In this two-part series, we investigate what it takes for system builders to plan their rigs around the idea that in the future it will have to accommodate one or more hardware upgrades to remain relevant.

In this article we’ll start off with the heart of it all and arguably the one piece of hardware that has a huge bearing on all the others – the motherboard. General pricing for the various chipsets were taken from averages found on local search engines uPrice and Pricecheck.

Choosing a motherboard is often a trying task for people new to computers. In the 90s it was fraught with even more choice and the array of options from various motherboard vendors was terribly confusing and daunting. In the last decade, however, things have improved to the point where picking out the right board for you just takes a little research and some forethought, because most people expect their computers to last an average of two years between upgrades.

Your motherboard dictates how far you can stretch the limits of your platform and if everything else is top-notch but the board is not, then you have a problem. Its a bottleneck not in performance terms, but rather in terms of future upgrades and hardware choices.

For Intel’s LGA1155 socket…

Asus Rampage IV Extreme

Intel has four mainstream chipsets to choose from that are available locally. H61 covers just the basics but lacks more modern features, like USB 3.0 front-panel support, Intel RST (Rapid Storage Technology) for SSD caching and there’s usually a low limit on supported memory sizes and the available SATA ports. Most H61 boards start around R500 and top out at R800.

B75 is more business-orientated but still suitable for all uses. It adds in the aforementioned features that H61 lacks, but B75 boards do not properly support dual-GPU configurations. Intel’s B75 chipset sticks to low pricing, ranging from as little as R750 to R1100.

H77 is very similar to B75 and it’s getting increasingly harder to find a good H77 board because the two chipsets are actually too similar. The boards still left in the local market compete against the B75 chipset, ranging from R800 to R1100 in price.

Intel’s Z77 is the full monty. It includes most of the features from the previous chipsets and drops a few that aren’t valuable to gamers or enthusiasts, like space for an LPT port, or support for Intel’s VT-d virtualisation technology. It also supports overclocking using just the CPU multiplier, but proper Crossfire and SLI support is still an issue because many Z77 boards don’t support it fully. Z77-based boards can be had for as little as R1100 and can go as high as R4000 for enthusiast models that cater to overclockers.

For AMD’s socket FM2 and AM3+…

ASRock FM2A85X Extreme4-M

AMD’s chipset support, on the other hand, is much more varied for the mainstream. With socket FM2 for the APU family there’s the A55, A75 and A85 chipsets. All support the same basic features but the higher you go with the chipset, the more ports, SATA connections and PCI slots become available on the board.

A55 is equivalent to Intel’s H61 and offers just the basics, but has better port layouts and extra SATA ports, as well as lots of USB 2.0 connectivity. Most A55 boards have yet to come down in price, but start at R700 and tops R900 for some brands.

A75 is equivalent to Intel’s B75 chipset and offers the same features along with native SATA 6GB/s support. Pricing ranges between R900 and R1100.

A85 is the peak for socket FM2, supporting up to 64GB RAM, native SATA 6GB/s on all ports and, in some boards, proper Crossfire support. For a well-kitted A85 board, expect to start shelling out for one at the R1200 price point, topping out at R1500.

AM3+

AMD’s AM3+ socket is a little simpler. In the low-end mainstream market there’s the 780G chipset which, with BIOS updates, can support most CPUs compatible with the AM3 and AM3+ sockets. It lacks USB 3.0 support, which is added in with third-party controllers. A decent 780G board would set you back by around R650.

At the mid-range, AMD’s 970 chipset offers proper Crossfire support, USB 3.0, SATA 6GB/s support and the same level of CPU support from a starting price of R800. The 990 chipset improves further on the 970 chipset by adding in support for up to triple Crossfire and SLI support and in most cases is cheaper to buy into than Intel’s Z77 boards with the equivalent functionality. Most 990-series boards start out at R1200 and although some command very high prices, you’ll never need to spend more than R3000.

Conclusion

Its also worth noting that Intel’s H61 and B75 chipsets do not support hardware RAID, while AMD’s entire chipset family supports various hardware RAID setups.

So in conclusion, if you’re planning for the upgrade bug, choose a motherboard that won’t limit your expansion options in the future. For Intel, that means opting for a Z77 board at around the R1,100 mark, because if you ever find a K-series chip on the cheap you’ll be able to overclock it for that extra speed boost.

For the AMD platform, that means going for an A75 or 970-series board in the mid-range, which have all the features and connectivity you need and won’t limit expansion options in the future.

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