If you don’t know exactly what you’re looking at, motherboards—particularly high-end models—can look more like the Transformers’ home world of Cybertron than something you might plug your drives, CPU, and graphics card into. And with dozens of models available for most platforms, unless you’re up on all the lingo and the latest tech, it can be tough to know where to start.
Below, we’ll diagram most of the major ports, headers, and slots that are common on today’s motherboards, followed by some helpful basics about expansion slots, RAM, and motherboard form factors, so you’ll be better equipped to choose the best motherboard for you.
Motherboard Diagram
Let’s take a look at a typical higher-level motherboard for an example of connector and port types. We chose the Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Master for its many modern motherboard features (some of which you may not need ) and its contrasting color design, which makes it easier to see smaller board components.
Swipe to scroll horizontally 1. EPS 8-Pin Connectors 2. VRM Heatsinks 3. Fan Headers 4. 3-Pin ARGB Headers 5. CPU Socket 6. DRAM/DIMM Slots 7. Debug Display/LEDs 8. Power and Reset Buttons 9. ATX 24-Pin Connector 10. USB 3.2 20 Gbps Front Panel Header 11. USB 3.2 5 Gbps 19-Pin Front Panel Headers 12. M.2 Connectors
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
Swipe to scroll horizontally 13. PCIe x16 Slot 14. Chipset Heatsink 15. HDMI Port 16. SATA Ports 17. Front Panel Header 18. Audio Section 19. Front Panel Audio Header 20. 4-Pin RGB Header 21. TPM Header 22. USB 2.0 Front Panel Header 23. CMOS Battery Row 3 - Cell 2
Above, we’ve illustrated many of the common motherboard ports and connector types, split between the top and bottom halves of the board. Of course, not all boards feature all types, and things like fan headers, M.2 connectors, and the BIOS battery will be located in different spots on different boards.
Also note that the M.2 connector (#12 in our diagram above) may support up to four PCIe 5.0 or 4.0 lanes (old boards may top out at 3.0). Alternatively, an M.2 slot may support both NVMe/PCIe and SATA-based M.2 protocols (rarely SATA only these days). So be sure to check the board’s M.2 connectors' capabilities before buying a drive. For more about fast storage, be sure to check out our best SSDs page.
Expansion Slots
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