A build needs three expansion cards. Which is the smallest form factor that can take them?Wikipedia, MicroATX, Expandability
A microATX board is going into a full-size ATX case. Will it mount?Wikipedia, MicroATX, Backward compatibility
Can a full-size ATX power supply run a microATX motherboard?Wikipedia, MicroATX, Backward compatibility
Can a Mini-ITX board often be mounted in a case built for ATX?Wikipedia, Mini-ITX, lead section
How large is a full-size ATX motherboard?Wikipedia, ATX, Overview
How large is a Mini-ITX motherboard?Wikipedia, Mini-ITX, lead section
How many expansion slots does a Mini-ITX motherboard have?Wikipedia, Mini-ITX, lead section
How many expansion slots does a standard ATX motherboard provide at most?Wikipedia, ATX, Variants
What does ATX stand for?Wikipedia, ATX, lead section
What is the largest size a microATX motherboard may be?Wikipedia, MicroATX, lead section
What is the most expansion slots the microATX specification permits?Wikipedia, MicroATX, Expandability
What is the snap-out panel that frames a motherboard's rear ports called?Wikipedia, ATX, Connectors
Which older design did ATX set out to improve on?Wikipedia, ATX, lead section
Which two power connectors does an ATX power supply bring to the motherboard?Wikipedia, ATX, Power supply
Show all 58 questions (44 more)
Connector types: PCI, PCIe, SATA, eSATA, M.2 and headers 22
A card runs slower in the board's second full-length slot than in the first. What is a likely reason?Wikipedia, PCI Express, Architecture
A PCIe x1 card is the only card left to fit, and the only free slot is x16. Will it work there?Wikipedia, PCI Express, PCI Express add-in card
An M.2 drive is sold as a "2230" module. What do the digits give?Wikipedia, M.2, Form factors and keying
How does one M.2 socket on a motherboard take modules of two lengths?Wikipedia, M.2, Form factors and keying
How does PCI Express differ from conventional PCI in its layout?Wikipedia, PCI Express, Architecture
How fast is the link of SATA revision 3.0?Wikipedia, SATA, Revisions
How long may an eSATA cable be?Wikipedia, SATA, eSATA
How many conductors does a SATA data cable have?Wikipedia, SATA, lead section
What are the keying notches on M.2 modules and slots for?Wikipedia, M.2, lead section
What do the fan connectors on most motherboards let the BIOS or operating system do?Wikipedia, Motherboard, Temperature and reliability
What does the "e" in eSATA stand for?Wikipedia, SATA, eSATA
What does the SATA specification require of SATA devices about connecting under power?Wikipedia, SATA, Hot plug
What is one PCI Express lane made of?Wikipedia, PCI Express, Lane
What kind of bus is PCI Express, compared with the PCI bus it replaced?Wikipedia, PCI Express, Architecture
What was the standard conventional PCI slot on earlier Mini-ITX boards?Wikipedia, Mini-ITX, lead section
Which interfaces can an M.2 connector provide?Wikipedia, M.2, lead section
Which link widths does the PCI Express standard define?Wikipedia, PCI Express, Architecture
Which older standards was M.2 developed to replace?Wikipedia, M.2, lead section
Which PCI Express card may not fit into an x4 slot?Wikipedia, PCI Express, PCI Express add-in card
Which PCI Express link does a graphics card typically use?Wikipedia, PCI Express, Interconnect
Which two storage protocols does M.2 support?Wikipedia, M.2, lead section
Why is the eSATA connector mechanically different from the internal SATA connector?Wikipedia, SATA, eSATA
Compatibility: CPU sockets and multisocket 10
A builder moves from an LGA 1700 motherboard to an LGA 1851 one. Which part does the new socket's design let them keep?Wikipedia, LGA 1851, lead section
How many contacts does AMD's Socket AM4 have?Wikipedia, Socket AM4, infobox
In symmetric multiprocessing, what do the two or more identical processors share?Wikipedia, Symmetric multiprocessing, lead section
What does a CPU socket make possible?Wikipedia, CPU socket, lead section
What may a motherboard with more than one CPU socket hold?Wikipedia, Motherboard, Design
What type of socket is AMD's Socket AM5?Wikipedia, Socket AM5, lead section
Which Intel desktop processors fit the LGA 1700 socket?Wikipedia, LGA 1700, lead section
Which memory does a Socket AM5 motherboard support?Wikipedia, Socket AM5, Features
Which part of a motherboard sets, to an extent, its features and capabilities?Wikipedia, Motherboard, Design
Why can the CPU on some motherboards not be swapped at all?Wikipedia, Motherboard, Design
Expansion cards 8
A microATX board has graphics, audio and Ethernet built in. What does that do for its expansion slots?Wikipedia, MicroATX, Expandability
A streamer wants to record the picture coming from a game console onto a PC. Which card takes in that signal?Wikipedia, Video capture, lead section
How many expansion slots does a typical riser card for a 1U server hold?Wikipedia, Riser card, Servers
What is a riser card for?Wikipedia, Riser card, lead section
What is an expansion card?Wikipedia, Expansion card, lead section
Which expansion card connects a computer to a network?Wikipedia, Network interface controller, lead section
Which expansion card generates the images sent to a display?Wikipedia, Graphics card, lead section
Which expansion card provides audio signal input and output?Wikipedia, Sound card, lead section
Motherboard symptoms 4
A motherboard has capacitors with bulging tops and a brown crust. What has happened to them?Wikipedia, Capacitor plague, lead section
How do the electrical values of a failed electrolytic capacitor whose vent is open change?Wikipedia, Capacitor plague, Electrical symptoms
What can insufficient cooling do to a motherboard and its parts?Wikipedia, Motherboard, Temperature and reliability
What caused the swollen capacitors of the capacitor plague?Wikipedia, Capacitor plague, lead section
How this list was compiled: Own questions, written to the motherboard items of objective 3.5 (form factors, connector types, compatibility, expansion cards) and the capacitor swelling symptom of objective 5.1 in CompTIA's A+ Core 1 (220-1201, V15) exam objectives, document version 4.0, linked from https://www.comptia.org/en-us/certifications/a/core-1-v15/ (read 2026-10-12). Facts were read on 2026-10-12 in Wikipedia's articles on ATX, microATX, Mini-ITX, PCI Express, SATA, M.2, CPU sockets (Socket AM4, Socket AM5, LGA 1700, LGA 1851), the motherboard, expansion, sound, graphics, network and riser cards, video capture, symmetric multiprocessing and the capacitor plague. Each question names the article and section it was written from and links to it. Licence: Own work. Every question, wrong choice and explanation was written for this site from the public texts named in each question. Nothing is copied or reworded from a CompTIA exam, a released or sample question, or another practice product.
How it works
An unofficial CompTIA A+ motherboard practice test: 58 questions of our own on boards, their connectors and the cards that plug into them. CompTIA has no connection with this page and has not reviewed it.
Read the full guide
What objective 3.5 asks about motherboards
CompTIA's Core 1 objectives (220-1201, V15, read October 12, 2026) list three form factors: ATX, microATX and ITX. The connector types are PCI, PCIe, power connectors, SATA, eSATA, headers and M.2. Compatibility means AMD and Intel CPU sockets and multisocket boards, and the expansion cards are sound, video, capture and network interface cards.
Text questions only, no board diagram
The questions are text only: there is no labeled ATX board diagram here, and none of the exam's performance-based tasks. Firmware settings, processors and power supplies each have a practice test of their own. Four questions cover board symptoms from objective 5.1, chiefly capacitor swelling.
A full-size ATX board is 12 × 9.6 in, microATX at most 9.6 × 9.6 in, and Mini-ITX 170 × 170 mm.
A PCIe card fits a slot of its own size or larger, so an x1 card works in an x16 slot.
M.2 sizes give the width first, then the length: a 2280 module is 22 mm by 80 mm.
Questions and answers
What motherboard form factors are on the CompTIA A+ exam?
ATX, microATX and ITX, by objective 3.5 of Core 1 (220-1201). Standard ATX provides seven expansion slots, microATX permits at most four, and a Mini-ITX board has one.
Is this A+ certification motherboard practice test for the current exam?
Yes. It follows 220-1201, the Core 1 exam of version V15, which CompTIA launched on March 25, 2025. CompTIA requires Core 1 and Core 2 to be taken from the same version.
Which CPU sockets does the A+ exam cover?
The objectives say only AMD and Intel socket types, with no model numbers. This bank uses current examples: AMD's AM5 is a land grid array with 1718 contacts, and Intel's LGA 1700 takes Alder Lake and Raptor Lake processors.
What is the difference between PCI and PCIe?
Conventional PCI is a shared parallel bus. PCI Express is serial and point-to-point, with links of 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 lanes, and a graphics card typically uses an x16 link.