Choosing the best motherboard for your PC does not necessarily mean buying the best motherboard available on the market, but choosing the one that best suits what you need. And since it is an extremely important choice, since as you know all the other components connect to it, in this tutorial we will try to guide you so that you can choose the best motherboard depending on your needs and the rest of your hardware.
Motherboards, and especially high-end ones, generally bring a huge amount of features under your arm that you may not need, and also make it a bit difficult to understand their features. You have motherboards from less than 50 euros to more than 1,000 so for the number of models to choose from it will not be, so we are going to see what features you should look to choose the most appropriate according to what you need.
How to choose the best motherboard understanding your needs
We repeat the fact that we are not looking for the best motherboard on the market, but the best one based on your needs like you can check best motherboard for ryzen 5 2600 here. With that said, let’s look at the crucial factors when choosing the board that best suits what you need.
What budget do you have for the motherboard?
As we said, prices vary greatly and will dictate the range of the motherboard. We have from very basic boards for less than 50 euros to boards of 1,000 euros, designed for HEDT range processors such as the Intel Core X or AMD Threadripper, so depending on what you want and your budget, this is what you are going to can find.
Up to 100 euros : for this price there are motherboards that even allow overclocking for AMD processors (even some with an X370 chipset), but for Intel the thing changes, and you will have to settle for motherboards that do not allow overclocking unless you find some good offer on Z370 plates.
From 100 to 150 euros: in this range you will already find Intel Z370 motherboards, which is what you will need if you want to overclock. You can also find some higher-end AMD motherboards, even with X470 chipsets and “premium” features like RGB or Wi-Fi.
From 150 to 200 euros: we are increasing the budget and the characteristics and powers that we will find are increasing. In this range you’ll find boards with better heatsinks, more VRMs that improve overclocking stability, as well as better connectivity including USB 3.1 Gen. 2.
More than 200 euros: here we enter the “premium” category within what would be the medium or medium / high range of systems, which is what you surely need. In this range we will already find the best motherboards on the market, with many overclock-oriented features, great connectivity and even very aggressive aesthetics, geared towards gaming. In this category are also HEDT boards, intended for the highest-end processors, although in this case they usually start at 300 euros.
What processor are you going to use?
When choosing a PC to mount, the first component we always think of is the processor. Once you are clear on which processor to choose, logically you have to go for a motherboard that is compatible with it, and the first thing we must see is the socket, which will already reduce the candidate motherboards to a quarter.
For example, if you are going to buy a third generation AMD Ryzen processor, you will need an AM4 socket motherboard. If, on the other hand, your choice is a ninth generation Intel Core processor, the socket you will need is an LGA1151, and you also have to make sure that the motherboard is compatible with the processor, since both Intel and AMD have been using this socket for several generations.
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In AMD this is less confusing since it uses the AM4 socket in almost all its processors, from the most basic Athlon to the Ryzen 7 3000 Series, but with Intel it is quite different. In any case, if the processor you have chosen is a HEDT, the socket in the case of Intel is an LGA2066 and in the case of AMD a TR4.