PC Buyer's Guide: Motherboards

Choosing the right parts when planning a new PC purchase can be a baffling ordeal for a lot of people. Is this CPU compatible with that motherboard? What type of RAM do I need? Is this PSU powerful enough?

These are the questions that send droves of people into their nearest electronics convenience store (I won't name names) to throw cash at the salespeople in the vague assumption that they know what they're talking about and will sell them something appropriate.

This may work out fine for some people, but everybody's computer needs, preferences and budgets are different so these off-the-shelf PCs are only ideal for a small group of people. The alternative to this situation is to design your own PC by personally selecting each and every part that goes into it to fulfil your requirements.

This doesn't necessarily involve building the computer yourself - any PC store worth its salt offers this service for a small fee - it is simply knowing what all the options are and then choosing the right one for you.

So to that end, welcome to the first in a series of articles taking you through this process, component by component, starting with the motherboard - including recommendations for good motherboards for use in a budget machine, a performance/gaming rig, and a Small Form Factor/Home Theatre PC (i.e. an mATX board, with onboard VGA if available).

Sockets of fun

The motherboard is a logical place to start because that is what you plug everything into, so you need to choose one which will accomodate all your current and future requirements. The main difference between one motherboard and the next is what kind of "socket" it is. This refers specifically to the CPU socket because generally CPUs will only fit into one type of socket. Here is an overview of all the modern sockets you have to choose from:

Intel Socket 1366 - The most expensive option, this socket (also referred to as the Bloomfield platform) can house the Intel Core i7 900 series of processors, which are also quite expensive but are undoubtably the most powerful consumer-level processors on the market.

You'll also see the term "X58 Chipset" associated with this socket. The chipset determines what features the motherboard can support - e.g. X58 can support two full-speed x16 PCI-E lanes for Crossfire and SLI (the combining of 2 ATI or Nvidia graphics cards for better gaming performance). Currently there are no X58 boards with onboard graphics.

Socket 1366 also supports triple channel DDR3 memory, which means you can buy a kit of RAM that consists of three RAM sticks instead of the normal two. The performance difference is marginal but you'll be the envy of all your nerd friends. Prices range from $350 for a budget board and up to $700 and beyond for the top of the range.

Budget: Asus P6T SE
Performance: Asus Rampage II Extreme
SFF/HTPC: Asus Rampage II Gene
 
Intel Socket 1156 - Despite being newer technology, this socket (aka the Lynnfield platform) is actually a slightly trimmed down version of socket 1366.

Using a P55 chipset and compatible with the Intel Core i7 800 and Core i5 700 series of CPUs, this platform "only" supports dual channel DDR3 RAM as opposed to triple channel, and can only muster one full-speed x16 and one half-speed x8 speed PCI-E lane for multi-GPU support (not that you're likely to notice any difference to be honest, "half-speed" doesn't actually halve their performance, just the communication link to the cards). Like X58, P55 also does not have any options with onboard video.

1156 is definitely the cheaper option compared to 1366, and you don't lose many features or performance so its an attractive solution for budget-conscious enthusiasts. There are rumours floating about that Intel won't continue to release CPUs for this platform in ~12 months time, so if you believe this and are concerned about being future-proofed then that is something to consider. Right now, socket 1156 motherboards start at under $200 and finish up around the $600 mark.

Budget: Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3
Performance: Asus Maximus III Formula
SFF/HTPC: Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD4
 
Intel Socket 775 - This socket has just been outdated by the two platforms above, however it's still the socket of choice for the bulk of the market due to its excellent value for money. Housing the famous Core 2 range of chips, its comes in many different flavours of chipset (all of which use dual channel memory).

Some can utilise two ATI graphics cards in a Crossfire configuration (P45 can do half-speed, X38 and X48 full-speed) and some can use Nvidia's SLI solution (650i/750i for half speed, 680i/780i/790i for full speed). There are also many chipsets which offer onboard video, such as G31, G41, and G43.

Socket 775 can house either DDR2 or DDR3 memory - and sometimes both on the same board (but not at the same time) - so make sure you get the right type of memory.

There won't be any new CPUs released for this socket (except for possibly a few variations on current CPUs with better power efficiency) so future upgrade options are limited, but there's already a large range of chips at your disposal and prices are dropping everyday. These motherboards range anywhere from $80 up to $600.

Budget: Asus P5KPL-AM
Performance: Asus P5Q Pro Turbo
SFF/HTPC: Gigabyte GA-EG45M-UD2H
 
AMD Socket AM3 - Most recent AMD motherboards will be compatible with all the latest AM3 Phenom II CPUs but only AM3 boards can fully utilise them with DDR3 memory. The 790GX and 790X chipsets offer half-speed Crossfire while 790FX offers full-speed (AM3 boards don't support SLI yet). 790GX and 785G also offer onboard video.

AMD is likely to continue releasing chips for the AM3 platform until at least 2011 so it's fairly future-proofed. Prices start under $150 and reach up to $400.

Budget: Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P
Performance: Microstar 790FX-GD70
SFF/HTPC: Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H
 
AMD Socket AM2/AM2+ - These two sockets fall into the same category as they both take the same kind of CPU and RAM (although some very old AM2 boards will not work with some new AM2+ chips). Once more there are a range of chipset variants, such as 790GX, 790X and 790FX (with the same features as mentioned above), plus 780G with onboard video, and 780A with SLI support. All these boards use DDR2 memory.

There will be a few more AM2+ chips in the near future, but the good news is that AM3 chips are backwards-compatible with these boards, so there's a little bit of life left in this platform yet. Prices begin at roughly $80 and work their way up to slightly over $400.

Budget: Asus M4N78 SE
Performance: Asus M4A79 Deluxe
SFF/HTPC: Asus M4A785G

Other considerations

So now you know what different sockets are available, what else is there to consider?

Form factor is one thing - most motherboards will come in either an ATX or mATX design. "mATX" is just the smaller version of ATX, so it's good if you have a small case or if you're building a Home Theatre PC.

There is also the matter of what input and output features you want with the board. The amount of USB ports on a motherboard usually varies between 6 and 12, and some also come with firewire and eSATA connections. And would you like one gigabit ethernet port or two? Or perhaps a built-in wireless adaptor? Most ranges of motherboards will have different models with some or all of these options.

Lastly, there's reliability and overclockability. The more expensive motherboards typically have stickers on the boxes boasting about how many 'power phases' they have - these are good things, as these deliver clean and stable power to your CPU, so the more the merrier - and all solid capacitors made in Japan, which provide a good expected lifespan for the board (caps are usually the first thing to blow when you mistreat a motherboard).

Nice big heatsinks and copper heatpipes covering all the important components will also provide extra stability when you're cranking up the megahertz.

So that's it for motherboards! Wasn't so hard was it? Now start browsing through your favourite online shops to see if you can find some boards that suit your requirements, because next week we'll be looking at that little thing you plug into them - the CPU.

- Gameplanet.co.nz