Basic features of today's motherboards

Nothing beats the excitement of building your own PC. Assuming that you have money to burn, you can select the best components for the project. These may include the fastest processor, the fastest RAM, the fastest hard disk and the fastest graphics card.

Of course, there is no such a thing as "the fastest" when it comes to computers and their components. The moment you get home from the computer store, somewhere in Taiwan or the U.S. a faster component is probably being launched. However, at least for the next three years you will not be feeling sorry if you put together all these speed demons to make your PC.

One of the essential components that determines how your PC will perform is the motherboard. Also called the "mainboard", it serves as the platform to which we plug and connect the other components. If you get a defective or a bootlegged motherboard, no matter how fast your processor you will have a machine that is as slow as molasses in January.

In the past, the motherboards looked very dull. All we saw was a green plastic plate with black sockets. Now they have become colorful. The integrated jacks for the keyboard, mouse, speakers, microphone, etc. all have their own standard colors, so anyone can easily connect these peripherals to the PC once it is completed.

Today's motherboards are also very intelligent. They know when the fan is not working and the temperature has risen and reached a threshold, and they will warn us if this happens. More importantly, they now have all the functions that used to be provided by separate components. These include the audio subsystem, the video subsystem and the LAN (local area network) connection.

What should you look for when choosing a motherboard for your DIY project? An infrared connection would be a good start. This allows you to connect your PC to your cell phones, notebook, PDA, etc. wirelessly in case they still do not support Bluetooth.

Some very advanced motherboards now have Wi-Fi built in. This will allow you to connect any Wi Fi-capable notebook, PDA, digital projector, etc. to the PC without having to plug into an Ethernet connector.

IEEE 1394 (FireWire) connection is another option that may prove handy. There are two types of FireWire plugs, the 6-pin and 4-pin types, and there are adaptors for them. One is for peripherals such as CD-RW drives and the other for self-powered digital video cameras. It would be nice to have two FireWire ports, one for each type, but it is not really a priority.

More important is perhaps to have USB 2.0 ports. Most motherboards today have at least six ports, and if you need more you can use USB hubs. Some LCD monitors and USB keyboards already come with the hubs.

For fast hard disk access, Serial ATA is the norm today. For data safety, you can get a motherboard with an IDE RAID subsystem that enables you to mirror and stripe (RAID 0+1) data with two or more hard disks. If one fails, you will still have your data intact in the other hard disk.

PCs now do not stand alone, therefore a Fast Ethernet (10-100 Mbps) connector is a must. Luckily, most motherboards come with at least one Ethernet port. You will need two of them if you intend to use the PC as the Internet router for your home network, for example.

A PC has become an entertainment device, too. So an integrated six channels with S/PDIF support is necessary. The S/PDIF (Sony/Phillips Digital Interface) is what you need to connect a digital audio source to the PC.

Finally, if you like pushing the PC faster than the specified clock speed stated by the chipmaker (Intel or AMD), find a motherboard that allows overclocking.

Many motherboards now come with live LED (light-emitting diodes), so if you have a casing with transparent walls, which are very popular these days, you can have a show of lights as you work. You will forget about the light show after a while, of course, but the LED can also indicate problems if they occur.

The final tip for today: If you are buying a new motherboard, make sure you're buying the real thing. Strange as it is, top- rated motherboards such as the ones from Asus get counterfeited too. Buy from a reputable store and check whether the product carries the label of the distributor. -- Zatni Arbi

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