What are the DOs and DONTs of buying a mobo? What should I look out for?

[Millios]

What are some stuff i should keep in mind when buying a mobo?
I do understand basics such as am slots are for amd and lga slots are for intel but i am asking mostly about others such as ram slots, storage slots or even more usb types?Or what the namings such as B650 or A550
are and are they a huge factor?

what are the basic criteria ii should keep in mind?

[Poinkachu]

3 minutes ago, Millios said:

B650 or A550

These are chipset name

Usually they're pretty much "Tier"-ed, higher end chipset having more features or atleast I/O.

Example, AM4 :

[tkitch]

you're in a dangerous spot between "not knowing enough" and "wanting to know too much"

 

So for a normal user (not buying the most powerful CPU from a company, not overclocking, etc.)

 

Here's what you usually want to keep an eye out for:

 

The "B" Series boards (B650 and B660/B760 currently for AMD/Intel) are solid middle of the road options, and support enough features to make most people happy.

 

The *70 (AMD) and *90 (Intel) are usually slightly higher end chipsets, but also more expensive.  But if they're a reasonable price, they're also a damned good option.

 

Otherwise the only thing to really look for:

Does it have enough IO for you?  
IO to look out for:
USB C, USB A, What type of USB?  Thunderbolt?  Etc.  (WIFI onboard if you need/want it)

Also an important one:  M.2 Slots

 

Beyond that, not nearly as much matters, as most people add a GPU and nothing else to PCIE Slots.

 

If you're wanting to buy high-end, there's more to know, but that's a dangerous (and expensive) path to follow, so don't do that unless you know you need to

[RONOTHAN##]

Generally, there's 4 criteria you need to worry about when buying a motherboard:

1. Is the VRM good enough to power the best CPU you're liable to put in the motherboard?
   1. if you're only planning on using a 12100F or a 7600, this doesn't matter, though if you're planning on using a 14900K or a 7950X at some point you'll want to make sure the motherboard is capable of powering it without overheating. 
2. Does the motherboard have all the features you need?
   1. This is things like USB ports, expansion slots, Thunderbolt, RAM support, and other weird features you might need (I.E. debug features if this motherboard will be on a test bench). Making sure the board is actually compatible with the rest of the system also applies here
3. Is the motherboard free of any known issues that make it worth avoiding?
   1. This could be anything from design decisions that make it annoying to use (I.E. Gigabyte's Dual BIOS system on the B550 Master tends to make memory overclocking on that board a nightmare) to BIOS problems in recent reviews (I.E. A lot of MSI's non-refresh Z790 boards have had BIOS issues with the 14700K that are just now beginning to be fixed) to things like quality assurance problems (I.E. Z790 Apexes showing up bent). 
4. Can you stand the aesthetics of the board?
   1. This is the least important thing, but it's things like if you want a white system, get a white board, and if you don't care about aesthetics, don't look at this.

Find the cheapest motherboard that answers yes to all of those questions and go for that board. 

 

11 minutes ago, Millios said:

Or what the namings such as B650 or A550

This is the chipset. B650 is the AM5 midrange chipset, while A550 doesn't exist (I'm assuming you mean A520, which is the AM4 low end chipset). This controls some of the features of the motherboard like the ability to overclock, but a lot of this will be more down to board to board variances. 

 

12 minutes ago, Millios said:

I do understand basics such as am slots are for amd and lga slots are for intel

Nowadays, even AMD uses LGA sockets (AM5 is also known as LGA 1718), though yeah, AMD advertises their socket as AM# and Intel does it as LGA XXXX.

 

13 minutes ago, Millios said:

i am asking mostly about others such as ram slots, storage slots or even more usb types?

This is #2 in the reasoning above, it's the features of the motherboard and it's a question that can only really be answered by you. Do you need the capacity that 4 RAM slots allows for? How many SSDs/HDDs are you going to try and install in your system? How many USB devices are you going to use and what speed are they going to run at? 

[podkall]

14 minutes ago, Millios said:

What are some stuff i should keep in mind when buying a mobo?

you don't have to, you can ask here if the MB you chosen is good, or get recommended one for your CPU/use case,

 

many MB get increased features for 100$ that nobody will ever use,

 

or overpriced overpowered VRMs that are basically waste of money for basic user,

 

16 minutes ago, Millios said:

I do understand basics such as am slots are for amd and lga slots are for intel but i am asking mostly about others such as ram slots, storage slots or even more usb types?

no need, socket is for CPU, if it maches the CPU it can be installed on the motherboard,

ram slots differ in type and count, DDR4 and DDR5, 2 or 4 usually,

 

storage connects through mainly 2 types, M.2 and SATA, nobody uses sata that much, unless it's for bulk HDD storage but most people will just buy big M.2 SSD instead,

 

etc. etc. so much info you won't need and will probably forget about if it's just for knowing what parts to buy, we have subtopic for specific parts -> we have topic for full build recommendation, regardless if it's new, upgrade, etc.

[Millios]

5 minutes ago, podkall said:

you don't have to, you can ask here if the MB you chosen is good, or get recommended one for your CPU/use case,

 

many MB get increased features for 100$ that nobody will ever use,

 

or overpriced overpowered VRMs that are basically waste of money for basic user,

 

no need, socket is for CPU, if it maches the CPU it can be installed on the motherboard,

ram slots differ in type and count, DDR4 and DDR5, 2 or 4 usually,

 

storage connects through mainly 2 types, M.2 and SATA, nobody uses sata that much, unless it's for bulk HDD storage but most people will just buy big M.2 SSD instead,

 

etc. etc. so much info you won't need and will probably forget about if it's just for knowing what parts to buy, we have subtopic for specific parts -> we have topic for full build recommendation, regardless if it's new, upgrade, etc.

Other than wanting to know what to buy, Im also in a position where i might need to change my own, buy for others for their needs/wants or outright build for them. I do know about the build chanel but If i want info about a specific topic such as only gpus or in this case mobos to my understanding its better to go under the specific part section. Do let me know if im mistaken there
tho i will most likely be asking for recommendations at some points as regardless of knowledge accumulated having other view points is important to me to for a decision that i deem conclusive and all around correct or at least better.

[podkall]

18 minutes ago, Millios said:

Other than wanting to know what to buy, Im also in a position where i might need to change my own, buy for others for their needs/wants or outright build for them. I do know about the build chanel but If i want info about a specific topic such as only gpus or in this case mobos to my understanding its better to go under the specific part section. Do let me know if im mistaken there
tho i will most likely be asking for recommendations at some points as regardless of knowledge accumulated having other view points is important to me to for a decision that i deem conclusive and all around correct or at least better.

you can get some rough knowledge when you're active here and you look for new build posts, even though it being repetitive there can be some caveats that can help you get the understanding of things

 

alternatively people here sometimes post about new builds for other people seeking advice

[Caroline]

My don't(s) are

• Boards marketed as "gaming"
• Wireless anything
• Shared lanes between M.2 and SATA (if you install an M.2 drive then you lose 1/2 SATA ports)
• Only one M.2 slot
• Onboard/CPU video output
• Chunks of plastic covering the board to make it "look good". Just no.
• Less than 3 fan headers.
• Manufacturers that don't include the manual or driver disc because "you can scan this QR with your phone".
• Gigabyte products

 

I got tired of gaming boards being crap and CPUs being the same but factory overclocked so I built a workstation, pretty happy with it. And I can also play games.

[starsmine]

6 hours ago, Caroline said:

My don't(s) are

• Boards marketed as "gaming"
• Wireless anything
• Shared lanes between M.2 and SATA (if you install an M.2 drive then you lose 1/2 SATA ports)
• Only one M.2 slot
• Onboard/CPU video output
• Chunks of plastic covering the board to make it "look good". Just no.
• Less than 3 fan headers.
• Manufacturers that don't include the manual or driver disc because "you can scan this QR with your phone".
• Gigabyte products

 

I got tired of gaming boards being crap and CPUs being the same but factory overclocked so I built a workstation, pretty happy with it. And I can also play games.

Lately I have found gaming boards to be the ones meet my requirements, not because of gaming but for whatever reason they have started to brand half their line up gaming. 

Having or not having wifi to me is inconsequential, having it doesnt make a board worse. 

When was the last time anyone has used a driver disk? even 15 years ago they were always woefully out of date and you were better off going to the website. 

honestly, unfortunately there are a LOT of boards that came out in the last year on B650 that have unacceptably bad VRM set ups, that all cost over 120USD, which is crazy to me. it should not be possible to buy a mobo for 130 usd and find out it thermal throttles when providing 130W, but somehow, here we are. I thought we had gotten past the point of having to worry a significant amount about that other then on low end boards, but I guess not. 

[podkall]

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

My don't(s) are

• Boards marketed as "gaming"
• Wireless anything
• Shared lanes between M.2 and SATA (if you install an M.2 drive then you lose 1/2 SATA ports)
• Only one M.2 slot
• Onboard/CPU video output
• Chunks of plastic covering the board to make it "look good". Just no.
• Less than 3 fan headers.
• Manufacturers that don't include the manual or driver disc because "you can scan this QR with your phone".
• Gigabyte products

 

I got tired of gaming boards being crap and CPUs being the same but factory overclocked so I built a workstation, pretty happy with it. And I can also play games.

things are different, gaming boards are good and some are perfect while only maybe having the share between SATA and M.2, but not everyone is planning to buy several HDDs and run them