If you’re looking around for a decent motherboard or one of the best motherboards currently in the market, then look no further. You’re in the right place
In this list, you’ll find some of the best motherboards that you can get all the way down to the budgeted ones of 2021.
To game well, you must have an at least decent motherboard, that can support your current high-end CPU or else you’ll have hiccups with your computer components along the way.
The best motherboards should serve you years without needing to do any significant upgrades to your system.
The high-end motherboards will provide you extra slots, additional memory slots and extra features to do extra overclocking, adding in more memory and offer you room to upgrade and put in additional hardware into your gaming rig.
If you’re here to look for the best motherboards from the LGA 1151 and the AM4 boards, they’re listed them down here for you.
Intel LGA 1151 Boards
ASUS ROG Z390 - Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) – LGA 1151
The ROG Z390 is one of the best boards out there in the market for Intel processors. With its aesthetically pleasing visuals, you’ll also be easily to customize and upgrade in the future.
The Z390 supports the 9th and 9th Intel processors, as well includes a variety of features such as dual M2, USB 3.1 Gen 2 and an onboard Wi-Fi.
If you’re looking to install two GPU’s in your rig, you can do that as well due to its CrossFire/SLI ready capabilities
The board is built for you to overclock your system as well quickly. With easy features, you’ll have ease OCing your gaming rig.
You’ll also get excellent overclocking DRAM features thanks to its ASUS Optimum II feature, which lets you correctly do this.
You can hop into the BIOS settings and take full control of your system. A bit harder compared to the MSI Z370 motherboard.
Thanks to its Aura Syng RGB features, you’ll be able to light this board and adjust the spectrum of colors.
If you’re looking to upgrade and want the best motherboard for the Intel 8 and 9 Gen processors, the ASUS ROG Z390 is it. If you do have the budget, by all means, grab one right now.
GIGABYTE X299 EX - Intel LGA 2066
The Gigabyte X299 is one of the best and expensive motherboards in today’s market. The X299 supports the Intel Core X Series.
If you’re looking to upgrade your memory, you’ll have no problem doing that, with its 8 DIMM DDR4 slots.
You’ll also get to customize your board as well thanks to its LED lighting. Alongside with the light, you’ll even get more room and storage interfaces for future upgrades.
For any hardcore video editors out there, the board has Thunderbolt 3 capabilities, which will serve your video editings well.
Not only that, but you’ll also get a lot of SATA ports that you can plug into for multiple drives.
If you’re looking for a highly reliable work station, and are a hardcore gamer, this motherboard will be the perfect fit for you.
The board is well built and very reliable. The only downside would be pricing; however, if you do have the budget for this state of the art motherboard, by all means, make sure to grab one.
MSI Z370 - Intel 8th Gen LGA 1151
The MSI Intel 8th Gen LGA 1151 motherboard is worth your investment. This will support any 8th Generation Intel processors, Pentiums and the Celeron Processors with LGA 1151 socket.
With its aesthetically pleasing board, you’ll be able to overclock to 5GHz as well quickly. Thanks to the motherboard supporting this. However, you’ll need to invest in proper cooling as well.
This will include four optimized DDR4 memory slots and can support up to 64 GB of memory, which is superior if you’re building a gaming rig.
If you’re looking for an easier BIOS to access, you’ll get that with this motherboard. Opposing to the ASUS motherboards, this will be a lot easier to get into the BIOS.
With its military class elements within the motherboard, you’ll have high-quality components and design ready for you to build.
With its built, you’ll be running around 30C when you’re idle.
This MSI motherboard also supports 2 Way AMD CrossFireX, which is great if you’re planning on installing two AMD graphics cards.
You’ll also receive the audio boost feature which lets you optimize your audio during gaming as well.
With its current budget and excellent features, you should have no problems investing in this.
GIGABYTE H370 HD3 - LGA1151
The H370 HD3 is worth its price. With its high performance and reliability, your investments will be worth it.
The H370 supports 8th Gen Intel Core Processors, and you’ll also be able to overclock with ease.
The great thing about this board is the BIOS.
If you ever were to have issues with the BIOS or have a virus intruding it, or any hardware or software issues, then you’ll have the ability to restore the system, thanks to its ‘Backup BIOS’ capability.
The board has four slots of DDR4 RAM and 2 GPU slots for CrossFire capability. Including a USB 3.1 port Type C and Gen 2 Type A, thanks to these, they’re improved with twice the bandwidth compared to previous boards.
They’re also backward capable with USB 2.0 and 3.0.
If you want good aesthetics, the board also lights up, thanks to its RGB LED, you’ll have seven colors to choose from.
One of the decent high performing motherboards, if you’re on a budget and are looking for an affordable board, the H370 would match your needs.
AMD AM4 Ryzan Boards
ASUS ROG X470
The ROG X470 is one of the best motherboards for the AMD Ryzan processors.
If you’re also looking for an aesthetically pleasing board, the X470 has to be it. With its beautiful finish and details.
You’ll also get extra features such as the ‘One Click Overclocking and Cooling.’ Which helps optimize you’re entire system and overclocks optimally by calculating the integral components of the motherboard.
Thanks to that feature, you’ll be able to overclock is ease and with convenience.
You’ll also have controls of the cooler, water pumps and fans, thanks to its Auto Tuning feature mode; you’ll have the ability to manually control or set it to auto to monitor the fans for you.
You’ll also be able to access the BIOS with ease and do updates easily, compared to other motherboards which are harder to access the BIOS.
GIGABYTE X470
The Gigabyte X470, a bit similar to the ASUS ROG X470, is compatible with the Ryzen 2 AM4 and the 7th Gen Athlon processors. It also has a front panel of a USB 3.1 Gen2 and a Gigabit LAN.
With its power design and architecture, the board is meant for you to save on energy while placing a high demand on critical components within your PC.
You’ll also have the ability to program the fans as you wish, thanks to its ‘5-Way Optimization’ and auto-tuning, it’ll optimize the CPU to the right overclocking speeds by calculating the components you have in your rig.
For around 179 USD, you’ll get the performance and reliability that comes with the Gigabyte X470.
MSI B450 Tomahawk
One of the fair budgeted motherboards in the market for the AM4 chipsets.
With its aesthetically pleasing looks, the MSI B450 packs a lot of different features. The board supports the AMD Ryzen 1st and 2nd Gen processors. It also supports the Ryzen 5 as well.
The board holds a total of 64 GB of DDR4 perfect for your gaming or any video editing that you may do.
The board doesn’t have a Bluetooth; however, it does come with 2 GPU slots and is AMD CrossFire ready.
If you do run into problems with the system or any BIOS issues, you can use the feature ‘BIOS Flashback+,’ which allows you to return to standard settings in case the system goes wrong.
With a natural aesthetic look to the B450, this board delivers you reliability and quality performance. If you’re looking for a high performance budgeted board, the MSI B450 may be the right one for you.
Motherboard Buyers Guide for 2021
You may be stuck on deciding which motherboard that you should buy, and don’t know where to start. No worries.
As you’ll see down below, you’ll see broken up segments, and you’ll be able to dive into motherboard details and specifics, that should help you make your buying decision.
So What Is A Motherboard?
A motherboard is your computers foundation. It’s where all of your computer hardware meet.
It allows all of your computer components to interact and communicate with one another.
With a motherboard alone, however, is useless itself.
Without the motherboard, it would be impossible for your CPU, GPU, memory and hard drive to communicate to each other.
That’s why in today’s age, you’ll have to invest in a decent to a great motherboard, so that your components can communicate with each other quickly, fluidly and smoothly.
What Does a Motherboard Contain and What Should You Look For?
The following list contains what the motherboard has:
CPU Socket
The CPU socket is for your microprocessor, so your CPU will go in here.
Depending on your CPU socket, you’ll need to match it with a mother that’s compatible with your CPU socket.
For example, like an AMD Ryzen is an AM4 socket, you’ll need to find an AM4 motherboard. Or if you decide to go with latest Intel Core series, then you’ll need the LGA1151 motherboards.
DIMM Slots
The DIMM slots are where your memory sticks (memory RAM) go into. They’re located near your CPU socket. Depending on your motherboard, you’ll maybe see 2, 4 to 8 DIMM slots, and this entirely depends on your motherboard
Most motherboards have 4 DIMM. Maybe you decide to go with a motherboard with 4 DIMM slots.
So you’ll see four slots of DIMM’s, that’s where you’ll install your memories, insert them, and it’ll snap them into place.
So if you have two sticks of memory worth 8 GB DDR4 memory each, then you’ll have a combination of 16 GB worth of memory total.
Make sure to purchase the latest motherboards that are DDR4 compatible, DDR4 memory is where the future is.
PCI Express Slots
The PCI Express slots are where your video cards, sound cards, and other extra components go into.
Also known as PCIe.
If you see PCIe x16, x8, x4 or x1, that means the sizes. So you’ll need to match the card with the card slots measurements.
Let’s say you have a card that measures to x16; then you can install that card in an x16 slot.
However, you can install a PCIe x1 into a PCIe x16 slot.
But you can’t install cards that measure x16 into an x1 slot.
What Motherboard Should You Get?
Well, this all entirely depends up to you and whichever processor that you choose to get.
If you have an Intel processor that’s 1151 socketed, go with the motherboards that support that, such as the LGA 1151 boards, these support the latest Intel processors.
If you’re going to AMD’s Ryzen series, then you’ll go with the AM4 motherboards.
Just match your CPU and the motherboards socket compatibility.
What Are Form Factors?
A form factor is the dimensions of your motherboard.
Will it fit in your current PC case chassis? Determine your motherboards form factor and the dimensions.
There are three kinds of forms, the ATX, Micro-ATX, and the Mini-ITX.
The ATX – ranges from 9.6×12 inches in dimension. The ATX boards refer to as ATX or standard ATX. These motherboards are typical and should fit nicely into any standard large to med PC cases.
Standard ATX will have more expansions and more slots for any of your future upgrades.
The Micro-ATX & Mini-ITX – Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX motherboards fit and are compatible in small and mini PC towers (the PC case). They measure up to 9.6 inches square in dimension.
These mini boards don’t have additional expansions and slots. You only receive only one expansion slot.
The BIOS
The BIOS is your motherboards central chip. It’ll govern and control your entire system.
If you’re looking to overclock your processor, then you’ll go into your motherboards BIOS, and you can tamper with the controls and change the speed of your CPU and settings of other components.
Also be on the lookout for UEFI BIOS, they’re more flexible than BIOS.
Because you’re able to use your mouse and have more user-friendly controls, and it’s a lot easier to use than traditional BIOS’s.
SLI and CrossFire Capabilities
if you’re a hardcore gamer or a heavy image/video editor, then you may be looking to max your graphics level to other levels.
Then you’ll want a motherboard that’s SLI or CrossFire capable.
SLI (Scalable Link Interface) is for the latest Nvidia’s Geforce graphics cards with SLI capabilities, and you can install two at the same time in your motherboard for more graphics power.
The CrossFire feature is for AMD’s Radeon graphics card, and it lets you install two at the same time as well. However don’t mistake CrossFire with AMD’s Dual Graphics, they’re another set of features.
However, you’ll do great with only one powerful graphics card.
In Summary
There are a lot of great motherboards that you can choose from in the current market.
The motherboard is the foundation of your computer built. Having a reliable and efficient motherboard is a must if you want your components to operate and communicate effectively with one another.
Hopefully this list had helped you in deciding on choosing the right motherboard for your system.
3 thoughts on “What Is The Best Gaming Motherboard of 2021”
I used to be a big fan of doing all things AMD. But two computer builds ago, I went with an Intel MoBo and never looked back. I find that there is less of a compatibility issue when it comes to choosing Intel.
Currently, I have an Asus Z270 in my build. I couldn’t be happier with it. But, my build is getting a little on the older side, so, even though my board works properly and has no issues, I’ll probably look at one of the newer boards when I either upgrade or make a new build altogether.
Thanks for the info. Back when I was first starting out building, for some reason, the sockets on the motherboard confused me. I had the mindset of “a motherboard is a motherboard.” And, with my very first build, I wanted to do SLI, but I ended up buying a MoBo with crossfire, I was dumb back then.
I used to be a big fan of doing all things AMD. But two computer builds ago, I went with an Intel MoBo and never looked back. I find that there is less of a compatibility issue when it comes to choosing Intel.
Currently, I have an Asus Z270 in my build. I couldn’t be happier with it. But, my build is getting a little on the older side, so, even though my board works properly and has no issues, I’ll probably look at one of the newer boards when I either upgrade or make a new build altogether.
Thanks for the info. Back when I was first starting out building, for some reason, the sockets on the motherboard confused me. I had the mindset of “a motherboard is a motherboard.” And, with my very first build, I wanted to do SLI, but I ended up buying a MoBo with crossfire, I was dumb back then.
I’m glad this article helped Dakota. AMD’s are awesome, especially if you’re running on a budget.