Mainboard naming explained

Manufacturers like giving their products names that are incomprehensible at first glance. With a little background knowledge, however, they make perfect sense. The names actually reveal which processors a board can accommodate, whether you can overclock it and much more.

The naming scheme

Motherboard manufacturers don’t use a uniform naming convention. To each their own, as they say. But in truth, most names contain the following information:

• Brand
  - Series
  - Chipset
  - Form factor
  - Model
  - Wi-Fi
  This is how the big three manufacturers, Asus, MSI and Gigabyte, do it:

Motherboards

–15%

216.– CHF was 254.– CHF

Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX

LGA 1700, Intel Z790, ATX

106

Motherboards

110.– CHF

ASUS TUF GAMING B550M-PLUS

AM4, AMD B550, mATX

11

Motherboards

229.– CHF

MSI MPG B650I EDGE WIFI

AM5, AMD B650, Mini ITX

9

Let’s break this down according to the above information:

• Brand: Gigabyte, Asus, MSI
  - Series: Aorus Elite, TUF, MPG
  - Chipset: Z790, B550, B650
  - Form factor: ATX, mATX, Mini-ITX
  - Model: Elite, Gaming Plus, Edge
  - Wi-Fi (the Gigabyte mainboard also offers Wi-Fi, specified with AX in the title)
  

  Brand name

  The brand name comes first. More specifically, the company stated manufactures the motherboard and installs the chipsets from Intel or AMD. Besides the three mentioned brands, there are others such as ASRock or Biostar.

  Series

  The series provides information on where the motherboard’s placed in the product portfolio, whether it’s a high- or low-end board. Here’s how it looks for the five mentioned manufacturers (from low- to high-end):

• MSI: MAG, MPG, MEG
  - Asus: Prime, TUF, ROG Strix
  - Gigabyte: UD, Gaming X, Aorus
  - ASRock: Pro, Steel Legend, Phantom Gaming, Taichi, Aqua
  - Biostar: Standard, Silver, Racing, Valkyrie
  Manufacturers offer other series too. ProArt from Asus, Aero from Gigabyte and Pro from MSI are aimed at creatives.

  Chipset

  The chipset determines which processor is compatible with the motherboard. The manufacturer – AMD or Intel – and the processor generation play a role. Among other things, the chipset determines whether overclocking is possible as well as the RAM type (mostly).

  Chipset names consist of a letter followed by three digits. The first digit indicates the generation. In the listing below, I’ve replaced them with a placeholder asterisk. Intel has four and AMD has three chipset types for consumers.

  Intel

  H*10: Intel’s cheapest and most rudimentary chipset is only recommended for Core 3 processors or below. Overclocking isn’t possible on boards with this chipset. They often only have two RAM and few expansion slots. They also have fewer PCIe lanes and use an older standard than higher-end chipsets.

  B*60: Overclocking also won’t work on the next chipset up. B*60s offer more slots and a newer PCIe version as well as more lanes.

  H*70: Only a few motherboards use this chipset. It offers the latest PCIe standard with enough lanes. However, overclocking also isn’t possible with this chipset.

  Z*90: Intel’s most expensive and feature-rich chipset offers the latest standards, many slots and plenty of lanes. You can even overclock it.

  AMD

  A*20: This chipset is similar to Intel’s H*10. It’s the only AMD chipset that doesn’t allow overclocking.

  B*50: The B*50 chipset offers the most important features that the higher X*70 also has. It usually has fewer PCIe lanes. For most, motherboards with this chipset are sufficient – even overclocking works.

  X*70: As with Intel, the 70 series offers the most PCIe lanes and slots. AMD also differentiates between X670E and X670 in the 600 chipset series. The former offers PCIe 5.0, the latter PCIe 4.0.

  Applied to the three linked motherboards above, you can use this knowledge to determine which CPUs are compatible. According to this scheme, the Z790 is Intel’s best 700 chipset. It’s compatible with all processors of the 12th to 14th Core generation. The B550 is compatible with all AM4 CPUs from AMD. And the B650 fits with the newer AM5 processors.

  The B550 and B650 chipsets also clearly determine the RAM type. The former supports DDR4, the latter DDR5. With the Z790, this can’t be concluded purely from the chipset, since it’s compatible with either DDR4 or DDR5 depending on the board.

  Form factor

  The form factor is usually indicated with a letter at the end of the chipset designation. If there isn’t one, you can assume it’s in the ATX form factor. Most of the time, M denotes Micro-ATX (mATX), I denotes Mini-ITX and E denotes EATX. However, the latter isn’t always true. An X670E mainboard doesn’t come in the EATX form factor. Instead, the E indicates PCIe 5.0. This is because AMD’s 600-series chipsets only support the PCIe 5.0 standard with an E in the name. The others still use PCIe 4.0.

  Looking at the three motherboards linked above, this means:

• Gigabyte Z790 Aourus Elite AX → Gigabyte’s board is an ATX
  - Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus → The Asus is an mATX
  - MSI MPG B650I Edge Wi-Fi → MSI’s board is a Mini-ITX
  When a hyphenated letter is appended to the chipset, this usually denotes a model designation.

  Model

  Strictly speaking, the whole name is the model. But motherboard manufacturers usually use additional designations in the name, which I haven’t mentioned so far. And that’s where we find our model designation. Looking back to our three examples:

• Gigabyte Z790 Aourus Elite AX → The Gigabyte model is called Elite
  - Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus → The Asus model is called Gaming Plus
  - MSI MPG B650I Edge Wi-Fi → The MSI model is called Edge
  

  Wi-Fi

  Usually, the end of a name shows whether a motherboard features Wi-Fi or not. You can see this in our example MSI board. Gigabyte indicates Wi-Fi functionality with an AX in the name. There’s nothing for the Asus board, so you can most likely assume that it doesn’t offer Wi-Fi. Check the specifications if you want to be sure.

  Verdict: no longer mystifying

  Due to the sheer mass of motherboards that exist, it’s clear a unique name is needed. Even if most manufacturers use their own schemes, certain things can always be deduced. Various conclusions can be drawn from the name of a motherboard alone:

• Where in the product portfolio a specific board is to be classified.
  - With which processors and RAM it’s compatible.
  - In which housing it fits.
  - Whether it offers Wi-Fi or not.
  You’ll have to be careful with the second point. It isn’t always obvious with which RAM a motherboard is compatible. Intel’s Z690 and Z790 chipsets are compatible with DDR4 or DDR5 RAM. I’d recommend looking at the specifications here.

  Header image: Pafnuti