Buyers Motherboard Guide

Our Buying computer motherboard guide

Computer motherboard guide

Computer motherboards are the main bulk of any computer system. All the parts slot in to the motherboard for the computer to function. There is a wide range of motherboards available. I have purchased many motherboards over the years, so I will share with you the best place to buy and what to look for in this motherboard guide.

Motherboards vary depending on budget, however there is some aspects I would like to recommend regardless of your budget. If you are curious to find the best deals on motherboards search online. The main things you will need to look out for when buying a motherboard are the type of processor the board supports, the type of memory, what hard drive speeds and types, whether you want onboard graphics and sound, and what kind of ports does it offer. For example USB and FireWire is the standard at the moment. Below I will give you an overview of what I mean for this motherboard guide.

The CPU

You want a motherboard that supports AMD or Intel processors. Depending on your budget you can go for a lower end Celeron processor, an AMD or a Pentium 4. Personally I always go with AMD, they are far cheaper than Intel, and match them well in terms of performance.

The different types of motherboards for these processors are socket A for AMD, socket 370 for Pentium 3 and Celeron, and finally socket 478 for Pentium 4. There are more, however because my site is based at the less technical minded computer user, I like to keep things simple.

To summarize the above, you need to buy a motherboard that will support the type of processor you plan to use. If you are after a high-end system, go with an AMD or a Pentium 4, however if you’re after a lower end system, go with the socket 370 for Pentium 3 and Celeron processors.

The Memory

You will want your motherboard to support the type of memory you have or plan to use. Again keeping things simple, I will outline the three popular and most used types.

DDR SDRAM

SD RAM

RD RAM

Hard drive speed and types

Today’s motherboards will support ultra DMA 33 to 133 MHz. I’m currently using a DMA 100 hard drive. You can use any speed of drive on the motherboard, however it will only work at that speed. New motherboards come with the raid function. I plan to use this on my next system. You can use 4 hard drives and have them act as 1. This would mean your hard drive would be running at 4 times the hard drive speeds. This would make for one fast hard drive!

The ports

Setting aside standard ports, such as LPT1 etc. Your new motherboard should support USB 2 and for those who want even faster devices, fire wire. I have not used firewire although my current system does support it. It does offer far greater speeds than USB.

On board graphics and Sound on your motherboard

For those of you who want to save money, you can get the video and sound integrated on to the motherboard. This does affect performance and is not an option for those wanting a high-end system, however for budget users this is an excellent and affordable option. On board graphics are slow and I wouldn’t recommend them for gaming. For Internet surfing and DVD movies they will work fine. The sound integration has always worked well for me, and I use this on my current system.