Guide: Choosing a Motherboard

Because your choice of motherboard is going to be greatly effected by your choice of CPU, you should read the CPU guide before reading this guide.

1) CPU compatibility.

First thing you will do is narrow down your motherboard choices depending on your selected CPU, if you chose an AM3+ CPU, you will need an AM3+ board, etc

2) Selecting your form factor

Extended ATX: These are the largest class of motherboard and only fit in ATX full tower cases, Advantages of this form factor are the stronger support for 3~4 Video cards and support for large quantities of drives. Disadvantages of this form factor is the size severely limits your case choices, and these boards tend to be much more expensive. Unless you think you are going to use the advantages it is best to avoid this format as it will just be an unnecessary expense

ATX:  These boards fit in ATX full tower and ATX mid tower cases. This is the most common type of board used, as long as the board itself supports it is is large enough to accommodate multiple video cards, will usually have 4 RAM slots, and plenty of SATA ports.

MicroATX: These boards are smaller and will fit into any case MicroATX sized and larger. These are the second most common size of board used. While these boards can support multiple video cards they often do not as it will consume all available expansion slots in the case as most cards need 2 slots of room. These boards are often marginally cheaper than their ATX counterparts and often only support 2 modules of RAM, but many still support the full 4. Note that AM3+ CPU's do not have many good overclocking options on microATX. If you intended to overclock you will need ATX or to switch CPU type

Mini ITX: these boards are incredibly small and can fit in the very small ITX cases. Because of how small these boards are they can only support one video card, and are slightly more expensive than it's larger counterparts. These boards are more ideal for very compact computers and aren't ideal in any other scenario. There is no AM3+ support for mini ITX, if you want mini ITX you will need to choose a FM2/FM1 socket board or choose Intel

3) Selecting your chipset

The chipset of a motherboard determines most of the features that it will have and give you an idea of what it's purpose is.

3a) Intel Chipsets

LGA 1155

• H61: This is an older budget chipset that may have compatibility issues with newer CPUS
• Z68: This is an older performance chipset that may have compatibility issues with newer CPUS
• B75: Newer chipset designed for the newest gen of LGA 1155 CPU's, this board is aimed and small businesses and common consumers. Generally features at least 1 SATA 3 port and multiple SATA 3.0 gbps ports. This is a budget friendly chipset that is adequate for basic gaming computers that will not be overclocking and will only run a single video card.
• H77: Same features as B75 with the addition of an extra SATA 3 port, Intel SRT support, and larger support for multiple video cards. This along with B75 are good chipsets for those who do not intend to overclock
• Z77: Same features as H77, with overclocking support. These will often have more features than the H77 but not necessarily. This chipset is more ideal for high end gaming computers and enthusiasts.

LGA 1150

• This is the new socket type employed by Intel's Haswell chips, B85 H85 and Z87 are roughly equivalent to their B75 H75 and Z77 counterparts.

3b) AMD chipsets

AM3+

• 760G: Basic budget chipset, may not be compatible with all CPU's check compatibilities first. generally lacks support for SATA 3.
• 880G: Similar to 760G, more support for SATA 3
• 970: Midrange chipset with support for crossfire and overclocking (depending on the quality of the board, some 970 chipset boards may be poor at overclocking). Generally has 2-6 SATA 3 ports
• 990FX: Similar to 970 but with much better overclocking support and with added support for SLI. generally has higher end features.
• Others: Some aren't listed as they are not common or are out of production

FM1/FM2

• A55: Budget chipset generally lacking SATA 3 and USB 3.0
• A85: Adds basic overclocking, SATA 3, crossfire, and USB 3.0 support
• A95X: High end board with good overclocking support

4) Other features

Just because a chipset supports certain features does not mean the board using it will. Some features to look at are

• Number of SATA 3 and SATA 2 ports
• Crossfire and SLI support
• RAM Capacity
• VRM phase count / quality (this primarily applies to overclocking boards, this determines max power delivery and power stability)
• Onboard audio (All modern broads will have onboard audio, some just have better onboard audio)
• USB 3.0 support / Presence of USB 3.0 front panel header