A motherboard largely determines a computer or workstation’s use. Performance, device support, feature set, component choice—a motherboard dictates all of these things. By looking at what motherboards professional builders are purchasing, we can gain a sense on what kinds of workstations they are assembling. So what motherboards did IT professionals choose for custom-built systems? Before we get to the top 10 motherboards list, let’s look at trends that emerged from this study.
Intel-based motherboards the go-to for professional builders
One interesting data point is that the majority of system builders chose Intel-based motherboards. Looking back at our list of most purchased processors however, it doesn’t come as too much of a shock. Intel motherboards take up nine of the ten spots with an AMD mobo appearing in the 8th slot with an AM3+ board. Why might Intel be the choice for office or production computers? Feel free to speculate in the comments.
What about the preferred chipsets for the top motherboards of 2015?
- 6 of the 9 Intel motherboards are based on Haswell-E X99 architecture
- 1 Z77 Sandy Bridge motherboard
- 1 Z97 Haswell/Broadwell motherboard
- 1 B85 Haswell motherboard
- 0 Z170 Skylake motherboards, though not surprising as it has only been four weeks since launch.
What form factors are people choosing?
Small form-factor PCs remain perennial favorites, so you’d expect ITX and mATX form factors to make up a large portion of this list. But that doesn’t hold true here; there was only one mATX in the top ten.
Why might this be? One possibility is that system builders want to use more than one performance workstation graphics card in these builds. In such cases, only the ATX form factor can accommodate the size requirements of multiple professional-grade graphics cards.
Asus, ASRock, MSI or Gigabyte?
In the top ten, the three major board manufacturers (Asus, ASRock, and MSI) each are represented on the list. Asus leads with seven of the boards, ASRock has two, and MSI has one. Gigabyte just barely misses with the top ten with several boards in the 10 – 20 rankings.
What feature sets are pro builders after?
Looking at feature set, pro builders are not putting much stock in built-in Wi-Fi. Only two of the motherboards (both X99) support Wi-Fi out of the box. This is likely because office workstations typically connect via Ethernet.
Nine of the ten motherboards support PCI Express 3.0, with only the AMD 970 + SB950 motherboard lacking PCIe 3.0. If you can’t get enough PCI Express slots, look into the ASUS X99-DELUXE. It features seven PCI-e slots.
Top Ten Best-selling Motherboards
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Chipset | Intel X99 |
| Socket | LGA 2011-v3 |
| Memory Support | DDR48 slots, 64 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 3 × PCIe 3.0 x16 1 × PCIe 2.0 x162 × PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Chipset | Intel Z97 |
| Socket | LGA 1150 |
| Memory Support | DDR34 slots, 32 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 2 × PCIe 3.0 x16 1 × PCIe 2.0 x162 × PCIe 2.0 x1 1 × PCI |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Chipset | Intel X99 |
| Socket | LGA 2011-v3 |
| Memory Support | DDR48 slots, 128 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 3 × PCIe 3.0 x16 1 × PCIe 2.0 x161 × PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Form Factor | CEB |
| Chipset | Intel X99 |
| Socket | LGA 2011-v3 |
| Memory Support | DDR48 slots, 64 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 7 × PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Form Factor | mATX |
| Chipset | B85 |
| Socket | LGA 1150 |
| Memory Support | DDR34 slots, 32 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 1 × PCIe 3.0 x16 1 × PCIe 2.0 x161 × PCIe 2.0 x1 1 × PCI |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Chipset | Intel X99 |
| Socket | LGA 2011-v3 |
| Memory Support | DDR48 slots, 64 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 5 × PCIe 3.0 x16 1 × PCIe 2.0 x4 |
| Wi-Fi | Yes |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Chipset | Intel X99 |
| Socket | LGA 2011-v3 |
| Memory Support | DDR48 slots, 128 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 4 × PCIe 3.0 x16 2 × PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Chipset | AMD 970 + SB950 |
| Socket | AM3+ |
| Memory Support | DDR34 slots, 32 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 1 × PCIe 2.0 x16 1 × PCIe 2.0 x42 × PCIe 2.0 x1 2 × PCI |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Chipset | Intel Z77 |
| Socket | LGA 1155 |
| Memory Support | DDR34 slots, 32 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 2 × PCIe 3.0 (x16/x0 or x8/x8) 2 × PCIe 2.0 x1 2 × PCI |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Chipset | Intel X99 |
| Socket | LGA 2011-v3 |
| Memory Support | DDR48 slots, 64 GB maximum |
| Expansion Slots | 5 × PCIe 3.0 x16 1 × PCIe x4 |
| Wi-Fi | No |
