Asus Z87-Plus review: specs and price

The motherboard has a button or switch on the rear panel to clear the CMOS, which resets the BIOS to factory settings. This is useful if something goes wrong with the BIOS which stops your computer from booting, as you can reset the BIOS without opening the case to access the CMOS jumper.

This feature allows you to charge your devices (such as smartphones and tablets) faster than a regular USB port. Some implementations also let you charge through the USB port even when the computer is in sleep mode or off.

The number of GPUs supported when using a multi-GPU configuration. Using more than one GPU in parallel can give increased performance.

The motherboard has more CPU sockets. Multiple CPUs are typically used in servers.

This can allow faster data rates over USB, such as when transferring files to an external hard drive.

When covered under the manufacturer’s warranty it is possible to get a replacement in the case of a malfunction.

It can support faster memory, which will give quicker system performance.

More memory slots (also known as DIMM slots) allow you to add more RAM to your computer. It is also useful when upgrading, as you can add RAM to an empty slot instead of replacing an existing memory module.

The motherboard supports overclocking the RAM to a higher speed. By increasing the speed at which the memory runs, you can boost the performance of your computer.

More memory channels increases the speed of data transfer between the memory and the CPU.

The maximum amount of memory (RAM) supported.

Fan headers are connection points on the motherboard that cooling fans can be connected to. Fans can also be connected straight to the power supply, but when connected to the motherboard you gain much finer control over them through software.

SATA is an interface used to connect mass storage devices such as hard drives and Blu-ray drives. SATA 3 has a native transfer rate of 6 Gbit/s, which is twice as fast as SATA 2, the previous revision. This is particularly useful if you use an SSD as it can perform at higher speeds.

Devices with a HDMI or mini HDMI port can transfer high definition video and audio to a display.

More USB 3.0 ports allow you to connect more devices to your computer that support USB 3.0. USB 3.0 is an improved version of USB 2.0 which offers faster transfer rates.

The motherboard has USB 3.0 headers, which are pin connections that you can connect additional USB ports to.

The USB Type-C features reversible plug orientation and cable direction.

PCIe slots allow you to connect various components to the motherboard, such as graphics cards and sound cards. The number after the 'x' represents the number of lanes, with more lanes supporting higher data transfer rates. PCI Express 3.0 has a bit rate of 8 GT/s, delivering 985 MB/s per lane.

PCIe slots allow you to connect graphics cards, SSDs, and other components to the motherboard. The number after the 'x' represents the number of lanes, with more lanes supporting higher data transfer rates. PCI Express 2.0 has a transfer rate of 5 GT/s, providing 500 MB/s per lane.

Using PCIe slots, you can connect different components to your motherboard, such as graphics cards and RAID cards. The number after the 'x' represents the number of data-transmission lanes. More lanes result in faster data transfer rates. A PCIe x1 slot has one lane and can move data at one bit per cycle.

PCI slots allow you to connect peripherals to the motherboard, most commonly graphics cards but also others such as sound cards and network cards. PCI has been superseded by PCI Express which offers faster data transfer rates, but many cards today still use PCI.

Each channel is a separate stream of audio information. More channels can provide a more realistic experience, such as providing surround sound.

More connectors means that more audio devices such as speakers or microphones can be connected.

S/PDIF is an interface used to transmit digital audio with high fidelity.

RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disks into one unit. RAID 1 mirrors the data across the drives. This gives you greater data security as if one drive fails, the data will still be accessible from another.

RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disks into one unit. RAID 5 stripes the data across the drives, giving increased performance compared to a single disk. It also provides greater data security as if one drive fails, the data will still be accessible from another due to the use of parity.

RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disks into one unit. RAID 10 (1+0) stripes and mirrors the data across the drives. It gives increased capacity and performance compared to a single disk. It also provides greater data security as if one drive fails, the data will still be accessible from another.

RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disks into one unit. RAID 0 stripes the data across the drives, giving increased performance and capacity compared to a single drive. The drawback is that if one drive fails, you lose the data on all drives.