Comparison Gigabyte A520M K V2 vs Gigabyte B550M K

Motherboard dimensions in height and width. It is assumed that the traditional placement of motherboards is vertical, so in this case one of the dimensions is called not the length, but the height.

Motherboard sizes are largely determined by their form factors (see above), however, the size of a particular motherboard may differ slightly from the standard adopted for this form factor. In addition, it is usually easier to clarify the dimensions according to the characteristics of a particular motherboard than to look for or remember general information on the form factor. Therefore, size data can be given even for models that fully comply with the standard.

The third dimension — thickness — is considered less important for a number of reasons, so it is often omitted.

The chipset model installed in the motherboard. AMD's current chipset models are B450, A520, B550, X570, A620, B650, B650E, X670, X670E, B840, B850, X870, X870E. For Intel, in turn, the list of chipsets looks like this: X299, H410, B460, H470, Z490, H510, B560, H570, Z590, H610, B660, H670, Z690, B760, Z790, H810, B860, Z890.

A chipset is a set of chips on the motherboard through which the individual components of the system inter...act directly: the processor, RAM, drives, audio and video adapters, network controllers, etc. Technically, such a set consists of two parts — the north and south bridges. The key element is the northbridge, it connects the processor, memory, graphics card and the southbridge (together with the devices it controls). Therefore, it is often the name of the north bridge that is indicated as the chipset model, and the south bridge model is specified separately (see below); it is this scheme that is used in traditional layout motherboards, where bridges are made in the form of separate microcircuits. There are also solutions where both bridges are combined in one chip; for them, the name of the entire chipset can be indicated.

Anyway, knowing the chipset model, you can find various additional data on it — from general reviews to special instructions. An ordinary user, usually, does not need such information, but it can be useful for various professional tasks.

The number of slots for DDR4 memory sticks provided in the motherboard.

DDR4 is a further (after the third version) development of the DDR standard, released in 2014. Improvements compared to DDR3 are traditional — an increase in operating speed and a decrease in power consumption; The volume of one module can be from 2 to 128 GB. It is this RAM standard that most modern motherboards are designed for; the number of slots for DDR4 is usually 2 or 4, less often — 6 or more.

The maximum RAM clock speed supported by the motherboard. The actual clock frequency of the installed RAM modules should not exceed this indicator — otherwise, malfunctions are possible, and the capabilities of the “RAM” cannot be used to the fullest.

For modern PCs, a RAM frequency of 1500 – 2000 MHz or less is considered very low, 2000 – 2500 MHz is modest, 2500 – 3000 MHz is average, 3000 – 3500 MHz is above average, and the most advanced boards can support frequencies of 3500 – 4000 MHz and even more than 4000 MHz.

The maximum amount of RAM that can be installed on the motherboard.

When choosing according to this parameter, it is important to take into account the planned use of the PC and the real needs of the user. So, volumes up to 32 GB inclusive are quite enough to solve any basic problems and run games comfortably, but without a significant reserve for an upgrade. 64 GB is the optimal option for many professional use cases, and for the most resource-intensive tasks like 3D rendering, 96 GB or even 128 GB of memory will not be a limit. The most “capacious” motherboards are compatible with volumes of 192 GB or more - they are mainly top-end solutions for servers and HEDT (see “In the direction”).

You can choose this parameter with a reserve – taking into account a potential RAM upgrade, because installing additional RAM sticks is the simplest way to increase system performance. Taking this factor into account, many relatively simple motherboards support very significant amounts of RAM.

The number of M.2 connectors provided in the design of the motherboard. There are motherboards for 1 M.2 connector, for 2 connectors, for 3 connectors or more.

The M.2 connector is designed to connect advanced internal devices in a miniature form factor — in particular, high-speed SSD drives, as well as expansion cards like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules. However, connectors designed to connect only peripherals (Key E) are not included in this number. Nowadays, this is one of the most modern and advanced ways to connect components. But note that different interfaces can be implemented through this connector — SATA or PCI-E, and not necessarily both at once. See "M.2 interface" for details; here we note that SATA has a low speed and is used mainly for low-cost drives, while PCI-E is used for advanced solid-state modules and is also suitable for other types of internal peripherals.

Accordingly, the number of M.2 is the number of components of this format that can be simultaneously connected to the motherboard. At the same time, many modern boards, especially mid-range and top-end ones, are equipped with two or more M.2 connectors, and moreover, with PCI-E support.

Electrical (logical) interfaces implemented through physical M.2 connectors on the motherboard.

See above for more details on such connectors. Here we note that they can work with two types of interfaces:

• SATA is a standard originally created for hard drives. M.2 usually supports the newest version, SATA 3; however, even it is noticeably inferior to PCI-E in terms of speed (600 MB / s) and functionality (only drives);
• PCI-E is the most common modern interface for connecting internal peripherals (otherwise NVMe). Suitable for both expansion cards (such as wireless adapters) and drives, while PCI-E speeds allow you to fully realize the potential of modern SSDs. The maximum communication speed depends on the version of this interface and on the number of lines. In modern M.2 connectors, you can find PCI-E versions 3.0 and 4.0, with speeds of about 1 GB / s and 2 GB / s per lane, respectively; and the number of lanes can be 1, 2 or 4 (PCI-E 1x, 2x and 4x respectively)

Specifically, the M.2 interface in the characteristics of motherboards is indicated by the number of connectors themselves and by the type of interfaces provided for in each of them. For example, the entry "3xSATA / PCI-E 4x" means three connectors that can work both in SATA format and in PCI-E 4x format; and the designation "1xSATA / PCI-E 4x, 1xPCI-E 2x" means two connectors, one of which works as SATA or PCI-E 4x, and the second — only as PCI-E 2x.

The version of the PCI Express interface supported by the motherboard. Recall that nowadays this interface is actually the standard for connecting video cards and other expansion cards. It can have a different number of lines — usually 1x, 4x and/or 16x; see the relevant paragraphs above for more details. Here we note that the version depends primarily on the data transfer rate per line. The most relevant options are:

— PCI Express 3.0. A version released back in 2010 and implemented in hardware two years later. One of the key differences from the previous PCI E 2.0 was the use of 128b / 130b encoding, that is, in every 130 bits — 128 main and two service bits (instead of 8b / 10b, which was used earlier and gave very high redundancy). This made it possible to almost double the data transfer rate (up to 984 Mbps versus 500 Mbps per 1 PCI-E lane) with a relatively small increase in the number of transactions per second (up to 8 GT/s versus 5 GT/s). Despite the introduction of the newer version 4.0, the PCI-E 3.0 standard is still quite popular in modern motherboards.

— PCI Express 4.0. Another PCI-E update introduced in 2017; the first "motherboards" with support for this version appeared in late spring 2019. Compared to PCI-E 3.0, the data transfer rate in PCI-E 4.0 has been doubled to 1969 Mbps per PCI-E lane.

— PCI Express 5.0. The evoluti...onary development of the PCI Express 5.0 standard, the final specification of which was approved in 2019, and its implementation in hardware began to be implemented in 2021. If we draw parallels with PCI E 4.0, the interface bandwidth has doubled — up to 32 gigatransactions per second. In particular, PCI E 5.0 x16 devices can exchange information at a speed of about 64 GB / s.

It is worth noting that different versions of PCI-E are mutually compatible with each other, however, the throughput is limited by the slowest standard. For example, a PCI-E 4.0 graphics card installed in a PCI-E 3.0 slot will only be able to operate at half its maximum speed (according to version 3.0 specifications).

The number of USB 2.0 connectors provided on the motherboard.

USB connectors (all versions) are used to connect to the "motherboard" USB ports located on the front panel of the case. With a special cable, such a port is connected to the connector, while one connector, usually, works with only one port. In other words, the number of connectors on the motherboard corresponds to the maximum number of front USB connectors that can be used with it.

Specifically, USB 2.0 is the oldest version widely used nowadays. It provides data transfer rates up to 480 Mbps, is considered obsolete and is gradually being replaced by more advanced standards, primarily USB 3.2 gen1 (formerly USB 3.0). Nevertheless, a lot of peripherals are still being produced under the USB 2.0 connector: the capabilities of this interface are quite enough for most devices that do not require a high connection speed.