How to Find Out What Motherboard You Have in 5 Steps

The motherboard is an essential component of your PC, acting as the main hub for all hardware and I/O. Sometimes, you may need to know your motherboard model for a CPU or a RAM upgrade. Perhaps you need to identify your motherboard’s chipset to review missing features.

If we go by Google’s definition, a motherboard is a PCB atop which other circuit boards are slotted into. Inherently, for normal users a motherboard does not affect performance directly. However, make the wrong choice and you could be severely limited as there’s obviously a difference between a low-end A620 and the X670E chipset, other than the cost.

Motherboard-Specific Features

Motherboards determine the number of SATA, M.2 SSDs you may install on your PC. Whether your RAM supports XMP, or your CPU supports overclocking also depends on your motherboard. The VRMs installed on your motherboard limit overclocking capabilities on unlocked processors.

The number and generation of PCIe lanes also depend on your chipset model. For example, in the AM5 series, you’d need a B650E or better chipset for guaranteed PCIe Gen 5.0 SSD support. Likewise, CPU overclocking is disabled on the A620 lineup.

Different OEMs have their own proprietary RGB solutions, which will vary with your motherboard. The number of memory channels and DIMM slots increases with better motherboards. Moreover, newer motherboards offer innovative technologies built-in such as Thunderbolt and Type-C ports.

All this goes to show that a good motherboard greatly improves the ease of use and the number of features on your PC. So you might think that knowing your motherboard name and chipset is important, and you’d be right.

This guide will show you how to easily determine what motherboard and chipset your PC has.

READ MORE: Advanced Motherboard Buying Guide – How to Buy A Motherboard For A Gaming PC ➜

What Motherboard & Chipset Do I Have?

Off the bat, let’s clear a few things up. Your PC might be sourced from an OEM, or it might be custom-built. Most modern-day machines, even pre-built ones, use renowned motherboard models apart from a few rare cases. Therefore, we can divide the procedure of finding your motherboard model into 3 categories:

• Custom PCs:
  • Your motherboard model and chipset are often mentioned on the motherboard itself.
  • For more clarification, you could use Sysinfo or other Windows utilities which will give you the accurate name.
• Pre-Built PCs:
  • These machines are mostly bought in bulk from retailers and OEMs like Dell, HP, and Lenovo.
  • They often use proprietary motherboards, which will not make things any easier for us.
  • Worst case scenario, you might have to dig up the documentation of your specific OptiPlex or ThinkCentre and sift through the details.
• Laptops:
  • Laptop motherboards are not upgradable and despite whatever information you obtain, it may not be entirely useful.
  • For upgradeability purposes, it is highly recommended you read the specifications sheet of your laptop.

Let’s go over the procedure of finding out your PC’s motherboard and chipset model:

1. Inspect the Motherboard Physically

Believe it or not, but the easiest way to identify your motherboard’s chipset and model is by simply looking at it. This may work for consumer desktops but you could end up looking at all sorts of numbers and figures if you use a pre-built Dell or HP workstation/PC.

Follow these steps to inspect your motherboard:

1. Disconnect your PC from the wall and turn the Power Supply off.
   
2. Take off the side panel, and try not to exert too much pressure on the panel if it is made from Acrylic or Tempered Glass. (Reference Image is from DeepCool)
   
   
   
3. We’ll use the GIGABYTE X670E AORUS XTREME as an example. Here the model name has been printed next to the CPU socket, but the exact position may vary with your motherboard. (Reference Image is from GIGABYTE)
   
   

2. Check the System Information

Windows offers a utility called System Information which is a one-click solution to display your PC’s diagnostic and troubleshooting information, alongside the installed hardware.

1. In the Windows Search Bar, type “sysinfo” or “System Information” without the double commas.
   
   
   
2. Click on the System Information program that pops up once you search the term in the Search Bar.
   
   
   
3. In the System Summary section, look out for the BaseBoard Manufacturer and BaseBoard Product fields. In our case, the motherboard is a GIGABYTE H510M. Here “H510” is the chipset name.
   
   
   

READ MORE: 7 Best AM5 Motherboards In 2024 According To Experts ➜

3. Use a CMD Command

CMD stands for Command Prompt and is a command-line interface to execute various commands, run batch files, and troubleshoot Windows.

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt. To do so, in the Windows Search Bar type “cmd” and find the Command Prompt option.
   
   
   
2. Press Right-Click on the Command Prompt option and click on the “Run as administrator” option. Alternatively, you can press the Run as administrator option to the right.
   
   
   
3. A User Account Control window should pop up, select “Yes“. Now you’ve successfully opened an Elevated CMD window.
   
4. In the terminal, type the following command which tries to obtain your motherboard’s name and manufacturer; “wmic baseboard get product,Manufacturer“. Make sure to remove the double commas at the start and end. Use Ctrl+C to copy the command in bold and Ctrl+V to paste it.
   
   
   
5. Press “Enter” and you will see 2 new fields pop up, stating the “Manufacturer” and the “Product“. This is the same information that was displayed by System Information above.
   
   

4. Use HWiNFO64

HWiNFO is a third-party software used for detailed analysis and performance monitoring of your PC. This piece of software is widely used by enthusiasts and gamers alike to see all system-level details.

1. In the Google Search Bar, look up the term “HWiNFO” and open HWiNFO’s website.
   
   
   
2. Make sure you have the proper URL (Highlighted in the image below) and click on the “Free Download” button.
   
   
   
3. This should lead you to another webpage, wherein you’ll be given the option to select one of three choices; Installer, Portable, or Portable for DOS. We will select the Installer option as it is robust and more convenient.
   
   
   
4. As you hover over the “Free Download” option, you’ll see a few servers to download the file from. Choose any server you like. We’ll use SourceForge, and the download should start automatically.
   
   
   
5. Once the file has been downloaded, open it and start the Installer. Select “OK” >> “Next” >> “I accept the agreement” >> “Next” >> Select your preferred directory (The default should work fine) >> “Next” >> “Next” >> “Install ” >> “Finish“. The last screen should look something like this:
   
   
   
6. Now you’ve installed HWiNFO64 successfully. The software will launch automatically after you click “Finish“. A screen should pop up. Select “Start” to display your PC’s information.
   
   
   
7. Be aware! Many screens will open and that’s totally normal since each screen serves a different purpose. Do not be alarmed or taken aback. Let’s distinguish between each Window. Look closely at the image below and carefully close Windows 2 and Windows 3.
   
   
   
8. This will leave behind Window 1 open. In the left-corner, under your PC’s name, simply click on “Motherboard“. The right panel will then show all the details about your motherboard.
   
   
   

READ MORE: How to Find Out How Old Is Your Computer – Windows & Mac ➜

5. Read OEM Documentation

If your PC was built by an OEM and uses a proprietary motherboard, the above steps might have done you no good. For this part of the guide, we’ll use a real-world example of a pre-built setup from Lenovo and show how you too can find details regarding your motherboard.

Please note that this method requires a bit of research and depends on your manufacturer. Follow these steps as we’ll explain through a practical example;

1. Search up your BaseBoard Manufacturer and BaseBoard Product/Version name through System Information, as shown above. From our example, the Manufacturer is Lenovo and the BaseBoard Version is “0B98401 PRO“. We’ve also highlighted the System Model and SKU since they are important for OEM builds.
   
   
   
2. The motherboard is made by Lenovo, but we are still unsure of the chipset. Such PCs are supplied in bulk to organizations such as offices and schools and sold off at cheaper rates to the mainstream market. At this point, we are entirely dependent on Lenovo, that is, if they have any sort of documentation for this PC.
   
3. Open Google and try searching for combinations of these different strings. As an example, we will search “lenovo 0b98401 3943 i3-3220” which is basically the Manufacturer + Motherboard Version + System SKU + CPU Model. Let’s open the first result, which quite luckily is a specification PDF.
   
   
   
4. From the PDF it appears that this PC was a part of the ThinkCentre Edge 72 Small and Tower lineup.
   
   
   
5. Reading the entire PDF for your specific PC can be tedious. We can press Ctrl+F to search against the CPU model, which is the i3-3220. The first result matches our criteria. Moreover, within the details, we find that the “0B98401 PRO” motherboard is based on the Intel H61 chipset.
   
   

READ MORE: How Much Should You Actually Spend on A Motherboard? ➜

Conclusion

Nowadays, it is quite easy to identify your motherboard model and whatever chipset it is based on if you plan on upgrading. Custom PCs use motherboards one can snag off the shelf from manufacturers like MSI, GIGABYTE, ASUS, etcetera, and enthusiasts almost always look at the chipset used, and features offered before splashing out on an expensive motherboard.

However, the same cannot be said for pre-builts since finding their specs sheet is like finding a needle in a haystack. This issue worsens as older Xeons are quite picky regarding the chipset.

By that point, you’d be relying on the OEM to have a publicly accessible PDF or document detailing your system’s specifications. Alternatively, you can search forums and subreddits for help. In any case, it is always possible to find out your motherboard’s model and chipset, whether it be by running a CMD command or by scrambling information from every nook and crook of the Internet.