Comparison Gigabyte Z370M DS3H rev. 1.0 vs Gigabyte Z370M D3H rev. 1.0

The presence of its own LED backlight on the motherboard. This feature does not affect the functionality of the "motherboard", but gives it an unusual appearance. Therefore, it hardly makes sense for an ordinary user to specifically look for such a model (a motherboard without backlighting is enough for him), but for modding lovers, backlighting can be very useful.

LED backlighting can take the form of individual lights or LED strips, come in different colours (sometimes with a choice of colours) and support additional effects — flashing, flickering, synchronization with other components (see "Lightning synchronization"), etc. Specific features depend on the motherboard model.

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 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 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.

Number of PCI-E (PCI-Express) 16x slots installed on the motherboard.

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. 16 lanes is the largest number found in modern PCI Express slots and cards (more is technically possible, but the connectors would be too bulky). Accordingly, these slots are the fastest: they have a data transfer rate of 16 GB / s for PCI-E 3.0 and 32 GB / s for version 4.0 (for more information about the versions, see "PCI Express Support").

Separately, we note that it is PCI-E 16x that is considered the optimal connector for connecting video cards. However, when choosing a motherboard with several such slots, it is worth considering the PCI-E modes supported by it (see below). In addition, we recall that the PCI Express interface allows you to connect boards with a smaller number of lines to connectors with numerous lines. Thus, PCI-E 16x will fit any PCI Express card.

It is also worth mentioning that in the design of modern "motherboards" there are slots of increased sizes — in particular, PCI-E 4x, corresponding in size to PCI-E 16x. However, the type of PCI-E slots in our catalog is indicated by the actual throughput; so only connectors that support 16x speed are considered as PCI-E 16x.

Operating modes of PCI-E 16x slots supported by the motherboard.

For more information about this interface, see above, and information about the modes is indicated if there are several PCI-E 16x slots on the board. This data specifies at what speed these slots can operate when expansion cards are connected to them at the same time, how many lines each of them can use. The fact is that the total number of PCI-Express lanes on any motherboard is limited, and they are usually not enough for the simultaneous operation of all 16-channel slots at full capacity. Accordingly, when working simultaneously, the speed inevitably has to be limited: for example, recording 16x / 4x / 4x means that the motherboard has three 16-channel slots, but if three video cards are connected to them at once, then the second and third slots will be able to give speed only to PCI-E 4x level. Accordingly, for a different number of slots and the number of digits will be appropriate. There are also boards with several modes — for example, 16x/0x/4 and 8x/8x/4x (0x means that the slot becomes inoperable altogether).

You have to pay attention to this parameter mainly when installing several video cards at the same time: in some cases (for example, when using SLI technology), for correct operation of video adapters, they must be connected to slots at the same speed.

Motherboard support for AMD's Crossfire technology.

This technology allows you to connect several separate AMD graphics cards to a PC at once and combine their computing power, respectively increasing the system's graphics performance in specific tasks. Accordingly, this feature means that the "motherboard" is equipped with at least two slots for video cards — PCI-E 16x; in general, Crossfire allows up to 4 separate adapters to be connected.

Such functionality is especially important for demanding games and "heavy" tasks like 3D rendering. However, note that in order to use several video cards, this possibility must also be provided in the application running on the computer. So in some cases, one powerful video adapter is more preferable than several relatively simple ones with the same total amount of VRAM.

A similar technology from NVIDIA is called SLI (see below). Crossfire differs from it mainly in three points: the ability to combine video adapters with different models of graphics processors (the main thing is that they are built on the same architecture), no need for additional cables or bridges (video cards interact directly via the PCI-E bus) and somewhat lower cost (allowing the use of this technology even in low-cost "motherboards"). Thanks to the latter, almost all motherboards with SLI also support Crossfire, but not vice versa.

The model of the audio chip (a module for processing and outputting sound) installed on the motherboard. Data on the exact name of the sound chip will be useful when looking for detailed information about it.

Modern "motherboards" can be equipped with fairly advanced audio modules, with high sound quality and extensive features, which makes them suitable even for gaming and multimedia PCs (although professional audio work will still most likely require a separate sound card). Here are the most popular modern audio chips: Realtek ALC887, Realtek ALC892, Realtek ALC1150, Realtek ALC1200, Realtek ALC1220, Realtek ALC4050, Realtek ALC4080, Supreme FX.