AMD vs Intel Motherboards
The motherboard is basically the backbone of your computer system. It doesn’t only provide mechanical support for the placement of various components like the processor, memory, expansion cards, and the like, but it also provides the electrical pathways so that these components can communicate. The only difference between AMD and Intel motherboards is that they only accept the same kind of processor; an AMD motherboard would not work with an Intel processor and vice versa.
This is largely due to the different ways that the two companies implement features and abilities. AMD and Intel are always in competition to come out with the next best thing. These processor wars ensure that they would probably not be compatible, at least not in the foreseeable future. It is not only processors from the other company that the motherboards would not work with. There is also the socket type. Motherboards are built to have a specific socket type. Even if a processor is from AMD, it would not fit an AMD motherboard if they do not have the same socket type. Same goes for Intel.
Aside from processor incompatibilities, the two are virtually the same with respect to other components like memory, hard drives, graphics cards, and the like. Computer technology has rapidly moved toward standardization of these components so that they use the same slots. Although older components may no longer be usable due to using an obsolete slot, this issue is no longer an issue with the motherboard being an Intel or an AMD motherboard.
Other features of the motherboard, like the amount of RAM it can accommodate or the number of SATA ports it has, are largely dependent on the design and pricing of the different manufacturing companies. Obviously, you can expect to pay more for models with more slots. Motherboard makers do not make motherboards exclusively for a certain processor so you cannot rely on the brand to tell you whether it is an AMD or Intel motherboard. Frequently, it is stated on the box of the motherboard whether it works with AMD processors or Intel’s. But a more reliable way is by finding out its socket type. For example, motherboards with LGA 1156 and LGA 1366 sockets are Intel motherboards while motherboards with AM2 and AM3 sockets are AMD motherboards.
Summary:
AMD motherboards only accept AMD processors while Intel motherboards only take Intel processors.