Trying to understand computer technology is melting my brain. I understand the abilities of varying GPUs and CPUs and even RAM. What I don’t get is what makes a motherboard good or bad. Isn’t it just the circuitry that everything talks to each other through? If it’s made of the same material and has the same ports how can it be good or bad in comparison to another of like build quality?
In: 14
From the low to medium-high end, you’re basically just going to see build quality/features as you go up in quality. 2 vs 4 ram slots, more PCI-E slots, 1G vs 2.5G networking, more USB headers, etc.
Once you get to the higher end, one thing you’ll see is better/higher quality VRMs, which are the modules that regulate the voltage going into the CPU. It basically helps with getting consistent voltages in overclocking.
The speed of any system is set by it’s slowest moving component. Traffic, electric, plumbing etc doesn’t matter if you have a 10 lane highway, if it reduces to 2 lanes, even just for a few feet EVERYTHING slows down.
The motherboard is what moves data from one component to another, cpu to memory, memory to storage, and so on. The newer motherboards do a better job of moving the data faster and more efficiently. There is obviously much more too it, but the motherboard interconnects all the parts and the faster and more efficiently it can move data around, the faster the “computer” will appear to move for the end user.
Assuming the same build quality, 95% of it is size, additional features, available ports relative to what the user wants/needs.
Is a small size important to you? A smaller, mini-ITX motherboard might be “better”. Tradeoff being less USB/other I/O ports on the back, less PCIe ports, and worse heat dissipation.
Building a high end gaming PC? You need a motherboard large enough to both have the correct high-bandwidth PCIe ports, and spaced far enough apart for today’s monster graphics cards. You might need additional PCIe ports for things like a dedicated audio card, additional NVMe drives beyond what’s on the motherboard itself, or any number of other things.
To tag into this, what should one look out for int terms of a good motherboard? Just higher numbers?
You should view same generation-ish consumer motherboards in two categories: General computing and enthusiast
*General computing*: Mobos of a similar generation are fairly simple, and are all basically the same at its core functions and build, regardless of price. Basically the mobo has everything it needs, increasing prices generally just gets more features rather than anything ‘better’. More ports, more plugs, wireless cards, lights, and such. But the base mobo is mostly if not exactly the same. Even the lowest level, shitty mobos of a generation are actually more than sufficient for most consumers, who often need little in the way of extra ports, and often smaller mobos are great for small form factor computers. And remember, any port that isn’t used is wasted, so getting more ports and such isn’t better, unless you actually use them.
*Enthusiast*: The same as generally mid-to high end general computing mobos in ports etc., but usually have added heat dissipation on some parts and some better electronics for voltage which make it easier to manually tweak and configure the system to overclock. This is really meant for overclockers who want more precision and reliability to finely tune their system to get slightly better performance with the same gear. If you are not overclocking, these mobos are not providing any additional value. Basically these mobos have some extra stuff to help deal with heat and voltage of overclocking. Not overclocking? This category isn’t for you.
Generally speaking, within the same generation, a ‘better motherboard’ is one that has more ports, or better ports.
There’s also chipset, which is a mini communications chip within the motherboard. The better quality this chipset, the faster communications, more features, and more ports the motherboard will support. This is well advertised in the motherboard’s model number.
Tldr. Quality and stability of the power delivery, the number of PCI lanes available, and premium IO like high speed / redundant LAN and number of high speed USB.
More useful ports, more slots for stuff to go in, better quality construction, fancy design, better components for overclocking and flashing it in case it breaks, and some stuff can be built into the MB like wireless (better wireless is on better boards).
Don’t get a top end board unless you want to do overclocking. Do get a board that has the slots you want and the ports you want and if useful a good wireless.
To explain like you’re actually five:
It doesn’t matter how good your sink is or your washing machine is if you don’t also have good plumbing to pipe the water around your house
Latest Answers