Motherboard buying guide: choosing the best board for your needs

If you think about your computer’s motherboard in terms of the human body, it’d be one of the most vital organs you have, like the heart or the brain. Without a motherboard, all of the important peripherals in your PC wouldn’t have a connection point or a way for data and resources to be properly distributed and balanced.

As you look for your new motherboard, you’ll come across some familiar names that cross over to other computer peripherals like ASUS and MSI, and some other brands like Gigabyte and ASRock, the latter of whom focuses mainly on motherboard manufacturing. Right now, ASUS accounts for around 40% of the motherboard market. However, the biggest manufacturer may not necessarily be the best for your needs. Let’s dive into helping you find out what’s the best motherboard for your needs.

Table of contents

1. Understanding Motherboard basics
2. Types of Motherboards and sizes
3. Motherboard features to consider
4. How to choose the right Motherboard for your needs
5. Comparing major Motherboard manufacturers
6. Best Motherboards for gaming
7. How to check what Motherboard you have

Understanding Motherboard basics

What is a Motherboard?

The motherboard is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in your computer. As the main point of centralization in your PC, it does things like allocate power to peripherals, enable communication between components like the CPU, RAM, GPU, and hard drive and is basically the heart and soul of your computer. Basically, without a good working motherboard, you don’t have a working PC. If you’re building a new PC, finding the right motherboard and the right components to work with it the first time is key. This will save you from having to make multiple trips to the store to exchange things.

What are some of the key components of a Motherboard?

Some of the key components of the motherboard include:

• BIOS: The Basic Input/Output system manages basic functions of the computer like startup. It also finds and helps configure important aspects of your computer like memory and hard drive. You’ll often see within peripheral manuals the recommendation that you keep your motherboard’s BIOS updated to help manage compatibility.
• Chipsets: The Chipset helps manage data transfer between different components of your computer, like the CPU, RAM and Hard Drives.
• Heatsink: The heatsink is used to prevent your motherboard from overheating. Depending on what you’re using your PC for, you may also want to invest in extra cooling. These will be discussed later in this guide.
• VRM: The Voltage Regulator Module, or VRM ensures stability in powering the different components.
• CPU Socket: This is the connector that houses the CPU, which you’ll have to buy separately. Make sure you find the CPU that is compatible with your motherboard. If you purchase incompatible units, they will not fit, or worse, they may run the risk of damaging your hardware. Every motherboard should come with a compatibility list to help you find the right CPU for it.
• PCIe slots: Peripheral component interconnect express (or PCIe) ports are extremely important ports that allow you to hook up things like Graphics Cards (GPUs,) solid state drives and other optional peripherals. Researching the type and number of slots you need are extremely important, especially if you plan to build a major PC Gaming rig. Some higher end graphics cards will have specific expectations and needs for the number and type of PCIe slots available.

Other components include connectors for main power and storage and I/O ports at the back of the board for things like USB In and Audio and Video (like HDMI) out ports.

You will also come across the term “Motherboard Form Factor,” which refers to the size of the board you’re going to be purchasing. That’s what we’ll look at next.

Types of Motherboards and sizes

There are 4 main motherboard form factor sizes for home PCs. When looking for a new motherboard, you will also want to make sure that you’ve chosen a proper sized case for it, along with any other peripherals you’ll be buying. Some GPUs for example are pretty large and will require the right sized case to fit.

• ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended) – This is the most common motherboard size out in the market, typically 12 inches long. Width can range up to about 9.6 inches. These motherboards typically come with enough PCIe and RAM slots and connector capabilities for a wide variety of peripherals. ATX motherboards are the most common ones out there. That means that there is a greater variety of choices to choose from.
• MicroATX – Micro-ATX motherboards usually top out at 9.6in by 9.6in. Their smaller size does mean that you will get less PCIe and RAM slots (usually 4 of each max). If you’re not building a heavy duty gaming PC and are looking at a smaller and more compact desktop, this might be enough. These are far less common than ATX motherboards and so there isn’t as much variety to choose from.
• Mini-ITX – A mini-ITX motherboard is about half the size of an ATX motherboard. These usually top out at around 6.7in by 6.7in. You’ll usually only get 1 PCIe slot and 2 RAM slots. You don’t get a lot of flexibility to add peripherals with a smaller board like this, but it should be powerful enough for simple and/or fixed functions. For example, if you’ve digitized your media library and are establishing a fairly straightforward media center at home, a board like this should be all you need to support your PC. A smaller desktop build would also give you more portability if you wanted to move this PC freely throughout the house.
• Extended-ATX – This is the largest sized motherboard you can get, as well as being the variety with the least number of models out there. An EATX motherboard usually clocks in around 13 by 12 inches. There are more RAM slots and more space for additional cooling solutions. If you intend to build a heavy duty gaming PC with a very serious GPU, you may want to consider an EATX board to give you the greatest flexibility for your peripherals, though again, availability might be a problem since they’re much harder to find than ATX motherboards.

Motherboard features to consider

Some of the key features you’ll need to keep an eye out for when purchasing a motherboard include:

• Form Factor: After reading the section above, it goes without saying that the size and capability of your motherboard is important for whatever you intend to use your PC for. 
• Number of PCIe slots: These connect peripherals to the motherboard. Depending on what you intend to do with your PC, you’ll need multiples. Slots usually come as x1, x4, x8 or x16. This represents how many data lanes your motherboard and peripheral can communicate through. Some beefier graphics cards nowadays may need up to 3 PCIe connections! Do some research into what the PCIe slots on your motherboard you’re looking at are capable of. While you may see a plentitude of x16 slots available, they may only be wired to 4 or 8 lanes. The nice thing about PCIe slots is that they’re all backwards compatible. We’re currently between 4th and 5th generation PCIe with some motherboards starting to come out throughout 2024 with 5.0 technology. This means that if you end up buying a board with 5th generation slots, but have 4th generation peripherals, they will still work.
• Number of RAM slots: RAM slots house your system’s memory, which contributes directly to its efficiency and overall performance. Follow the instructions for your motherboard to ensure that you purchase the right quality, speed, capacity and type of RAM for your computer. 
• Compatibility with everything else: Perhaps the most important thing of all is that your motherboard is compatible with your CPU and the other peripherals you’re looking at. Making sure you have the board type, the right number of slots and even the right size to fit in your case are all important features of your motherboard that you don’t want to take for granted. 

You’ll also want to make sure you check out other important features of the motherboard. This includes the number of USB slots, network connectivity capabilities and the VRM’s capabilities.

The importance of future proofing

Future proofing your PC is a time honored tradition among computer owners. You’re either buying to support the features of today or spending extra to support the features of tomorrow as well. Given the prices of most expensive GPUs, you’d be surprised to find out that a high end motherboard is a fraction of that. You can expect to find most motherboards in the $300-500 range, with some below and some above that. This means you’ll have to pay less to size up a little bit and future proof yourself for the peripherals of tomorrow, especially if you’re going to be doing many gaming or graphic heavy applications and will need the extra PCIe slots and connectors to support serious GPUs and cooling solutions.

How to choose the right Motherboard for your needs

One thing you should think about early on is the activities you want supported from the PC you’re building or upgrading. Are you just keeping a simple desktop for day to day tasks, like checking emails, streaming services and work? Perhaps working on it by day and gaming heavily on it by night? What if you are going to be editing audio and video? Just setting up a simple computer for the kids to use for their homework? Once you’ve figured out what you want to get out of your PC, that’s when you’ll start to narrow down the right motherboard for your needs. If you’re going to be doing really heavy graphic driven applications or complex processing that will require external graphics peripherals, lots of RAM and larger hard drives to store data, it probably pushes you toward ATX motherboard territory at a minimum. 

Choosing the right board for professionals

If you’re looking for something for work, with, say the Microsoft Office equivalent suite of applications and then other simple processing apps, you might be able to pare down to MicroATX or Mini-ITX board, depending on circumstances. However, going smaller and more compact (and sometimes cheaper) isn’t always the way to go. If what you’ll be working on will require you to get into media processing or heavy data driven processes (think Microsoft Power Apps programs like Power BI) and you’ve picked a board that might shortchange the amount of RAM you can install or peripherals you can connect, it won’t be long before you might need to upgrade.

You’ll also want to make sure that your motherboard and your peripherals are compatible with each other. If this isn’t the case, nothing’s going to work properly. As you go through the list of everything you want onboard your new PC, make sure you crosscheck them with your motherboard choice to make sure they all sync up correctly.

There are a few different motherboard manufacturers out there for you to consider. ASUS and MSI have a very heavy presence in gaming motherboards. ASUS carries a lot of boards in their familiar Republic of Gamers and Ultimate Gamer models. Not to be outdone, MSI have their own gaming brands in MAG (MSI Arsenal Gaming) and MPG (MSI Performance Gaming.) ASRock was originally spun up as a low-cost-brand form of ASUS but is its own company now. ASRock offers lots of boards in different sizes and price points. Gigabyte doesn’t have as many board offerings as ASUS and MSI do, but they have enough out there to cater to a wide range of user needs. Let’s compare the offerings of these manufacturers. 

Comparing major Motherboard manufacturers

Just like any other purchase you make in life, the brands you’re considering have their pros and cons. The 4 motherboard manufacturers mentioned above all have some major perks but also have things you should be aware of before you dive in.

• ASUS –  ASUS may be the most familiar name to gamers out of the 4 manufacturers. Indeed, they’ve built a very trustworthy name and brand from top to bottom. From them, you will get the largest individual product selection for everything from gaming to professional motherboards. They also come with a suite of different software supports, like their Armoury Crate program. Some of their motherboards light up too which gives great eye appeal. That said, some of the higher end ASUS motherboards are usually the most expensive in-market and the number of features some of the boards offer may be too complicated for basic users with basic needs. Many ASUS board features will end up being overkill if you don’t intend to use any of them.
• MSI – Like ASUS, MSI may also be a familiar name, with a great mix of gamer friendly motherboards. The price points may be more appealing than some of the higher end ASUS models too. It may also be a bit more user friendly for novice to intermediate PC owners. That said, MSI boards may not be have as good of options for media professionals and hardcore gamers may not be able to push their boards to more extreme limits with overclocking compared to ASUS boards
• Gigabyte – Gigabyte have a number of options out there for gamers and professionals alike. Gigabyte’s boards are very budget-friendly, right down to their highest end options. However, the one place Gigabyte lags a bit behind MSI and ASUS is selection and availability. Of the 4 brands this section covers, Gigabyte has the least number of product offerings available. Gigabyte boards (especially the AORUS gaming line) might have the features and compatibility you need, despite limited board options. AORUS is known for being built for high end gaming performance, similar to ASUS ROG. AORUS themselves offer a wide price range in their offerings and may have everything you’re interested in for a fraction of the price of their competitors.
• ASRock – What sort of started as ASUS’ little brother brand has flourished into its own reliable manufacturer. ASRock have a wide variety of different boards for gamers and professionals alike. It often comes at a more budget friendly price point (especially in smaller models like mini-ATX.) They offer fewer boards than ASUS and MSI but focus on high-quality options at affordable price points. When ASRock was the low end division of ASUS, they had a bit of a reputation for inconsistency in quality. However, that reputation has started to turn around in recent years. Nowadays, just like any other manufacturer’s boards, it’s best that you check the model you’re looking at to make sure it fits everything you need it to do (and does it well) before you commit to it.

Best Motherboards for gaming

If you’re looking for a motherboard for singer, many things discussed in this guide should be important to your search. You’ll want to ensure that you’ve chosen a powerful motherboard with plenty of RAM slots and high speed RAM support (like DDR4 or 5.) Make sure the PCIe slots can support at least PCIe 4 with enough slots for to work with. This is extra important if you have a multi-slot GPU. Ensure you have the right amount of connectivity ports in the back. If you are connecting wirelessly, it has strong Wi-Fi capabilities. You’ll want to ensure you have enough connectivity for your storage and cooling options and that the VRM is extremely trustworthy to deliver consistent and stable power out to the rest of the peripherals.

If you are going to be pushing your motherboard to its limits and overclocking it, be sure that you’ve balanced it all correctly to work to ensure stability. While overclocking your motherboard and the connected components may lead to faster performance, it may decrease the lifespan of your components and they’ll run much hotter too. It’s best to make sure that you have the right cooling solutions onboard to keep things from overheating. If your PC begins to overheat, you’ll reduce its performance as it struggles to keep itself running with the added heat.

Some motherboards offer more than just their functions. There’s a style element to motherboards nowadays too. Some motherboards come with onboard RGB lights to spruce up the presentation of your PC if you have the case up somewhere it can display, or to help match the lighting of the rest of your gaming space.

Some of the best gaming motherboards available in 2024 include the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 series, the ASUS ROG Strix X670 series, the MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk and the ASRock X670E series.

How to check which board you have

You may already have a good motherboard that you don’t need to upgrade. There are some ways to quickly check your current motherboard to ensure it’s sufficient for your future needs. If you have a proprietary app from your manufacturer, you should be able to get all the details from it. An example of this would be the ASUS Armoury Crate App. Otherwise, you could also try a program like CPU-Z. 

If you don’t want to download any software, there are some other ways. You can also power off your PC, remove a side panel, and find the motherboard’s model information. If you’re not comfortable doing that, you can navigate through your BIOS menus at startup to locate the information.

Putting it all together to find the right Motherboard

There are a lot of different factors that we’ve covered about finding and buying the right motherboard. Making sure you have the right size, specifications and number of ports is essential. Ensuring that the components and peripherals you’re buying are compatible is just as important. Lastly, whether or not you’d like to spend that little extra to future proof yourself is also worth considering. 

Most important though is making sure that the motherboard you choose fits your needs. Picking out the wrong motherboard choice can prevent proper GPU support and hinder your programs and applications.

Click here to see all the articles of the PC Builder Lab series.

Buying the right motherboard is just one of many extremely helpful buying guides available to you on BestBuy.ca. Our PC components buying guide will help you understand all about the other parts of your computer mentioned in this guide and how to make them work together. Additionally, check out our Motherboard compatibility guide to ensure you find the perfect fit for your system.

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Take the next step

Once you’ve figured all of this out and you know what you’d like to get for yourself, have a look online at the motherboard category on BestBuy.ca, or head to your neighborhood location and speak with the experts in store.