How important is a motherboard

skipper847 · 4 Dec 2018 at 09:27

Is a motherboard top of the range same as getting a top of the range graphic card, cpu, ram, PSU, ssd, etc. If you get top of the range graphics etc and buy a cheap motherboard would that also have an impact on gaming?.

ChocoViennese · 4 Dec 2018 at 10:31

The main differentiating factors as you pay more for a motherboard, are features and component quality. So, as a hypotheical example (but based on real products) a high end motherboard may have more USB slots, more M.2. connections and a better soundcard (features) and may have better VRMs, which impact the ability to overclock. If you are not overclocking, then you should get virtually identical performance from a particular CPU, GPU and RAM combination in any motherboard. You really need to decide what you want to do, and then look at the motherboards that fit your needs. If you cant afford the ideal motherboard, then you may need to compromise on your needs. Hope that helps, if a little too general

h4rm0ny · 4 Dec 2018 at 12:02

skipper847 said:
Is a motherboard top of the range same as getting a top of the range graphic card, cpu, ram, PSU, ssd, etc. If you get top of the range graphics etc and buy a cheap motherboard would that also have an impact on gaming?.

It's the same principle, but the degree of difference it makes is much smaller. So get a £400 graphics card rather than a £200 graphics card and you'll see a pretty big difference in gaming performance. With RAM, the return on investment is lower. Spend £400 on DDR4-3600 RAM rather than £20 on DDR-2666 and you'll see a moderate difference in gaming performance. Motherboards are pretty much bottom of the stack in terms of gaming performance impact. Get a £400 motherboard rather than a £130 motherboard and you'll see very little difference if any. Where it does make a difference is in WHAT you can do with it rather than how well it does it. For example, I bought the MSI Meg Creation X399 motherboard which is an outrageous £460 or thereabouts. Do I get better gaming performance out of it than if I'd bought a low end M/board? Not really. But I do get dual ethernet ports and capacity for 7 M.2. SSDs and eight SATA ports with RAID 1/5/10. Which for someone who actually needs a tonne of disks for database work and content development, is really valuable. But if you don't need that stuff the for Pity's sake, don't spend extra money for it.

If you're an overclocker, then a higher quality board is useful. The better quality components will help you eek out those last drops of performance from your CPU. But if you are at all budget constrained and your goal is gaming performance, then motherboard is not where you should be maxing out your purchase. For gaming your algorithm should be something like this:

Motherboard - buy what has the needed features, not more.
SSD - buy something with reasonable capacity based on what you think you'll need. M.2 PCI-Ex4 is a nice to have, but old fashioned SATA SSD's will do the job.
CPU & RAM - buy reasonable of both. Don't go into the point of diminishing returns.
GPU - normally any spare cash you have goes here to buy the best you can.

Basically, for gaming, buy decent minimums for everything else and then blow the rest of your budget on the graphics card. Up to a point, anyway. I personally wouldn't bother with the super high-end graphics cards right now, they're ridiculously overpriced and become yesterday's news far too quickly.

skipper847 · 4 Dec 2018 at 13:14

Hi thanks both most useful. I was looking to wait until next year when they release the new versions of nvidia cards. Just wounded if MB had an in pact on performance.

wesley · 4 Dec 2018 at 13:59

i always use budget motherboards and never had a problem once. as long you don't overclock.

i cant see the point of getting a very expensive motherboard. the outcome will be the same. speed of computer is depends on cpu, ram, gfx and ssd. not the motherboard

ExoMale · 4 Dec 2018 at 15:07

Need to factor in the motherboard size as well, also aside from the benefits mentioned, some people spend big for bragging rights even though lesser boards can still do the same unless your doing something specific.

LePhuronn · 4 Dec 2018 at 17:24

skipper847 said:
I was looking to wait until next year when they release the new versions of nvidia cards

No new Nvidia cards next year...

skipper847 · 6 Dec 2018 at 15:48

LePhuronn said:
No new Nvidia cards next year...

Oh right I was under the impression that they where. People saying wait until next year when nvidia releases the new smaller cards or something.

LePhuronn · 6 Dec 2018 at 16:18

skipper847 said:
Oh right I was under the impression that they where. People saying wait until next year when nvidia releases the new smaller cards or something.

Well AMD are releasing Navi next year on 7nm process. Some people are expecting Nvidia to release a 7nm Turing in response, but I think that's highly doubtful given Navi won't beat the RTX cards in performance. I expect Nvidia to do a 7nm shrink in 2020 when AMD unveil their brand new Arcturus architecture.

h4rm0ny · 6 Dec 2018 at 17:21

LePhuronn said:
Well AMD are releasing Navi next year on 7nm process. Some people are expecting Nvidia to release a 7nm Turing in response, but I think that's highly doubtful given Navi won't beat the RTX cards in performance. I expect Nvidia to do a 7nm shrink in 2020 when AMD unveil their brand new Arcturus architecture.

Agreed. Anyone wanting to buy a mid-range card might do well to wait until next year and see what Navi is like and how cheap. Anyone wanting to get a very high-end graphics card probably shouldn't wait. AMD aren't competing at the high-end right now and so Nvidia can just charge what they like (and they are!)