How to pick the perfect gaming motherboard

If the CPU is the brain of the PC, then the motherboard is like the nervous system, connecting all the other components together, such as the graphics card, memory and drives, enabling them to communicate with one another. While you could use any motherboard in a gaming PC, gaming motherboards tend to have lots of desirable features such as RGB lighting and superior sound quality that make them well worth considering. There are three main physical attributes you need to check when choosing a motherboard - socket, chipset and size.

AMD Motherboards

The ultimate motherboards for gaming PCs

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Socket

The socket is where the CPU physically connects to the motherboard. As CPUs are available in a large choice of shapes and sizes, it is important to make sure that the socket of the CPU and motherboard is the same.

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Chipset

The chipset determines a lot of the capabilities of the motherboard, such as the number of PCIe slots and USB ports.

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Size

The chipset determines a lot of the capabilities of the motherboard, such as the number of PCIe slots and USB ports.

Just like with any component you need to make sure that you choose a motherboard that is compatible with your chosen CPU

Not sure what to buy?

Read our buyers guides for additional help.

AMD Motherboards


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Motherboards - AMD

Need help? Read our AMD Motherboards Buying Guide

AMD X570 Socket AM4 ATX Motherboards

These motherboards are based on the AMD X570 chipset and are designed for the AMD Ryzen range of CPUs. The X570 is the flagship Ryzen chipset, and so features the highest number of SATA ports, USB ports and PCI-E lanes plus support for StoreMI, a caching technology which fuses together two storage devices into a single volume, intelligently moving data to the faster drive. Choose an X570 motherboard over a X470 motherboard for PCI-E 4.0 support.

Please Note: The graphics outputs that feature on some of the motherboards below are designed for use with AMD processors which feature a GPU integrated within the CPU chip itself. These graphics outputs, such as HDMI, DVI, VGA & DisplayPort will not function unless a compatible CPU with integrated graphics is installed.

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AMD X570 Socket AM4 MicroATX Motherboards

These motherboards are based on the AMD X570 chipset and are designed for the AMD Ryzen range of CPUs. The X570 is the flagship Ryzen chipset, and so features the highest number of SATA ports, USB ports and PCI-E lanes plus support for StoreMI, a caching technology which fuses together two storage devices into a single volume, intelligently moving data to the faster drive. Choose an X570 motherboard over a X470 motherboard for PCI-E 4.0 support. These particular boards are small form factor micro-ATX designs with limited expandability.

Please Note: The graphics outputs that feature on some of the motherboards below are designed for use with AMD processors which feature a GPU integrated within the CPU chip itself. These graphics outputs, such as HDMI, DVI, VGA & DisplayPort will not function unless a compatible CPU with integrated graphics is installed.

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AMD X570 Socket AM4 Mini-ITX Motherboards

These motherboards are based on the AMD X570 chipset and are designed for the AMD Ryzen range of CPUs. The X570 is the flagship Ryzen chipset, and so features the highest number of SATA ports, USB ports and PCI-E lanes plus support for StoreMI, a caching technology which fuses together two storage devices into a single volume, intelligently moving data to the faster drive. Choose an X570 motherboard over a X470 motherboard for PCI-E 4.0 support. These particular boards are small form factor mini-ITX designs which only support a single expansion card.

Please Note: The graphics outputs that feature on some of the motherboards below are designed for use with AMD processors which feature a GPU integrated within the CPU chip itself. These graphics outputs, such as HDMI, DVI, VGA & DisplayPort will not function unless a compatible CPU with integrated graphics is installed.

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AMD X470 Socket AM4 ATX Motherboards

These motherboards are based on the AMD X470 chipset and are designed for the AMD Ryzen range of CPUs. The X470 is the flagship Ryzen chipset, and so features the highest number of SATA ports, USB ports and PCI-E lanes plus support for StoreMI, a caching technology which fuses together two storage devices into a single volume, intelligently moving data to the faster drive. Choose an X470 motherboard over a B350 motherboard for more I/O and SLI and CrossFire support. These particular boards are full size ATX designs with maximum expandability.

Please Note: The graphics outputs that feature on some of the motherboards below are designed for use with AMD processors such as the Ryzen 5 2400G, Ryzen 3 2200G, or A-Series models which feature a GPU integrated within the CPU chip itself. These graphics outputs, such as HDMI, DVI, VGA & DisplayPort will not function unless a compatible CPU with integrated graphics is installed.

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AMD B550 Socket AM4 ATX Motherboards

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AMD B550 Socket AM4 MicroATX Motherboards

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AMD B550 Socket AM4 Mini-ITX Motherboards

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AMD B450 Socket AM4 ATX Motherboards

These motherboards are based on the AMD B450 chipset and are designed for the AMD Ryzen range of CPUs. The B450 is the mid-range Ryzen chipset, and so features a modest number of SATA ports, USB ports and PCI-E lanes. Unlike the more expensive X470 motherboards, B450 boards do not support SLI or CrossFire. These particular boards are full size ATX designs with maximum expandability.

Please Note: The graphics outputs that feature on some of the motherboards below are designed for use with AMD processors such as the Ryzen 5 2400G, Ryzen 3 2200G, or A-Series models which feature a GPU integrated within the CPU chip itself. These graphics outputs, such as HDMI, DVI, VGA & DisplayPort will not function unless a compatible CPU with integrated graphics is installed.

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AMD B450 Socket AM4 MicroATX Motherboards

These motherboards are based on the AMD B450 chipset and are designed for the AMD Ryzen range of CPUs. The B450 is the mid-range Ryzen chipset, and so features a modest number of SATA ports, USB ports and PCI-E lanes. Unlike the more expensive X470 motherboards, B450 boards do not support SLI or CrossFire. These particular boards are small form factor micro-ATX designs with modest expandability.

Please Note: The graphics outputs that feature on some of the motherboards below are designed for use with AMD processors such as the Ryzen 5 2400G, Ryzen 3 2200G, or A-Series models which feature a GPU integrated within the CPU chip itself. These graphics outputs, such as HDMI, DVI, VGA & DisplayPort will not function unless a compatible CPU with integrated graphics is installed.

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AMD B450 Socket AM4 Mini-ITX Motherboards

These motherboards are based on the AMD B450 chipset and are designed for the AMD Ryzen range of CPUs. The B450 is the mid-range Ryzen chipset, and so features a modest number of SATA ports, USB ports and PCI-E lanes. Unlike the more expensive X470 motherboards, B450 boards do not support SLI or CrossFire. These particular boards are miniature mini-ITX designs for building small form factor PCs.

Please Note: The graphics outputs that feature on some of the motherboards below are designed for use with AMD processors such as the Ryzen 5 2400G, Ryzen 3 2200G, or A-Series models which feature a GPU integrated within the CPU chip itself. These graphics outputs, such as HDMI, DVI, VGA & DisplayPort will not function unless a compatible CPU with integrated graphics is installed.

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