The best gaming motherboard is like the foundation for your dream PC build. It’s a bit of a strained metaphor, but the idea is that a good motherboard defines what your machine can and can’t do.
It defines what tech is supported and lets you go from there. A really good gaming motherboard will last you a few CPUs and make for trouble-free gaming.
Moreover, choosing the best motherboard for gaming, or the best board for another type of computing task, is an essential step in your system build, even though things like CPUs and graphics cards usually get more attention. Essentially, every part of your PC plugs into your motherboard.
Its form factor (ATX, E-ATX, Mini ITX, etc.) will dictate the size of the PC case you’ll need to use. And a board’s socket and chipset will determine which processors you can install.
There are several questions you should be asking yourself first before you start motherboard shopping. How big is your PC case? Do you want to be able to overclock your CPU? Do you need high-performance RAM support? Do you need a block of USB ports? If your wish list increases, expect to spend extra.
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This isn’t always a bad thing, especially if you don’t plan on getting a new motherboard for several years.
If you’re unsure which motherboard chipset you’re after when choosing the best gaming motherboard,
or you have other questions that aren’t addressed here, you can visit our motherboard basics page and our motherboard buying guide features to help narrow down your options.
Though, this brings us to one crucial thing to consider about motherboards; future-proofing. If you’re in it for the long haul, you need to be sure that the board’s socket or chipset can support high-end processors like Intel’s Z690 chipset.
Its Alder Lake chips or AMD’s X570 chipset and its enduring AM4 socket. This makes upgrading whenever those CPUs drop in price easy. Note: we are about to get a new AM5 socket from AMD, meaning the current Zen 3 CPUs are end of the line for the AM4 socket.
The picks below start with recent Intel motherboards (with AMD motherboards further down), including the best gaming motherboards designed for Intel’s latest 12th Gen “Alder Lake” and upcoming Raptor Lake CPUs, as well as 11th Gen “Rocket Lake” and older “Comet Lake” processors.
The Best way to choose the options
You’ll find our recommendations for the best motherboards for Z690, B660, H610 and Z590 here, as well as Intel’s aging high-end desktop (HEDT) LGA-2066 socket and X299 chipset, supporting the X-Series and Extreme line of processors.
Other than knowing which processor you’re going to be fitting, size matters when picking up a motherboard. If you’re building out a standard ATX scale gaming PC, then pretty much any motherboard is open to your whims, but if you want to go for a smaller chassis, either Micro ATX or Mini ITX, then you’ll need a corresponding mobo.
The best gaming motherboards for AMD CPUs (including Ryzen 5000 and Threadripper) follow our Intel picks below. For more on that front, you can also head to our dedicated pages for the best X570 motherboards and best B550 motherboards for more specific tested recommendations and picks.
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Conclusions
That doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing performance or key features anymore. A single PCIe slot is more than enough for today’s SLI/CrossFire-less GPU world, and even some Mini ITX boards will come with multiple M.2 SSD slots.
If you’re considering an AMD-based build here in mid-2022, you may want to wait a bit for the company’s upcoming Ryzen 7000 processors, which will use the new AM5 socket and trio of chipsets, A670E Extreme, X670 and B650.
Therefore, boards and chips aren’t quite available yet, but with product specs and board details getting announced with increasing regularity, it shouldn’t be long before AMD’s all-new platform is available.
The scale will impact pricing, however. Interestingly Micro ATX boards are often the most affordable, while Mini ITX options can be the most expensive. We’ve picked our top two favorite gaming motherboards for each of the main Intel and AMD chipsets to give you the best options around.
