Curious as to the difference between a good motherboard and a bad one

[Druid]

All I really know about the variations of motherboards is that they vary in shape and slot # and types. What makes a mobo good? I know some definitely are better than others because my friend's crysis game was all laggy when he had to put in his old mobo while getting his new one repaired.

 

[meat_helmet]

All I really know about the variations of motherboards is that they vary in shape and slot # and types. What makes a mobo good? I know some definitely are better than others because my friend's crysis game was all laggy when he had to put in his old mobo while getting his new one repaired.

Well your friends lagginess could be explained by him swapping motherboards around - if he didnt re-install windows and everything he could have been getting conflicts which could cause that.

Anyway there are so many differences between motherboards - there is just so many out there. The differences in performance you get are often fairly minimal, maybe a few fps. What normally sets motherboards appart from others is ones that have proven to be very stable, overclock well, have a good physical layout, support alot of hardware, and have alot of features.