Best Motherboards for Home Theater Pc – Now that you’ve identified what kind of motherboard you’ll need to build out your specific PC, or that should serve as the foundation of that pre-built PC you’ll be picking up, you’ll want to give some thought to its manufacturer. Some companies focus on providing motherboards aimed at gamers, with tons of space for adding GPUs and with LED light systems, while others focus on more mainstream systems.
OVERVIEW
Some connections are located directly on the motherboard and internal to the case, and they’re sometimes meant to connect to ports on the front, top, sides, or rear of a case as well as to other internal and external components.
ROUND UP
back to menu ↑1.ASRock Micro ATX
Features
- Socket AM3+/AM3
- Chipset: North Bridge AMD 970 & South Bridge AMD SB950
- Memory: 4x DDR3-2400+(OC)/ 2100(OC)/ 1866(OC)/ 1800(OC)/ 1600(OC)/ 1333/ 1066 DIMM Slots, Dual Channel, Non-ECC, Unbuffered, Max Capacity of 64GB
- Slots: 2x PCI-Express 2.0 x16 Slots (one run x4), 1x PCI-Express 2.0 x1 Slots, 1x PCI Slot
- Storage: 6x SATA3 Ports, Support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10
- Form Factor: MicroATX
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2.ASRock 760GM-HDV
Features
- Supports Socket AM3+ processors
- supports Socket AM3 processors - AMD Phenom II X6/X4/X3/X2 (except 920/940)/Athlon II X4/X3/X2/Sempron processors
- Supports 8-Core CPU
- Supports AMD Overdrive with ACC feature (Advanced Clock Calibration)
- Supports CPU up to 125W
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3.ASRock B365M PRO4
Features
- CPU: LGA1151, Supports 9th/ 8th Generation Intel Core Processors, CPU up to 95W
- Chipset: Intel B365
- Memory: 4x DDR4-2666/ 2400/ 2133 DIMM Slots, Dual Channel, Non-ECC, Unbuffered, Max Capacity of 64GB
- Slots: 2x PCI-Express 3.0 x16 Slots (single at x16; dual at x16/ x4), 1x PCI Express 3.0 x1 Slot (Flexible PCIe)
- Multi-Graphics: Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX and CrossFireX Technology
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4.ASRock Motherboard
Features
- Socket: LGA 1151
- Chipset: Intel H110
- Memory: 2x DDR4-2133 DIMM Slots, Dual Channel, Non-ECC, Unbuffered, Max Capacity of 32GB
- Slots: 1x PCI-Express 3.0 x16 Slot, 1x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot
- SATA: 4x SATA3 Ports, Support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
- Ports: 4x USB 3.0 Ports (2 rear, 2 via header), 6x USB 2.0 Ports (4 rear, 2 via header), 1x PS/2 Mouse Port, 1x PS/2 Keyboard Port, 1x DVl-D Port, 1x RJ45 LAN Port, Audio I/O Jacks
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5.MSI MEG GODLIKE
Features
- Supports 10th Generation Intel Core / Pentium Gold / Celeron Processors for LGA 1200 socket
- Supports dual channel DDR4 memory up to 128GB total (5000MHz)
- Triple Turbo M.2 with double-side M.2 Shield Frozr - transfer speeds of up to 32 GB/s bandwidth, with M.2 XPANDER-Z GEN4 S accessory card adds two additional M.2 slots
- 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports on the rear panel provide up to 40GB/s transfer speed. Supports daisy chain configurations and 4K displays.
- On-board 10G super LAN plus 2.5G LAN with Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
- Frozr Heatsink designed with active cooling, Double Ball Bearings, Zero Frozr Technology, and MOSFET Backplates for high-performance heat dissipation
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6.MSI MEG Z490
Features
- Supports up to 128GB dual-channel DDR4-SDRAM memory
- Extended ATX form factor
- Chipset: Intel Z490
- Socket type: LGA 1200
- Ports: 2 x USB3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x Ethernet LAN RJ-45, 2 x WiFi-AP antenna jack, 4 x USB3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 2 x USB2.0
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7.ASUS Prime Z490-A
Features
- Intel LGA 1200 Socket: Designed to unleash the maximum performance of 10th Gen Intel Core processors
- Enhanced Power Solution: 12+2 DrMOS power stages, 6-layer PCB, ProCool sockets, alloy chokes and durable capacitors for stable power delivery
- Comprehensive Cooling: VRM heatsink, PCH heatsink, hybrid fan headers and Fan Xpert 4 utility
- Boosted Memory Performance: Careful routing of traces and vias, plus ground layer optimizations to preserve signal integrity for improved memory overclocking with ASUS OptiMem II
- Built for Productivity : Intel 2.5 Gb Ethernet, front USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C and Thunderbolt 3 header support, Dual M.2 slots
- Personalization: ASUS-exclusive Aura Sync RGB lighting, including RGB headers and Gen 2 addressable headers
- Immersive Gaming Audio: The Realtek S1200A codec offers pristine audio quality to draw you deeper into the game action or to enhance your favorite music tracks or videos.
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8.GIGABYTE X570 AORUS
Features
- Supports AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen/ 2nd Gen Ryzen/ 2nd Gen Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics/ Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics processors
- Dual channel non-ECC unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
- 12+2 phases digital VRM solution with DrMOS
- Advanced heatsink design with enlarge heatsink
- Dual ultra-fast NVMe PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with single thermal guards
- Memory storage capacity: 1000 TB
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9.GIGABYTE B450 AORUS
Features
- Supports AMD 1st & 2nd generation Ryzen/ Ryzen with Radeon Vega graphics processors
- Dual channel non-ECC unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
- Intel Ethernet LAN + Dual band 802.11AC Wi-Fi
- Dual PCIe Gen3 M.2 NVMe with dual thermal guards
- Alc1220 vb enhanced audio with WIMA capacitors. Support for 11AC 160MHz wireless standard and up to 1.73 Gaps data rate. Intel WI-FI driver only support for Win10 64bit
- RGB Fusion with digital LED & RGB LED headers
- Smart fan 5 with fan stop
- USB 3.1 Gen 2 with USB type C & type A
- Integrated I/O shield of ultra-durable design
- CEC 2019 ready
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10.GIGABYTE B365M DS3H
Features
- Supports 9th and 8th Gen Intel Core processors
- Dual channel non-ECC unbuffered DDR4
- New hybrid digital PWM design
- High quality audio capacitors and audio noise guard with LED trace path lighting
- Ultra-fast M.2 with PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA interface
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Best Motherboards for Home Theater Pc – BUYER’S GUIDE
back to menu ↑Form factor
Motherboards come in different sizes, meaning that you have some flexibility in building your PC to fit into your environment. If you have plenty of space then you might want to use a full-size tower case, while if you’re building a home theater PC (HTPC) that’s meant to sit beneath your family room TV then you’ll likely want a much smaller case.
That’s why motherboards come in various sizes, or form factors, and these standards define not only the size of the motherboard but also how many of various components they tend to support. There are variations in the latter, but generally speaking, the larger the motherboard’s physical size the more components it will support. Not all cases support all form factors, and so you’ll want to make sure your motherboard and case match up.
back to menu ↑RAM
Your CPU needs somewhere to store information while your PC is turned on and working. That’s called “random access memory,” or RAM, and today PCs are commonly equipped with at least 4GB of RAM. How much RAM you need for your own PC depends on how you plan to use it, and 8GB is typically a safe recommendation for most lighter users with 16 or more GB being a good bet for heavier users.
Today’s RAM plugs into a motherboard via a rectangular slot that’s named for the kind of RAM in use today: the dual in-line memory module (DIMM). The number of DIMM slots in a motherboard determines how much RAM you can add, and it most commonly varies from two to eight slots. You can add one RAM module at a time, but you will get the best performance when you install RAM in matched pairs.
back to menu ↑Frequently Asked Questions
back to menu ↑What is a motherboard?
A motherboard is a printed circuit board (PCB) that creates a kind of backbone allowing a variety of components to communicate, and that provides different connectors for components such as the central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), memory, and storage. Most computers made today, including smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and desktop computers, use motherboards to pull everything together, but the only kind you’ll typically purchase yourself are those made for desktop PCs.
back to menu ↑WRAP UP
If you’re looking to build your own mother board for pc , or to buy a pre-built PC that you might want to expand or upgrade later, then there’s one component that will serve as its foundation. That component is the motherboard, and it’s an incredibly important piece of the PC puzzle. It determines many of the other components that you’ll be able to choose, and at the same time some other choices — such as the processor that you’ll use in your new PC—determine which motherboard you can use.
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