What's the difference between mainstream motherboards and server motherboards?

[sawan]

I noticed that Type is basically the standard in server motherboards, but what's really the big difference between those motherboards and motherboards in our "regular" PCs?

 

[miahallen]

Lots of differences....but for most enthusiasts....server boards are not a good choice as they usually lack any decent OCing support.

 

[Zap]

Perhaps server boards are tuned more for stability while consumer boards are tuned more for performance?

Also, maybe server boards get better QA and validation?

 

[Rubycon]

Real server boards will not have enthusiast settings in the BIOS, always have ECC support and a server based chipset. Storage and i/o options are also better along with monitoring and better network interfaces, etc. Mid range boards feature multiple sockets and higher memory support. Higher end server boards support 2-8+ CPU sockets and 100s of GB of RAM on plug in riser cards. They will also feature multiple failover PSU support with SNMP trapping, etc.

 

[AstroGuardian]

You forgot to mention that server boards have compatibility issues with widely spread hardware. They will work only with tested and updated hardware. Mainstream boards are compatible with most types and brands of hardware out there. Suma sumarum - you get better component choice flexibility with mainstream boards

 

[Modelworks]

Depends on the board.
Sometimes it is a lot of things from size to quality or features. Other times it is just a sticker someone put over the same model desktop board and doubled the price.