What is a Motherboard?

A motherboard is the main circuit board for a computer, and is what allows for communication between most of the components of a PC, including the CPU, fans memory, and more, as well as featuring connectors for several peripherals.

The motherboard is arguably the most important component of a computer, as it is what connects every other component of the system together, and allows everything to work together. You can certainly find a motherboard for an affordable price ($100 or less), models range significantly in both price and value with more expensive units having added features such as additional PCIe slots and SATA ports, overclocking potential, and more.

Understanding PCIe Slots

The Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, or PCIe, is a standard for connecting components to a motherboard. It is often used for graphics cards, as they require high bandwidth data transfer rates that are not possible with older standards such as PCI. A PCIe slot can also serve as an electrical power connector, although powerful graphics cards may still require a separate connection to the power supply.

There are three different sizes of PCIe slots: x1, x4, and x16. The number indicates how many lanes the slot has for data transfer. An x1 slot has one lane for data transfer, while an x4 slot has four lanes, etc. A motherboard will typically have multiple PCIe slots of various sizes to accommodate different components that require different amounts of bandwidth.

Finally, remember that there are multiple iterations of the PCIe standard, with PCIe 5.0 being the newest and fastest. Check your video card's specs to learn which generation it's optimized for, and look at which kind of PCIe slots are available on the motherboard. Fortunately, PCIe offers both forward and backward compatibility, so you can use a newer graphics card with an older PCIe slot or vice versa, although you may hit a performance bottleneck, depending on the card and the specs.

SATA Ports and M.2 Slots

Serial ATA, or SATA, is a standard for connecting storage devices such as hard drives and solid state drives to a motherboard. SATA ports allow for data transfer rates of up to 6 Gbps, which is much faster than the older PATA standard. Most motherboards will have multiple SATA ports to accommodate multiple storage devices. The number of SATA ports on a motherboard can range from 2 to 10 or more.

Many newer motherboards also support NVMe M.2 SSDs, which are even faster than SATA SSDs and are becoming increasingly popular due to their small form factor. Check to ensure your motherboard includes M.2 slots if you want to use this snappy storage technology.

CPU Sockets (AMD & Intel specific sockets)

One of the most important parts of a motherboard is the CPU socket. This is where the CPU, or Central Processing Unit, plugs into the motherboard. The CPU is the brain of a computer, and as such, it is one of the most important components.

The CPU socket has a big effect on compatibility, which is why it's important to decide on which type of processor you want to use before purchasing a motherboard. These are the basic elements of CPU and motherboard compatibility:

• Brand: AMD and Intel are the two major CPU brands, and their socket designs are not compatible with one another. For example, an AMD CPU will not work with an Intel socket, and vice versa.
• Pin Array: Note which pin array configurations a CPU uses: AM4, AM5 or sWRX8 for AMD CPUs, and LGA1200 or LGA1700 for Intel models. These designations refer to the way the CPU and motherboard's connector pins are arranged, and both components must use the same array to be compatible.
• Chipset: Finally, AMD and Intel each manufacture various CPU chipsets, which also determine CPU and motherboard compatibility. Different chipsets are optimized for different uses, such as overclocking your CPU or connecting to large numbers of USB devices simultaneously.