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Best Motherboards For The Money: October 2014
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1. Best Motherboards For The Money: October 2014

A boon to experts and beginners alike, performance standardization allows most of us to choose a motherboard based solely upon its CPU interface, on-board features, and price tag. On the other hand, continuous additions to our motherboard collection leave many readers without the time to read everything. We understand, and are here to help with a shorter list of award-winning products that you'll probably want to investigate further. First, pick a CPU (we can help there, too). And now for the part that lets your host processor shine:

October 2014 Updates

The past month saw Intel replace LGA 2011 with LGA 2011-v3, upgrading eight of the platform's USB 2.0 ports to USB 3.0, upgrading four of its SATA 3Gb/s ports to SATA 6Gb/s, enabling the previously disabled SAS controller as additional SATA 6Gb/s, and replacing the processor's integrated DDR3 memory controller with DDR4. That last change also required a new pin-out, which explains why Intel changed the corresponding interface.

AMD continues to gradually de-emphasize its Socket AM3+-based processors, but the motherboards have become extremely cost-effective since our most recent review. These could still be a great choice for someone whose need for lots of PCI Express connectivity might otherwise exceed their budget.

Top AMD Motherboards: Updated October 2014

AMD 990FX

AMD A88X

AMD AM1

Top Intel Motherboards: Updated October 2014

Intel X99

Intel Z97