Motherboard knowledge help

[owenrees1]

I have never been sure on this, but what do the letters in front of the numbers of a motherboard actually mean? (eg Z87, or B85) Can someone tell me please?

[Aytex]

in murica people say z (zee) in euroup they say z (zed) lol

Go with Z97 its the most popular choice and you wont need to update your bios

[Taswell]

the Slightly different chipset and firmware versions on different revisions of motherboards.

[owenrees1]

Does it mean it has more/less features?

[ManIkWeet]

Does it mean it has more/less features?

It depends on the manufacturer, Z is mostly overclocking based.

[owenrees1]

It depends on the manufacturer, Z is mostly overclocking based.

Can you still overclock on other motherboards, and if so, how limited is the overclocking?

[typographie]

Does it mean it has more/less features?

 

Basically 'Z' represents the highest feature set of that particular chipset generation.

 

Intel officially supports adjusting clock speed multipliers on the Z-series chipsets only, and then only when a K-series (i5-4690K) processor is installed. Overclocking is technically possible on other platforms by adjusting the base clock (BLCK) but it's neither very effective nor a particularly good idea to do since several other system buses derive their speeds from a multiple of the BLCK.

 

Certain motherboard vendors have allowed motherboards with lesser chipsets to adjust their CPU multipliers through BIOS updates, presumably against Intel's wishes. It's discussed a little here. I definitely wouldn't want to rely on it, though.

[Caloon]

I can simplify it for you. 
Z - Highes range and it's good for overclocking

H - It's a good midrange motherboard

97 - the 9 in just an generation just like the 4 in i7 4790

87 has the same socket as 97 exept it's one generation older (than 97)

Personally go with z97 if you want to overclock, otherwise take H97 (cheap and good performance)

[LogicalDrm]

Does it mean it has more/less features?

They refer to Intel chipsets. Z97 and H97 being newest on with most features. Z means overclocking capability. H is basicly same but without overclocking features. H8* (except H87) and B85 are chipsets meant for office builds or other cost efficient ones.