Best AMD motherboard for gaming 2023

The best AMD motherboard for gaming will serve as the brain for your PC, allowing it to perform to its full potential.

For the purposes of our list, all the AMD motherboards we've picked out for your best gaming PC use the AM4 socket, which works on pretty much all AMD CPUs, including the Ryzen 5000 series.

Once you've worked out that you'd like an AMD-compatible motherboard, next up is the chipset. While X570, B450, and B550 motherboards all house AMD Ryzen CPUs and are compatible with them, there is a key difference between them all.

Generally, X570 motherboards are the best to opt for given they offer a slight advantage in performance, with their general-purpose lanes being the more modern and speedier PCIe 4.0 standard, compared to B450's PCie 3.0.

When it comes to B550 and B450 boards, there is more of a difference. B450M boards only support PCIe 3.0 all around, whilst B550M brings the extra speed of PCIe 4.0 (apart from general-purpose lanes). With pricing though, B450 boards are more affordable than their B550 counterparts, given they support older standards and are a little slower.

You can also get A320 motherboards for Ryzen processors, but they tend to only support older CPUs (i.e. not Ryzen 5000 series), so for futureproofing and also keeping things easy, we'd say to steer clear of these and stick with B450, B550 and X570.

It's worth noting though that if you do go for a smaller motherboard, then you're likely to get fewer ports and I/O to use. Once you've decided, opting for one of the best full tower PC cases will ensure your motherboard will fit in nicely.

We appreciate that's a lot to take in, so it's probably best if we just get into it at this point. Here are the best AMD motherboards for gaming based on their performance, features, price, and, of course, reviews.

Best AMD motherboards for gaming

1. MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS

1. ASUS ROG Strix X570-F
2. ASUS Prime B450M-A II
3. GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Master
4. NZXT N7 B550
5. AsRock B550 Taichi

Credit: MSI

1. MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS

Best AMD motherboard for gaming X570 MSI

The MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS looks like a great choice if you're looking for a mean-looking full-size ATX motherboard with loads of compatibility.

There looks to be plenty of rear I/O for you to plug your devices into as this board features everything from USB-C to high-speed USB-A, as well as HDMI out and even PS/2 for older keyboards and mice.

As for internal ports, this particular board features 3x PCIe 16x slots, as well as 3x PCIe 1.0, giving you loads of room to install any additional cards, including GPUs, of course. As for storage expansion, there are 4x SATA 6GB/s ports, as well as 2x M.2 slots for you to install PCIe 4.0-compatible SSDs, which would make for some speedy storage.

This motherboard also comes with a BIOS-flash button, which is incredibly useful when building a new PC, because sometimes a motherboard requires new firmware to be able to run the hardware.

You'll also find the MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS looks great with sharp black and red colouring, which would look great in a full-size case, especially if you bundle it with some RGB lighting and some RGB-enabled components.

• Read More: Best DDR5 RAM

Credit: ASUS

2. ASUS ROG Strix X570-F

Best AMD motherboard for gaming X570 ASUS

ASUS also makes some brilliant X570 motherboards including this ASUS ROG Strix X570-F, which is sure to be a great choice to pair with your Ryzen 5000 series CPU.

For storage, you'll find 8 SATA 6Gb/s ports for some solid stage or standard hard disk storage, as well as a PCIe 4.0 compatible M.2 slot for some speedy storage, and a PCIe 3.0 M.2 slot, too. In addition, with plenty of PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0 enabled slots, you'll find lots of expansion potential.

The ASUS ROG Strix X570-F also supports overclocking with RAM speeds of up to 4400MHz, as well as with XMP enabled, and unlike some other X570 motherboards, will support two graphics cards running in SLI if you want some really beefy performance.

As for rear I/O ports, you'll find seven total USB-As, with a mix of USB 3.2 Gen 1s and Gen 2s, as well as a single USB-C. There's also Gigabit LAN support as well as optical audio out, and an HDMI 2.0 port.

• Read More: Do motherboards come with screws?

Credit: ASUS

3. ASUS Prime B450M-A II

Best AMD motherboard for gaming B450M ASUS

If you're after a more affordable AMD-compatible motherboard that comes in a slightly smaller form factor, then the ASUS Prime B450M-A II may be a brilliant choice.

Its mATX form factor means it's roughly 25% smaller than a standard ATX offering and if you've got a smaller case, but want the power of the latest Ryzen processors, then this will allow you to experience just that.

Even if the ASUS PRIME B450M-A II is smaller, it still features a lot of ports. When it comes to rear I/O, you'll find six total USB ports, as well as gigabit ethernet, HDMI out for displays, three audio jacks, and PS/2.

Internally, you're getting support for up to 128GB of RAM over four slots, and there is support for overclocking up to 4400MHz, if you're interested. A PCIe 3.0 x16 slot means you can install a dedicated GPU, too, and six SATA 6Gb/s and a single M.2 slot give you some decent options for storage, too.

• Read More: Is a gaming motherboard worth it?

Credit: GIGABYTE

4. GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Master

Best AMD motherboard for gaming X570 GIGABYTE

Returning to the world of X570 motherboards, the GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Master looks like a marvellous choice if you're looking for loads of ports and some stylish looks.

Its external connectivity is something to behold with a total of ten USB ports including a USB-C as well as four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0, and three high-speed USB 3.1s. In addition, you'll find support for both Gigabit and 2.5G Ethernet, as well as 802.11ax Wi-Fi for some handy futureproofing.

Internally, the GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Master features upwards of three M.2 slots so you can have plenty of storage, as well as six SATA 6GB/s, too. You'll also have a total of 3 PCIe x16 slots, with support for PCIe 4.0 so you can take advantage of quicker speeds and more bandwidth.

In addition, there's also some convenient support for overclocking and more expansion with RAM speeds of up to 4400MHz and support for both SLI and Crossfire respectively, so you could run multiple GPUs for even more power.

• Read More: Best gaming PCs under 500

Credit: NZXT

5. NZXT N7 B550

Best AMD motherboard for gaming B550 NZXT

The NZXT N7 B550 is one of the sleeker-looking AMD motherboards out there, but we think it also packs quite the punch.

As a B550 board, you're getting all the benefits of PCIe 4.0 with two PCIe x16 slots for graphics cards and other larger components, as well as a single PCIe 3.0 x1 for any smaller expansion cards.

There's also some decent storage expansion available with the NZXT N7 B550 as it features six SATA 6GB/s as well as two M.2 slots for speedy SSD storage. As for other rear I/O, look out for the plethora of USBs on offer as well as HDMI 2.1 connectivity, and gigabit ethernet.

This particular motherboard also looks great with either a choice of black or white colouring available to act as the foundation for a clean-looking PC.

• Read More: Best gaming monitors under 200

Credit: AsRock

6. AsRock B550 Taichi

Best AMD motherboard for gaming B550 AsRock

The AsRock B550 Taichi looks to be an excellent B550 motherboard for your AMD processor, especially if you're after something with good looks.

Its black and gold aesthetic looks great, and there's also some RGB lighting thrown in for good measure. This also looks to feature quite a sturdy metal structure that makes it rather robust, too.

As for features, you'll be getting support for up to 128GB DDR4-5000 RAM, which makes this one of the speediest RAM-supporting motherboards out there. Speaking of speed, the AsRock B550 Taichi also has support for Wi-Fi 6 networking and 2.5-gig Ethernet.

There also looks to be a good amount of room for expansion ports with 2x PCIe 4.0 x16, as well as 1x PCIe 3.0 x4, and eight SATA 6Gbps ports for storage, alongside a pair of M.2 slots.

M.2 actually refers to the form factor (size, shape, and physical specifications) of the storage. M.2 storage can be in either SATA or NVME.

• Read More: Best gaming laptops under 300

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Motherboards can be quite complicated things, so we're here to break things down and answer some of your most asked questions on the matter.

Why is a motherboard so important?

Motherboards are probably one of the most important components in your PC, as essentially everything connects to them.

On a motherboard, you can connect everything from RAM, graphics cards, sound cards, SSDs, and much more.

Some motherboards come with Wi-Fi, but it's not always needed, especially if you're gaming using a wired connection. You'll also find a number of ports, some of which are the very latest, like USB 3.1 Gen 2.

Do motherboards matter for gaming?

Leading on from the previous question, motherboards may not directly have an effect on the overall performance of your system, but act as the foundation on which you can place components that do matter.

For instance, if you go for an AMD motherboard with an X570 chipset, you'll have access to PCIe Gen 4.0, which will allow you to connect faster components such as M.2 SSDs that can boot up games faster and transfer files quicker than those on older standards.

How much should I spend on a motherboard?

This depends majorly on what you're looking to do with your system. If you're just looking for a motherboard that's going to give you as many ports, both internal and external, as you need, then spending around $100 for more of a basic option will serve you well.

You'll want to spend more, up to around $200-$250, for a motherboard that's capable of handling labour-intensive tasks such as high-end gaming and editing, which may require you to have more expansion ports, and a wider range of I/O.

What should I look for in a motherboard?

When picking a motherboard, after you've decided which form factor you'd like it to take, you'll want to keep an eye out for things such as compatibility and supported standards, as well as port selection and connectivity.

For instance, certain motherboards will feature a defined CPU socket that will only work with certain generations of processors. For these AMD ones, the AM4 socket works with up to Ryzen 5000, for instance.

Compatibility is also key, from the perspective that you want your motherboard to support the latest hardware standards so you can take advantage of the latest performance increases from the likes of DDR5 RAM for instance.

The port selection on a motherboard is also going to be vital, so you know how many devices you can connect, be it around the back, or actually on the board itself with regards to how many PCIe slots it has, and how many M.2 slots or SATA ports you've got, for instance.

How big should a motherboard be?

How big it is will have its obvious effects in terms of space in your PC, but also how much you can actually plug into it. Sizes like ATX are the 'standard', but you can go smaller like with Micro-ATX, and Mini ITX.

As you go smaller, you get fewer features essentially.

Is B550 better than B450?

This all depends on whether you need the benefits of PCIe 4.0 compared to the older PCIe 3.0, and whether your budget can include a newer motherboard.

We'd say that B550, in the long run, is better than B450, just given those extra speeds, as well as double the bandwidth too, but it all depends on personal preference, of course.

Can you use any component with any motherboard?

That's a big no! The motherboard's chipset / CPU socket will define what kind of processor you can install.

A quick search before buying can prove useful here, but there are a couple of rules of thumb that are worth knowing.

For instance, the current crop of Intel 12th gen CPUs uses the LGA 1200 socket, whilst AMD CPUs for the moment are using AM4, that is until Ryzen 7000 comes along.

How expensive are motherboards?

They can range in price, but you can actually find decent ones for around $100 - $200. The more expensive motherboards tend to be geared towards overclocking and very labour intense gaming.

What is a PCIe slot?

PCIe stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect Express and is basically an interface standard for connecting high-speed components.

Components like graphics cards, Wi-Fi cards, SSDs, and RAID cards are usually connected through them.

There are different generations of PCIe slots, where the bandwidth doubles with each generation. Currently, we're up to PCIe 5.0 as the emerging standard, although the motherboards available above only support PCIe 4.0, as the current range of AMD processors and motherboards don't support PCIe 5.0 yet.

What is a RAID Controller?

RAID is short for a Redundant Array of Independent Disks and is used to manage hard drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs).

They can be either hardware or software-based. Software tends to have less performance and requires the rest of the system to be powerful enough to handle it. Hardware tends to be more expensive, but more powerful.

They essentially improve performance and add a level of security if your system crashes.