How to choose a motherboard will be much different than choosing a motherboard in 2017. There are many more features to look at and the motherboard manufacturers are making them even more complex. For the best experience, you want to choose a motherboard that supports the hardware you need. You will need to check your system specs to see what kind of memory you can use and what speed. You will also need to consider your motherboard’s Wi-Fi compatibility. You will also want to consider how much storage you will need. This is important because it will affect your budget.
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme
Gigabyte’s top X570 motherboard features a shielded PCB and beefy heatsinks. The motherboard is designed to optimize the performance of third-generation AMD Ryzen processors. It also features sophisticated energy management and Wi-Fi 6 networking.
Gigabyte’s top X570 is the company’s flagship motherboard. It has an 8-layer PCB and a 105W TDP. It supports up to 128 GB of DDR4 RAM. It also features on-board RGB lighting. The motherboard includes a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port.
Gigabyte’s top-of-the-line motherboard comes in an E-ATX form factor. It is also one of the few motherboards to offer passively cooled chipset heatsinks. The chipset’s heatsink is connected by a heat pipe to an extensive array of fins. The motherboard also has an extra PCI-E power header.
Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi)
Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi is one of the best boards in the budget X570 category. It is packed with features, like onboard RGB, Wi-Fi, and NVMe, and supports the AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation processor. However, if you are looking for a budget motherboard with a built-in Gigabit LAN, this isn’t it.
The TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi’s primary GPU slot is protected by Asus Safeslot. This PCIe slot is built to provide extra durability and a fortifying metal layer. It is also anchored to the PCB through additional solder points. It is designed to prevent PCB failure from an electrostatic discharge (ESD) and the board can survive up to 10kV of air discharge.
The PCIe slots are all black, and the DIMM slots alternate between black and grey. Two x1 slots run at x1 speeds, while a secondary full-length slot runs at PCIe 4.0 x4 speeds.
ASRock Z690 Taichi
Featuring the Z690 chipset, the ASRock Z690 Taichi is a feature rich motherboard. It’s also a great choice for extreme overclocking. However, it’s questionable board layout decisions make it a bit overpriced for other purposes. Despite its high price, this motherboard delivers top-notch DDR5 memory support and has a powerful VRM for overclocking. It also features a powerful built-in Wi-Fi module, which is ideal for performance-hungry gamers.
The ASRock Z690 Taichi is based on the Z690 chipset, which supports the 12-Gen Intel Xeon processors. It also features dual PCIe Gen 5.0 slots, which support x8/x8 or x16/0 modules.
The Z690 Taichi motherboard is also fitted with two Thunderbolt 4 ports. It’s also equipped with a Killer E3100 2.5G Ethernet controller for performance-hungry gamers.
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero is a high-end gaming motherboard that supports AMD’s new 5000 series CPUs. It has an RGB-enabled design and is packed with advanced connectivity options and flexible customization tools.
The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero features a premium 90A 8-phase parallel (8×2) design. The board’s power design has been tweaked to enhance power delivery and improve thermal performance.
This board is packed with plenty of useful rear I/O ports. It features dual Ethernet, which can boost bandwidth and provide high-resolution video streaming. It also features two M.2 slots, one of which supports PCIe 4.0.
The Crosshair VIII Dark Hero’s heatsinks have a black finish with the ROG symbol illuminated by RGB lighting. It also has a plastic cover on the rear I/O, which can be removed for cleaning.
Asus ROG Strix B550-E
Asus ROG Strix B550-E Gaming motherboard offers high performance and an excellent feature set. It pairs third generation AMD Ryzen processors with a high PCIe 4.0 memory bandwidth. The motherboard features an extra 4-pin ATX 12V connector to provide stable power delivery.
The motherboard is based on AMD B550 chipset, which offers support for up to 128GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM. The chipset also features a wide PCIe 4.0 data bandwidth, which can handle demanding tasks at high settings.
The motherboard features an extra 4-pin ATX12V connector, which provides more wattage for the top-end CPUs. There are also two M.2 slots for faster storage devices, which can be disabled. The motherboard is also supported by an all-Intel networking solution.
