VRM heatsink
The design of the motherboard has a separate heatsink for VRM.
VRM is a voltage regulation module through which power from a computer power supply is supplied to the processor. This module steps down the standard power supply voltage (+5V or +12V) to a lower value required by the processor (usually just over 1V). At high loads, the voltage regulator can get very hot, and without a specialized cooling system, the matter can end with overheating and even burnout of parts. The VRM heatsink reduces the likelihood of such situations; it can be useful for any CPU, and highly desirable if the board is planned to be used with a powerful high-end processor (especially overclocked).
Size (HxW)
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.
M.2 SSD cooling
Motherboard-integrated
cooling for M.2 SSD drives.
This connector allows you to achieve high speed, however, for the same reason, many M.2 SSDs have high heat dissipation, and additional cooling may be required to avoid overheating. Most often, the simplest radiator in the form of a metal plate is responsible for such cooling — in the case of an SSD, this is quite enough.
1x PCI-E slots
Number of PCI-E (PCI-Express) 1x slots installed on the motherboard. There are
motherboards for 1 PCI-E 1x slot,
2 PCI-E 1x slots,
3 PCI-E 1x ports and even more.
The PCI Express bus is used to connect various expansion cards — network and sound cards, video adapters, TV tuners and even SSD drives. The number in the name indicates the number of PCI-E lines (data transfer channels) supported by this slot; the more lines, the higher the throughput. Accordingly, PCI-E 1x is the basic, slowest version of this interface. The data transfer rate for such slots depends on the PCI-E version (see "PCI Express Support"): in particular, it is slightly less than 1 GB / s for version 3.0 and slightly less than 2 GB / s for 4.0.
Separately, we note that the general rule for PCI-E is as follows: the board must be connected to a slot with the same or more lines. Thus, only single-lane boards will be guaranteed to be compatible with PCI-E 1x.
PCI Express
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:
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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.
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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.
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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).USB 2.0
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.
DisplayPort
Availability of
DisplayPort output on the motherboard.
Primarily, this digital connector is used to transmit video from the built-in video card or processor with integrated graphics to external screens. Moreover, through one DisplayPort interface it is possible to connect several displays in series in a “chain” (“daisy chain” format). Specific output capabilities vary by version (see below), but even the most modest DisplayPort specification (among modern options) allows 4K at 60 fps, 5K at 30 fps, and 8K with some limitations.
The DisplayPort interface is a standard for Apple monitors and is found in screens from other manufacturers.
DisplayPort version
The version of the DisplayPort interface (see above) installed on the motherboard.
— v.1.2. The oldest version in use today (2010). It was in it that 3D support first appeared, the ability to work with the miniDisplayPort connector, as well as the option of connecting several screens in series to one port (daisy chain). The maximum resolution fully supported by v.1.2 is 5K at 30 fps, with some limitations, 8K video is also supported. And the v.1.2a update, introduced in 2013, added compatibility with the FreeSync technology used in AMD graphics cards.
— v.1.3. An update to the DisplayPort standard released in 2014. Thanks to the increase in bandwidth, it was possible to provide full support for 8K video (at 30 fps), and in 4K and 5K standards, increase the maximum frame rate to 120 and 60 fps, respectively. Another key update was the Dual-mode function, which provides compatibility with HDMI and DVI interfaces through the simplest passive adapters.
— v.1.4. The most recent version of the widely used. The bandwidth has been further increased (almost doubled compared to v.1.2, which allowed, albeit with some limitations, to transmit 4K and 5K video at up to 240 fps and 8K at up to 144 fps. In addition, Support for a number of special features has been added, including HDR10, and the maximum number of simultaneously transmitted audio channels has increased to 32.
PS/2
The number of PS/2 ports provided in the design of the motherboard.
PS/2 is a dedicated port designed to connect exclusively to keyboards and/or mice. The traditional motherboard configuration for a PC provides 2 such ports — for the keyboard (usually highlighted in lilac) and for the mouse (green). However, there are boards with one connector, to which you can connect any of these types of peripherals, to choose from. Anyway, the presence of PS/2 can save the user from having to occupy USB ports for the keyboard / mouse; this is especially useful if you have to deal with a lot of other USB peripherals. On the other hand, for a number of reasons, this connector is considered obsolete and is used less and less; and PS/2 peripherals are produced mainly in the form of USB devices, additionally equipped with PS/2 adapters.
