Which chipset

Motherboard audio quality is primarily defined by the audio codec aka the audio processing chip a given board uses. But here are a few to keep an eye on:. However, if your case has a window, you should get a board that you like looking at--with lights if you like them.

Also, if you are building a system that you want to look as clean as possible that is, with few visible wires snaking around the motherboard , look for a board with its fan and USB headers placed around the edges, and SATA and USB 3 header ports that point to the side, rather than sticking up vertically.

This will make accomplishing a clean build much easier. Want to comment on this story? Let us know what you think in the Tom's Hardware Forums. Matt Safford. Topics Buyer's Guides. See all comments 2. It use be I'd count all the features a motherboard has when I'd shop for a motherboard. Then I discovered how much heat some boards make than others. Nawww, If there isn't quality built into the board, it's as useless as buying a the cheapest board available.

I began reading what boards other people had that were reliable, cool and ran pee-chee. A lot of research. Then again, what isn't? I lost a new computer to a bad power supply.

A reputable company, too. And every year, I learning stuff that I never see in reviews. Don't get me wrong, reviews are important. It's the combination of reviews, features, quality, price, user experience and reputation. And if the products been around a year or two, the reliability of how well it still performs and runs are gems to be counted.

What do I need or what do I plan to do with the machine I build around it? That's a good question too. I seem to over spend on computer testosterone to just get bragging rights. Now I just build for the application, like beating the rich kid online who has the monster computer with game cheats on daddy's credit card a feel good thing.

It sure is a good thing to read Tom's Hardware. Even on boards that do overclock, you'll get a lot more reach and a wider stability envelope from a quality board. Here's how to pick the right one for you. It's all being made possible by Razer , which stepped up to support this months-long project. Thanks, Razer! Custom rigs, especially hand-built ones made for gaming, aren't just about the numbers.

Sure, performance is important, but if you're spending the money on a system you'll be using for years, you should be proud of it. Early in the build process, spend a little time thinking about the look and character of your upcoming PC.

Do you want a flashy, LED-soaked screamer or a sleek and silent sleeper? Feel like building a show-it-all full-sized plexiglass tower, or an impossibly tiny silver desktop ingot? Once you have a blueprint in mind, you can start making hardware choices. Mini-ITX: The smallest, designed for very compact builds and cases.

Typically has only a single PCIe slot, meaning you can only fit one graphics card. For any mid-tower or full tower case, this is the typical choice. They're more expensive and usually come packed with high-end features. Often requires a large full tower case to fit. Our guide to the best PC cases has choices big and small, and tells you what size motherboards will fit inside.

If you're not sure which processor to pick, head on over to our best CPU for gaming guide where we break down the choices for every budget and interest so it's easy to select the silicon that's right for you.

While your pick here will influence the types of motherboard you can use, don't worry about your choice locking you out of the latest features as it may have in years past. While fans of AMD or Intel may argue over processor supremacy, the motherboard situation is largely equal these days.

By now you should have also selected the best graphics card for your needs. For gaming rigs, this is the single most important performance component, and the rest of the system should be built around running this GPU at the native resolution of your monitor, with the highest gaming detail levels and framerates your budget can support. Here are the best gaming monitors right now.

This may also dictate certain minimum requirements for components like the power supply, and size of the case, so keep those size and budgetary calculations in mind as you continue. Chipsets provide the control logic required to make the components of a system work together, from CPUs to storage, and are responsible for the type and number of connectors available on a PC both inside and out.

Motherboards are identified by the chipsets they are based on, and these names change when major new CPU revisions are released, which happens frequently. That means that at any given time, a few generations of motherboards share the marketplace, adding to the confusion.

To help make sense of this, here are the current as of late chipsets and the sockets they support. Intel's current consumer chipset is home to the 8th generation and 9th generation Core processors also called Coffee Lake.

The Z and Z chipsets, which support overclocking and Nvidia SLI, are the most popular with enthusiasts with the mainstream H and B chipsets rounding out the gamer's corner of Intel's lineup. The pricey X series has a number of improvements over earlier and lesser Intel chipsets, including plenty of lanes for M.

While the extreme X platform has some relevance beyond bragging rights for Intel, it's mostly for non-gaming purposes. But with the mainstream platform now supporting up to 8-core CPUs, X is primarily for professionals. Core iK through Core iK have higher clockspeeds and lower memory latency, which benefits gamers. There are other extras you might like on X, though.

Most boards will give you all the bling you can handle. From LED light shows to remote-control overclocking panels, you'll find the wildest ideas in Intel's computing world on display here. X isn't cheap, but it delivers tomorrow's tech today. Cheapo Z motherboards cut a lot of corners to push the prices down, but they aren't the only game in town. There's salvation in the form of the H and B chipsets. H and B gaming requires remarkably little sacrifice in either performance or looks.

It's a less flexible world, but when it comes to money, the savings multiply quickly. Another sacrifice is overclocking, but staying at the speed limit and going with a non-K series CPU for exampe, the Core i over an overclockable i7 or i9 like the Core iK will save money that can be redirected toward a higher horsepower graphics card, which is where you'll realize the biggest ROI for gaming. Intel motherboards featuring the new Z series launched in late , but offer few practical advantages over Z, which released in Along with bragging rights, Z does bring a few extra ports, native USB 3.

Z and the 9th gen CPUs are the new hotness and carry a price premium. AMD is a bit better about socket compatibility and motherboard longevity than Intel.

Ryzen's AM4 and Threadripper's TR4 sockets are relatively new, and we expect both platforms to remain active for some time. AMD processor compatibility spans multiple product generations, so older Ryzen CPUs work should in later motherboards without a problem, although you'll need to check the manual and update the BIOS to run newer processors on older chipsets. Threadripper also sports 64 PCIe lanes and the core counts to back them up, making just about any combination of add-in cards and drives possible.

As with the X platform, however, for gaming purposes you're almost always better off sticking with AM4.