How to Buy a Motherboard: A Guide for 2021

Choosing the best motherboard is in many ways the most integral part of your PC build, although choosing the best graphics card and best CPU often get more attention. Every part of your PC plugs into the motherboard you choose. Its form factor dictates the size of your computer and how much you can plug into it, and the chipset / CPU socket define what kind of processor you can install.

Motherboards (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
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SocketsEnthusiast/MainstreamHEDT
IntelLGA 1200LGA 2066
AMDAM4TR4

After a rough start with the Mattel Aquarius as a child, Matt built his first PC in the late 1990s and ventured into mild PC modding in the early 2000s. He’s spent the last 15 years covering emerging technology for Smithsonian, Popular Science, and Consumer Reports, while testing components and PCs for Computer Shopper, PCMag and Digital Trends.

  • abryant
    Archived comments are found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3739259/choose-motherboard.html
    Reply
  • Rexer
    It use be I'd count all the features a motherboard has when I'd shop for a motherboard. Then I discovered how much heat some boards make than others. I started counting MOSFETs and VRMs as a measure there would be enough power control.
    Nawww, If there isn't quality built into the board, it's as useless as buying a the cheapest board available. Bawh.
    I began reading what boards other people had that were reliable, cool and ran pee-chee. A lot of research. Then again, what isn't? I lost a new computer to a bad power supply. A reputable company, too. And every year, I learning stuff that I never see in reviews.
    Don't get me wrong, reviews are important. It's the combination of reviews, features, quality, price, user experience and reputation. And if the products been around a year or two, the reliability of how well it still performs and runs are gems to be counted.
    What do I need or what do I plan to do with the machine I build around it? That's a good question too. I seem to over spend on computer testosterone to just get bragging rights. Now I just build for the application, like beating the rich kid online who has the monster computer with game cheats on daddy's credit card (a feel good thing).
    It sure is a good thing to read Tom's Hardware. It makes manufacturers accountable to computer world. Helps us older guys keep an edge.
    Reply