Best Gaming Motherboards Of 2024

Investing in one of the top motherboards is the greatest way to guarantee the longevity of your gaming PC and prevent any issues down the road. The correct board, an often-overlooked part of the construction process, may provide your system reliable performance, make it simple to upgrade chipsets, and have all the ports you require for your CPU, GPU, RAM, NVMe SSDs, and other components.

However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for the finest motherboards because AMD and Intel are two chipset makers with different socket types based on the processor. Then there is the mobo’s actual size. For a mid-tower design, most people will be OK with a regular ATX, but if you want more headroom, you might want to think about an E-ATX instead.

Consequently, you can go the other way and build a smaller gaming PC which wouldn’t be out of place under a TV in your living room or tucked away neatly on your desk. This will mean considering either a micro-ATX or a mini-ITX. These options will offer less silicon to build on at the cost of space; all major components will be covered, though. That’s why you’ll find all shapes and sizes below from trusted manufacturers to help you get started.

1.MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk WiFi

Our first MSI Z790 board, the MAG Z790 Tomahawk WIFI DDR4, is at the low-cost end of the product spectrum. The motherboard costs about less when DDR4 is used instead of DDR5, while the RAM alone may cost up to. If you already have DDR4 RAM, going this way could save you a lot of money that you could use for other components, like a video card.

The Tomahawk WIFI DDR4 is a feature-rich choice that comes with four M.2 connections, a high-end current-generation audio codec, a capable power supply system, and the distinctive all-black design. It costs slightly over . All things considered, it’s a desirable choice in the low-cost Z790 market, even though there are currently less expensive boards with comparable features.

The Z790 product from MSI stack (at the time of this writing) consists of 14 motherboards in all shapes, sizes, and price points. At the top of the food chain are the MEG boards (Godlike, MEG Ace), followed by the MPG-class (Carbon WIFI, Edge WIFI, Edge WIFI DDr4, and Edge WIFI ITX). The less expensive MAG series has the Tomahawk WIFI in DDR4 and DDR5 flavors. Additionally, six “Pro” boards fill out the budget end of the company’s Z790 offerings.

Performance with our DDR4-based motherboard was solid nearly across the board. Where it lacked was mainly in the AIDA bandwidth tests, 7Zip compression, and Procyon Video editing – all were notably slower than our DDR5 systems. It did well in the Procyon Office tests and kept up with our other DDR5 offerings in the remainder of tests, including gaming. DDR4-based motherboards are just about as fast as DDR5 in utmost common tasks.

The 6-layer PCB of MSI’s Tomahawk boards is completely black and has a military-inspired design. Actually, the strengthened PCIe slot and certain M.2 socket numbering are the only contrast on the board. With a brushed aluminum surface and other decorative cuts, the board surrounds the VRMs with big, heavy heatsinks. Although there are headers to install your own RGB lighting, the Tomahawk does not have any onboard. All things considered, the board blends in nicely with the majority of build themes, and if necessary, you can add your own RGB glow.

We can see the VRM heatsinks and their design components better when we start with the top side of the board. They do not share a heatpipe, but the components beneath the hood are good enough not to need a larger (and more costly) design. Sticking up between the two VRM heatsinks are two 8-pin EPS power connectors to feed the CPU (one required).

2.Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro

So far, we have examined a few high-end boards for Intel’s recently released Alder Lake architecture. Now, however, we can examine in detail Gigabyte’s Z690 Aorus Pro, the first mid-range Z690 board. it’s among the more affordable Z690 boards available, but it still offers a ton of features that fans will appreciate. A premium Realtek audio codec, overbuilt VRMs, four M.2 sockets, a staggering 13 USB ports, 2.5 GbE, and integrated Wi-Fi 6 for quick networking, as well as an updated look. The grey-on-black heatsinks in the new design may divide opinions, but ultimately, we really appreciate what the Aorus Pro offers as a whole.

Given that this is our first Gigabyte Z690 review, we’ll briefly cover the product stack. The Gigabyte website has a mind-blowing 25 models listed, across the Aorus, Aero, Gaming X, and UD families. The Aorus line has 15 boards, from the halo product Aorus Extreme Waterforce (and non-watercooled Extreme), Tachyon (overclocking centric), Master, Ultra, Elite, and Pro boards. There’s even a Mini ITX board, the Z690I Ultra.

Three boards (Aero D, Aero G, and Aero D DDR4) with hardware targeted at content makers and a distinct white design aesthetic make up the Aero range. Two boards (one DDR5 and the other DDR4) make up the Gaming X series. Finally, with five SKUs, including DDR4 possibilities, the UD series completes the affordable end of things.

Due to the positioning of the PCIe slot, the Z690 Aorus Pro’s design changed, resulting in reduced coverage on the heatsinks and shrouds. In stark contrast to the black PCB and other heatsinks, the top VRM heatsink and the M.2 chipset are both grey. For my part, I preferred the older design that uses grey less and covers more of the board (such as the Z690 Aorus).Master). That said, this is still a good-looking board and makes a great focal point for your Z690 build, though the lack of RGB lighting elements may be a turnoff for some.

Looks aside, the Z690 Aorus Pro performed well, mixing in with the other two Z690 DDR5 boards we’ve tested so far. The board led a few benchmarks, including Handbrake (x264), Cinebench R23, POV-Ray, and did a clean sweep in the Procyon Office tests and Photo Editing. RAM bandwidth and latency were spot on with the other results and so were our gaming tests.

3.ASRock Z690 Taichi

After reviewing our initial Z690 models from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI, we are now testing ASRock’s motherboard as part of our ongoing testing of new motherboards for Intel’s most recent Alder Lake architecture. The flagship product in ASRock’s Z690 product stack at the moment is the Taichi, which translates to “the philosophy of infinite potential.” With an upgraded power delivery system and most of the same high-end technology as the Z590 model, the ASRock Z690 Taichi maintains its recognizable cog/gear design. The Z690 Taichi is still among the more attractive and well-equipped motherboards in the sub- price range of the Alder Lake motherboard market, despite the fact that not much has changed.

We’ll briefly go over the product stack because this is our first review of the ASRock Z690 before going into great detail regarding the new Taichi. On ASRock’s website, there’s a total of 13 boards that come in all form factors and price tiers–or at least all typical Z690 price tiers. After the Taichi at the top (perhaps we’ll see a Z690 Aqua, but that’s a halo product) is the PG Velocita and the more budget-focused PG Riptide. There are two boards in the Extreme and Steel Legend lines and four Phantom Gaming SKUs (including a MiniITX) board. There’s also the Pro RS and another Mini-ITX size board in the Z690M-ITX/ax. In short, ASRock has plenty of new Z690 boards to choose from.

Returning to the Taichi, not much has changed from the Z590 Taichi except for the look, socket, and power delivery. Three M.2 sockets, a powerful VRM, premium audio, two Thunderbolt Type-C (40 Gbps) ports, Killer-based networking (2.5 GbE and Wi-Fi 6E), and more are still included. The main disadvantage of the board, aside from its cost, is that it has less USB ports on the back IO, especially Type-A connectors (six total). I would want to see at least eight ports on the back IO itself, but ASRock does supply an add-in card to add two extra ports for dongles. It’s also surprising that the Taichi only has three M.2 connections, when comparable boards of the same price range offer four or more. The Z690 Tiachi does have a number of noteworthy characteristics overall, but it is an incremental update for the new Intel processors, rather than a substantial overhaul.

The Z690 Taichi performed admirably in the majority of tests, ranking in the middle of the other boards we have examined thus far. The same is true for gaming and power usage, which produce mediocre outcomes. With a few easy adjustments, we were able to overclock the CPU on this board to operate at our 5.1/4.1 GHz frequencies. We set XMP on the memory side and tested without any problems. For additional information on features, overclocking, and our assessment based on testing and usage, continue reading. First, the ASRock website provides a comprehensive summary of the Z690’s specifications.

When we first glance at the board, the recognizable Taichi styling is more clearly visible. The gear/cog appearance has been employed by ASRock for many generations.

Motherboard Memory Basics: What Should I Look for in RAM Support?

Unless you are purchasing a motherboard for use with a 12th Generation Intel CPU, there is now little to worry about in terms of RAM support on whatever motherboard you purchase.

A few LGA 1700 Intel motherboards still use DDR4 RAM, although the majority of modern motherboards use DDR5 RAM. DDR4 RAM is only used on older platforms, such as AMD’s AM4, however since DDR5 offers higher performance, you should probably avoid utilizing it on more recent systems. (See our preliminary DDR5 vs. DDR4 tests.) It should function as long as you choose the appropriate RAM type for your motherboard and take note of the supported speeds.

Additionally, you should be aware of the number of RAM slots on your motherboard as well as the maximum amount of RAM that each slot can hold. You will need to purchase RAM modules for the desired capacity at a greater per-module capacity than you might with four sticks if you only have two RAM slots. RAM that runs faster than the board’s maximum RAM speed can also be something to think about if you want to play around with memory speeds. (In any case, it should function as long as it’s the correct kind.) Check read our post on choosing the best RAM kit for you if you want to learn more about purchasing RAM, particularly faster RAM kits. There is a lot of subtlety in the decision if you want to get down and dirty; for basic use, getting modules that match the peak supported speed of the board is a safe bet. For easy memory-speed tweaking on a late-model AMD AM5 board, meanwhile, look for a memory kit rated for one of the board’s supported memory speeds as an AMD EXPO profile; likewise, look for an XMP profile speed in common between an recent Intel board and its RAM kit.