Motherboard Selection Criteria's

I am often asked to make recommendations for purchases. Without guidance, many individuals have no rhyme or reason for their selections and instead base their choices solely on magazine reviews or, even worse, on some personal bias. To help eliminate this haphazard selection process, I have developed a simple motherboard selection checklist.
It helps to think like an engineer when you make your selection. Consider every aspect and detail of the motherboards in question. For instance, you should consider present usage as well as future uses and upgrades. Technical support at a professional (as opposed to a user) level is extremely important.
The following list includes some of the most important criteria to consider when selecting a motherboard:

1. Motherboard chipset—The motherboard chipset is the backbone of a system and it affects and influences virtually every other component in the system. So Before buying, compare the features of the available chipsets to ensure that the board will do what you want. For example, some chipsets include support for faster memory, PCIe 2.x cards, SATA 6Gbps drives, and optional RAID capabilities.
2. Processor socket—The processor socket on a motherboard dictates about the processor models you will be able to install. In most cases you will have a processor in mind, so choose a motherboard with a socket that supports the processor you want to use. Check the motherboard specifications for what specific processors are supported by a given motherboard.
3. Memory—The type and amount of memory compatible with a system depends on the motherboard you choose. Most motherboards today support either DDR2 or DDR3 memory, in either single-, dual-, or triple-channel operation. The number of memory sockets, supported speeds, and other variables also depend on the motherboard, so check the board specifications to see exactly what is supported.
4. Form factor—The form factor indicates the size and shape of the board and must be compatible with the chassis or case and power supply. For maximum flexibility, performance, reliability, and ease of use, motherboards based on the ATX and microATX form factors are recommended. Larger form factors such as ATX offer more slots and room for additional integrated components and features. Smaller variations on ATX are also available, but in the end you need to be sure that the motherboard is compatible with the case and power supply you have chosen.
5. Bus slots—Current systems offer one to five or more PCI and PCI Express slots (depending on the form factor). Some boards have more than one PCIe x16 (video card) slot, which you may want if you are running multiple video cards in an SLI or Crossfire X arrangement. Make sure the board you choose has the number and types of slots you require. Keep in mind that PCI is fading away on the latest motherboards, so if you want to use existing PCI cards, make sure you choose a motherboard that has enough PCI slots or has integrated ports that replace the functionality of your PCI cards.
6. Onboard ATA interfaces—All motherboards on the market have included onboard Serial and Parallel ATA interfaces for some time now, but not all are equal. Look for boards that include at least four to six SATA connectors, with support for 6Gbps operation as well as optional RAID functionality (if desired).
7. Other built-in interfaces—Ideally, a motherboard should contain as many built-in standard controllers and interfaces as possible. Most boards feature integrated USB, sound, and LAN (look for those offering gigabit Ethernet), whereas others also have integrated video, FireWire, eSATA, dual LAN adapters, and more. Motherboards with the latest generation of USB (USB 3.0) and SATA (6Gbps) are likely to cost more than boards using USB 2.0 and SATA 3Gbps, but by the time you add expansion cards to gain these features, the total cost of upgrading a board lacking these features added to the original motherboard cost usually makes the board with faster ports a better buy.
8. Documentation—Good technical documentation is important. Documents should be easy to download from the manufacturer’s site and should include information on any and all jumpers and switches found on the board, connector pinouts for all connectors, specifications for other plug-in components, and any other applicable technical information. Most vendors provide this information in electronic form ( PDF format) on their websites, so you can preview the information available for a given motherboard before you buy.
9. Technical support—Good online technical support goes beyond documentation. It includes easily downloadable driver and BIOS updates, FAQs, updated tables of processor and memory compatibility, and utility programs to help you monitor the condition of your system. In addition to these online support features, make sure the vendor can be contacted through email and by phone.Purchasing boards from better-known motherboard manufacturers such as GIGABYTE, Foxconn, and Intel is recommended. These boards might cost a little more, but there is some safety in the more well-known brands. That is, the more boards they sell, the more likely that any problems will have been discovered by others and solved long before you get yours. Also, if service or support is necessary, the larger vendors are more likely to be around in the long run.

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Overclock your PC

Setting the processors speed to run faster than the manufacturers rating on the chip is called overclocking. You can get away with a certain amount of overclocking on Intel, AMD, and other processors. So, a chip rated 3GHz might in fact run at 3.5GHz or more but instead being down-rated allows for a greater margin of reliability. By overclocking, you are using this margin and running the chip closer to its true maximum speed. I don’t normally recommend overclocking for a novice, but if you are comfortable playing with your system settings, and you can afford and are capable of dealing with potential consequences, overclocking might enable you to get another 10%–20% or more performance from your system.
Overclocking is usually applied to the processor, but it can also be applied to other components in the system, including memory, video cards, bus speeds, and more.
When chips run faster, they run hotter, so cooling upgrades and modifications usually go hand-in hand with overclocking. Systems that run cool tend to be more stable and more reliable, so even if you don’t overclock your system, ensuring that it runs cool is essential for trouble-free operation. Many systems are not properly designed or configured for optimal cooling even at their standard speeds, much less when overclocked.
Modern systems allow overclocking without replacing any parts by virtue of programmable timer chips and simple and easy-to-change BIOS Setup options. Some processors, such as Intel Extreme Edition and AMD Black Edition processors, are especially suited to overclocking because they feature unlocked core multipliers. However, some overclocking is possible with almost any processor.
A typical PC has at least two crystals on the motherboard: The main crystal controls the speed of the motherboard and motherboard circuitry, and the other controls the real-time clock (RTC). The main crystal is always 14.3MHz , and the RTC crystal is always 32.7KHz. A special chip called a frequency timing generator (FTG) or frequency synthesizer is used in conjunction with the crystal to derive the actual speeds of the system. A separate 32.768KHz crystal to count time independent from the speed of the system. This crystal is used on all modern motherboards as well.The crystal and frequency synthesizer chip are usually situated near the processor and main chipset component of the motherboard. Most of these chips are programmable and adjustable, so they can change their frequency outputs via software, which results in the system running at different speeds. Because all CPUs are based on the speed of the CPU bus, when you change the CPU bus speed generated by the frequency synthesizer chip, you can change the speed of your processor. Because the PCI, AGP, and memory buses are often synchronized with the speed of the processor bus, when you change the processor bus speed by a given percentage, you also change the speed of those other buses by the same percentage. The software to accomplish this is built into the BIOS Setup menus of most modern motherboards.
The modern motherboards can read the CPU and memory components to determine their proper speed, timing, and voltage settings. Originally, these settings were controlled by jumpers and switches, but in most modern boards you can enter the BIOS Setup to change these settings to manual and then alter the speed of the system. Such alterations can make the system unstable, so most systems are designed to boot into the BIOS Setup at a default low speed. This makes overclocking as simple as changing a few menu options and then rebooting to test the selections you’ve made.
The concept for overclocking is simple: Change the settings to increase the speed of the processor, memory, buses, and so on, until the system becomes unstable. Then you can go back in and reduce the settings until the system is stable again. In this manner, you find the maximum sustainable speed for a system. Because each processor is different, even ones with the same ratings can end up allowing different maximum stable speeds.

Bus Speeds and Multipliers

Modern processors run as a multiple of the motherboard speed, and this selected multiple is usually locked within the processor , all you can do to change speeds is change the processor bus speed settings. Many motherboards allow changes in speed of up to 50% or more, but a processor rarely sustains speeds that far above its rating without locking up or crashing. Also note that, by increasing the speed of the processor bus, you may also be increasing the speed of the memory bus, PCI bus, or PCI Express (or AGP) bus by the same percentage. Therefore, if your memory is unstable at the higher speed, the system will still crash, even though the processor might have been capable of sustaining it.

CPU Voltage Settings

By either increasing or decreasing voltage slightly from the standard, a higher speed of overclock can be achieved in the system. Some motherboards allow adjusting the voltage settings for the FSB, chipset, and memory components, allowing for even more control in overclocking situations. Some motherboards do not allow manual changes to these settings.

Processor Cooling

Heat is a problem in any high-performance system. The higher-speed, processors consume more power and therefore generate more heat. The processor is usually the single most power-hungry chip in a system, and in most situations, the fan inside your computer case is incapable of handling the load without some help. This is where heat sinks and other cooling process come.

Heatsinks

A heatsink works like the radiator in your car, pulling heat away from the engine. In a similar fashion, the heatsink conducts heat away from the processor so it can be vented out of the system. a fan is incorporated somewhere inside your PC to move air across the heatsink and vent it out of the system.  In some systems, the fan included in the power supply is enough when combined with a special heatsink design; in most cases, though, an additional fan must be attached directly over the processor heatsink to provide the necessary levels of cooling. Case fans are also typical in some systems to assist in moving the hot air out of the system and replacing it with cooler air from the outside. The heatsink is normally attached with clips or snap-in retainers. A variety of heatsinks and attachment methods exist.When installing or removing a heatsink that is clipped on, be sure you don’t scrape the surface of the motherboard.

Liquid Cooling

One of the more extreme methods for cooling a PC is to use some form of liquid cooling. Liquids have a much greater thermal carrying capacity than air, and as processors run hotter and hotter, it can be advantageous or even necessary to use a form of liquid cooling to dissipate the extreme levels of heat generated, especially in smaller or more confined spaces.Several forms of liquid cooling are available,including the following:


■ Heat pipes
■ Water cooling
■ Refrigeration
Of all the types of liquid cooling available, heat pipes are the only type that is practical and cost effective in production-level PCs. Water cooling and especially refrigeration are limited to those who are pursuing extreme overclocking and are willing to pay the high prices and put up with all the drawbacks and disadvantages that come with these two options.

Thermally Advantaged Chassis

Chassis that have been specifically designed to improve cooling for the processor by maintaining a temperature of 40°C or less at the processor heatsink inlet are often referred to as thermally advantaged chassis. Using a thermally advantaged chassis allows the processor to remain cool, even under extreme environmental conditions, and it reduces noise. Most modern processors and chassis incorporate cooling systems that can adjust the speeds of the fans.

Best Overclocking Software's :

1. CPUZ and GPUZ
2. AMD Overdrive
3. Intel Desktop Control Center 

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