Best Motherboard for Gaming

Are you a hardcore gamer who's completely into computer games? In that case, you would surely be interested in knowing about the best motherboard for gaming. Read on to know more...

If you happen to be an avid gamer and one who spends a number of hours playing high end computer games, then you would certainly be interested in knowing about the type of hardware that best suits your gaming requirements. Of course, if the only PC games that you play happen to be Pinball or Solitaire or Minesweeper, then even an outdated, almost ancient Intel Pentium I processor will do just fine. However, if you're an action 'n' adventure freak who's totally into the likes of Need for Speed, Warcraft, Unreal, Age of Empires, Quake, Grand Theft Auto, etc. then it would be necessary for you to have a high end computer with all the required hardware support. Therefore, on that note, let us have a look at who the candidates are for the coveted title of 'best motherboard for gaming'.

Best Motherboards for Gaming PCs

Before we have a look at some individual computer motherboards, let us first get to know the preferred criteria i.e. the hardware requirements that the best motherboard for gaming should have.

• Processor Compatibility: The CPU is the main workhorse of your computer and the component that is responsible for performing all the processing operations. A gaming PC will typically require a very fast and powerful CPU. At the same time, compatibility of the motherboard with the CPU is something that is extremely important.
• RAM Slots: Gaming PCs have high RAM requirements. The motherboard should have a minimum of 4 RAM slots and should be compatible with DDR2 RAM chips having a speed of approximately 1100 MHz.
• Graphics Card: Video memory or graphics memory is integral to high end computer games which rely heavily on graphics and visuals. Usually, regular motherboards have between 64MB to 128MB of inbuilt i.e. shared video memory. However, most high end games will require you to have a video memory capacity of 256MB to 512MB. In such situations, you would require an additional graphics card which of course, should be compatible with the motherboard.
• PCI Slots and USB Ports:These are also important aspects which play a significant role in high end gaming. The motherboard should have a sufficient number of both and an ideal minimum figure would be 6 for the USB ports and 2 for the PCI slots.

Now that we have established the main criteria for selecting the best motherboard for gaming PC, let us have a look at a few motherboard models which fit the bill. You can also read more on how to choose a motherboard.

Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H
This newest release by Gigabyte is a dream come true for hardcore gaming enthusiasts. Built to be compatible with a number of AMD processors, this motherboard has a maximum RAM capacity of up to 4GB (32-bit) and 16GB(64-bit). With 4 memory slots, 2 PCI slots, 12 USB ports and an on-board ATI Radeon HD 4200 video card to take care of the graphics department, this motherboard is definitely a must buy for gamers.

Asus M4N78 PRO
This motherboard too supports a wide range of AMD processors such as the AMD Athlon, Athlon X2, Sempron, Phenom II, Phenom X3 and Phenom X4. This motherboard too is capable of supporting a maximum of 4GB RAM (32-bit) and 16GB RAM (64-bit). It has 3 PCI slots, 12 USB ports, 2 PCI Express X1 slots and an NVIDIA GeForce 8300 chip taking care of the graphics requirements. With a price tag of under a hundred dollars, it surely is value for money!

Intel DX58SO
One of the newest releases by Intel, the DX58SO is also loaded with quite a few features that would particularly please gamers. Four DDR3 SDRAM slots are one of the first things which will catch your attention. The motherboard provides support for up to 16GB of RAM in total. Video memory is handled by two graphic cards, namely an Nvidia SLI series card and an ATI CrossFire counterpart. In addition to that, there are 12 USB ports, 6 Serial ATA 3.0 GB/s ports, 2 IEEE-1394a ports and other regular expansion slots.

Asus P7P55D
This new motherboard by Asus is meant to provide stiff competition to the likes of Intel, Gigabyte and other manufacturers. A whopping 14 USB ports means that you never have to worry about connecting a large number of peripheral devices ever again. There are four DD3 DIMM RAM slots which ensure that speed will not be an issue. Its user-friendly design is a plus point which makes sure that adding or removing hardware components is completely hassle-free.

EVGA nForce 680i SLI
This motherboard is primarily modeled on the Nvidia 680i SLI chipset and is compatible with a series of Intel processors such as the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Extreme, Pentium EE and others. There are four DDR2 DIMM RAM slots which offer a total RAM capacity of 8GB. 10 USB ports, 2 PCI slots and fair number of other expansion slots make it a good option for the serious gamer and it can surely be considered as a good motherboard for gaming, if not a great one.

This was a short overview on gaming motherboards for desktop computers. Since each gamer's hardware and performance requirements are different from the other, labeling a particular motherboard to be the 'best motherboard for gaming' is a bit inappropriate. However, with a few ones having been shortlisted above, you can try them out and then decide which one of them happens to be the best.

By Tintin