General Motherboards Vs Gaming Motherboards

With a wide range of motherboard chipsets from Intel, AMD and Nvidia, selecting a board that will specifically cater to your needs can be quite a task. You would obviously narrow down on particular model depending on your usage or maybe even on the processor model. For instance you obviously will not invest in a high end CPU if your need is to run basic applications like Microsoft Office or just browse the Internet.

For example, take into account the current generation of IGP boards. They are only capable of running 3D applications but are also efficient at handling most games at low settings. Also take note that their IGPs are based around previous generation graphics cards such as the Radeon HD3200/HD3100 by ATI and the GeFore 9400/9300 by Nvidia. Boards based on these IGPs are capable of playing high definition content thereby lowering CPU usage. This eliminates the need to invest in a graphics card.

But then again there are boards based on chipsets such as the Nvidia 790i SLI, AMD 790FX and Intel X48 that do not have a display controller since they are made for enthusiasts and gamers who will undoubtedly invest in a high-end graphics card. You also have multi-GPU support at your disposal.

The overall performance of a motherboard basically depends on a North bridge. The North bridge acts as a router that allows the CPU to communicate with high speed modules like the RAM, display controller and PCIe. So basically, it is the North bridge that defines the overall performance of the board. It also plays a vital role in deciding the type of CPU that the motherboard will support along with the type of RAM. The South bridge on the other hand is designed to control I/O devices such as PCI, audio, USB, SATA and the likes.

Now that we know what exactly sets a regular motherboard apart from a gaming motherboard lets highlight a few more important aspects that set them apart. For example, boards such as the Asus Rampage Extreme are built purely to perform, with build quality and feature that keep them high up in the premium segment.

Armed to the teeth, these boards come with a wide range of features, such as on-board CPU power phase that prevent unwanted power surges from affecting your processor, an additional SATA controller to be able to accommodate extra hard drives, so on and so forth. Unlike regular motherboards these boards give you full freedom to tweak your CPU, GPU and RAM speeds to insane levels. What is even more exciting is the addition of switches or dials on the motherboard that allow you to overclock CPU speed on the fly. With insane performance tweaks under the hood the chipsets are cooled using copper heat pipes that have much superior cooling capabilities than traditional heat sinks.

To sum it all up entry-level IGP boards are best fit for building home PCs that will not empty your wallet. While they will not give you the performance of high end boards they will be more than sufficient for your needs if gaming is not one of your primary desires.