How can I test a motherboard?

[TellerAtMemoryBank]

I have a few used motherboards I've bought and I'd like to test them to see if they are fully functional. I have all the parts to build a system: CPU, PSU, GPU, Memory, HDD.

I'm more curious as to what regimen to put each through to test for full functionality. I was thinking I could do a fresh install of Windows 7 on each one to at least ensure minimal functionality but I'm not sure what else to do.

Is there software that tests different parts of the motherboard?
Should I test every memory bank with MemTest+ or does just being able to boot with all banks full mean they work?
Should I put in a graphics card to test the PCI Express (x16) slot or do those usually not break?

Any help, suggestions, advice would be greatly appreciated and may save me a lot of time.

 

[Gate9er]

Well are the motherboards very old? And also what type of brands? There is no well known program that can test your motherboard's performance. The best thing to do is to visit the official brand website of each motherboard and see what things each motherboard offers and what capabilities in general each motherboard has. Finally, use programs like cpu-z, gpu-z, cpu-id to check if all the internal peripheral devices run normally (i.e. gpu, cpu etc). Once you confirm that, then your motherboards should be good to go. You can post print screens of the results that you will get from the programs listed above so that we can assist you further if you have any inquiries as you move on.

Hope this helps!

 

[TellerAtMemoryBank]

The motherboards are newer, of the last 2 generations of chipsets from AMD and Intel. As old as Sandy Bridge and such.

 

[Gate9er]

Well if you have compatible peripherals then boot up each single motherboard using your hardware. Make sure though that all your hardware are 100% compatible!

Hope this helps!

 

[TellerAtMemoryBank]

Thanks! I'm still wondering if I should reinstall Windows on the hard drive for each motherboard. I'm not sure if Windows detects what motherboard you have and installs drivers accordingly during the first install.

 

[tsuru8]

Well are the motherboards very old? And also what type of brands? There is no well known program that can test your motherboard's performance. The best thing to do is to visit the official brand website of each motherboard and see what things each motherboard offers and what capabilities in general each motherboard has. Finally, use programs like cpu-z, gpu-z, cpu-id to check if all the internal peripheral devices run normally (i.e. gpu, cpu etc). Once you confirm that, then your motherboards should be good to go. You can post print screens of the results that you will get from the programs listed above so that we can assist you further if you have any inquiries as you move on.

Hope this helps!

Don't you think the guy should check out all the I/O like USB ports, sound, LAN, etc. to ensure that you can DO SOMETHING with the motherboard once you've loaded an OS on it? Why do so many people on these sites (with 'answers') nearly never really read the question, nor think beyond first base, or run off on some tangent that is ONLY one of the possible fixes? Beyond me how some can give advice and yet know so little.

 

[tsuru8]

Don't you think the guy should check out all the I/O like USB ports, sound, LAN, etc. to ensure that you can DO SOMETHING with the motherboard once you've loaded an OS on it? Why do so many people on these sites (with 'answers') nearly never really read the question, nor think beyond first base, or run off on some tangent that is ONLY one of the possible fixes? Beyond me how some can give advice and yet know so little.