Does Motherboard Matter for Gaming: of Course
Does a good motherboard matter for gaming? Yes, of course. A good motherboard is the foundation of a good gaming experience. That is, a good motherboard can support good peripheral components like CPU processor, GPU, RAM, basic input/output system (BIOS), etc. and which are the guarantee of a smooth game experience.
Motherboard Stability
The stability of the system board is of great importance for it determines the stability of the connected peripheral equipment. There is an example.
A Heat sink is very useful for keeping the stability of components like VRMs, CPU as well as the graphics card. When those parts work, they will generate much heat. If the heat can’t be dissipated in time, the temperature of those components will increase. When the temp of those items reaches a high level that is not tolerable for them, the efficiency of these components will decrease. Moreover, the components may crash down. Therefore, to get a good and stable cooling system is necessary. To support a good cooling system, a good motherboard is needed.
Motherboard Ability
Motherboard ability refers to the capability of providing slots, ports and connections of advanced modern components. In other words, whether a motherboard can support other computer components of advanced high technology or not, such as the specialized gaming CPU chip, GPU chip, RAM, keyboards, mouse, monitors and even hard drives.
For instance, for high sound quality, some game audiophiles may take into consideration of the high-end Audio with the really nice DAC (digital-to-analog converter). They are going to go external with a DAC and want the motherboard with the dedicated DAC USB port for that. Thus, a good motherboard is needed here.
Both the above stability and ability of the motherboard are the reflections of motherboard reliability or motherboard quality. They go beyond barely delivering higher FPS. Therefore, don’t cheap out on a motherboard for if it fails, your FPS will go to zero.
Generally, it is recommended for most game players that for consumer builds, the equipped motherboard is better to be within $100 and $150 range; for enthusiast group, they can spend $250 – $300 on their system boards.
Though, ultra-premium boards don’t mean much for common users; yet, they are critical for gamers, especially enthusiasts. Most importantly, you should get the functionality and connectivity you need for your gameplay from a reasonable set of features of your motherboard.
How Much Does A Motherboard Matter for Gaming?
Since the motherboard matters in playing a game. Then, how much does it matter? Or, how much can a motherboard influence game experience? To answer this question, let us take a popular gaming motherboard MSI B450 TOMAHAWK for example.
MSI B450 TOMAHAWK motherboard supports the first, second and third generation of AMD Ryzen GPU, AMD Ryzen with Radeon graphics card and Athlon with Radeon Vega graphics desktop processors for socket AM4. The modern AMD Ryzen CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads, which can deliver ultra-fast 100+ FPS performance in the world’s most popular games.
The MSI motherboard supports DDR4 memory with up to 3466(OC) MHz boost speed. Its extended heatsink design and enhanced circuit design ensures high-end processors to run at full speed. With 1× turbo M.2 and the second generation of AMD turbo USB 3.1, MSI Tomahawk enables a lightning-fast game speed.
The MSI B450 motherboard also boosts the audio quality and rewards you with studio grade sound for the most immersive audio experience. And, it supports all the newest storage standards allowing you to connect any ultra-fast storage device and giving you in-game benefits. You can start games faster, load levels faster, and have a real advantage over your enemies.
MSI B450 TOMAHAWK motherboard uses the finest quality components, integrates the latest technology, delivers the best possible professional gaming experience. With rigorous quality tests under very extreme situations, MSI B450 TOMAHAWK motherboard becomes a super reliable and high-performance board with everlasting quality.
Does Motherboard Matter for Gaming: Not Really
Does the motherboard for a gaming pc really matter? For some people, not really. If you are not a game enthusiast and you don’t need every component of the high-end level, then, a common motherboard will support all the hardware ingredients you need. Unless you want to overclock your machine, you won’t need a high-end motherboard.
Finally, does it matter what motherboard you have for gaming? In different situations, the answer is unlike. In general, it matters what motherboard you have for gaming: much for over-clocking game performance while little for getting normal game experience.
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About The Author
Position: Columnist
Like many of you, Helen was once annoyed by computer problems such as “could not reconnect all network drives in Windows”, “CPU does not have POPCNT”, and “Is SSD good for long-term storage”. Later, such issues haven’t bothered her since she became a tech writer. Helen has even managed to help lots of readers solve their problems.