The base on which you build your PC deserves some careful attention…
Whether you’re planning to build or upgrade a PC, choosing the right motherboard is important in making sure you can get the most out of your CPU and GPU. As well as unlocking the capabilities of your most expensive components, motherboards dictate how upgradable your current system is. With the wrong motherboard, you can run out of space for RAM or lose compatibility with the latest processor releases. Upgrading your motherboard isn’t just about getting immediate results; it’s about the results it allows you to get in the future.
But motherboards are packed with technologies that have some of the most confusing names and model numbers in the industry, and they can seem practically impenetrable if you’ve been out of the upgrading game for a few years. That’s why this guide will tell you exactly what to look for depending on the type of system you’re building and the sort of hardware you want to put in with it.
Motherboard Hardware
If you’re buying a new motherboard, you could start by selecting one that’s compatible with your existing CPU. Whether you’re upgrading your chip or not, making sure you have the correct socket is important. While most hardware can be convinced to work with any modern motherboard through converters or expansion cards, nothing will let you get a CPU into a motherboard it’s not designed for.
There are several sockets you’ll find on a motherboard that determine the type of chip it takes. Some sockets are associated with multiple chipsets, giving them backwards compatibility. For example, Devil’s Canyon Haswell CPUs could only access their full range of features in the upgraded Socket LGA1150 boards, but all LGA1150 boards were compatible with a Devil’s Canyon Haswell chip to some extent.
Once you’ve narrowed your choices down to a motherboard that supports your preferred chip, there are a few other questions that need answering.
The size and capabilities of the board need to be considered, for instance. If you’re aiming for a compact or low-power system (such as an HTPC or media server), then look for micro-ATX or mini-ITX boards. If you’re aiming for a regular desktop PC, a normal ATX board is the standard choice. If you’re aiming for power, get a board with robust overclocking features and plenty of support for cooling expansions.
The number of expansion slots is also worth taking into account. Smaller boards may only have a couple of slots, but that’s fine if they’re going in small systems. If you have plans for a multi-GPU setup, make sure there are plenty of PCIe slots. Some features, such as on-board wi-fi or USB 3.0, might negate the need for one of your expansion cards, so take that into account as well.
Most motherboard upgrades won’t present any problems with RAM, though smaller boards may have fewer slots, so take that into account if you currently have a full complement. There are two circumstances under which you’ll also be required to buy new RAM when you upgrade your motherboard, however: if your current system is old enough to use DDR2 or if your new system uses DDR4. If you’re upgrading from a DDR3 board to another DDR3 board, simply pull out your old RAM and put it in the new board, and it’ll work fine.
It’s worth noting that in the same way that the ability to overclock isn’t something featured on all CPUs, not every motherboard can do it either. If you’re planning to overclock, check that the motherboard’s chipset does actually support it. Some can’t overclock at all, some will only allow a limited overclock on the RAM, and others – usually the most expensive chipsets – can fully overclock both the RAM and the CPU.
Price & Manufacturer
Like graphics cards, motherboards are designed by specific companies (AMD and Intel) and then manufactured by third parties. Again, this means that the price and feature set of individual boards can fluctuate wildly based on the whims of the company putting them together, so you can assume the specs and advice given in these pages refer to the reference designs and may vary slightly.
So motherboard pricing runs a reasonably wide gamut, from £30 for the cheapest varieties (typically smaller or older models with fewer capabilities) to as much as £300 for the most featurepacked and advanced boards. That leaves a lot of room to manoeuvre when you’re looking for the right one.
If you buy an Intel-based board, then you’re unlikely to find anything using the newest chipsets for under £70. If you want something more modern, we’d recommend spending somewhere in the region of £80-£120. Above that, you’re buying specialist overclocking- and performance-focused hardware that casual users don’t need, but which gamers will be dead set on procuring.
AMD motherboards start just as cheap as Intel’s but top out much lower. You won’t find an AMD motherboard more expensive than £200 no matter how hard you try. That makes the sweet spot for current generation purchases come in a little lower, so if you budget between £60-£90 for an AMD board, then you’re sure to get something worth owning.
Once you’ve decided on a chipset and price range, you’ll then have to decide which manufacturer to go for. In the long term, the difference between manufacturers is reasonably small, since they all manufacture hardware using the same chipset specifications anyway. If you’re a casual user who doesn’t poke around inside your BIOS or case very much, you can probably base your decision on price alone without anything to worry about.
In particular, Intel’s own-brand motherboards are highly recommended for buyers who want to get a good deal on the price but who aren’t interested in flashy design elements or additional features. Pickier users may be interested to know that Asus boards are often considered to have the best balance between features and reliability, but it’s still a slim gap between Asus and its close competitors Gigabyte and MSI, so don’t worry if one of the latter manufacturers has a feature (or price) you prefer!
Current Chipsets
There are loads of chipsets on the market, and extensively explaining the capabilities of each would see us quickly running out of room. However, we can tell you what the latest generation of boards are, what they’re used for and crucially how they relate to previous generation hardware so that you know how to find your preferred options.
Intel Chipsets
Intel’s motherboard lines over the last few generations have come in six different chipsets. The letter prefix indicates the board’s purpose, and the number following indicates the position in the line. Q and B-prefixed chipsets are mostly aimed at business use, while H and Z boards are aimed at consumers.
The Intel 100-series chipset is designed for use with Skylake CPUs. They were first released in Q3 2015 and crucially aren’t backwards-compatible with earlier Intel chips, thanks to a revised socket type – LGA1151. They’ve dropped PCI support completely, and while they’re capable of supporting DDR4 RAM, many boards still use DDR3.
As ever, there are six different chipsets in the series, all of which are grouped together under the ‘Sunrise Point’ codename.
H110 will be the budget consumer chipset, with fewer PCIe lanes than the others – just six, all of which are PCIe 2.0. It will only have four SATA 6Gbps ports, no SATAe or PCIe M.2 support, up to four USB 3.0 ports and up to ten USB 2.0 ports. Previous H-series boards had a limited number of DIMM slots, no overclocking support, no SLI graphics support and no extra features like Intel Smart Response SSD caching, so expect a similar stripped-down approach when the H110 comes to market. Its previous generation equivalents are the Haswell H81 and the Ivy Bridge H71.
B150 motherboards are out now and break with Intel tradition by being aimed at gamers as well as business users. The B150 has eight PCIe 3.0 slots, six SATA 6Gbps ports, up to six USB 3.0 ports, up to 12 USB 2.0 ports and no PCIe m.2 support. They’re largely aimed at budget users, and again don’t support overclocking or SLI. The previous equivalents are (loosely) the Haswell B85 and the Ivy Bridge B75.
Q150 motherboards are aimed at business users and are due for release later this year. They’ll be similar to B150 boards but will support two more PCIe lanes, two more USB 3.0 ports and two more USB 2.0 ports. Its Haswell equivalent is the Q85, and the Ivy Bridge equivalent was the Q75.
H170 boards are out now and aimed at mainstream PCs, replacing the Haswell H87, Devil’s Canyon H97 and Ivy Bridge H77. They support 16 PCIe lanes, allowing for SLI mode graphics, six SATA 6Gbps ports, up to two SATAe ports, eight USB 3.0 ports, 14 USB 2.0 ports and two PCIe m.2 ports. Anyone building a standard home PC based on Skylake should start by looking at this line; the price is around £70-£100, making it quite reasonable.
Z170 boards are out now and aimed at gamers and enthusiasts. The business-focused version, the Q170, will follow later this year with similar specs. These boards have 20 PCIe 3.0 lanes, six SATA 6Gbps ports, up to three SATAe ports, up to ten USB 3.0 ports and up to 14 USB 2.0 ports. They also support up to three PCIe M.2 devices. The Z170 succeeds the Devil’s Canyon Z97, Haswell Z87 and Ivy Bridge Z77 with a complete set of features and full overclocking support. The Q170 doesn’t support overclocking but has extra enterprise features. If you want a high-end system for business or pleasure, these are the boards to look out for.
AMD Chipsets
AMD’s APU chips, which combine a CPU and GPU (like Intel Core chips), require a Socket FM2 or FM2+ depending on their generation. The current generation of Kaveri chips (including the Godavari refresh) use Socket FM2+, and their successor may also use this hardware. Socket FM2+ also accepts older Trinity and Richland chips, but not the first generation of APUs (Llano), which used Socket FM1.
The upshot of this is that if you’re buying a new AMD motherboard, you’re probably buying an FM2+ board. They have the most potential for upgrading and can accept at least one generation of older chips, and they may yet support the next version (AMD has announced it’ll be around until 2016 at least).
There are four main lines for AMD’s A-series chipsets, all of which can support Godavari features (though some may require a BIOS update to enable the newest capabilities).
The A58 motherboards are entry-level FM2+ boards, recommended for use with A4 and A6 APUs. They support dual-graphics (meaning an APU and compatible graphics card). Technically, the A58 has been replaced by the A68H, meaning A58 boards are very cheap. They’re commonly cut down, with two DIMM slots, one PCIe 3.0 slot, one PCIe 2.0 slot and USB 2.0/SATA 3Gbps. Solidly last-generation stuff. They may suit budget system builders and those putting together compact systems, but at this point they’re largely to be avoided outside of a specialist context.
A68H boards are a safer bet, aimed at home users with moderate needs. They’re also designed to be paired with A4 and A6 APUs, with the same dual-graphics capability as the A58, but they also have native support for four SATA 6Gbps ports and two USB 3.0 ports.
A78 motherboards support PCIe 3.0, have a native six SATA 6Gbps ports and four USB 3.0 ports. They’re designed to operate with A8 and A6 APUs, and they even support limited levels of overclocking, making them a good choice for casual gamers.
A88X boards are at the top of the heap, though. They support full CrossFire multi-GPU systems and full overclocking of the A10 and A8 chips they’re designed to pair with. They also support advanced storage, like RAID, and have four USB 3.0 ports, ten USB 2.0 ports and six SATA 3Gbps ports.
If it looks like AMD’s motherboards don’t quite match up to Intel’s, that’s largely because they’re older, though keep in mind that they are also cheaper even at the high end. AMD’s next refresh isn’t due for a good six months yet and maybe even longer – the company’s plans are deliberately foggy, at this point.
If you are after an AMD motherboard, the A88X is the only one we can really recommend, mainly because it’s the only one that comes close to Intel’s offerings. But it’s still quite far out of date by those standards, and when you’re buying a new system or upgrading an existing one, it seems like a bad call to buy hardware this near to the end of its life cycle.
Ultimately, it’s fair to say that buying the perfect motherboard isn’t easy, but buying one that works is, so don’t get too hung up on the specific differences between very similar models. As long as your hardware fits into it, you’ll get by on basically any motherboard. But knowing enough to make an informed choice means you’ll never have to pay for features you don’t need or can’t use.