How much of a PC's performance is decided by the motherboard?

[noodlespinbot]

How much  of  PC'S performance is affected by the motherboard? Like not the maximum for upgrades the performance.

[ProjectBox153]

In most cases essentially none, provided it supports your hardware.

[dizmo]

Depends what you mean by performance. If overclocking, it can be noticeable. If bottom end, not much. Kind of an open ended question.

 

Just now, ProjectBox153 said:

In most cases essentially none, provided it supports your hardware.

Actually even between Z series boards you can see 5 - 6 fps difference in performance. So, while not massive, it's not nothing.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, dizmo said:

Actually even between Z series boards you can see 5 - 6 fps difference in performance. So, while not massive, it's not nothing.

Really? What's the reasoning for that?

[GoodEnough]

a lot of high end ram performance and a good chunk of a cpu's oc potential is based on if you have a good motherboard or not.

 

but thats really about it

[dizmo]

2 minutes ago, ProjectBox153 said:

Really? What's the reasoning for that?

That's just what the testing showed. 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

If you're talking about audio performance, then immensely since it's all handled by the onboard audio circuitry unless you have an add-in sound card or external DAC.

[Moonzy]

depends

but majority of the answer is no

 

OC = VRM quality / chipset

connections = chipsets (and if motherboard vendor implements them)

[Bombama]

2 performance.

[noodlespinbot]

4 minutes ago, Bombama said:

2 performance.

?

[Fasauceome]

15 minutes ago, ProjectBox153 said:

Really? What's the reasoning for that?

 

12 minutes ago, dizmo said:

That's just what the testing showed. 

Board partners will fudge some extra CPU speed by nudging the base clock up a percent or two where possible.

 

But once you get into the realm of overclocking, it's pretty insignificant. 

 

As for budget boards, @noodlespinbot as long as the VRM isn't so weak that the CPU drops clocks, there's really no difference. In practice, what that means is don't use a 6 core 12 thread CPU on a motherboard with bare VRMs and you're good

[noodlespinbot]

thanks everyone

[jones177]

The only time I did a comparison was with a i7 6700k.

The boards were an ASUS Z170 Pro vs ASUS Maximus Hero VII.

The Hero ran a lot cooler and the CPU performed a lot better. 

 

In games the Hero was so smooth the CPU ran more like a 6 core than a 4 core. 

 

The computer with the Pro board was dismantled for parts at the beginning of last year but Hero is still going strong.

 

After that experience I only buy Heros or Aurus boards even if the CPUs will not be overclocked because they are smoother and cause no stutter.