So whats the difference between a $200 and $500 motherboard?

eyyaz · 8 Jul 2011 at 15:43

Hey guys,

been a member on this site for a few years but im just gonna come out and say it. I have never had my own desktop. It's just been laptops for around 10 (i think) years.

Anyway all that aside im finally getting parts for my own desktop and i have come to the stage of picking the motherboard. What i don't understand is that i thought that all motherboards were the same, this being because the purpose of MB's are to just link the CPU, ram, e.t.c? Or am i wrong.

So could you just tell me what the difference would be from a $200 MB and a $500.

Thanks.

Justintime · 8 Jul 2011 at 15:50

Features, build quality, better/higher grade components such as capacitors/thicker pcbs/more or beefier VRMs, mosfets etc.. plus a bigger E-Peen. Have had some of my best overclocks on 'budget' boards and been highly dissapointed when i use top shelf bits on clients demand.

Surveyor · 8 Jul 2011 at 16:43

eyyaz said:
So could you just tell me what the difference would be from a $200 MB and a $500.

$300

TNGL · 8 Jul 2011 at 16:59

Exclusive features perhaps? The brand? The actual quality of it, such as if it's durable e.g.

gazzaman2k · 8 Jul 2011 at 19:42

Surveyor said:
$300

damn beat me to it lol

Donkeyfumbler · 12 Jul 2011 at 20:28

Surveyor said:
$300

Funny AND true

HangTime · 12 Jul 2011 at 21:25

Chipset is the obvious thing, what a lot of novices don't realise is that a given socket may have 3 or 4 different chipsets. This can then influence other factors like how many 16x PCI-E slots you get, support for newer technology (USB3, SATA3) etc.

In the old days to get good overclocks you often had to buy a mid-high end board, but in recent years that's changed and even cheap boards often have a decent range of overclocking options.

rikky · 12 Jul 2011 at 21:52

IMHO the "average user" would have no need for half the features on even the mid-range boards. Of course if you want these extra features of the high-end boards you have got to pay for it (usually through the teeth

) ... so if you need these features by all means "pay" for them if you don't just get the board with the features you think you will use ... simples.

bees · 13 Jul 2011 at 12:38

Justintime said:
Features, build quality, better/higher grade components such as capacitors/thicker pcbs/more or beefier VRMs, mosfets etc.. plus a bigger E-Peen. Have had some of my best overclocks on 'budget' boards and been highly dissapointed when i use top shelf bits on clients demand.

more expensive board usually offer better performance.

Surveyor · 13 Jul 2011 at 12:44

bees said:
more expensive board usually offer better performance.

In what way?

weyland yutani · 13 Jul 2011 at 12:47

The motherboard has been the trickiest component for me to research, understand and spec. So many features and variables, half of which I still don't understand. Still, I know I won't see the benefit of paying £200+ when a £100-140 has all the features I'd need.