what do i need to look for when getting a motherboard

Motherboards 101

Folks who shop for motherboards—whether every bit an upgrade component or for a build-a-PC-from-scratch project—are a savvy bunch, confident enough to accept their PC to pieces and put it back together once more. The terminology effectually motherboards tin be bewildering, though, and some of it can stump fifty-fifty experienced PC builders.

Starting time-time buyers and builders, meanwhile, definitely need to go into a motherboard purchase with a bit of background knowledge (or a savvy friend!) to get a lath that fits—both literally in the PC's chassis, and in a usage sense. So, if you lot don't take that friend, let usa be it: Here's a 101-level primer to the lingo you lot need to talk motherboard.

Grade Gene (ATX, MicroATX, Mini-ITX)

"Form cistron" is shorthand for the dimensions and layout of a given desktop motherboard. To be sure that a given board will fit into a PC case, y'all demand to know which of the standard board form factors the instance supports.

Left to right: ATX, MicroATX, and Mini-ITX boards

The ones that matter most to PC builders and upgraders are ATX, MicroATX, and Mini-ITX. ATX is sometimes referred to as "standard ATX," and ATX boards (usually, just non exclusively) mensurate 9.6x12 inches. They're what y'all'll see in most midtower or larger PC cases—what most of us think of as traditional tower PCs. A few multi-CPU boards, intended for servers and workstations, and some outliers (such as EVGA's Classified series boards) back up larger ATX "standards" such as Extended ATX and XL-ATX, but these won't be of interest to near PC upgraders or builders. The fundamental thing to know apart from the size gene: ATX boards will have more expansion slots than MicroATX or Mini-ITX ones.

Smaller towers ("minitowers"), flat-way "desktop" cases, and home theater PC (HTPC) chassis tend to back up boards of the MicroATX or Mini-ITX kind. MicroATX boards mensurate upward to 9.6 inches square (some are smaller) and accept fewer slots than an equivalent ATX board, ordinarily enough to install a video card and a supplementary card or ii. The half dozen.7-inch-square Mini-ITX standard, meanwhile, defines boards even more than compact, intended for tight builds in small-course-factor (SFF) PCs. With Mini-ITX, yous're unremarkably limited to just one expansion slot.

Note that almost PC cases that support a particular grade cistron too back up boards of the form factors smaller than it—just always bank check the specs for confirmation of that earlier ownership a new board or case.

BIOS and UEFI BIOS

The bones input/output system (BIOS) is the long-standard firmware that manages your PC outside the operating-organisation environment—that is, earlier you kicking up. Accessed during the startup sequence, the BIOS lives in a dedicated chip on the motherboard (on some motherboards, the chip is actually removable/swappable) and governs crucial system settings such as the kicking-device order, equally well as parameters for integrated components. Overclockers tin also tweak organisation fundamentals in here, though it's possible with the correct lath and software to overclock from within Windows, too.

Sample UEFI BIOS from a Gigabyte motherboard

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a 21st-century refinement of the old-school BIOS, which was long past its expiration date due to a multifariousness of inherent limitations. The product of an Intel initiative to update the legacy BIOS surroundings, UEFI is now managed past a consortium of hardware and software vendors.

The UEFI BIOS outlines something closer to a mini operating system, with more modular programmability and much greater customization possibilities for board makers. Depending on the design, a UEFI BIOS may as well exist mouse-navigable. For motherboard buyers, the presence of a UEFI BIOS was, for a time, a definite plus to look out for. Now, it'southward the standard.

I/O Shield

If you've ever assembled a PC from parts, you lot've probably cut your finger on one of these. The I/O shield is a rectangular metal plate (the edges can be precipitous) that snaps into a gap on the back of your PC case. Just almost every motherboard includes one. The shield volition accept cutouts for the specific ports on the motherboard, and information technology protects the rest of the board during everyday utilise when y'all insert cables into the ports.

About I/O shields are not interchangeable between different models of motherboard. (The but things standard nigh them are their overall dimensions, roughly 1.75x6.5 inches, which ensure that they'll fit in a typical PC case.) So you'll want to be sure, if y'all're buying a secondhand motherboard, that the seller includes the I/O shield in the box. They tend to get misplaced during upgrades, and it can exist catchy getting a replacement that fits, since they are board-specific.

Chipset

"Chipset" is a broad term encompassing the silicon on a motherboard that provides the pathways between (and the controllers for) the various subsystems within a calculator. In a motherboard shopper's context, the chipset, normally from Intel or AMD, defines the board family unit, the specific AMD or Intel processor lines that the lath supports, and many of the possible features that the motherboard maker could implement. A motherboard maker volition typically offering a whole host of boards based on a single chipset, only with differences in course factors and feature levels.

The usual grade of things in the motherboard earth is that when a new processor line debuts, a new high-end chipset will accompany it, and bottom-featured, cheaper chipsets for the same processor family will debut at the same fourth dimension or a chip later. These "step-down" chipsets allow for more budget-minded motherboards for unlike usage cases. When nosotros wrote this in mid-2018, for example, the newest Intel chipsets for its mainstream CPUs in the 8th Generation Core "Java Lake" line were the enthusiast-minded Z370 (stacked with overclocking features) and a host of lower-featured chipsets geared toward more ordinary boards: the Q370, H370, B360, and H310. The previous generation of Intel boards followed the same rough numeric epitome: the pinnacle-end Z270 chipset, accompanied by Q270, H270, Q250, and B250 for mainstream Socket 1151 "Kaby Lake" processors.

The X299, meanwhile, is the latest chipset for Intel'south high-end Socket 2066 "Core X-Series" processors, supplanting the X99 (for Socket 2011) as the "extreme enthusiast" chipset on the Intel side of the aisle. AMD'south enthusiast equivalent to the Core X-Series, the Ryzen Threadripper, relies on a single chipset, the X399.

AMD boards in the past employed a diversity of AMD chipsets too all-encompassing to list here, but AMD'south Ryzen processors have coalesced around the AM4 socket and the X370 and B350 chipsets, with a few other lower-end Ryzen-compatible chipsets (such as the A320) appearing on budget boards. In 2018, the X370 has been joined by the X470, which adds support for second-gen Ryzen CPUs and the new-for-2018 Ryzen "Raven Ridge" chips with on-fleck graphics.

Knowing which chipset your board runs on is important for two reasons. For one, information technology is related to which specific CPUs the motherboard supports (though y'all should check that list carefully, regardless). Second, the chipset indicates the relative positioning of a lath and its feature ready. For case, AMD B350-based boards tend to exist more budget-minded models than the X370s, though both may back up the same CPUs.

CPU Socket

This is the square receptacle into which the processor chip that you buy fits. The processor'southward specific socket type (not just the manufacturer) needs to lucifer the socket type used past the board. (In other words, not all Intel processor chips work in all Intel boards...not by a long shot.) Too, not all processors of a given socket type will work in every board that has that socket. You'll want to cheque the motherboard maker's CPU-compatibility list for details.

For some time now, Intel's processors have used a design in which the interface pins are role of the socket, with dot-similar contacts on the bottom of the processor chip. AMD'southward consumer chips, meanwhile, with the exception of the Ryzen Threadrippers, still utilise erstwhile-school sockets with holes for pins on the scrap.

The most common socket types you'll run across here in 2018, as nosotros write this, are...

• Socket 2011 and Socket 2066. Not referring to the twelvemonth of introduction but the number of pins in the socket, these are the sockets used by Intel'south highest-cease processors, such as the Intel Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition (Socket 2011) and newer Core i9-7980XE Extreme Edition (Socket 2066). Socket 2066 is new with Intel'south 2017 Core X-Serial of CPUs, and Intel refers to this class of organization generically as HEDT (for "loftier-end desktop"). Annotation also that Socket 2011 comes in two variants, the original and a later Socket 2011 v3, that are electrically incompatible.

Intel'south Socket 2011; Socket 2066 looks similar

• Socket 1151. The electric current mainstream socket used past Intel's latest Core, Celeron, and Pentium processors, the 1151 socket came in with Intel's 6th Generation Core ("Skylake") chips and also covers the 7th Generation Core ("Kaby Lake") and 8th Generation ("Coffee Lake") Intel chips. Information technology succeeds Socket 1150. Important to know: Just considering a CPU is compatible with Socket 1151, it doesn't mean that every Socket 1151 motherboard supports that CPU. Check the lath specs! The "Java Lake" generation of CPUs, for case, works only with Socket 1151 boards based on 300-series chipsets, and these boards do not support earlier (6th and 7th Generation) Socket 1151 CPUs.

Intel Socket 1151, mainstream staple socket, with protective cover

• AMD AM4. Used by AMD'southward latest APU chips and past its Ryzen mainstream/enthusiast processor line, AM4 is a new, unifying socket for AMD's consumer CPUs. Again, though, yous'll want to look for a specific CPU support list for an AM4 lath; newer AM4 CPUs, such as the AMD Ryzen vii 2700X, may non work in older AM4 boards out of the box.

AMD's AM4 socket, showing pin receptacles

• AMD TR4. This enormous socket is used past AMD'due south Ryzen Threadripper CPUs and employs a whopping four,096 pins and a special loading mechanism. It's like to that used past AMD'south Epyc server CPUs.

AMD Threadripper TR4 socket, with CPU existence installed

• AMD FM2 and FM2+. These sockets were used by AMD's and then-called "accelerated processing units" (APUs), which is AMD's marketing term (now in common utilize) for its CPUs that have on-chip video acceleration. The FM2+ socket emerged in late 2013 for employ with the 2014 "Kaveri" family unit of APUs, only older FM2-compatible APUs will piece of work in FM2+ boards as well. It's now a expressionless end, though.

• AMD AM3+. This socket was used by the last wave of AMD's FX-serial processors, which are CPUs just, with no integrated graphics. It is also a dead end.

DIMM Slots

For "dual in-line memory module." These are the slots on the motherboard (typically two or four, but sometimes eight) that have the system's RAM. Levers on one or both sides lock the memory sticks into place.

In the latest consumer motherboards, this will be dual data rate 4 (DDR4) memory. (DDR3 slots are still around in some last-generation motherboards, notably for AMD'due south pre-Ryzen CPUs.) Where the "DDR" comes in: Y'all'll generally run across a performance benefit if RAM sticks are used in identical pairs and inserted in designated "paired" slots on the motherboard for dual-channel throughput. Quad-channel retention (using four or eight sticks per set) is supported past a few high-stop platforms, such as Intel's X299 for the Core X-Series CPUs. It works nether the same full general principles every bit dual-aqueduct.

DIMM slots on a late-model MSI motherboard

RAM is often sold packaged to facilitate dual- or quad-aqueduct operation (every bit a set of ii or 4 modules with the aforementioned specs), and the motherboard'due south paired slots are sometimes color-coded. With paired memory, you lot'd put the two (dual-channel) or four (quad-aqueduct) modules in slots with matching colors, or arranged co-ordinate to the motherboard transmission's instructions.

The takeaway: When shopping for RAM, know that two sticks of DDR retention adding up to a certain chapters can deliver better performance than simply one stick of that capacity, all else being equal, thanks to dual-channel throughput. (Ditto four sticks versus two or just one, if the board supports quad-channel.)

PCI Express x16, x8, x4, and x1 Slots

Abbreviated "PCIe slots," these are the expansion slots on the motherboard that accept video cards, Boob tube tuners, and other lath-based components. The "ten" designation describes two things, however: the physical size of the slot, and the bandwidth of the slot itself. And these two numbers tin be different for a single given slot.

In terms of the slot size, the higher the "x" number, the longer the slot, and you'll ideally want to match a card with the same kind of slot. In practice, yous'll see these days only x16 (long) and x1 (short) physical slots on new motherboards. A bill of fare with a lower "ten" designation tin exist used in a higher-numbered slot, but not vice versa. (So, for example, you can install a PCIe x1 carte du jour in a PCIe x16 slot, but non the other way effectually.)

Board close-up showing x16 and x1 physical slots (x16 slots are long and banded in argent)

Where things get complicated is with PCI slot bandwidth, though it's by and large relevant only when installing dedicated graphics cards. Modernistic video cards all slot into PCI Express x16 slots, and a motherboard may have several of these. It's possible, all the same, that not all of the x16 slots on a board (and mayhap, simply one of them) supports full PCI Express x16 bandwidth or lanes, despite beingness capable of fitting an x16-length card. (Simply put, the lanes are electric pathways that enable throughput; more is improve.) If you're installing just ane video carte du jour, it'south of import to put it in an x16 slot that supports total x16 bandwidth, as opposed one with x8 or x4 lanes merely.

Boards that support Nvidia SLI and/or AMD CrossFireX multiple-video-card setups (see below) volition likewise take dissimilar possible lane/bandwidth configurations that you should be aware of, if you intend to install multiple video cards. Using ane card in one slot might requite you x16 bandwidth with that carte, but adding a 2nd card might bump both cards downwardly to x8, or one might run at x16 with the other at x8 or x4. Examine the bandwidth specs before buying if multicard gaming is your aim to make certain you'll get the virtually performance possible from your card investment.

SLI and CrossFireX

Two flavors of the same dish, these terms refer to the ability of a motherboard to take more than ane graphics carte and have the cards work additively to increase graphics performance. Scalable Link Interface (SLI) is the standard that works with Nvidia GeForce graphics cards, while CrossFireX works with AMD's Radeon cards. The cards demand to utilise the same graphics processor. A physical bridging connector between cards, often supplied with SLI- or CrossFire-compatible motherboards, may be required for adequate bandwidth for communication betwixt the cards. The latest of Nvidia'south high-finish GeForce GTX chiliad-series cards require a special "high-bandwidth" SLI connector to maximize SLI functioning.

With SLI, a lath may support Two-Way, Three-Way, or Iv-Mode SLI, which indicates the maximum number of cards supported, merely with the Nvidia "Pascal" video cards in its GTX one thousand series, Nvidia'southward new limit is just two cards officially supported in SLI, and some Pascal cards in the line don't work in SLI at all. CrossFireX can be two to four cards; bank check the board specs for how many are supported.

Two GeForce GTX 1080 cards in SLI, continued by a loftier-bandwidth bridge

On some AMD-based boards from the generations before the Ryzen CPUs, don't confuse SLI or CrossFireX with "AMD Dual Graphics," which is a different feature altogether. With Dual Graphics, you can pair certain AMD Radeon cards with the CPU's onboard graphics in a CrossFire-like functioning-boosting organisation. It's a minor boost at best, though.

Also, know that a given game needs to take specific back up for SLI or CrossFireX to run across much of a benefit, and that this support is being de-emphasized past many game developers these days. For most users, a single powerful video menu will more suffice. (Run into our guide to the best graphics cards.)

USB two.0, USB 3.0, and USB 3.1 Gen2 Headers

Some other kind of on-motherboard pin header, USB headers nowadays come in three types: USB 2.0, USB iii.0, and USB three.1. These connect to matching wires in your PC's chassis that pb to "front panel" USB connectors situated on the example'south outside.

A USB 2.0 header will have 2 rows of v pins, with ane pin missing out of the ten as a "key" for proper orientation of the connector. The matching cable connector on your PC'due south instance will have 10 pinholes (powering two ports) or five (powering ane port). USB 3.0 headers, meanwhile, are more straightforward: They are a xx-pivot rectangular grid that accepts a cable powering ane or ii USB 3.0 ports. Yous'll want to make certain any lath you're buying has connectors that match what'southward on your PC case—and vice versa.

All iii kinds of USB header, left to right: USB ii.0, USB 3.0, and USB iii.1 Gen2

Some of the very latest boards (from 2017 forward) may have a third kind of USB header, for USB 3.1 Gen2, which is meant for new, faster USB ports. Only a few PC cases, still, so far accept a cable that works with this header. The header on the board looks like a cantankerous between a regular USB Blazon-A port (information technology'southward rectangular) and an HDMI port (in that it has a protruding prepare of contacts in the centre).

The front-console header is a grid of pins on the motherboard, often with some colour coding or other on-board labeling, that accepts wires from your PC case. To this set of pins, you'll connect the thin cables for the instance'due south power and reset switches, as well as the difficult drive activity and power-on LEDs (and, in some designs, an onboard speaker). Most of the time, the pins for each connector are in pairs; know that the polarity of the pairs doesn't thing for the switch cables, but it does for the LEDs. The motherboard manual will contain a schematic that shows where the header is and which pins power what.

Color-coded forepart-panel header on a Gigabyte/Aorus board

Some board makers, pioneered by Asus with its "Q-Connector," provide a pocket-size block that plugs into the front-console pin header, covering it entirely, just with an identical pinout on top of it. This lets you plug in the appropriate wires outside the PC instance, then plug in the connector as a whole.

Asus Q-Connector block

MOSFETs and Capacitors

A MOSFET (for "metal oxide semiconductor field consequence transistor") is a type of transistor, that, in the context of reckoner motherboards, is used for voltage regulation.

A bank of MOSFETs (the cubes), fronted by a line of capacitors

From a nontechnical buyer's point of view, MOSFETs are not differentiating features, beyond a motherboard maker's claims of premium components. The actual components are ofttimes hidden below a passive heatsink to keep them cool during operation. The most frequently bandied set-apart characteristic amongst MOSFETs is a "low-resistance" pattern, sometimes denoted as RDS(on), which purportedly means less heat is generated.

As for capacitors, y'all'll see these electronic components scattered across a typical motherboard performing in a diverseness of subsystems, but their base of operations function is to human action every bit "property pens" for electrical charge. Depending on where they are used, they tin take on different shapes (though normally, trivial drums), sizes, and colors. Equally a buying consideration, they are relevant only insofar equally the type of capacitor is sometimes heralded every bit a premium feature.

Run-of-the-mill capacitors are electrolytic, containing a small volume of textile soaked with a liquid. Depending on the quality of manufacture and the expected lifespan, these kinds of capacitors tin can swell and leak over time, leading to board failure. The PC-enthusiast customs generally rallies effectually Japanese-made electrolytic capacitors equally a better bet for longevity, and motherboard makers tend to trumpet "Japanese capacitors" if they are present. (Nosotros tin't verify how accurate this longtime merits is, however.) Solid-state capacitors, on the other manus, are immune to leakage and thus preferred.

Only about all PC cases have a headphone and microphone jack that terminates, inside the case, in a cable with a 10-pivot header connector. This plugs into a pivot grid on the motherboard called an "HD Audio" header. In a nutshell, Hard disk drive Audio brings auto-detection functionality to the ports, allowing the system to sense the presence of devices plugged into the ports and bear accordingly. The pin header is sometimes labeled on the motherboard as "AAFP," for the "analog sound front panel" cable.

For your case's sound cable: 10-pin AAFP header connection (1 pivot is missing for keying)

In earlier times, this connector on the lath was oftentimes an "AC '97" header, and during the transition time between the two, some motherboards provided a selector in the BIOS to let you lot switch the operation of the lath'due south sound silicon betwixt the Ac '97 and HD Sound modes. (The pin connector is physically the same.) In some older PC chassis, you lot may accept a forked cablevision for the audio ports with connectors for both Hd Audio and Ac '97. Ignore the latter. And with a new motherboard and case, yous'll definitely be using the one-time connector, equally Hard disk Audio is the current standard. That'southward the just one of the two you need to know nowadays.

Serial ATA

Serial ATA, ofttimes abbreviated to SATA, is the standard interface for drives inside consumer and business PCs. It'southward employed by hard drives, SSDs, and optical drives alike. Drives with a SATA interface volition have both a SATA data connector (which connects, in a desktop PC, to i of the SATA ports on the motherboard) and a wider, blade-similar "SATA-way" power connector (which connects to a SATA power lead coming from the power supply).

A banking concern of border-mounted Series ATA connectors

The SATA interface itself has speed grades, notably SATA two and SATA three, variously called "SATA II"/"SATA 3Gbps" or "SATA III"/"SATA 6Gbps," respectively. These signal the maximum data transfer rate possible with an attached bulldoze. To gain the maximum throughput benefit, both drive and motherboard must support the aforementioned SATA spec, merely whatever new motherboard and bulldoze you'll be considering these days will back up SATA three exclusively. SATA two volition come into play nowadays only in legacy gear.

Note that on a given motherboard, some of the SATA ports may be handled by different controller chips, perhaps meaning unlike capabilities. (For case, some of the SATA ports may support RAID, and others not.) The transmission should explain any nuances amidst the ports.

24-Pin ATX Power Connector

If you've ever built a PC, torn downwards a PC, or upgraded a motherboard, you've tugged at the large power-supply cable plugged into this connector. A bulky receptacle with two rows of 12 pins, this connector is the main power source for your system, accepting the by-far-biggest ability cable coming off a desktop PC'south power supply.

This is your motherboard'due south main power feed

The 24-pin ATX is at present a standard connector at the motherboard end. At a transition time in the mid-2000s, many power supplies started showing upward with ATX power connectors that were split into 20-pin and four-pivot portions that could snap together. (That'south because older boards required just the 20-pivot connection; the additional four pins added actress circuits at dissimilar voltage levels.) Many modern power supplies still split the 24-pivot connector into these two pieces as a compatibility sop to these older board designs.

"+12V" CPU Power Connector

On modern motherboards, the CPU power connector is a defended four-pivot (two by 2) or 8-pin (2 by four) power connection, commonly positioned near the actual CPU socket. A matching cable from any recent-model PC power supply will fit in hither—the cable will frequently exist labeled "CPU power."

The eight-pivot version of the CPU ability connector on an Asus board

The connector provides a ability source separate from the main 24-pivot connection, and is at times referred to as a "+12V" connectedness. This and the 24-pin ATX connector aren't really shopping concerns on the motherboard terminate if you're looking at new boards (pretty much whatever modernistic motherboard will have these), but they are connections to account for on your PC's power supply if you lot're transplanting or reusing a power supply that's older.

A cluster of iv pins to which yous connect a chassis fan. Motherboards typically come studded with these, the more the larger the lath. The PWM header allows for fine control over fan speeds based on temperature guidelines that are set at a system level. The header sends a 12-volt current through one pin to power the fan, while a control signal on another pivot tells the fan the amount of current to describe, regulating the speed (thus PWM, for "pulse width modulation").

Ii 4-pivot PWM fan headers off to the right

You'll desire to exist sure that a motherboard you lot're choosing has enough of these headers to accommodate the fans in your chassis. Some case fans will have only a three-pin connector; you can plug these into a four-pin header, but you won't become the speed command.

M.2 Slots and U.2 Ports

Many motherboards from the last couple of years have adopted a new type of slot, dubbed Thou.2, used with an emerging form factor of solid-state drives and sure other components. M.2 drives are much smaller than traditional SSDs. They are shaped similar gumsticks and come up in a variety of lengths, indicated by a numeric code in their names. (M.2 Types 2242, 2260, and 2280 are 42mm, 60mm, and 80mm long, respectively.)

An M.2 slot banded in red, with multiple mounting points for 2242, 2260, and 2280 drives.

Virtually of the K.ii devices of interest to PC builders and upgraders will be SSDs, merely information technology'due south too possible to find wireless (Wi-Fi) cards in the M.2 format. (See our picks for the best M.ii solid-state drives at the link.) You lot'll want to know what lengths of M.two device a board supports if you're looking to outfit your PC with such a drive. Most new boards accept at least i Thousand.two slot, with some offering two. Compact or space-constrained boards may accept an Thousand.ii slot on the back of the board. Besides, some boards provide thermal solutions that spiral downward or snap over the M.2 bulldoze(s) to keep them running cool.

"K.2 Shield" thermal solution over an Thou.2 slot

Much less common than K.two is the U.2 port, which resembles a bulky SATA port and is used by a select few enterprise-class storage devices, such every bit the Intel 750 Series SSD ($1,877.83 at Amazon AU) . You lot'll see information technology here and there on high-stop motherboards. It isn't a must-have feature, by any means, but it'due south practiced to know why information technology's at that place.

RGB and RGBW Headers

Defended on-motherboard RGB headers have emerged in the last couple of years, equally RGB mood lighting has invaded the motherboard itself and at present extends to light strips that you lot can serpent around your PC case'due south interior. These headers employ a 4- or 5-pin connection, much like a case-fan header, to which you tin can connect detached LED strips. Ordinary RGB headers have iv pins, while their RGBW variant uses five pins. The RGBW headers provide for purer whites in the lighting and work with specific RGBW strips; these headers should also accept the iv-pin strips if that is what you have, but check the manual for details.

An RGBW five-pin header; you tin can plug in four-pin strips, too

To control the patterns and colors, RGB headers (and any RGB lighting built into the boards themselves) work with software solutions provided by the motherboard maker. Each major maker has its ain, including Asus (Aura Sync), Gigabyte (RGB Fusion), and MSI (Mystic Light).

CMOS, CMOS Battery

CMOS stands for "complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor." It'southward a clamper of retentivity on a system motherboard that holds the BIOS and its settings, as well as maintaining the system clock settings.

To retain its settings with the organisation powered off or unplugged for long periods, an onboard battery keeps the CMOS juiced up. In modern motherboards this battery is almost ever a CR2032 coin cell.

Debug LED

Mutual on premium motherboards, the debug LED is an exceptionally handy feature for nonveteran PC builders and pros alike. A (usually two-digit) readout, it shows off error codes if the PC fails to boot. The codes, outlined in the board transmission, tin can assist you pinpoint the reason for a failed kicking sequence, such every bit RAM that is installed improperly or a video-card mistake.

(Have suggestions for more terms nosotros should add? Chime in beneath in the comments section below.)

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/news/buying-a-motherboard-20-terms-you-need-to-know

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