Curious to know your type of motherboard? You can do so without having to open the computer case. In this guide, we will explain to you how to check your PC’s motherboard and also highlight four different ways to check the motherboard.
The steps aren’t common knowledge so we’ll break them down for your easy understanding.
Motherboards are classified based on their form factor i.e shape and size and the kind of techthat is on the motherboard.
AT:This is the original motherboard used in computers up until Pentium 2. It is 13.8 x 12 inches with 6-pin plugs and sockets for power. In 1985, a smaller form factor of this board was introduced. It was called “Baby AT”. The AT is outdated presently.
Advanced Technology Extended (ATX):In 1995, Intel introduced the ATX. With a size of 12 x 9.6 inches with 4-pin plugs and sockets for peripheral power.
ITX:In 2001, VIA Technologies introduced the Mini-ITX, a much smaller (6.7×6.7 inches) motherboard made for compatibility with ATX cases. They followed this up with Nano-ITX (4.7 x 4.7 inches) in 2003 and the Pico-ITX (3.9 x 2.8 inches) in 2007.
You can get access to all of the same information plus the serial number by using a “wmic” (Windows Management Instrumentation Commandline) command in the Windows command prompt.
Select the Start menu and type cmd. Select the Command Prompt app.
At the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter on the keyboard:
Press enter and the information about your motherboard would be displayed
When all of the above methods fail for one reason or the other, you can resort to opening your case to see the details of your motherboard. Sometimes you’ll find the motherboard info written along the very edge of one of the sides of the motherboard, or in the very center near the CPU. Information printed there may also include the chipset, model, and serial number.