Recommended Gaming Motherboards by Professionals
ATX and Micro-ATX motherboards
In this article we will discuss what is the best motherboard for gaming. There are differences between Micro-ATX and ATX gaming motherboards. Micro-ATX motherboards are a little more compact than ATX gaming motherboards, but they still power many gaming PCs. However, they also have some downsides, such as their limited space and inability to cool properly. If you’re looking for an affordable motherboard with plenty of features, you should go with Micro-ATX.
For high-end gaming, 8GB RAM is more than enough, and sixteen or more is the norm. However, these are not enough for professional use – 32GB is overkill for gaming. RAM can also slow down a system and frustrate developers. AMD motherboards have seven PCIe slots to support Multi-GPU and PCIe cards, but they tend to be more expensive. However, if you’re just seeking to buy a new PC for gaming, 8GB RAM is plenty.
Intel’s B660 and H610 chipsets
After the high-end Z690 motherboards that were exclusively available for early adopters, Intel has announced that its next-generation 600 series chipsets will be released on the market in 2022. These chipsets offer various benefits but are priced differently across motherboard manufacturers. Nevertheless, these motherboards will still have some friendly general specifications. Here is a brief analysis of the new chipsets.
In terms of specs, the B660 is sufficient for a budget-friendly gaming build. It can support a fast CPU and any GPU but loses some performance when locked to DDR4-2666. With its recent upgrades, locked memory has been removed. As such, higher-end B660 boards will likely have good VRM, good heatsinks, and Wi-Fi 6E. Besides, they should provide a balanced feature set.
The H610 chipset supports up to 65W processors in terms of power consumption. However, there is a critical limitation with this chipset. You will be able to overclock the CPU up to 4.5GHz on a B660 motherboard, but you will not be able to overclock the RAM. Also, the H610 supports only a single memory channel, which can be limiting in some applications.
ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 (DDR4)
Designed for gamers, the ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 (ITX)/TB4 motherboard comes with the Killer Wi-Fi 6E AX1675x controller for 2.4Gbps wireless bandwidth and an onboard wired LAN chip. This motherboard features an SMT-type PCIe slot for improved signal flow and maximum stability under high speeds. In addition, this board supports the PCIe 5.0 standard, which allows for up to 128GBps of bandwidth.
For added convenience, the motherboard has onboard RGB headers and a separate addressable one, making it easy to connect compatible LED devices. Nahimic Audio technology is built into the ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 for a rich, vivid listening experience. The motherboard also comes with the Realtek ALC897 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec. ASRock offers an impressive three-year warranty on its motherboard.
ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme
The ROG Crosshair VIII Formula features an integrated VRM water-cooling solution that keeps AMD Ryzen processors under control. Moreover, this motherboard comes with onboard lighting that casts a “rainfall” design and accents the ROG logo. Its onboard lighting allows users to customize their system’s appearance in the dark. The ROG logo is cast in different colours, allowing the user to customize the lighting to suit their needs.
Besides a large heatsink, the ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme features big grooves for the VRMs and large fan-air intakes to keep components cool. The heatsink on the left side has ROG branding. The primary M.2 socket is hidden under the heatsink, which also houses a customizable two-inch OLED screen. Two PCIe slots are also present on the front panel.
Learn more about the different types of gaming motherboards on technaldo.
