MotherBoard Buying Guide

Motherboards specifications have gained sheer importance espeically in this age of high definition games and intense memory requiring operations with high data rate busses , high data transfer rates, high graphic cards busses , dual channel and DDR3 rams and the list goes on.

If you visit your local computer market , you may hear some of the below listed specifications while buying motherboard:

• It supports SATA 3.5Gb/s.
• It has PCI Express Slot.
• Builtin VGA of 384 (Plus) Memory.
• Supports DDR 2 and DDR 3 RAMs.
• Supports Core 2 Duo processors.
• 6 channel Built-in SoundCard.
• 1 Giga Lan Builtin .
• Built-in WiFi card

These above options may or may be not enough to check motherboard’s technological strength and many other aspects.

We may not be able to standardized motherboard selection process, but common factors that may come under consideration while purchasing a customized PC vary on the basis of needs and usage, for instance, computer gamer may require high GPU and latest video technology than any other aspects of the motherboard.

A common computer user may consider couple of points before purchasing computer motherboards:

• Motherboard Brands like Intel , Asus, AMD, Nvidia chipsets.
• CPU technology support and CPU Extended Speed Support.
• Video technology & Graphic Memory.
• Memory Controllers.
• Storage Technology.
• Peripherals
• Some Extra Add-ons like Memory card reader, E-Sata etc.

Motherboards brands:

Choosing motherboards while planning for customized pc is always been a difficult task to meet, because of the verastility it offers and technology that may be available by different brands in different names.

Visit different motherboard manufacturer websites and have complete research about the motherboard specifications and technology it is ready to offer and capable of. Most common brands that are being used may be Intel, Asus, VIA, Nvidia, MSI, Mercury and etc.

CPU technology support and CPU Extended Speed Support:

Metaphorically, technology is evolving day by day. Nowdays, choosing right CPU for matching your needs is a difficult decesion, because within same brand it varies alot in technology. Like Intel has to offer lot of variations in the same core series. But what should be considered while considering CPU may be :

• CPU Speed i.e. 3.2 Ghz
• CPU FSB (in simple Bus Speed) this may be available in the range of 533 Mhz to 1333 Mhz.
• CPU Cores like Single Core, Dual Core,Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, iCore and in AMD it may be like AMD Athlons , AM2, AM2+ , etc.
• Internal GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) capability.

Video Technology& Graphic Memory:

If we only have look on intel, it has alot to offer in built-in video technology ranging from standard video quality to HD quality experience. Bultin Video technology is enough for usual multimedia and office operations. But for extreme video usage like high definition games and video editing softwares, you may need dedicated graphic controllers on the motherboard. Builtin graphic memory ranges from 64 mb to 384+ mb memory shared with your memory controller installed and it may affect the performance.

Memory Controllers:

Memory controllers have been evolved so much from SD-RAMs to DDR RAMS, DDR-2  and now DDR-3. All they have to offer is speed and high data tranfser rates. While purchasing motherboards, one should keep in mind about assessment of maximum memory installation support i.e. like motherboard may support 4GB all in all and kind of architecture like DDR 3 and some other termonolgies like dual channel support.

Storage Technology:

While choosing motherboard , storage technology support is also an important factor to consider, whereas storage technology has also been changed drastically in recent years, ATA, ATA 133, SATA , SATA 3.5GB/s eSATA .

Peripherals:

In most of the recent motherboards, PS2 Mouse and Keyboard ports have been removed and now it comes with as many as USB ports. But this would be an additional bonus if new motherboard is also capable of PS2 mouse and keyboard as sometimes it really helps alot.

• Builtin High definition sound cards with 6 to 8 channel supports are easily available in newly designed motherboards, but one should consider if it also supports SPDIF output.
• USB 2.0 ports are available in recent motherboards, but now days USB 3.0 is more trendy in the technology for high speed USB transfers. Check it out if it is available.
• Firewire port is an additional benefit , if it is available on the motherboard for high data transfers.
• DVI output for high multimedia interface.
• PCI Express Slot.
• Lanfor neworking support.

Extra Add-ons:

• Memory Card reader is an additional feature if it is available in the casing and supported by motherboard.
• eSATA port is also an additional feature for connecting eSATA directly to PC as removeable device.
• HDMI port for extreme visual experience.
• Wireless Lan for networking support.

Final Thought:

First assess your requirments based on your usage, if you are game lover than always go for dedicated (seperate) graphic card controllers, because shared graphic controllers may cause you issues in playing high graphic requiring games.

Whereas , customizing PC has lot of advantages over already designed PC but for availing these advantage one should know what to add and vice versa.