Motherboard Page

You can go directly to Pentium 2, 3, Celeron or Athlon or Dual P2-3, Celeron. 

You can also look at Slotkets. 

Description:

• The best way to describe the motherboard goes along well with my description of the CPU.  The CPU is the brain, and the motherboard is the nervous system.  Therefore, just as a person would want to have fast communication to the body parts, you want fast communication between the parts of your computer.  Thus, in my opinion, the motherboard is the second most important part of the computer.                                                          

• The motherboard is the circuit board to which all the other components of the computer connect in some way.  The video card, sound card, IDE hard drive, etc. all plug into the motherboard's AGP, PCI, or ISA slots.  The CPU also plugs into the motherboard via a Socket (Pentium MMX for example) or a slot (Pentium II for example). 

What To Look For:

• There are many parts of the motherboard to consider.  I'll start with the bus speed.  CPUs before the Pentium II 350 all were designed around a 66 MHz bus speed (except some of Cyrix's chips that use the 75 and 83 MHz bus speeds).  The Pentium II 350 and beyond use the 100 MHz bus speed.  Be sure you have a motherboard that supports the CPU's bus speed that you are getting as well as the multiplier that is needed to get the CPU's speed (a 400 MHz cpu runs at multilplier 4 times 100 MHz bus speed = 400).  Some BX motherboards support bus speeds up to 133.  These higher bus speeds can be useful when Overclocking your CPU.  Along with the proper bus speed, you also need to be sure it fully supports your CPU.  If you're buying a Pentium II, it must have a Slot 1 CPU connection.  If you're buying a K6, 6x86 MX, etc., you need a Socket 7 CPU connection. 
• Intel now has the Socket 370 Celeron.  This would normally require a Socket 370 motherboard.  I highly advise against these motherboards as they will only accept these Celeron CPUs (though some Pentium 3s will be available in this form too).  However, with an adapter card these CPUs can be used in any Slot 1 motherboard.  I advise going with the Socket 370/PPGA Celerons because they are cheaper, easier to find and overclock, and with the right adapter you can adjust the voltage on any Slot 1 motherboard. 
• Onboard cache is also important, but not something to worry too much about since almost all motherboards now come with 512kb of cache.  However, there are some that use non-Intel chipsets that allow for up to 2 MB of cache, which can create a good performance gain.  Currently there are not any non-Intel chipsets that support the Pentium IIs however.  Pentium II motherboards do not have cache on them since it is integrated into the CPU.
• The type of Chipset is also VERY important.  The chipset contains all of the motherboard's basic instructions (aside from the BIOS - see Glossary).  The latest chipset for the Pentium II CPUs is the BX chipset.  If you are getting a Pentium II or Celeron, be sure to get the BX chipset rather than the older LX chipset.  The BX chipset adds support for 100 MHz bus speeds, better AGP support, etc.  Intel has plans to release an "EX" chipset, but I would advise against purchasing a motherboard with this chipset.  It is basically a watered down version of the LX chipset aimed at low-cost PCs.  On Socket 7 motherboards, avoid the older VX and HX chipsets (the HX was good, but the TX on support SDRAM and UDMA).  The TX by Intel is good and the VP3 and Aladdin V are the best non-Intel chipsets. 
• Hardware support is also quite important as you want your motherboard to support the hardware you are putting in it.  Most of this will be determined by the chipset, but some will not, such as number of slots for memory expansion, number of PCI, ISA, and AGP slots (all of which different types of hardware plug into - see Glossary for definitions).  There will always be one or zero AGP slots, but the number of PCI and ISA slots may vary.  If you're buying a new motherboard, make sure it has an AGP slot.  Avoid motherboards with few PCI slots or many ISA slots.  ISA will soon be eliminated completely and PCI will take over.  Look for at least 3 DIMM slots for memory in a newer motherboard (see Memory page for better description).  Also look for USB connectors as these may come in handy for connecting peripherals in the near future. 
• Voltage settings are also important.  The motherboard must support the voltage that your CPU runs at.  In addition, if you are overclocking, a wide variety of voltage settings may be important to get your CPU to run at the speed you're aiming for. 
• Last, is the board AT or ATX?  ATX motherboards have different power supply connectors and different design from AT boards, in addition to being larger.  Your case MUST support the type of motherboard you are getting.  Almost all Pentium II motherboards are of the ATX design. 

Recommendations:

Pentium II, III, IV & Celeron:
6/16/00 - Update - Existing recommendations below for the KX133 chipset remain, but I still recommend the BX chipset motherboards along with a Pentium III over the Athlon and their chipset variants.  The BX motherboards listed below are still excellent choices, but I would also recommend a couple newer boards.  The MSI BXMaster is one of the fastest BX boards out, and also has a great number of features including a large selection of bus speeds to allow you to overclock your CPU to just the right speed.  A similar choice is the Asus CUBX line of motherboards which feature onboard UDMA/66 controllers, 6 PCI and 1 ISA slot,  and 5 USB ports!
If you must use an i820 board, I would suggest the Asus P3C 2000, but if you use SDRAM, it will be very slow.  If you use RDRAM, it will be fast, but it will cost you an arm and a leg. 

4/25/00 - Update - BX remains king in my book (see recommendations below), but if you feel the need for speed and have the patience to work hard getting all your components to work correctly, you may want to try the new KX133 chipset motherboards.  They've proven themselves to be worthy, but they still don't compare in overall stability to the BX based motherboards.  The decision is still a tough one though with BX lacking so many key features (1/2 AGP speed, AGP 4X, and Ultra DMA/66 in particular). 
3/1/00 Update- I still recommend the BX boards and in particular, the AOpen AX6BC Pro I and II boards (the Pro II features all PCI slots).  I also like the special AX6BC Pro II Millenium Edition motherboard.  While most of the extra features are just neat gimmicks, the board should have the same great stability as the previous boards.  Note that I have not personally used this motherboard (the Millenium edition that is).
The KX133 chipset boards for the AMD Athlon are looking pretty good, finally.  The numbers are good, but how stable and compatible will they be?  This remains to be seen...  Hopefully I will have better news for you soon.

11/13/99 Update- You may have noticed there have been a lot of new chipsets lately.  Intel's i810 is one to avoid.  It's a lower end chipset.  The 440BX are still the best ones right now, despite lacking 133 bus speed support, AGP 4X, and UDMA/66 support.  Intel's i820 (also called Camino) should be out soon, and they should be good boards with the features above. 
Another to consider is the Via Apollo Pro 133 chipset.  This chipset offers 133 bus speed support, AGP 4X, and UDMA/66.  However, it is a non-Intel chipset, so I would personally avoid it because of expected compatibility issues.  If you want the 133 bus speed right now, you could try the AOpen AX63 Pro motherboard. 
Of course, there are also the Athlon motherboards and chipsets to consider, but until all the compatibility and stability issues are addressed, I will not recommend any of them.

• The following four boards are all great motherboards and you couldn't go wrong with any of them.  Consider their features and whether or not you plan to overclock your CPU and/or bus speed. 

1.  10/10/99 Update- Right now, the only Pentium II/III motherboards I would recommend are those with the BX chipset, since there is no point in purchasing an LX board.  One of the best of these, in my opinion, is the AOpen AX6BC Pro II for overclocking, rock-solid stability, and great features.  It supports a wide range of bus speeds.  Most importantly, this motherboard is the most stable one I have ever used.  The AOpen AX6BC (pictured) is also one of my most-recommended motherboards.  It is very similar to the Pro version, but cheaper and doesn't support voltage adjustments.  Both of them utilize the highest quality capacitors for the utmost stability. 
2.  Asus' P2B-F is another great motherboard.  Though not quite as good for overclocking (at the 133 MHz bus) as the BX6 rev 2 and others, this board is probably faster than many of the others.  It is one of the best all-around boards, aside from lacking a jumperless feature It was the fastest of the motherboards reviewed by Anand at the 112 MHz bus speed (original P2B).  The stability of this board is also very excellent.  This board has only 3 DIMM slots.  There is also a version of this board with an onboard SCSI controller (Asus P2B-S).  If you're going SCSI, this may be the board to get as it is MUCH cheaper than getting a comparable SCSI card.  The newer Asus P3B-F is also a great motherboard that comes in several different configurations including 6 PCI and no ISA slots.  This is great for users who generally fill up all their PCI slots. 
The Asus P3B is another good one to consider, but I haven't used it personally yet.  It comes in several different configurations including *6* PCI!
3.  The Abit BX6 rev 2 is another great motherboard, but not the most stable motherboard out there.  It is great for overclocking with the variety of voltage settings and a large number of bus speeds to choose from.  This motherboard is also pretty quick, but due to the stability problems many users have had, I would pick either of the two motherboard above over this one. 
4.  Microstar's MS-6119 was rated as the fastest in performance of the motherboards that Tom Pabst reviewed. 

 However, it seems a poor choice for overclocking with Pentium II CPUs prior to the 350s (unless you know Tom's trick), and it only has 3 DIMM slots. 

My conclusion:  If you want to overclock, my pick is the Abit BX6 revision 2, AOpen AX6BC Pro (or original), or Asus P2B-F.  The Abit boards do sometimes have some stability issues. 

I would avoid any of the new Socket 370 motherboards because they will only support the newest Celeron CPUs that are Socket 370.  These can also be used on a Slot 1 board with an adapter card, not to mention that Intel currently makes Slot 1 versions of the Celeron CPUs as well.  There are no planned future upgrades for the Socket 370 motherboards in terms of new CPUs. 

Athlon Motherboards:
4/24/00 Update -- Some of the new KX133 motherboards have turned out to be pretty impressive.  While still not as stable or compatible as a BX board, the KX133 has proved to be a powerful chipset.  Three motherboards that I would recommend (in order of preference) are the Asus K7V, Abit KA7, and the AOpen AK72.  While AOpen usually makes very high quality motherboards, the Athlon offering above doesn't quite measure up to the Asus or Abit boards.  The Asus beats out the Abit overall, and particularly in terms of stability.

I don't have many suggestions here yet as I have not found an Athlon motherboard yet that I would fully trust.  With that said, the Microstar 6167 looks to be about as close as we're going to get to a stable Athlon board for awhile.  It follows closely to AMD's reference design for greater stability.  This one may be one to consider if you must go Athlon.  You may also want to start looking at boards with the Via KX133 chipset.  It has some great features such as PC133 support, but only time will tell how reliable and stable it will be...

Dual Pentium II, III, IV & Celeron CPU Motherboards:
I only have one recommendation here - the Tyan Tiger 100 Dual (Model S1832DL).  This is an inexpensive, reliable dual board that you can run dual Celerons on by using the MSI Slot 1 adapters listed below.  A friend of mine has had great success in using this board to overclock as well.  Two Celerons that would not run over 464 in any other motherboard will run at 504 together in this dual board!  It doesn't have as many bus settings as a lot of the other single CPU motherboards, but it is definitely one of the better dual boards.  Note that if you want to run dual CPUs, you won't have support for the second CPU in Windows 95 or 98, only in NT, Windows 2000, UNIX, etc. 

Slot 1 Adapters:
If you're looking for a Slotket, be sure to get one that is compatible with the newer Coppermine CPUs (FCPGA) so that you will be able to use these newer P3s on your Slot 1 motherboards.  I would advise getting the latest MSI Slot 1 Version 1.1 adapter card.  It supports voltage adjustments via jumpers which are very helpful in overclocking Celerons.  You can then use any PPGA Celeron in your Slot 1 motherboard.  If you use a Dual CPU motherboard, then you can also use two Celerons via these adapters.

            Socket 7 CPUs:
            Brief suggestions here since these are not used quite as much now. 
            1.  I don't have any real recommendations here either. In my opinion,these aren't worth using anymore when the Intel Celeron CPUs and a Slot 1 motherboard can be used for roughly the same price with better performance... I support strong competition agains Intel, but the other CPUs just don't compare.  Perhaps the K6-3 will be worth it, but I doubt it.