How to know what motherboard to go for?

DH · May 30, 2016

Hi everyone I was thinking about upgrading my cpu but to do that i'd need a new motherboard, however there are so many to choose from and it's difficult to know which ones best for you (gaming btw)

Thanks

HeyKitty · May 30, 2016

try to buy a red/black motherboard as those are built for extreme gaming... /s

as long as it'll work with the rest of your parts, the motherboard is a boring part.

just use PCpartpicker to browse hundreds of boards.

Lurick · May 30, 2016

Do you have a processor in mind? How about a color scheme?

EunSoo · May 30, 2016

Depends on the CPU you want to get and how much you want to pay for it

Lotus · May 30, 2016

Motherboards have no performance features. Just a featureset. In terms of compatability, you need to get the right socket/chipset, and make sure your motherboard has sufficient power delivery for the CPU you plan on using. On Intel, power delivery is a non-issue since all high TDP chips are on a separate socket and all of those boards have beefy power delivery. On AMD, you have to pay attention. After that, it's just featureset. H110 chipset boards only have 2 DIMMs, do not support overclocking, and don't support multi-GPU. There are other things like less SATA3 ports, but they still have enough for an SSD/HDD so it's no problem. H170 has 4 DIMMs, and a few other stuff that doesn't really matter, and Z170 supports overclocking of K series CPUs as well as overclocking of memory (all other chipsets only run at 2133).

Basically, once you know the featureset you're going to end up using, any board that has that featureset will be identical in your usage, so you can then choose based upon price, looks, and brand.

DH · May 30, 2016

I have a cx600 psu

gtx 970

and a hdd and 2 ssds

Im planning on getting a i-7 4770k and a memory thing

would this be a good option - https://www.amazon.co.uk/MAXIMUS-FORMULA-LGA1150-Intel-4xDDR3/dp/B00E5YRQXQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1464544327&sr=1-1&keywords=Asus+MAXIMUS+VI+FORMULA+LGA1150+Intel+Z87+4xDDR3+max.+32GB+HDMI+8CH+Audio+ATX+by+ASUS or get something with ddr4 or sommet?

1 hour ago, Lotus said:

Motherboards have no performance features. Just a featureset. In terms of compatability, you need to get the right socket/chipset, and make sure your motherboard has sufficient power delivery for the CPU you plan on using. On Intel, power delivery is a non-issue since all high TDP chips are on a separate socket and all of those boards have beefy power delivery. On AMD, you have to pay attention. After that, it's just featureset. H110 chipset boards only have 2 DIMMs, do not support overclocking, and don't support multi-GPU. There are other things like less SATA3 ports, but they still have enough for an SSD/HDD so it's no problem. H170 has 4 DIMMs, and a few other stuff that doesn't really matter, and Z170 supports overclocking of K series CPUs as well as overclocking of memory (all other chipsets only run at 2133).

Basically, once you know the featureset you're going to end up using, any board that has that featureset will be identical in your usage, so you can then choose based upon price, looks, and brand.

jeonjaeng · May 30, 2016

2 minutes ago, DH said:

I have a cx600 psu

gtx 970

and a hdd and 2 ssds

Im planning on getting a i-7 4770k and a memory thing

would this be a good option - https://www.amazon.co.uk/MAXIMUS-FORMULA-LGA1150-Intel-4xDDR3/dp/B00E5YRQXQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1464544327&sr=1-1&keywords=Asus+MAXIMUS+VI+FORMULA+LGA1150+Intel+Z87+4xDDR3+max.+32GB+HDMI+8CH+Audio+ATX+by+ASUS or get something with ddr4 or sommet?

You should aim to spend between 100-150 on a motherboard IMO for this use, just look at socket, pricerange, and colorscheme, then see which one has the features that you need

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