Motherboards - all the information you need to know

In this post we will compile the keys that every user should know about motherboards. It is not only about knowing the chipset and buying for prices, a motherboard is where all the hardware and peripherals of our computer will be connected. Knowing its different components and knowing how to choose them in each situation will be essential to make a successful purchase.

We already have a guide with all the models, so here we will focus on giving an overview of what we can find in them.

Index of contents

What are motherboards

A motherboard is the hardware platform on which all the internal components of a computer are connected. It is a complex electrical circuit provided with numerous slots to connect from expansion cards such as a graphics card, to storage units such as SATA hard drives via cable or SSD in M.2 slots.

Most importantly, the motherboard is the medium or pathway through which all data circulating in a computer travels from one point to another. Through the PCI Express bus for example, the CPU shares video information with the graphics card. Similarly, through the PCI lanes, the chipset or south bridge sends information from the hard drives to the CPU, and the same thing happens between the CPU and RAM.

The final power of the motherboard will depend on the number of data lines, the number of internal connectors and slots, and the power of the chipset. We will see everything there is to know about them.

Available sizes and main uses of motherboards

In the market we can find a series of motherboard size formats that will largely determine the utility and the way to install them. They will be the following.

• ATX: This will be the most common form factor in a desktop PC, in which case the same ATX type or so-called middle tower will be inserted into a chassis. This board measures 305 × 244 mm and generally has a capacity for 7 expansion slots. E-ATX: It will be the largest desktop motherboard available, except for some special sizes like XL-ATX. Its measurements are 305 x 330 mm and can have 7 or more expansion slots. Its widespread use corresponds to computers oriented to Workstation or desktop enthusiast level with X399 and X299 chipsets for AMD or Intel. Many of the ATX chassis are compatible with this format, otherwise we would have to go to a full tower chassis. Micro-ATX: these boards are smaller than the ATX, measuring 244 x 244 mm, being completely square. Currently their use is quite limited, since they do not have a great advantage in terms of space optimization because there are smaller formats. There are also specific chassis formats for them, but they will almost always be mounted on ATX chassis, and they have space for 4 expansion slots. Mini ITX and mini DTX: this format has been displacing the previous one, since it is ideal for mounting small multimedia computers and even gaming. The ITX boards measure only 170 x 170 mm and are the most widespread in their class. They only have one PCIe slot and two DIMM slots, but we shouldn't underestimate their power, because some of them are surprising. On the DTX side, they are 203 x 170mm, slightly longer to accommodate two expansion slots.

We have other special sizes that cannot be considered standardized, for example, the motherboards of laptops or those that mount the new HTPC. Likewise, we have specific sizes for the servers depending on the manufacturer, which cannot normally be purchased by a home user.

Motherboard platform and major manufacturers

When we talk about the platform to which a motherboard belongs, we are simply referring to the socket or socket that it has. This is the socket where the CPU is connected, and can be of different types depending on the generation of the processor. The two current platforms are Intel and AMD, which can be divided into desktop, laptop, miniPC and Workstation.

The current sockets have a connection system called ZIF (Zero insection Force) indicating that we do not need to force to make the connection. In addition to this, we can classify it into three generic types depending on the type of interconnection:

• PGA: Pin Grid Array or Pin Grid Array. The connection is made through an array of pins installed directly on the CPU. These pins must fit into the socket holes of the motherboard and then a lever system fixes them. They allow lower connection density than the following. LGA: Land Grid Array or grid contact array. The connection in this case is an array of pins installed in the socket and flat contacts in the CPU. The CPU is placed on the socket and with a bracket that presses on the IHS the system is fixed. BGA: Ball Grid Array or Ball Grid Array. Basically, it is the system for installing processors in laptops, permanently soldering the CPU to the socket.

Intel sockets

Now we will see in this table all the current and less current sockets that Intel has used since the era of Intel Core processors.

Socket	Year	CPU Supported	Contacts	information
LGA 1366	2008	Intel Core i7 (900 series) Intel Xeon (3500, 3600, 5500, 5600 series)	1366	Replaces server-oriented LGA 771 socket
LGA 1155	2011	Intel i3, i5, i7 2000 series Intel Pentium G600 and Celeron G400 and G500	1155	First to support 20 PCI-E Lanes
LGA 1156	2009	Intel Core i7 800 Intel Core i5 700 and 600 Intel Core i3 500 Intel Xeon X3400, L3400 Intel Pentium G6000 Intel Celeron G1000	1156	Replaces the LGA 775 socket
LGA 1150	2013	4th and 5th generation Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 (Haswell and Broadwell)	1150	Used for 4th and 5th gen 14nm Intel
LGA 1151	2015 and present	Intel Core i3, i5, i7 6000 and 7000 (6th and 7th generation Skylake and Kaby Lake) Intel Core i3, i5, i7 8000 and 9000 (8th and 9th generation Coffee Lake) Intel Pentium G and Celeron in their respective generations	1151	It has two incompatible revisions between them, one for 6th and 7th Gen and one for 8th and 9th Gen
LGA 2011	2011	Intel Core i7 3000 Intel Core i7 4000 Intel Xeon E5 2000/4000 Intel Xeon E5-2000 / 4000 v2	2011	Sandy Bridge-E / EP and Ivy Bridge-E / EP support 40 lanes in PCIe 3.0. Used in Intel Xeon for Workstation
LGA 2066	2017 and present	Intel Intel Skylake-X Intel Kaby Lake-X	2066	For 7th Gen Intel Workstation CPU

AMD sockets

Exactly the same thing we will do with the sockets that have been present in recent times in AMD.

Socket	Year	CPU Supported	Contacts	information
PGA AM3	2009	AMD Phenom II AMD Athlon II AMD Sempron	941/940	It replaces AM2 +. AM3 CPUs are compatible with AM2 and AM2 +
PGA AM3 +	2011-2014	AMD FX Zambezi AMD FX Vishera AMD Phenom II AMD Athlon II AMD Sempron	942	For Bulldozer architecture and support DDR3 Memory
PGA FM1	2011	AMD K-10: Plain	905	Used for the first generation of AMD APUs
PGA FM2	2012	AMD Trinity Processors	904	For the second generation of APUs
PGA AM4	2016-present	AMD Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation AMD Athlon and 1st and 2nd Generation Ryzen APUs	1331	The first version is compatible with 1st and 2nd Gen Ryzen and the second version with 2nd and 3rd Gen Ryzen.
LGA TR4 (SP3 r2)	2017	AMD EPYC and Ryzen Threadripper	4094	For AMD Workstation Processors

What is the chipset and which one to choose

After seeing the different sockets that we can find on the boards, it's time to talk about the second most important element of a motherboard, which is the chipset. It is also a processor, although less powerful than the central one. Its function is to act as a communication center between the CPU and the devices or peripherals that will be connected to it. The chipset is basically the South Bridge or South Bridge today. These devices will be the following:

• SATAR Storage Drives M.2 slots for SSDs as determined by each manufacturer USB and other internal or panel I / O ports

The chipset also determines the compatibility with these peripherals and with the CPU itself, since it must establish direct communication with it through the front bus or FSB through PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 lanes in the case of AMD and by DMI 3.0 bus in the case from Intel. Both this and the BIOS also determine the RAM that we can use and its speed, so it is very important to choose the correct one according to our needs.

As was the case with the socket, each of the manufacturers have their own chipset, since it is not the brands of boards that are responsible for manufacturing these.

Current chipsets from Intel

Let's look at the chipsets used by Intel motherboards today, of which we have only selected the most important ones for the LGA 1151 v1 (Skylake and Kaby Lake) and v2 (Coffee Lake) socket.

Chipset	Platform	Bus	PCIe lanes	information
For 6th and 7th generation Intel Core processors
B250	Desk	DMI 3.0 to 7.9 GB / s	12x 3.0	Does not support USB 3.1 Gen2 ports. It is the first to support Intel Optane memory
Z270	Desk	DMI 3.0 to 7.9 GB / s	24x 3.0	Does not support USB 3.1 Gen2 ports, but does support up to 10 USB 3.1 Gen1
HM175	Laptops	DMI 3.0 to 7.9 GB / s	16x 3.0	Chipset used for gaming notebooks of the previous generation. Does not support USB 3.1 Gen2.
For 8th and 9th generation Intel Core processors
Z370	Desk	DMI 3.0 to 7.9 GB / s	24x 3.0	Previous chipset for desktop gaming equipment. Supports overclocking, though not USB 3.1 Gen2
B360	Desk	DMI 3.0 to 7.9 GB / s	12x 3.0	Current mid-range chipset. Does not support overclocking but supports up to 4x USB 3.1 gen2
Z390	Desk	DMI 3.0 to 7.9 GB / s	24x 3.0	Currently more powerful Intel chipset, used for gaming and overclocking. Large number of PCIe lanes supporting +6 USB 3.1 Gen2 and +3 M.2 PCIe 3.0
HM370	Portable	DMI 3.0 to 7.9 GB / s	16x 3.0	The chipset most used currently in gaming notebook. There is the QM370 variant with 20 PCIe lanes, although it is little used.
For Intel Core X and XE processors in LGA 2066 socket
X299	Desktop / Workstation	DMI 3.0 to 7.9 GB / s	24x 3.0	The chipset used for Intel's enthusiastic range processors

Current chipsets from AMD

And we will also see the chipsets that AMD has motherboards, which, as before, we will focus on the most important and currently used for desktop computers:

Chipset	MultiGPU	Bus	Effective PCIe lanes	information
For 1st and 2nd generation AMD Ryzen and Athlon processors in AMD socket
A320	Do not	PCIe 3.0	4x PCI 3.0	It is the most basic chipset in the range, geared towards entry-level equipment with the Athlon APU. Supports USB 3.1 Gen2 but not overclocking
B450	CrossFireX	PCIe 3.0	6x PCI 3.0	The mid-range chipset for AMD, which supports overclocking and also the new Ryzen 3000
X470	CrossFireX and SLI	PCIe 3.0	8x PCI 3.0	The most used for gaming equipment until the arrival of the X570. Its boards are at a good price and also support Ryzen 3000
For 2nd Gen AMD Athlon and 2nd and 3rd Gen Ryzen processors in AM4 socket
X570	CrossFireX and SLI	PCIe 4.0 x4	16x PCI 4.0	Only 1st gen Ryzen are excluded. It is the most powerful AMD chipset currently supporting PCI 4.0.
For AMD Threadripper processors with TR4 socket
X399	CrossFireX and SLI	PCIe 3.0 x4	4x PCI 3.0	The only chipset available for AMD Threadrippers. Its few PCI lanes are surprising since all the weight is carried by the CPU.

BIOS

BIOS is the acronym for Basic Input / Output System, and they come already installed on all existing motherboards on the market. BIOS is small firmware that runs before everything else on the board to initialize all installed components and load device drivers and especially boot.

The BIOS is responsible for checking these components, such as CPU, RAM, hard drives and graphics card before starting, in order to stop the system if there are any errors or incompatibilities. Similarly, run the boot loader of the operating system that we have installed. This firmware is stored in ROM memory which is also powered by a battery to keep the date parameters updated.

The UEFI BIOS is the current standard that works on all boards, although it allows backwards compatibility with older components that worked with the traditional Phoenix BIOS and American Megatrends. The advantage is that it is now almost another operating system, much more advanced in its interface, and capable of detecting and controlling hardware and peripherals instantly. A bad BIOS update or a misconfigured parameter can lead to a malfunction of the board, even if it does not start, making it essential firmware.

Internal buttons, Speaker and Debug LED

With the introduction of the UEFI system, the way of operating and interacting with the basic functions of the hardware has changed. In this interface we can use a mouse, connect flash drives, and much more. But also externally we can access the BIOS update functions through two buttons that are present in all motherboards:

• Clear CMOS: it is a button that does the same function as the traditional JP14 jumper, that is, the one to clean the BIOS and reset it if any problem appears. BIOS Flashback: This button also receives other names depending on who is the manufacturer of the motherboard. Its function is to be able to recover or update the BIOS to a different version, earlier or later, directly from a flash drive, to install in a certain USB port. Sometimes we also have Power and Reset buttons to start the board without connecting the F_panel., being a great utility to use plates in test benches.

Alongside these enhancements, a new BIOS POST system has also appeared that displays BIOS status messages at all times using a two-character hexadecimal code. This system is called Debug LED. It is a much more advanced way of displaying startup errors than typical speaker beeps, which can still be used. Not all boards have Debug LEDs, they are still reserved for high-end ones.

Overclocking and undervolting

Undervolting with Intel ETU

Another clear function of the BIOS, whether it is UEFI or not, is that of overclocking and undervolting. It is true that there are already programs that allow you to do this function from the operating system, especially undervolting. We will do this in the " Overclocking " or " OC Tweaker " section.

By overclocking we understand the technique of increasing the CPU voltage and modifying the frequency multiplier so that it reaches values ​​that exceed even the limits established by the manufacturer. We talk about overcoming even the turbo boost or overdrive of the Intel and AMD. Of course, exceeding the limits implies putting the stability of the system at risk, so we will need a good heatsink and assess by stress if the processor resists this increase in frequency without being blocked by a blue screen.

To overclock, we need a CPU with the multiplier unlocked, and then a chipset motherboard that enables this type of action. All AMD Ryzen are susceptible to being overclocked, even APUs, only Athlon are excluded. Similarly, Intel processors with a K designation will also have this option enabled. The chipsets that support this practice are the AMD B450, X470 and X570, and the Intel X99, X399, Z370 and Z390 as the latest ones.

A second way to overclock is to increase the frequency of the motherboard's base clock or BCLK, but it entails greater instability as it is a clock that simultaneously controls various elements of the motherboard, such as CPU, RAM and the FSB itself.

Undervolting is doing just the opposite, lowering the voltage to prevent a processor from doing thermal throttling. It is a practice used in laptops or graphics cards with ineffective cooling systems, where operating at high frequencies or with excessive voltages causes the CPU thermal limit to be reached very soon.

VRM or power phases

The VRM is the main power supply system of the processor. It acts as a converter and a reducer for the voltage that will be supplied to a processor at every moment. From the Haswell architecture onward, the VRM has been installed directly on the motherboards rather than being inside the processors. The decrease in CPU space and the increase in cores and power make this element take up a lot of space around the socket. The components that we find in the VRM are the following:

• PWM Control: stands for pulse width modulator, and is a system whereby a periodic signal is modified to control the amount of power it sends to the CPU. Depending on the square digital signal it generates, the MOSFETS will modify the voltage they deliver to the CPU. Bender: Benders are sometimes placed behind the PWM, whose function is to halve the PWM signal and duplicate it to introduce it into two MOSFETS. In this way the feeding phases are doubled in number, but it is less stable and effective than having real phases. MOSFET: it is a field effect transistor and is used to amplify or switch an electrical signal. These transistors are the power stage of the VRM, generating a certain voltage and intensity for the CPU based on the PWM signal that arrives. It consists of four parts, two Low Side MOSFETS, a High Side MOSFET and an IC CHOKE controller: A choke is a choke inductor or coil and performs the function of filtering the electrical signal that will reach the CPU. Capacitor: Capacitors complement the chokes to absorb inductive charge and to function as small batteries for the best current supply.

There are three important concepts that you will see a lot in the plate reviews and in their specifications:

• TDP: Thermal Design Power is the amount of heat that an electronic chip like CPU, GPU, or chipset can generate. This value refers to the maximum amount of heat that a chip would generate at maximum load running applications, and not the power it consumes. A CPU with 45W TDP means that it can dissipate up to 45W of heat without the chip exceeding the maximum junction temperature (TjMax or Tjunction) of its specifications. V_Core: The Vcore is the voltage that the motherboard provides to the processor that is installed on the socket. V_SoC: In this case it is the voltage that is supplied to the RAM memories.

DIMM slots where is the North Bridge on these motherboards?

It will be clear to all of us that desktop motherboards always have DIMM slots as the interface for RAM memory, the largest ones with 288 contacts. Currently both AMD and Intel processors have the memory controller inside the chip itself, in the case of AMD for example it is on a chiplet independent from the cores. This means that the north bridge or north bridge is integrated in the CPU.

Many of you have noticed that in the specifications of a CPU you always put a specific value of memory frequency, for Intel it is 2666 MHz and for AMD Ryzen 3000 3200 MHz. Meanwhile, motherboards give us much higher values. Why don't they match? Well, because motherboards have enabled a function called XMP that allows them to work with memories that are overclocked at the factory thanks to a JEDEC profile customized by the manufacturer. These frequencies can go up to 4800 MHz.

Another important issue will be the ability to work on Dual Channel or Quad Channel. That's pretty straightforward to identify: Only AMD's Threadripper processors and Intel's X and XE work on Quad Channel with X399 and X299 chipsets respectively. The rest will work on Dual Channel. So that we understand it, when two memories work in Dual Channel it means that instead of working with 64-bit instruction strings they do it with 128 bits, thus doubling the data transfer capacity. In Quad Channel it rises to 256 bits, generating really high speeds in reading and writing.

From this we get a main ideal: it is much more worth installing a double RAM module and taking advantage of the Dual Channel, than installing a single module. For example, get 16GB with 2x 8GB, or 32GB with 2x 16GB.

PCI-Express bus and expansion slots

Let's see what are the most important expansion slots of a motherboard:

PCIe slots

PCIe slots can be connected to the CPU or chipset, depending on the number of PCIe lanes that both elements are using. Currently they are in version 3.0 and 4.0 reaching speeds of up to 2000 MB / s up and down for the latter standard. It is a bidirectional bus, making it the fastest after the memory bus.

The first PCIe x16 slot (16 lanes) will always go directly to the CPU, since the graphics card will be installed in it, which is the fastest card that can be installed in a desktop PC. The rest of the slots may be connected to the chipset or CPU, and will always work at x8, x4 or x1 despite their size being x16. This can be seen in the specifications of the plate so as not to lead us into error. Both Intel and AMD boards support multi GPU technologies:

• AMD CrossFireX - AMD's proprietary card technology. With it they could work up to 4 GPUs in parallel. This type of connection is directly implemented in the PCIe slots. Nvidia SLI: This interface is more effective than AMD's, although it supports two GPUs in the usual desktop pockets. The GPUs will physically connect to a connector called SLI, or NVLink for RTX.

M.2 slot, a standard on new motherboards

The second most important slot will be the M.2, which also works on PCIe lanes and is used to connect high-speed SSD storage units. They are located between the PCIe slots, and will always be M-Key type, except for a special one used for CNVi Wi-Fi network cards, which is E-Key type.

Focusing on the SSD slots, these work with 4 PCIe lanes that can be 3.0 or 4.0 for AMD X570 boards, so the maximum data transfers will be 3, 938.4 MB / s in 3.0, and 7, 876.8 MB / s in 4.0. To do this, the NVMe 1.3 communication protocol is used, although some of these slots are compatible in AHCI to connect endangered M.2 SATA drives.

On Intel boards, the M.2 slots will be connected to the chipset, and will be compatible with Intel Optane Memory. Basically it is a type of memory proprietary to Intel that can function as storage or as a data acceleration cache. In the case of AMD, normally one slot goes to the CPU and one or two to the chipset, with AMD Store MI technology.

Review of the most important internal connections and elements

We turn to see other internal connections of the board useful for the user and other elements such as sound or network.

• Internal USB and audio SATA and U.2 TPM ports Fan headers Lighting headers Temperature sensors Sound card Network card

In addition to the I / O panel ports, motherboards have internal USB headers to connect for example chassis ports or fan controllers and lighting so fashionable now. For USB 2.0, they are two-row 9-pin panels, 5 up and 4 down.

But we have more types, specifically one or two larger USB 3.1 Gen1 blue headers with 19 pins in two rows and close to the ATX power connector. Finally, some models have a smaller, USB 3.1 Gen2 compatible port.

There are only one audio connectors, and it also works for the chassis I / O panel. It is very similar to USB, but with a different pin layout. These ports connect directly to the chipset as a general rule.

And always located on the lower right side, we have traditional SATA ports. These panels may be 4, 6 or 8 ports depending on the capacity of the chipset. They will always be connected to the PCIe lanes of this south bridge.

The U.2 connector is responsible for connecting storage units. It is, so to speak, the substitute for the smaller SATA Express connector with up to 4 PCIe lanes. Like the SATA standard, it allows hot swap, and some boards usually bring it to provide compatibility with drives of this type

The TPM connector goes unnoticed as a simple panel with two rows of pins to connect a small expansion card. Its function is to provide encryption at the hardware level for user authentication in the system, for example Windows Hello, or for data from hard drives.

They are 4-pin connectors that supply power to the chassis fans that you have connected and also a PWM control to customize your speed regime through software. There are always one or two compatible with water pumps for custom cooling systems. We will distinguish these by their AIO_PUMP name, while the others will have the name CHA_FAN or CPU_FAN.

Like the fan connectors, they have four pins, but no locking tab. Almost all current boards implement lighting technology on them, which we can manage using software. In the main fabricnates we will identify them by, Asus AURA Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0, MSI Mystic Light and ASRock polychrome RGB. We have two types of headers available:

• 4 operational pins: 4-pin header for RGB strips or fans, which in principle cannot be addressed. 3 5VDG Operational Pins - Header the same size, but only three pins where lighting can be customized LED to LED (addressable)

With programs like HWiNFO or those of the motherboards, we can visualize the temperatures of many of the elements on the board. For example, chipset, PCIe slots, CPU socket, etc. This is possible thanks to different chips installed on the board that have several temperature sensors that collect data. The Nuvoton brand is almost always used, so if you see any of these on the plate, know that this is their function.

We could not forget about the sound card, although it is integrated in the plate, it is still perfectly identifiable due to its distinctive capacitors and the screen printing located in the lower left corner.

In almost all cases we have Realtek ALC1200 or ALC 1220 codecs, which offer the best features. Compatible with 7.1 surround audio and built-in high-performance headphone DAC. We recommend not opting for lower chips than these, since the quality of the note is very high.

And finally we have an integrated network card in absolutely all cases. Depending on the range of the board, we find the Intel I219-V of 1000 MB / s, but also if we go up in the range we could have a dual ethernet connectivity with Realtek RTL8125AG chipset , Killer E3000 2.5 Gbps or Aquantia AQC107 up to 10 Gbps.

Driver update

Of course, another important issue that is also closely related to the sound card or the network is the driver update. Drivers are the drivers that are installed in the system so that it can correctly interact with the hardware integrated or connected on the board.

There is hardware that needs these specific drivers to be detected by Windows, for example, the Aquantia chips, in some cases the Realtek sound chips or even Wi-Fi chips. It will be as easy as going to the product support device and looking there for the list of drivers to install them in our operating system.

Updated Guide to Most Recommended Motherboard Models

We leave you now with our updated guide to the best motherboards on the market. It is not about seeing which is the cheapest, but knowing how to choose the one that best suits us for our purposes. We can classify them into several groups:

• Plates for basic work equipment: here the user will only have to break his head to find one that meets the right needs. With a basic chipset like the AMD A320 or the Intel 360 and even lower, we will have more than enough. We will not need processors larger than four cores, so valid options will be Intel Pentium Gold or AMD Athlon. Boards for multimedia-oriented equipment and work: this case is similar to the previous one, although we recommend uploading at least an AMD B450 chipset or staying on the Intel B360. We want CPUs that have integrated graphics and are cheap. So the favorite options can be the AMD Ryzen 2400 / 3400G with Radeon Vega 11, the best APUs of today, or the Intel Core i3 with UHD Graphics 630. Gaming boards: in a gaming device we want a CPU of at least 6 cores, in order to also support a large volume of applications assuming that the user is going to be advanced. The chipsets Intel Z370, Z390 or AMD B450, X470 and X570 are going to be of almost obligatory use. In this way we will have multiGPU support, overclocking capacity and a large number of PCIe lanes for GPU or M.2 SSD. Boards for design, design or Workstation teams: we are in a similar scenario to the previous one, although in this case the new Ryzen 3000 give an extra performance in rendering and megatasking, so an X570 chipset will be recommended, also with a view to the generation Zen 3. Also, the Threadrippers are not worth that much anymore, we have a Ryzen 9 3900X that outperforms the Threadrippr X2950. If we opted for Intel, then we can choose a Z390, or better an X99 or X399 for the stunning X and XE series Core with overwhelming power.

Conclusion on Motherboards

We finish with this post in which we have given a great overview of the main points of interest of a motherboard. Knowing almost all its connections, how they work and how the different components in it are connected.

We have given the keys to at least know where we have to start searching, for what we need, although the options will be reduced if we want a high-performance PC. Of course always choose the latest generation chips so that the devices are perfectly compatible. A very important issue is to foresee a possible upgrade of RAM or CPU, and here AMD will undoubtedly be the best option for using the same socket in several generations, and for its widely compatible chips.