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?
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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.
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