Thread: Motherboards test

If it's been a few years since you bought your last com¬puter. You're probably get¬ting fed up of your com¬puter's painfully slow and unstable habitofrunning applica¬tions. You decide that you've had enough, and you it's time to build from scratch again. Traditionally, the first item on your list is the processor, the graphics card and everything else follows quickly. Some people even decide on a printer and a mouse before they even consider what motherboard they need. People just walk into shops and pick up the cheapest possible board, or more often, their local computer-guy chooses for them - and they end up with a really basic or entry-level board. Motherboards are, and have always been, one of those components completely ignored by the majority of computer users, and people either have no clue of what they want, or don't care what they buy, as long as they buy the fastest and costliest processor in the market.



Stability in applications is most important; and when you consider that every bit of data passes through the motherboard before it reaches other compo¬nents, it's stupid to not choose your motherboard wisely. Say you are transferring large files over the network to your flash drive, while busy playing an online multi player game; there are a lot of things happening that aren't just to do with your processor and graphics card or hard drive for that matter. A good open lay¬out of the motherboard is also important. For example, attach¬ing additional hardware and the space to install fancy custom coolers can't be guaranteed with every motherboard.

We're testing motherboards for all these reasons and also because this is November our processor and motherboard test month. This test is about more than just telling you what the best per¬forming motherboard is but also about what to buy, why and what to look for in any motherboard for that matter.