How to Choose a Motherboard for Gaming

E-ATX, ATX, Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX?

The very first decision when choosing a motherboard for gaming is to decide on the format that fits your circumstances. Motherboards come in several different sizes, the most common of which are the E-ATX, ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX formats:  

Gaming motherboard size comparison chart

Different size motherboards have their advantages and disadvantages and will fit the needs of different users. For instance, if you need the whole computer to have a smaller overall physical size, you will be looking for a smaller computer case that will likely only fit Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX motherboards. Alternatively, if you are looking to build a High-end desktop (HEDT) computer that can support massive amounts of RAM and peripheral components, you may need a larger format motherboard like the E-ATX just to have available the hardware to accommodate the higher specification. Finally, cost also plays a role in deciding which size is right for you since, in general, bigger motherboards will cost more than smaller ones.

The overwhelmingly dominant motherboard size that is most often opted for by the majority of PC gamers is the ATX format, so this will be the motherboard format I will be concentrating on in this article.

Intel or AMD

The next decision when choosing a motherboard for gaming is to decide on the company you want to declare your allegiance to. Fortunately, there are really only two companies to choose from: Intel and AMD. The decision on which to go for really depends on whether you want an Intel CPU or an AMD CPU driving your computer. Both companies offer excellent CPUs and each have their advantages and disadvantages, however, helping you make your CPU-buying decision is beyond the scope of this article. 

Both Intel and AMD have several CPUs to choose from, which vary in generation (i.e. the microarchitecture), the number of cores, and the processor speed. In general, for gaming, one wants to prioritise the later generations of CPU and the speed at which they run over the number of cores, as most of today's games do not make use of more than a few cores. Ultimately, the best way to choose a gaming CPU is to compare benchmark results of CPUs against one another.

CPU Socket and Chipset

The question of which CPU to buy will determine the CPU socket and chipset you need to have on your motherboard. Currently, Intel's latest (12th and 13th) generations of CPUs use the LGA 1700 socket, while for AMD, the AM5 socket is used by its latest Ryzen 7000 series CPUs.

The LGA 1700 and AM5 sockets are present on a range of motherboards with different chipsets. Each Intel chipset has its own characteristics, but one type, in particular, is most relevant to gamers, especially competitive gamers. Any Intel chipset beginning with the letter 'Z' (eg. Z790 or Z690) means that it is compatible with overclocking. In the case of AMD, chipsets beginning with the letters 'X' or 'B' (eg. X670 or B650) are compatible with AMD CPUs being overclocked. 

Overclocking

But why would you want to overclock your computer in the first place?

Due to manufacturing differences, no single computer component, CPU included, is identical to another, even between individual units of the same component made at the same time. Manufacturers configure components (CPUs, GPUs, Memory, etc) to run at speeds where the risk of failure across a batch of a particular model is minimal. That means that the default running speeds of components are set lower than what individual units may be able to achieve. As a result, by following a careful overclocking procedure, you can usually optimise the individual components of your computer to get more performance out of them, which may, in turn, give you more of that gaming edge.

Overclocking may not seem necessary when you are first starting out on your gaming career, and that may be true. However, further down the line, it will probably be something you will want to try, especially if it has the potential to increase your gaming potential! Consequently, this article will be centred around the overclocking-compatible Intel 'Z'-model chipsets and AMD's 'X'- and 'B'-model chipsets.

CPU sockets & compatible chipsets for today's CPUs

* HEDT = High-End DeskTop

Intel Motherboards

Since the Z790 chipset motherboard represents the top end of affordable and overclockable Intel motherboards in today's market, this is most likely going to be the chipset you are going to choose as a gamer. Of course, there are better Intel motherboards for the extreme end (High-End DeskTop or HEDT) of computer building, but putting together an HEDT is usually unnecessary for gaming and also tends to be out of the price range of most.  

Below you will find a table of Intel ATX motherboards with Z790 chipsets that are available today. In the interests of clarity, I have focused on the version of the board that uses the latest form of memory, DDR5.

Scroll further down the page to get more detailed explanations of what each specification means and what to look for.

Intel ATX Z790 Motherboards (DDR5 Memory*)

AMD Motherboards

In the case of AMD, your focus should be on the latest AM5 socket-based motherboards as this is AMD's new socket hardware that should be relevant for several years to come. In terms of affordability and greatest bang for your buck, the B650E chipset seems to currently offer the best value one can get as a regular gamer. 

AMD ATX B650E Motherboards

External Peripheral Connections

USB & Thunderbolt

Being able to connect peripheral devices to a computer from the outside of the case is an important consideration when building your new computer. External peripheral ports have come in many flavours over the years, but today USB has become the dominant player in this space, along with a couple of other port types that make an appearance occasionally.  

It is important here to differentiate between the actual physical port used and the peripheral connection standard that uses that physical port. Some physical ports can support different connection technologies eg. a USB Type-C physical port can support different versions of USB 3.2 and can also sometimes support Thunderbolt 3 or 4. In addition, some connection technologies can opt to use different types of physical ports eg. USB 3.2 can use either USB Type-A or USB Type-C physical ports.

How many USB ports do you need and which types? 'A few' is probably the best answer as we all have some peripheral hardware (external hard drives, printers, scanners, computer mice, keyboard, trackpad, etc) that we will need to connect to our finished build. As for which versions of USB connections will depend on what data speeds you need the USB ports to perform at. All USB versions are backwards and forwards-compatible, which means that any USB device will work with any USB connection. However, the older the USB version is, the slower it is at moving data through it. For some low data-consuming applications, for instance, a keyboard or mouse, any USB connection will do. However, for heavier data-transferring applications, such as accessing an external hard drive, you will want the fastest USB connection available. 

Common external peripheral connections & ports found on today's motherboards

Internal headers for front-facing USB ports

Traditionally, physical ports are soldered onto the motherboard in a rear-facing orientation, designed to protrude from the back of a finished computer build. However, the majority of modern motherboards now also come with the ability to connect to front-facing USB ports. The way this is accomplished is by providing the header pins on the motherboard that accept the cables needed to link them to physical USB ports embedded in the front of most computer cases.

PS/2

Another port one sometimes sees on motherboards is the PS/2 port. This is a legacy port that was developed many years ago but still gets included on some hardware for various reasons. Its function is exclusively to connect computer mice and keyboards that operate via a PS/2 connector rather than USB.

Memory (RAM)

Motherboards come with several slots that accept memory (RAM) modules which are critical for holding applications or games so that they are readily accessible to the CPU. The more memory a motherboard has, the greater the number of programs it can load simultaneously. For most gaming needs, 16 GB is currently sufficient while 32 GB is usually more than enough. There will be an upper limit to the total amount of memory a motherboard can support but this is usually way in excess of what normal users or gamers will ever need, for example, most Z790 chipset ATX motherboards will support up to 128 GB of RAM.

Different sized motherboards can also vary in the number of RAM slots. For small mini-ITX boards, these usually have 2 slots, while larger ATX boards will normally have 4 slots for RAM. As for High-End DeskTop (HEDT) motherboards, they will usually have 8 slots to accommodate the larger memory requirements more demanding applications may require.

Ultimately, when it comes to RAM slots, more is always better. RAM modules are more expensive the more memory each module holds. This means that a certain amount of memory spread over fewer modules will be more expensive than the same total amount of memory spread over more modules. So for instance, 2 x 8 GB of memory will cost more than 4 x 4 GB of RAM, even though their total capacity (16 GB) is the same. As a result, the more memory slots a motherboard has, the better it is from an economic standpoint as well.

In addition to the amount and the size of memory that can be added to a motherboard, another important criterion to consider is the maximum memory speed the motherboard will support. Naturally, the faster the memory, the snappier the computer will operate, so choosing a motherboard that can handle as high a memory speed as possible should be aimed for here. The best Z790 chipset motherboards can usually support DDR5 RAM speeds of up to 5600 MHz without overclocking, while Z690 (DDR5-specific) chipset motherboards are specified to support up to 4800 MHz. Lower specification boards, still using DDR4 memory, including ones with Z790 and Z690 (DDR4-specific) chipsets, are limited to speeds of up to 3200 MHz without overclocking. This is the same as what older Z590 chipsets support, while even older Z490 chipset motherboards are specified to support up to 2933 MHz memory speeds.

Networking

One of the primary functions of a computer is to connect to networks. On a motherboard, this is implemented through three different technologies: Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. In today's technologically-driven world, most of us already understand the role each of these technologies plays in our digital lives. However, each exists in several different versions and, when picking a motherboard, understanding the capabilities of each version of a networking technology will help determine what is necessary for your particular build.  

Ethernet

Today most ethernet comes in three different data transfer speeds that are usually measured in Megabits per second (Mbps) or Gigabits per second (Gbps). These are:

What speed do you need on your motherboard? Today, you should at least have a 2.5 Gigabit ethernet port. Although the majority of home broadband speeds remain at or less than the 1 Gigabit level, this is in a constant state of flux with faster speeds coming down the line all the time (excuse the pun!). Indeed, home internet speeds are already available that exceed this minimum both in the US and in the UK, although the residential footprint of these services is still relatively small.

There is also one important situation where a higher 10 Gigabit ethernet connection might be useful and that is if you need super fast intranet speeds for data transfer between computers/devices within your home. In order to facilitate this, you will also need to ensure that your router and participating devices also have 10 gigabit ethernet ports to make use of this super high-speed connection. Currently, most routers included with home broadband packages do not have 10 Gigabit ethernet ports. However, high-end routers with more than one 10 Gigabit port are available, such as the ROG Rapture GT AXE16000 which has two of these super high-speed connections. In addition, if you want more than just a couple of devices to partake in your 10 Gigabit intranet, then you will also might need a 10 Gigabit switch (something like this one) in order to connect them all of the 10 Gigabit devices up since routers don't currently come with more than a couple of 10 Gigabit ports at most.

You may also wonder whether high-speed Wi-Fi can make up part of this 10 Gigabit network especially since Wi-Fi 6 can reach theoretical speeds of 9.6 Gbps (see next section on Wi-Fi). Unfortunately, this is just the theoretical Wi-Fi standard. In practice, the current fastest PC Wi-Fi modules are limited to about 2.4 Gbps with their 2x2 Wi-Fi antenna configuration. This may change, however, as the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 in client devices is expected to be able to reach practical speeds of up to 5.8 Gbps. 

Wi-Fi

Another important networking technology to consider including on your motherboard is wireless internet or Wi-Fi. Again this has evolved over the years and currently exists in several versions with increasing capabilities. Like ethernet, however, the versions of Wi-Fi that are common in today's motherboards (Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E) can transfer data at speeds in excess of the majority of home broadband connections and so will unlikely be a limiting factor on internet speeds now or in the near future. However, wireless signals are a bit more complicated than ethernet in that they are more easily subject to interference and congestion. Wireless signals are impeded by physical structures such as walls and are limited in the distance they can travel, which affects data transfer speeds. And if too many devices are using the same bandwidth, this too can slow down internet connection speeds due to congestion. With each new version of Wi-Fi, these problems have been better addressed.

Wi-Fi versions found on today's motherboards

Today, Wi-Fi 6 should be the minimum standard on a new motherboard. Wi-Fi 6 and 6E come with some new technologies that help address some of the interference and congestion issues of earlier versions:

Wi-Fi 6

Wi-Fi 6 is better than Wi-Fi 5 in three main ways:

Wi-Fi 6E

Wi-Fi 6E has everything that Wi-Fi 6 possesses but it has been extended (hence the 'E' at the end) to include the 6 GHz frequency band in addition to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz ranges that are used by Wi-Fi 6. This means there is much more space on the airways to send wireless signals so congestion will be reduced further still.

Wi-Fi on your router

Importantly, routers also have to support the highest version of Wi-Fi that you intend to use. Wi-Fi routers currently included with home broadband packages are starting to support up to Wi-Fi 6. In addition, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E-compatible routers are available for purchase from retail outlets.

Bluetooth

Like Ethernet and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth too improves with each version and, like the other networking technologies, moving between Bluetooth versions requires new hardware. At the time of writing, Bluetooth version 5 is the default standard with motherboards of today coming mostly with Bluetooth version 5.1 or 5.2.  

Bluetooth Version 5.1

The main improvements over version 5.0 are:

Bluetooth Version 5.2

The main improvements over version 5.1 are:

Video-Out Ports

A lot of motherboards today come with one or two video-out ports. These are capable of connecting the motherboard to display screens without the need for a dedicated graphics card (although your CPU is then usually required to have an integrated GPU). However, since one of the major reasons for building a gaming computer in the first place is for the enhanced visuals that a high-end graphics card can produce, these motherboard video-out ports are often superfluous. 

There are, however, some special circumstances when you might want to use the integrated graphics capability of the motherboard rather than a dedicated graphics card. These predominantly include the initial configuration of a system or BIOS before the graphics card has been installed or configured, or when diagnosing a computer problem that might involve the dedicated graphics card.

Most of today's motherboards will include one or more of the following video-out ports:

Thunderbolt (passthrough)

HDMI and DisplayPort are straightforward connections that are easy to understand and most people have experienced connecting a monitor via one or both standards. However, a Thunderbolt 'passthrough' connection is a little bit more complicated. It allows for the connection of Thunderbolt displays - think Apple displays - to your computer. However, although you connect the Thunderbolt display to the USB-C port in the usual way, another connection is needed between a Mini DisplayPort IN port on the motherboard, and either a DisplayPort also located on the motherboard (which uses the integrated graphics previously described) or a DisplayPort on a dedicated graphics card.

(excerpt from the GIGABYTE Z590 Vision D motherboard manual)

Conclusion

When building a gaming computer, the motherboard is probably one of the most complicated components to choose, as it connects all of the other hardware together. This makes it necessary to understand how the computer will function as a whole before deciding on which motherboard is a good fit. 

Once you have decided on the size format of the motherboard as well as whether it should run an Intel or AMD CPU, you then have to determine what its hardware characteristics should be.

The hardware choices to make include computer expandability through the PCIe bus, how much internal long-term storage you may want on your computer, and the number and type of external connection ports to have for peripheral devices. In addition, you will also need to decide on the amount of RAM the motherboard should be capable of supporting, its networking capabilities, and finally, which type (if any) of video-out connections you may need to make with the motherboard itself.

Hopefully, this article has covered most of these issues in sufficient detail for you to make your motherboard-buying decision just that little bit easier!