Putting Together Great Gaming Motherboards

If you're an avid gamer, you know it is all about the motherboard. What your computer system can do has everything in the world to do with gaming motherboards. If you don't have what it takes, why even bother playing the game, right? You may be just getting into the wonderful world of gaming, or perhaps you have been playing for decades. Whatever the case, putting together the right computer, be it desktop or laptop, can make a huge difference in how you play the game.

There are plenty of them out there; companies who promise the moon and stars. Unfortunately, many of them come up short and leave you wanting more when it comes to your system. There are definitely some aspects you should look for when looking for good gaming motherboards. Regardless of the price range you are shopping, you can find some high quality boards that will help you get where you want to be in your gaming experience.

Building your own gaming system can be very rewarding. Many times when you purchase a computer that claims to be enhanced and accelerated for gaming, you are really not dealing with much more than a dual processor that can get you online quickly. That is all well and good. However, there are some very important pieces to the puzzle that may be overlooked if you purchase a system that comes pre-assembled.

The motherboard contains the processor that controls the speed of everything that you do on your computer. In essence, gaming motherboards control all of the vital functions of the computer. All roads lead to your motherboard.

The CPU or central processing unit is the most important part of your motherboard and you should purchase the best one that your spending dollars can buy. Another vital part of your gaming motherboard is the memory and the drive format. In order to have full range of functionality, you should be looking for DDR SDRAM or RDRAM, with one gig or more onboard so that you can really control the game and enjoy it the way it should be.

When you are purchasing some or all of the components to your new gaming machine, you should make sure that all parts work together. There are several different formats for your drive. Make sure that your board supports the ATA or SATA drive format.

Find a gaming motherboard that has enough PCI slots and USB ports. These are both vitally important because you will want to get the very best cards for your system when it comes to the sound card, Ethernet card and more. You will also benefit greatly from having multiple USB ports so that you can plug all of your controllers into your system.

Flexibility is key when it comes to building great gaming motherboards. You'll obviously want a great video card, so make sure not to skimp on this component or everything else you buy could be in vain. Putting together the right system for yourself may be as easy as asking your fellow gamers what they have in their machine. This will give you great insight as to what to put together in your machine so that you can play all of your favorite games online and offline.

I have even more reviews and information pertaining to gaming motherboards and gaming computer cases at my website. I will also let you in on a little secret: Where to get them cheaper than anyplace else on the web;) Many thanks for reading, and good luck!

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Basic Guide For Choosing Gaming Motherboards

The thing about choosing which gaming motherboards to buy is that it isn't really about the board. Gaming machines are a different breed, built by gamers with individually chosen parts. The motherboard's main requirement here is that it be compatible with the parts chosen.

What gamers really look for is extreme speed and stunning detail. A monitor has the capacity for high resolution display, but it needs a powerful graphics adaptor for this. In turn, a powerful adaptor needs a motherboard which has enough capacity to handle the card and transfer data quickly enough between the display card and other parts. This means the right form factor (size), heavy-duty chipsets and an efficient bus system.

The same criteria apply to every other part, including LAN cards, HDD, the memory sticks, power supply and the cooling fans. For the individual parts and the system to live up to their potential, the motherboard must be fast and rugged enough to keep up with each part. The bottomline is that compatibility is not enough for gaming motherboards. It has to be extreme compatibility.

Another thing worth noting is that motherboards have a lot of built-in cards such as display cards, LAN cards and sound cards. These are functional and sufficient for normal applications, but gaming is an entirely different scenario. As far as gaming is concerned, these built-in cards are redundant, and a motherboard should instead have more space to accommodate higher performance, more add-on cards and more memory.

Motherboards that satisfy all these points would still need to pass benchmarking tests. Buy only those boards which are rated positively by hardware and gaming review sites. Manufacturers make their products available to reviewers before it launches in the market, so every new board already has reviews that indicate clearly if it is good enough for gaming.

Another couple of very important requirements that need to be fulfilled are over clocking and upgrade possibilities. Over clocking is used to make parts run at faster clock rates than the specified ratings. Changing clock rates on a motherboard's bios setup is a critical procedure, because too much change will fry the board and take out some of the major parts along with the board.

For those wondering why fiddle with it, it is because gaming needs that edge beyond what a standard machine offers to everyone else. If every gamer has the latest parts and all of the gamers are equally talented, the one who wins is the guy who overclocked the machine. Gamers often use overclocking to push every part to the extreme end of its capacity. This means that gaming motherboards need quite a bit extra performance capability beyond the specs.

As for the upgrades, the problem is that the parts are good enough for at most six months or a year. After that, new games and versions are released which need the latest parts and won't work with old ones. If the motherboard is unable to accept a twice a year upgrade of all the other parts, then it's not a gaming motherboard.

In summarization, these boards aren't like the ordinary boards found in the usual computer. Gaming motherboards need be ultra-compatible with parts from any company, and need to have the capacity to keep up with high speed performance by other parts. Unless a manufacturer explicitly states the board is good enough for gaming, it's not a gaming motherboard.

I have even more reviews and information about Desktop PC Cases and gaming motherboards at my website. I will also let you in on a little secret: Where to get them cheaper than anyplace else on the web;) Many thanks for reading, and good luck!

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How to Choose the Best Motherboard For Gaming

Many gamers wonder how they can get a motherboard that would has a favorable game result. It is no other than 3D games that are so demanding on performance and consumes so much system resource. When purchasing a gaming motherboard we have to take several factors into consideration.

The Printed Circuit Board (PCB) on the motherboard

As the prerequisite for a stable operation of a motherboard, the layout of PCB traces and various types of electronic components is very important. Considering the shield of PCB lines and signals interference, nice traces should let all the lines on the PCB board distribute uniformly.

A best motherboard should use a 6-layer PCB board with steady color, smooth finish as well as neat welding and regular arrays of all parts, or else instability and faults would frequently occurs when overclocking the motherboard.

Supply circuit

A good few gamers prefer high-frequent and high-powered CPU, which would consume lots of energy even when working in the default frequency, let alone overclocking. For example, the maximum current of present Prescott core P4 has already reached 91A, power consumption is close to or over 100W. Thus you need a motherboard that can supply enough power and stable voltage to ensure a smooth system.

Motherboard overclocking

Presently a great many motherboard manufacturers have done quite a lot of user-friendly overclocking researches for their products. Famous brands like Intel, ASUS and GIGABYTE etc, generally will offer hard jumpers, BIOS settings combining with specific overclocking software, which have make your overclocking much simpler.

Security

Overclocking overloads the CPU and that would make it at risk. Try to nit this sort of risks in the bud, motherboard makers are competing against each other to launch their new technology such as ASUS AI Overclocking and C.P.R overclocking protection tool, etc.

Expansibility

Game's requirement for hardware is advanced with times. Currently, motherboard has a strong expansibility which can support all functions of the dominant products, players can add a SLI video card to further its 3D graphics performance or upgrade to ATHLON64 X2 dual-core processors depending on their needs in the future.

Multi-channel capability

As a motherboard targeting the game market, it should indispensably compose a superior audio system. DOOM3 brings you to a breathing scene that already on a par with home theatre. If you are using a 5.1 audio system, after making full use of it, I believe you will have a fire-new DOOM3: monsters come to you and howl from all directions --- as DOOM3 positions audio extremely accurately, players only need to target where sounds from and fire. It can be said that your game is not a perfect one when the surround sound in DOOMS is disabled! Fortunately, nowadays gaming motherboards are able to support six or eight-channel outputs and High Definition Audio, what we need is to buy a Speaker over the 5.1 standard. 

Taking all the above factors together, motherboard among Intel P43 series like ASUS P5QL PRO, AUSU P5QL orMSI P43T-C51 will be a good choice.

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A Practical Approach to Selecting the Best Gaming Motherboard

When it comes to configuring your own gaming computer, most people emphasize on how you need fast video cards, an efficient processor, or extremely responsive memory modules. In order for these components to utilize all their core features, the motherboard they are situated with must be able to handle all these specifications accordingly. With that, all three of those components are actually directly connected to the motherboard and believe it or not, the system board is one of the least appreciated parts! Who would have thought?! Though we can't give all the credit to just a single components actions, as a gaming PC consists of multiple hardware parts working in an effective manner. To help you select one of the best gaming motherboards, we have compiled a few key specifications to help you decide on a candidate that meets your needs.

You should always begin this process by choosing a compatible processor. It seems somewhat odd, but the motherboard is where the processor is stationed. The reason this formal spec. is so crucial relates to the CPU socket located on the motherboard, which by default is the best way to selecting a suitable logic board. Let me give you an example. Say you have an Intel Core i7 processor and a motherboard with a 775 socket. This will not work because this particular socket was built for Intel Core 2 Duo and Quad Core gaming processors. A Core i7 processor must use an LGA 1156 (Socket H) or LGA 1366 (Socket B) socket.

Which brings us to another detail that is extremely important not to overlook. The type of processor you choose limits you to the motherboards you can purchase. There are two major processor manufacturers you have to choose from. Either Intel or AMD. Both use different sockets to house their processors, including the paired chipset that the processor was implemented to interact with. Just ensure that you check this specification before you make a purchase. If you have any questions, you can refer to the OEM or re-seller of that product.

Another important aspect that motherboards determine are the memory modules. Gaming computers require a large amount of RAM to help process data as quickly as possible. This can be figured by the amount of slots a gaming motherboard is equipped with, including each slots capacity and overall maximum capacity. This will also help you establish the type, speed (frequency), and an appropriate bandwidth, specifically relating to the operating frequency of the FSB. There are nice combinations for motherboards and memory modules featured on various sites across the web, its just a matter of deciding which set is right for you, thats if you go with this option, though we do recommend purchasing each component individually.

You may think that the video cards are the most relevant to this selection process, but they actually don't require you to select a specific card, unless you are considering multiple video cards. If you are going to install more than one video card, then you need to check the compatibility of that specific card and if it is SLI (Nvidia chipset) or CrossFire (AMD chipset) ready. These two technologies allow motherboards to recognize any additional graphic cards, which allows them to operate simultaneously. This is especially important for gaming computers, as vivid graphic quality is a tendency for these systems.

Your games obviously need a place to be stored and accessed as well, especially in fast paced environments. Gaming computers usually have a fast hard drive equipped, which requires that the disk controller on the motherboard complies with the SATA 2.0 standard at least, seeing how SATA 3.0 was recently introduced into the market. Majority of gaming motherboards and associated devices support the 2.0 standard, which is what we suggest you purchase regarding this specification. If you are considering a RAID setup, ensure that there are enough SATA interface connectors located on the motherboard.

Just to note, there is one more type of storage drive that is drawing considerable attention. Solid State drives are newer storage devices using a flash based memory, replacing any moving mechanisms that existed in previous devices, hard drives being a perfect example. The price is higher for these drives, but well worth it. If you can supply a gaming computer with this type of storage drive, then your system will load any form of program with ease, especially 3D games.

A few other important qualities not to bypass would be any additional peripherals, including 5+ USBs, 1-2 Firewire, built-in LAN connector, display ports, etc. Plus, since gaming computers typically need every last bit of performance, overclocking your processor should be taken seriously, in some instances. This can be done by manipulating the system BIOs, usually most gaming motherboards allow this behavior, in which changing the CPUs current voltage and adjusting the system bus to a faster operating frequency is a common practice.

When it comes to integrated components, do not waste your time with on-board video and sound controllers, as purchasing separate video cards and a sound card will provide your gaming computer with more clarity and enjoyment when encountering various scenes throughout the games you experience.

Well we are ending this short article after summarizing a few major details pertaining to qualities based off of the best gaming motherboards, though you can find more details about gaming motherboards on our best gaming motherboards page. For further discussions and articles about the best gaming computers configurations and hardware part specifications, you can refer to our home page at your leisure.

Chris Jones is an authoritative source for information pertaining to gaming computers and hardware configurations. For an abundant amount of resources about this criteria, visit http://iGamingComputer.com

Chris Jones Copyright © 2010 - You may redistribute this article if all links and content remain intact.

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What Do the Best Gaming Motherboards Have in Common?

A lot of motherboards are produced to meet the demands of intensive gaming applications. Although all gaming motherboards have different features and highlighted functions, these motherboards still have something in common. These similarities are the key to why the best gaming motherboards can perform well with gaming applications. These features must be checked also when looking for the desired motherboards. To see the similarities, here are the features most gaming motherboards have in common:

High Memory RAM Modules

RAM is always critical for gaming PCs. High RAM capacity is required in order to sustain superb gaming experience, otherwise the gaming application will not perform well. A minimum of 1 GB RAM capacity is usually needed, so always look for more than 1 GB RAM capacity when considering a motherboard for gaming purposes. Also, a minimum of 4 RAM slots should be present so the motherboard can effectively sustain high RAM requirements.

SATA or SATA 2 Hard Drive Interface

Either SATA or SATA 2 hard drive interfaces are commonly used to support fast gaming applications. SATA is a marked improvement from the previous IDE interface as it can support up to 150 MBps transfer speed. On the other hand, SATA 2 is an upgraded version of SATA where higher rate at 300 MBps is supported. With these two advisable hard drive interfaces, intensive gaming applications can be satisfactorily supported.

PCI Express Slot

The latest motherboards have PCI express slots and these slots are definite improvements from the previously used AGP slots. Some gaming motherboards even support SLI or Crossfire technology where the connection of two graphic cards is allowable. Although dual graphic card is not necessary, it is important to achieve the best graphic output possible from the computer game played.

CPU Socket - Socket AM2 and Socket 775

With lots of CPU sockets available, it is quite hard to determine the advisable one for gaming purposes. But most experts agree that gaming motherboards should have at least Socket AM2 for AMD CPUs or Socket 775 for Intel CPUs. Through these sockets, the CPU can work well by supporting speed and functional reliability. Also, it should be capable of supporting dual core processors for optimum speed capability.

Additional Peripherals

There are more peripherals typically included in these motherboards like 1-2 Firewire, display ports, built-in LAN connector, 5+ USB ports and many more. These additional peripherals usually serve as accessories or helpful add-ons in improving gaming performance. However, each gaming motherboard has different additional peripherals included, as it greatly varies among different manufacturers.

Optimum Overclocking Capabilities

Overclocking is important for the best gaming performance a motherboard can give, so most of these motherboards are designed to meet the edge of overclocking technology. For this reason, gaming motherboards usually allow manipulation of the BIOS system. In this practice, adjusting the system bus and changing the CPU's current voltage is done for faster operating frequency, therefore allowing overclocking is somehow critical for the gaming motherboard used.

When checking gaming motherboards, just look for these features to determine if the motherboard can really perform well in gaming applications. Many other features can be checked by looking on specifically branded motherboards for more detailed assessment.

Learn more about the features you need to consider when comparing the best gaming motherboards by visiting http://www.TheComputerHardwareBlog.com/understanding-motherboards/.

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Buying a Motherboard for Gaming: What Features You Need to Consider

The motherboard defines the computer's system. It also determines the computer's speed, capacity and other important functions necessary for a fully functional unit. In using the computer for gaming purposes, it is important to consider the functions present in a motherboard and determine if it can handle intensive gaming applications. Be guided with the following features that must be present in a preferred motherboard for gaming purposes:

High Memory Capacity

For a good gaming experience, at least 1 GB RAM is needed. You can get either a DDR SDRAM or a DDR RDRAM. If lower than 1 GB of RAM, the game's speed and graphic quality can be compromised so it is always critical to get at least 1 GB RAM capacity.

Adequate RAM Slots

Since gaming computers have high RAM requirements, a minimum of 4 RAM slots is required. The RAM slots should be compatible with the RAM used which should have at least 1100 MHz capacity. Without adequate RAM slots, it may not sustain high RAM requirements since RAM modules are connected equally and separately for a highly functional RAM module.

256 MB to 512 MB Graphic Card

Gaming applications rely heavily on graphics, so it is important to have a high video memory capacity around 256 MB up to 512 MB. Usually, a standard motherboard has 64 MB up to 128 MB of built-in video memory, so an additional graphics card is needed. Whenever an additional graphic card is installed, just make sure that it is compatible with the motherboard in use.

Compatible Processor

No matter how great the purchased CPU is, it will not perform well if it is not compatible with the motherboard. For this reason, choose only from the motherboard's advised CPUs to ensure compatibility. At the same time, make sure that the CPU is fast and powerful enough as these features are typically required in a good-performing gaming PC. But remember, to be careful as certain motherboards have maximum allowable processor speed. In this case, just check the quoted limit in the motherboard's specifications and check if the chosen CPU meets the requirement.

Adequate USB Ports and PCI Slots

The PCI slots are designed to accommodate additional cards to the motherboard such as Ethernet card, sound card and modem. For optimum gaming experience, additional cards may be connected to PCI slots in order to meet most gaming application demands. The USB ports must be critically considered as well for other additional capacity options.

Avoid On-Board Video and Sound

There are some motherboards made with built-in video and sound capabilities. But remember that on-board video is not good for 3D games, so a separate graphic card must be installed. On the other hand, on-board sound function is just fine as the sound quality is almost the same with the sound produced in a separate sound card.

Make sure to consider the above mentioned critical features when choosing gaming motherboards. The listed features can also be used for assessing gaming ready motherboards sold in the market, so it can be determined if the motherboard could really perform well with gaming applications.

Now that you know how to choose the right motherboard for gaming, learn more about other motherboard features you'll need to consider at http://www.TheComputerHardwareBlog.com/understanding-motherboards/

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Useful Tips To Choose The Best Gaming Motherboard

Motherboard is the heart of the whole computer system. It is the part that connects all the other parts together and make sure they run smoothly. As such, choosing the best gaming motherboard is the most important task that you need to do when building a gaming computer. This article will teach you how to choose the best gaming motherboard.

Decide which type of CPU to use

This may seem irrelevant to choosing a motherboard. In actual fact, this is the most important thing you need to do before selecting a motherboard. The reason being that the type of CPU will determine the type of motherboard you need. For example, if you choose an Intel CPU, then you have to get the socket 775 motherboard or else the CPU won't fit into the motherboard. Deciding on the type of CPU will help you to make a better choice when choosing the best gaming motherboard.

Determine if the motherboard supports the type of CPU you have chosen

As mentioned before, if you are using an Intel CPU, you have to get a socket 775 motherboard whereas an AMD CPU requires a socket AM2 motherboard. In addition, some of the older socket 775 motherboards do not support dual core processors (even though they use the same socket) or even quad-core processors. Check out the manufacturer's website to get confirmation before you buy the motherboard.

Overclocking feature

If you are overclocking your CPU, you have to get a motherboard that allows you to change the FSB speed and CPU voltage in small increments.

RAM support and no of memory slot

Your motherboard must be able to support DDR2 RAM, for a simple reason that DDR2 is currently the fastest RAM in the market. Extra thing to take note is the maximum speed of RAM that the motherboard supports. Some motherboards can support only up to DDR2 667MHz RAM while the latest ones can support up to DDR2 1066MHz.

In addition, you may want to upgrade your RAM in the future, therefore your current motherboard must have at least 4 memory slots and can support up to 8GB RAM so that you have the option to upgrade in the future.

SLI/ Crossfire ready

SLI / Crossfire ready motherboard means that you can make use of two identical high performing graphics card to render the graphics, thus achieving a faster and more realistic video effects. Not every motherboard supports this feature. As video effects getting more and more advanced, it will be soon that SLI or Crossfire technology becomes the standard for video display. Therefore, even if you are not using this technology now, it is still advisable to get a gaming motherboard with SLI or Crossfire feature.

SATA 2 controller

SATA2 can transfer data at twice the speed of SATA 1. When it comes to gaming, every single speed counts and that increase in speed might be the deciding factor in your game. A SATA 2 port is backward compatible with SATA 1 devices, but not the other way round. It is better for you to get a motherboard that supports SATA 2 devices. In addition, if you are using RAID, then you have to get a motherboard that has four SATA 2 ports.

Extra Features

You might want to consider extra features such as extra USB2.0 ports, firewire, integrated LAN and front-panel LED when choosing a gaming motherboard. Some of the motherboards contain more features than the other and you have to compare around to see the differences.

Features such as integrated sound and video are not as important in the best gaming motherboard since they could not contribute well to a good gaming session. For a gaming computer, you have to get a separate graphics card and sound card so as to play the latest game in the market.

Conclusion

When getting the best gaming motherboard, it is worthwhile to do some market research and compare with various boards. Since it is the most important part in the whole computer system, don't ever scrimp money on it.

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