The best motherboards, reviews and suppliers
What should I look for when buying a motherboard, who are the best manufacturers, where do I go for motherboard reviews and where are the best motherboard suppliers?
A motherboard is vital to every PC as it is the main circuit board, or backbone, to any computer. Commonly known as a ‘mobo’, a computer’s central processing unit (CPU), mouse, keyboard, hard drives, memory, video card, sound card and so on are either plugged directly into it or connected via cables.
When deciding to purchase a motherboard, it’s important to know what form factor you need, which refers to the size and shape of your motherboard. Until fairly recently the AT and Baby AT form factors were the most widespread. The AT was generally used in older computers (386s and so on). Its problem was that as technology progressed and at 12” wide, a new slimmer design was required that wouldn’t overlap into so much disk space. As a result the Baby AT, at 8.5”, was introduced. However, although popular, especially in 486s and early Pentium PCs, it was unable to cope entirely with the increasing amount of space that processors needed and as a result was superseded by the ATX (despite the ATX being the same width as the Baby AT, it is rotated slightly to ensure that components can connect easily). Versions such as the Micro ATX, Mini ATX, Flex ATX and Extended ATX have been introduced since.
If you’re on a budget and don’t intend to carry out much upgrading then a Micro ATX is a good solution, however, if you intend to use more than three PCI cards (network card, sound, modem and so on) then a full-size ATX will be the best route.
It is useful to have a motherboard that allows your PC experience to be as flexible as possible, most include USB and FireWire ports that allow devices, such as a digital camera, to connect with your PC when necessary.
Motherboards vary in terms of the types of components they support, so check they are compatible with the manufacturer. For example, it is important that your computer’s processor will fit on the motherboard; this will generally be described with a socket number, so ensure both components list the same socket type.
With so many motherboard manufacturers on the market, who are the best to consider? Some of the most popular are: ASUS, Evga, Gigabyte, Biostar, MSI, DFI and Intel. After reviewing many forums and websites, ASUS, Evga and Gigabyte prove to be the most popular motherboard manufacturers among purchasers and enthusiasts.
There are some comprehensive and informative sites on the internet that are focused on providing reliable, detailed and up-to-date ‘mobo’ reviews. Three of the most useful sites to visit when you’re trying to work out what to buy are: motherboards; the motherboard section of the Test Freaks site and MB Review.
In terms of where to buy the best deals are usually to be found online. An obvious port of call is eBay, but if you prefer to check out stores that are focused entirely on computer hardware and motherboards then these three shops are worth investigation: Newegg, Ebuyer and Mwave – they also include motherboard reviews from customers.
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