The Motherboard - Choosing a Motherboard

- Part Two

If you are in the market for a new motherboard, there are several things you need to consider to make a good choice.  If you wish to use your existing CPU, you are limited to buying a motherboard that accepts that type of CPU.  However, if you wish to upgrade both the motherboard and the CPU, you have many more options.

There are two routes -- choosing a motherboard to match a specific CPU, or choosing a CPU to match a specific motherboard.  Deciding how the computer will be used will determine which combination of CPU and motherboard you should buy.

Most computer programs will operate without problems on almost any combination of motherboard and CPU.  It is only when you are using the computer for special applications like CAD, video editing, multitrack music recording, or games that you need to pay special attention to choosing a motherboard.

Games are some of the most CPU intensive applications around.  The latest games rely on state-of-the-art processors and video cards to show off their maximum potential.  Video editing also requires a lot of processing power especially when using a lot of transition effects.  CAD (Computer Aided Design) and audio editing are number three in requirements for computer power.

Each of these applications has different requirements for add-on cards.  High-end video cards are required for both games and video editing, but are not so important for audio work or CAD.  Sound cards are not necessary for CAD but are needed for the other three types of applications.  Sound recording is not important for gaming but is needed for both video and audio work.

Expansion Slots

Motherboards have expansion slots to accept other cards like video cards and audio cards.  Most motherboards will have four or five PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slots for accepting add-on cards like network adapters, modems, audio cards, or extra USB slots.  In addition, there should be an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) slot for a 3-D graphics card.

PCI slots have a bus speed of 33 MHz and AGP slots are rated at 66 MHz.  Both of these are set to be replaced by a new standard -- PCI Express.

Other Connections

Other things that can be installed in the computer case are the hard drive, the CD or DVD drive and the floppy disk drive.  These are usually connected through the IDE interface, although some motherboards also support other types of drives such as SCSI or SATA.  It is important to know the type of interface on the motherboard when buying hard drives and CD-ROM drives.

A final consideration when buying a motherboard is the form factor.  This is the size and layout of the motherboard and determines the kind of case that is needed.  Form factors also determine the number of slots that can be added to the motherboard.

There is a huge selection of motherboards on the market today.  The price range is from less than $50 to over $1000.  Before choosing which motherboard to buy, you must seriously consider how the computer is going to be used.  Processor intensive applications like CAD and some computer games require top-of-the-line components.  Computers that will be used for browsing the net and word processing do not need as much power.