With so many factors to consider, choosing a motherboard can be a bewildering exercise. We put 11 models through their pace to find the ultimate in performance, flexibility and value

A simple board that struggles to justify its price

All the options you could want, although it’s pricey

An uninspiring board with no strong selling point

A capable little package at an attractive price

Cheap, but there’s not much here to cheer about

A slightly bare but affordable media-centre board

A feast of features for those willing to pay

A high-end board bristling with great ideas

Plenty of connectors, but not much pizzazz

An appealingly upmarket board at a fair price

A great combination of features at an excellent price makes this our new A-List board - suitable for just about everyone.

Both graphics card giants have unleashed powerful new additions to their ranks recently, and their battle for supremacy is hotter than ever. We put the new arrivals through their paces

There may be two main CPU manufacturers, but picking the right processor is anything but simple. We put 51 CPUs through their paces

A range of cut-down Core 2 Duo processors that are fine for everyday tasks.

A diverse family including some stellar CPUs and numerous also-rans.

A cheap, lightweight choice for single-core applications, but you get the performance you pay for.

A smartly engineered processor, but for today’s applications it’s lacking in bang per buck.

An old standard, but one that still provides decent performance at a great price.