I don't understand motherboards... What do I need to know?

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MrCanEHdian

MrCanEHdian

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Apr 9, 2014
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Good morning, at least in this part of Canada.

So I've been looking at motherboards, trying to learn what is important... And I still have no idea what I'm looking at. The technical specs don't make much sense to me.

I'm hoping I can ask for help here, specifically about what I should look for in a motherboard?

I'm wanting to build a gaming PC within the coming months, and want high quality hardware. I plan on going with an i5 4670k and GTX 770 or 780. I don't want to spend high amounts of money on a nice board if it is not necessary, but if you feel a high priced MOBO is important, what should I look for?
What is important? What should I want?

I don't know how to tell if a wireless card and sound card are included.

Is the MSI Z87-G45 ($169.99 CAD) enough? Or the Asus Maximum VI Hero ($229.99 CAD), or would a more simply, $100 card be enough?

I need to know what is crucial to present and near future gaming, and what features I should want/expect/look for. I would like a wireless card and decent audio, don't know much about sound cards or wireless cards though.

Thank you for your time. I don't mean to come of as angry or annoyed, but I'm somewhat distraught, as I feel way out of my league.

*update*

I also have no idea what a 6Gb/s SATA is, how important it is, and how many a MOBO should have.

What is a PCI-E 3.0?

How important is USB 3.0 over USB 2.0? I know 3.0 is faster, much faster, is that it?





 
Solution
smorizio
in a few months the newer intel brodwell cpu will be out and the newer x9x intel chipset mb.
on intel motherboards there two main chipsets the h and z. the h chipset are used for the smaller mini side atx mb and have 2 or 4 ram slots and the cpu is a locked cpu. (cant over clock). most times these mb run in the 80-120 range.
the h level mb will have few sata ports and extra port then there gaming motherboard that use the z chipset.
most the the h mb are used for entry level gamer with one gpu. (not going to sli or crossfire).
the z chipset are made for people thta going to sli or crossfire and overclock the cpu. most of the z mb are set up for 2 card sli or crossfire. but be care full read the motherboard spec a lot of the low end z...
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mickypheonix

mickypheonix

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Mar 9, 2014
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we are here to help there are no dumb questions , ask what is this ? , what does this do ? why do i need this ? what is the better option here ?
you get the point , educate yourself before jumping in the deep end , it is not rocket science to build a pc and understand components
 
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smorizio

smorizio

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Jan 22, 2010
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in a few months the newer intel brodwell cpu will be out and the newer x9x intel chipset mb.
on intel motherboards there two main chipsets the h and z. the h chipset are used for the smaller mini side atx mb and have 2 or 4 ram slots and the cpu is a locked cpu. (cant over clock). most times these mb run in the 80-120 range.
the h level mb will have few sata ports and extra port then there gaming motherboard that use the z chipset.
most the the h mb are used for entry level gamer with one gpu. (not going to sli or crossfire).
the z chipset are made for people thta going to sli or crossfire and overclock the cpu. most of the z mb are set up for 2 card sli or crossfire. but be care full read the motherboard spec a lot of the low end z mb now have one pci slot at 16x then other wired at 4x. all newer mb now have sata 6g and usb 3.0 ports. the newer x9x chipset will have more ports then the older x8x mb. in a standard setup you only need two sat 6g ports one for the ssd and one for the main hard drive. the cd rom cant max out a sata 2g port. wifi look at price on the newer 5g set up. depending on where you live your area could be clogged with 2.4g n routers. sound cards most new motherboards come with realtek audio chipset.
not bad sounding sound chipset. some people can hear the difference between onboard and a creative labs sound card or asus one. on a gaming pc start with a good case. look for a case with good fan set up and where you can place wires behind the mb tray like the cosair r300-r400. the pick up a good power supply (cosair or seasonic). if your going to sli or crossfire the npick up a 850-1000w unit. for the gpu I hold off on buying as nvidia dropping the maxwell (800) line of the gpu some time this year when they get the 20mm gpu yield up. on motherboards now there two layouts the gaming mb.
the asus rog line as you can see made for gpu and the other slots would be covered for larger two slot gpu.
http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z87PRO/
if you look at this mb you can see that the layout would give you one or two extra slots for a sound card and having a large video card or sli rig. if you do go with a rog or gaming mb with that slot layout you can buy a usb wifi stick and save you pci slots for a sound card.

 
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Solution
Austin Myers

Austin Myers

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Aug 22, 2013
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The motherboard itself won't improve your performance when gaming or anything else however it's the foundation of your computer, it's imperative for stability and making your PC run smooth. What I would recommend you do is to know all the features you will be using. For instance if you'll be using multiple monitors that's something to consider. The socket is the number one thing when dealing with compatibility. Also take into consideration the future and what you might want to upgrade. USB 3.0 is much faster like you said however there aren't many things that use 3.0. If you have a 3.0 port and you're using a 2.0 cord (which is 90% of the time) then you're not going to see any benefit. Considering your CPU and GPU I would recommend the "MSI Z87-G45" it will no doubt be adequate for your needs and you won't have any issues. Do keep in mind that the MSI only comes with 2 SATA cables, SATA cables are what you use to connect any of your hard drives, or optical drives to your motherboard so if you will be using more than 1 hard drive and 1 optical drive you will have to get more (don't worry though they're very easy to find and cheap). So overall I think you'll be perfectly fine with the MSI and the money you save purchasing the MSI instead of the ASUS will vastly improve your performance if you put it into your CPU, GPU, or decide to get an SSD. Don't get to caught up in all the specifics of a motherboard it can daunting with so many specs and so many options but luckily motherboards aren't going to be the make or break component of your gaming rig. Good luck! Hope I helped and if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.
 
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MrCanEHdian

MrCanEHdian

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You definitely helped, that's great. I think I will go with the MSI board then, it seems good. I only need and want one monitor either 720p or 1080p and one HDD, probably 500Gb. I may, in the future, want an SSD, but not sure. I will be using an i5 4670k and either a GTX 770 or GTX 780 (can't decide which I need or should buy).
 
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