Motherboard

As mentioned in our CPU section, we will only consider socket AMD and socket 775 motherboards. These motherboards allow you to upgrade the CPU for the next 18 to 24 month with top of the line ones. The motherboard range is from $39 to $250+ depending on brand chipset and features.

Brand: Except for a few brands that specifically target the low end segment, you will be able to find in a single brand everything from low end to high end. Some of the brands that you will find include: Gigabyte; Asus; ABI; DFI; and, Elitegroup.

Chipsets: Chipsets control how the different pieces of hardware communicate with each other. Some have video included some have fire wire more or less USB, etc. When you choose a motherboard it is important that you look at all these features to make the best choice possible. There are six manufacturers that make a chipset. These include:  AMD/ATI; NVidia; Intel; VIA ; SIS; and, ULI.  The manufacturers of ULI, SIS, and VIA only manufacture low end chipsets while AMD/ATI, NVidia and Intel propose low to high end. Since we want our computers to last us more than 2 years, go with a middle end to high end chipset.

Features

Choosing features for your needs is 90% of your decision because performance of the chipset and motherboard are virtually identical features is what in important.

Number of RAM slots: The motherboard will have either 2 or 4 memory slots. We strongly suggest you to go with 4. With 4 slots, you will be able to add memory instead of replacing the memory if you only have 2 slots.

Number of USB ports: Consider what devices you have that use a USB. A digital camera, printer, keyboard, mouse, blackberry are all devices that use a USB port. If you choose a motherboard with only 4 ports, you might see yourself having to go down and swap cables around. To be safe, try to get a motherboard that can accept 8 or more devices at any given time.

Integrated Video Card: For a family/office or an HTPC computer, an integrated video card will serve you well. However, while video cards at a specific price point will give you the same image quality (if not exactly the same performance in game) integrated video cards can give you vastly different image quality. It is best to stay away from an Intel, VIA and SIS integrated video cards, as they do not offer the same performance and quality as AMD/ATI or NVidia. A NVidia 6100, 6150 and 7050 and ATI 690G series gives good video quality at a great price, and although limited they are way better than competition gaming capacity.

Firewire:  A firewire is a little more specific than USB, but if you have a camcorder and want to capture video on your computer it is a must have.

Sound: Like integrated video, integrated sound can be either good or very bad. The minimum you will have is an AC97 sound card. Those sound cards rely on the CPU to process the audio and can be adequate if you plan on not doing much. Listening to an on-line radio or mp3 on a cheap pair of speakers will be okay. Middle and high end will often offer 5.1 or even 7.1 sound that will provide a good starting point for such a system. However, if you plan to be serious about sound it is better to look at a dedicated sound card.

PCI slots: It is still the standard extension port you will find. On it, you can plug pretty much anything from the sound card to harddrives, remote control to a tv tuner. Two or three slots should be able to meet most needs. PCI is being phased out and will be replaced by PCI-e, but that transition is slower than expected and PCI should remain on the market for at least 2 years.

PCI-e slots: This is the new generation of an extension slot. PCI-E comes in several speeds, depending on the extension card needs. 4x are still not common place.

PATA connector: This is the legacy hard drive and cd/dvd drive connector. It is bulky and relatively slow.  It is still in use on most of the cd/dvd drives you will find. Usually 1 or 2 ports are present.

Floppy connector: Is still standard on most motherboard, but is rarely used.   

LAN: With any motherboard you will buy, you will get at least a 10/100 network card. If at all possible, try to get a motherboard with a 10/100/1000 network card for scalability of your networks sake.

SLI/Crossfire:  See the video card section

• Family/office computer: you can find good motherboard for around $50
• all around gaming computer: $75 to $100 will buy you a lot of features , stability and upgradability
• media center: $50 to $75 depending on if you want an integrated video card or will be using a add on one.
• gaming computer: $90 to $130 At that price range you may want to buy a motherboard with crossfire or SLI included. I don't advise you to build a SLI/Crossfire computer right now but in a year or sow it might be a good path to upgrade.