Motherboard Question.

Nah, those aren't stupid questions. We all started out in the same boat as you, not knowing much .

quote redneonfish

I know there are two main types of motherboard, AMD and Intel. Both motherboards can support Nvidia and ATI gpus right? The only difference is which cpus they support?

For the most part, thats correct. As long as the motherboard has a PCIe x16 port, it will support the majority of new graphics cards.

quote redneonfish

And what do are 'sockets'? For example, a motherboard can take a 1366 cpu? Does that refer to the size of the cpu or something?

A socket is how the CPU plugs into the motherboard. There are many different socket types. A socket LGA 1366 will only be compatible with a socket LGA 1366 CPU (in this case it would be an Intel core i7). An intel processor with a socket LGA 1156 will not work on a motherboard that has a socket LGA 1366.

AMD processors work in a similar way; a socket AM3 processor will work on a motherboard that supports socket AM3.

The socket is just a way of saying how many pins and what size a processor is and helps to figure out what processor will work on a motherboard.

This is the socket 1366 on a motherboard and this is a socket 1366 processor.

quote redneonfish

Also, which brands would you recommend for a new motherboard?

I like Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and EVGA. Those are generally all good manufactures and the first ones I look at when shopping for a new motherboard.

Dual socket motherboards with Intel are extremely rare and expensive. If you could find one, it probably wouldnt be worth it or have the right features. AMD sockets are a bit odd. I dont know too much about them, but AM2 and AM3 are usually compatible with each other depending on the motherboard.

LGA stands for land grid array.

The motherboard description will tell you what memory it supports. It will be something like DDR2 or DDR3. This is from a random motherboard on newegg: "Memory Standard: DDR3 2000(O.C.)//1600/1333/1066" That tells you it supports DDR3 and the speeds are what speed ram it supports and what it can overclock to. Socket 1156 and 1366 both use DDR3.

For the most part, all newer power supplies will work on any motherboard (assuming that you are buying a new one. Power supplies from older computers may not work). As long as the power supply has a 24 (or 20/24) pin main connector and a 4 (or 8 pin) CPU connector, it will work. Thats assuming you have the correct power requirements as well.

assuming you are referring to the power cable pins and not the cpu pins, you will know what you need when you look at the specifications of the motherboard. all you need is a PSU that has the right number of pins for the motherboard (again, it will show you, but most support both).

even so, if you have a 20 pin mobo and a 24 pin power cable, the extra 4 cables will just hang off the side and do nothing, so its all good. most if not all motherboards that have 24 pin can take a 20 pin cable - those extra 4 pins provide some extra juice for high performance parts. if you arent overclocking and you are using low or mid end hardware, you should still be able to run a computer on it. of course, its better to just get the right cables from the beginning.

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A socket LGA 1366 will only be compatible with a socket LGA 1366 CPU (in this case it would be an Intel core i7)

just to clarify, the ones that slayer is referring to are the i7 9xx processors. the i7 8xx processors are socket 1156, along with all i5 and i3 processors for desktops.