HomeFeaturesThe best gaming motherboards of 2022(Image credit: Future)
The best gaming motherboard is like a skeleton for your gaming PC build. Useless on its own but vital for connecting the pile of expensive PC components together. The motherboard has one of the most critical roles for any new PC build; it determines what parts you can and should buy. Knowing what components are compatible with your motherboard ahead of time will save you a lot of trouble later.
There are several questions you should ask 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 whole wall of Jual Motherboard Harga Motherboard medan USB ports? If your wish list increases, expect to spend extra. This isn’t always a bad thing especially if you don’t plan on getting a new mobo for several years.
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 absolutely sure that the board’s socket or chipset can support high-end processors like Intel’s Z690 chipset and its Alder Lake chips or AMD’s X570 chipset and its enduring AM4 socket. This makes upgrading whenever those CPUs drop in price a pretty easy feat.
We’ve tested a bunch of AMD and Intel motherboards over the past year, from Mini-ITX to E-ATX, so you can decide which will make the best base to build on.Best gaming motherboardBest Intel Z690 motherboard
(Image credit: Gigabyte)
The best Z690 board for DDR5 at a price that won’t kill your bank balanceSpecifications
Memory support: 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR5-6400 (OC)
Expansion slots: 1x PCIe 5.0 x16, 2x PCIe 4.0 x16 (running at x4)
Video ports: 1x DisplayPort 1.4
USB: Up to 2x USB tiga.dua Gen2x2, 4x USB tiga.2 Gen dua, 6x USB tiga.1 Gen Distributor Motherboard medan 1, 8x USB dua.0
Network: Intel Wi-Fi 6; Intel i225V dua.5G LANReasons to buy
Grey metal might not blend into your build-
It was almost inevitable that the top-end chipset for Intel’s next-gen Alder Lake CPUs would end up being super-expensive. That is compounded by the premium attached to anything which mentions DDR5. Even so, the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro almost bucks that ekspresi dominan by offering a rounded feature set along with DDR5 support for around $330. Sure, in the last CPU generation $300+ was seen as high-end, but for the 12th Gen platform that’s positively mid-range.
There are cheaper DDR4 boards around—Gigabyte also makes an Aorus Pro in DDR4 flavor, too, though that’s not sold in the US or EU—but if you want to get the absolute most out of the new Intel platform you want DDR5.
Gigabyte has been smart about the way it’s specced out the Aorus Pro. By limiting it to ‘just’ Wi-Fi 6 wireless (as opposed to Wi-Fi 6E) and 2.5G Intel wired networking connections, and eschewing such unnecessary luxuries as Thunderbolt 4 or another M.2 slot, it has managed to keep the price at least relatively sensible.
And it’s a great performer, too, delivering system and gaming performance easily on par with the far more expensive boards we’ve also tested. The BIOS is maturing regularly as well, which makes us completely confident in recommending the Gigabyte board as our pick of the Z690 bunch.
About the only downside with this option is the high contrast design, with lots of grey heatsinks. Though a lot of the grey chipset and M.dua cooling will be hidden beneath a GPU, it might not be the easiest board to blend in with your build. There’s also minimal RGB lighting with just a tiny Aorus logo atop the rear I/O heatsink. That’s rare for a gaming motherboard in 2022. There are four RGB headers, though, with two of them being addressable, so you can still add plenty of flashy illumination if you really want.
Gigabyte’s Z690 Aorus Pro sits in a genuine Alder Lake sweet spot, where it offers good value for money and a nice, rounded feature set. Features such as Thunderbolt 4, a fifth M.dua slot, or 10G LAN would add considerable extra cost which is hard to justify. With plain Wi-Fi 6, 4x M.2 slots, a strong VRM, and loads of USB ports, most gamers will be happy. And at $330 you’ll have a few dollars that you can put towards the scarcer things, like DDR5 memory or a faster GPU.
Read the full Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro review.
(Image credit: ASRock)
Mature, yet merk spanking newSpecifications
Memory support: 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR5-6400 (OC)
Expansion slots: 2x PCIe 5.0 x16, 1x PCIe 4.0 x16, 1x PICe 3.0 x1
Video ports: 1x Supplier Motherboard medan HDMI dua.0, 2x Thunderbolt Type-C
USB: 2x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C; Up to 1x USB tiga.2 Gen2x2, 2x USB 3.dua Gen 2, 9x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 3x USB 2.0
Network: Killer Wi-Fi 6E; Killer E3100G dua.5G and Intel I219V 1G LANReasons to buy
Good networkingReasons to avoid
Like all high-end Z690 boards, it’s expensive
When ASRock first launched its Taichi brand, we were impressed with its less-is-more design approach. It offered a good feature set and value for money without the excessive RGB overload that was common to gaming boards a few years ago. The merk has now evolved into a genuinely high-end one. The yet-to-be-seen Aqua is the company’s top contoh, but with its expected limited-edition nature and likely stratospheric price, the Taichi will essentially be ASRock’s premium Z690 motherboard for us mortals. And that’s not a bad place to be.
The look of the board is definitely unique, and though looks are in the eye of the beholder, for me the cyberpunk theme, with its copper accents and cogs, looks great. You get a good splash of RGB and those cogs above the I/O actually move. It looks expensive. Toko Motherboard medan Plus, if you’re a fan of Razer products, then there’s a Razer-themed Z690 Taichi for easy integration into the Chroma ecosystem, too.
Notably, the Taichi did well at gaming tests, often leading the pack. Though 1 fps here or there isn’t significant, but hey, it’s better to lead than trail. The board was happy to run DDR5-6400 memory, something not all Z690s could do. This indicates a strong level of maturity, though as is often the case with a merk-new platform and standard, there is surely some refinement to come.
The ASRock Z690 Taichi looks every inch a premium product. Its unique aesthetic will appeal to many. Its key features including Dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, a solid audio solution, and strong early memory support weigh in its favor. At $590 it’s an expensive motherboard, though not unheard of for this platform—the Asus Maximus Hero and Aorus Master come in at about the same price.
The Taichi’s great looks, solid performance, and strong feature set make it a serious competitor in its top-end price range. To be honest, we would have liked more M.dua slots, although three should be enough for most, other than that, there’s a lot to like here. Apart from the price of course.
Read the full ASRock Z690 Taichi review.Best Intel B660 motherboard
(Image credit: MSI)
Tip top features in a tiny packageSpecifications
Memory support: 4x DIMM, up to 128GB, DDR4-4800
Expansion slots: 1x PCIe Gen4 x16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x1, 1x PCIe 4.0 x4
Video ports: 1x HDMI dua.1; 1x DP 1.4
USB: 2x USB tiga.dua Gen2 Type-C; 3x USB 3.2 Gen2; 2x USB 3.2 Gen1
Network: Intel Wi-Fi 6; Realtek 2.5G LANReasons to buy
Good power design for mainstream+
Can power stock i9 12900KReasons to avoid
B660 frame rate sacrifice in games
As a slightly more affordable Alder Lake option than some of the Z690 boards out there, this MSI MAG B660M Mortar WIFI DDR4 sacrifices some of the luxuries, yet still touts an impressive feature set. Not only are we looking at great power design, but this little micro-ATX board manages to fit eight USB ports on the back panel (including one USB 3.dua Gen2 Type-C), and a bunch of internal headers on the board itself.
There’s no overclocking capability or DDR5 support here, but seeing as it’s one of the more affordable routes into the Alder Lake platform it makes sense to go down the DDR4 path. There is a DDR5 version available in the UK, but we’ve not been able to find it in the US.
One obvious thing missing from the feature list is the support for PCIe lima.0 graphics cards, although seeing as no such cards currently exist, that’s not the miss that you might think. Everything else is present and correct though, including a reinforced x16 PCIe 4.0 slot for the GPU, another full-length slot running at x4, and then a final, short x1 PCIe 3.0 slot. The fact you get a pair of PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots for your drives will be plenty for most users too.
Instructor:Paul ZandbergenShow bio