The motherboard is the component with the most technical characteristics of your entire PC and for this reason it is really difficult to be up to date with what you need to know to make a smart buy, a master buy or all just a bad buy. The details mark these differences, and therefore, it is practical to know what to look at before buying, so we will give the guidelines for making a good investment in our base plate and not make a mistake when buying.
If choosing a processor or graphics model is already an odyssey, in motherboards many can throw their hands in the head, but don’t worry, that’s what we’re here for, to help you in this difficult decision. So, what should you consider to buy the model that suits you best?
So you can choose your new motherboard wisely
Let’s start with the obvious: processor socket. If you are going to build a new PC, it will be easier for you, because you will know which CPU and socket must go together in order to install the former in the latter. If you are going to update, check that the model you are going to watch or search for has the same plug.
Second, the QVL compatibility list, both for CPU and RAM. Important whether it’s a motherboard upgrade or a complete new PC. Third, and with what has been said before about insurance: the features we need for our PC. The obvious thing is to sit down and think about what we want and need in a motherboard, and even if that sounds silly, it’s the key, because if we don’t look forward future or in the short term, at least it is possible that we find that the current choice was insufficient and that we must change the model with the resulting expenses.
We talk about USB, types, bit rate, video outputs, power supply phases, SATA, etc… A global calculation that will be optimal for us in the future.
Technical characteristics to review
We continue to move forward and now come the technical characteristics that we must review for the material that we have or are going to have. Enter here the RAM memories, type, speed and voltage, the PCIe version for our graphics card or SSD, the number of PCIe lanes for the GPU and SSD to the processor or chipset and of course, the connectors you need for food. .
This data is equally important, especially for future updates to get the most out of the platform. Due to the high price of high-end components, it is important to think about them when they are no longer TOP and cheaper, so that you can buy them for much less and get more power for less compared to when to buy the motherboard.
Buy now, for example, a motherboard with DDR5 can be useful if the socket is expected to be maintained for a generation. Same example with PCIe in graphics or M.2, or with SATA. So that’s all you need to know to avoid making mistakes when buying a motherboard.
