1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,640
It used to be that picking a motherboard was a major decision that could have a

2
00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:12,760
real impact on your computer's performance with bus speeds and built-in

3
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:18,640
graphics varying significantly between models. But these days with more

4
00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:23,520
and more things being standardized or integrated into CPUs, your choice of

5
00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:28,200
motherboard will have virtually zero impact on raw performance.

6
00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:31,720
So what's the point of this video then? Isn't the solution just to pick the

7
00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:36,240
cheapest compatible motherboard and put more money into the rest of the build?

8
00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:41,560
Well, not necessarily. Even though the days of fretting over a motherboard's

9
00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:44,600
speed are all but gone, motherboards

10
00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:47,440
still vary wildly in their feature sets

11
00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:51,560
and build quality. So what kinds of things should you look out for and are

12
00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:55,160
they worth the premium? Well, since one of the main functions of

13
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:59,560
a motherboard is to connect everything in your system together, we'll start by

14
00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:05,199
talking about connectivity. These days it's absurdly easy to find

15
00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:07,560
things like DDR4 and USB 3 support on

16
00:01:05,199 --> 00:01:13,000
even budget boards, but moving up to a higher tier can get you M.2 support for

17
00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:19,160
much faster SSDs than what you could get with SATA, USB 3.1 10 gigabit, USB

18
00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:25,280
Type-C, and even Thunderbolt for connecting monitors, ultra-fast external

19
00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:27,480
storage, or even an external video card.

20
00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:32,600
It's also becoming more common to see Wi-Fi on mid to high-end boards to give

21
00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:37,480
you additional flexibility if there's no Ethernet port nearby.

22
00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:42,240
None of these bells and whistles are necessities, but they can be very

23
00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:48,280
useful, especially if you're working with large files that could benefit from

24
00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:50,360
the higher speeds. But what is necessary

25
00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:55,760
is the right chipset, assuming you're overclocking. On the Intel side, only Z

26
00:01:53,680 --> 00:02:00,080
and X series chipsets support overclocking natively, so you'll want to

27
00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:04,440
pick up a board with one of these at the minimum. Higher-end boards also tend to

28
00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:09,039
have better power delivery that can deliver more power to your CPU without

29
00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:13,200
becoming unstable, which can be important for overclocking, but has

30
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:18,520
become less of a priority due to how efficient modern CPUs can be. And if you

31
00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:22,880
want to have an A+ power delivery, a quick and dirty way to check is to count

32
00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:27,760
the number of power phases on the motherboard, with more premium boards

33
00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:33,040
having eight or even more. And some models will go the extra mile to make

34
00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:37,440
the experience as enthusiast-friendly as possible when it comes to thermal

35
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:42,400
management. With extra water pump headers and even support for custom

36
00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:47,160
water loops thanks to hybrid heat sinks that also function as water blocks for

37
00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:52,680
hot components like the chipset and voltage regulator modules. Pretty cool,

38
00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,880
but not crucial unless you're really trying to push your system as far as it

39
00:02:54,640 --> 00:03:01,680
can go. Another nice thing is the vastly

40
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:04,400
improved sound on better motherboards.

41
00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:11,120
Not too long ago, integrated audio was terrible pretty much across the board.

42
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:16,520
But these days, you won't see too many enthusiasts recommending separate sound

43
00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:19,040
cards anymore. Many nicer motherboards,

44
00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:24,720
and even most mid-range ones, have superior onboard audio or even

45
00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:27,280
electrical separation of sound chips and

46
00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:31,520
traces from the rest of the board to cut down on interference. And then toward

47
00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:36,000
the top end, you'll start seeing things like headphone amps for high impedance

48
00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:40,680
headphones. And although many folks who are serious about audio just get an

49
00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:45,320
external DAC and amp, this can still be an interesting solution if you really

50
00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:51,040
want to keep everything in one box. Of course, this is yet another nice to

51
00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:53,280
have, not a need to have, and at the end

52
00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:58,600
of the day, you need your motherboard to be reliable and last longer than your

53
00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:00,720
Pokémon Go obsession did. So beyond the

54
00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:05,440
usual advice of picking a reputable manufacturer and looking for a nice long

55
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:09,840
warranty, keep an eye out for features like solid capacitors, which tend to

56
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:14,560
last much longer than cheaper electrolytic ones which can leak.

57
00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:18,959
Reinforced PCI Express slots might be a decent idea if you're using a heavy

58
00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:23,160
graphics card, and there are even boards with special backplates that reduce the

59
00:04:21,359 --> 00:04:28,200
amount of torque on them when you're installing them or mounting a cooler and

60
00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:33,400
protect the traces from incidental scratches.

61
00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:36,120
Finally, I'd be remiss in 2017 if I

62
00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:42,640
didn't say anything about aesthetics. Gone are the days of plain green PCBs,

63
00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:46,160
and now arctic camouflage, dragon heat

64
00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:48,880
sinks, and RGB lighting are the norm.

65
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:54,560
Some boards, notably ASUS models, even have an RGB sync header so that any LED

66
00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:57,760
strips you put in your case will sync up with your motherboard's lighting

67
00:04:55,640 --> 00:05:01,120
effects. It's like, you just blew my mind, man.

68
00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:06,240
But coming back to the main point of the video, obviously, if you're not

69
00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:10,800
overclocking or water cooling or using bleeding-edge storage or you're

70
00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:14,280
colorblind or whatever, you can pretty much ignore everything that I just said.

71
00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:17,640
Buy a $40 motherboard that just has the basics and you won't really see a dip in

72
00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:21,240
performance. Speaking of not seeing a dip in

73
00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:27,000
performance, why shouldn't you be able to browse the internet quickly and

74
00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:30,400
securely at the same time? TunnelBear VPN lets you tunnel to 20 different

75
00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:35,200
countries, allowing you to browse the internet and use online services as

76
00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:38,960
though you are in a different country. They have easy-to-use apps for iOS,

77
00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:43,080
Android, PC, and Mac. They also have a Chrome extension, and all you got to do

78
00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:47,400
is press one button and your bear tunnels to the other country and your

79
00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:53,080
connection gets encrypted with AES 256-bit encryption and your public IP

80
00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:55,280
address gets switched. It is so easy to

81
00:05:53,080 --> 00:06:00,840
use that my mom can do it, and they also have a top-rated privacy policy with no

82
00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:05,000
user activity logging. So try out TunnelBear VPN with 500 megs of free

83
00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:09,320
data and no credit card required at the link in the video description, and if

84
00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:13,240
you choose to get an unlimited plan, you can save 10% by going to

85
00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:16,080
tunnelbear.com/Linus. Thanks for watching, guys. Like or

86
00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:19,400
dislike, check out our other channels, leave a comment with a suggestion, and

87
00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:22,240
subscribe. Do it.