. Every motherboard has its own type of specific socket. This socket defines the packaging of the processor, which can be installed on the motherboard. Moreover, the motherboard chipset defines what specific model of the processor can it support.

You have to be very concerned and match your processor to your motherboard in order to avoid any compatibility issues. For instance, the latest 8th-generation of Intel processors are built on the LGA 1151 socket and motherboards with the Z370 chipset. In comparison, to these, the 6th and 7th generation of Intel processors use the same socket, but are not supported by the Z370 chipset and require a Z270 or Z170 chipset based motherboard.

Therefore, knowing about your CPU beforehand will be the best assistance for you to get the best-suited motherboard.

Form Factor

There are different forms of Motherboards in the market. It comes in varying sizes and it is up to you to decide the size of the motherboard. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that the bigger the motherboard is the more features you get. But most of the PC nowadays are of compact sizes and of course, you would always want to make a compatible PC. For this reason, motherboard manufacturers primarily make three sizes, ATX, micro-ATX (mATX) and mini-ITX.

The size of the ATX board will be 12 x 9.6-inches (305 × 244 mm). The size of a microATX motherboard is 9.6 × 9.6-inches (244 × 244 mm) and the size of mini-ITX is 6.7 × 6.7-inches (171 x 171 mm). the size of your motherboard will define the size of your chassis, so you need to be careful.

You have to be precise about the size of the motherboard that you want and why you want that size. The difference will have an impact on the number of ports and slots that can be fitted on the motherboard. For instance, A full-size ATX board will usually offer a total of five PCI slots. On the other hand, an mATX board has a total of three slots and a mini-ITX board usually only features a single PCI-Express x16 slot. In the same way, the maximum memory slots on each board differ ranging from 4-8 on ATX boards, 2-4 on mATX and 2 on mini-ITX.

Conclusion

So, the most important thing to keep in mind before buying your motherboard is your CPU support and the size of the motherboard. If you just buy any motherboard from the market you might face serious issues regarding its features and other stuff.

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