In our collection of motherboard patrons guides, right here’s the newest replace to our checklist of advisable motherboards. All numbers within the textual content are up to date to mirror pricing on the time of writing.
Best Motherboards: Q1 2020
Catching up on the state of motherboards for the quarter, the primary a part of 2020 has been very quiet. Overall, solely a handful of latest motherboards have been launched, and none of that are significantly notable, as motherboard launches are more and more centered round new platform launches from Intel/AMD. Which is not to say that Q1 has been an entire snooze; we did see the Threadripper 3990X launch, however these motherboards have been already available in the market.
The upshot, at the least, is that Q2 appears to be a busy interval. Barring the very actual risk of Coronavirus-related delays, this quarter ought to see Intel unveil its Z490 chipset for its Comet Lake desktop processors, whereas AMD could have its extra budget-orientated B550 chipset. So Q2 goes to be a busy quarter for motherboard distributors. With that in thoughts, listed below are our advisable picks for the Q1 2020 interval.
With the present state of affairs surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus reaching a worldwide pandemic degree, it is had a noticeable impact on the pc {hardware} trade. MSI has even prolonged guarantee on its merchandise by an additional two months to assist accommodate the state of affairs. The knock-on impact has led to a number of massive commerce exhibits being postponed and in some instances, canceled. And for a similar causes, the pricing of laptop {hardware} is anticipated to fluctuate over the approaching months.
| Motherboards Recommendations: Q1 2020 | ||
| Motherboard | Amazon | Newegg |
| Favorite Motherboard (Money is not any Object) | ||
| GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Xtreme | – | $700 |
| Favorite Motherboard (Gaming/Performance) | ||
| GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Pro WIFI | $260 | $260 |
| Favorite Motherboard (Value) | ||
| MSI B450 Tomahawk Max | $111 | $123 |
| Favorite Mini-ITX Motherboard | ||
| ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac | $209 | $209 |
Our suggestions for motherboards are based mostly completely on my private {and professional} opinion. There are notably a lot of completely different motherboards throughout a number of chipsets, so I chosen my prime 4 picks based mostly on the 4 market segments, whatever the chipset.
From our Best Motherboards Holiday 2019 information, we have opted to stay with the identical picks given no new chipsets from both Intel or AMD have launched but. As the AMD X570 chipset and Intel Z390 desktop chipsets have been round for almost all of the previous yr, every platform has matured with firmware updates in comparison with launch making each chipsets a stable choice for customers to make use of as a platform to construct a brand new system. The impact that the coronavirus has had on pricing has been thought-about as nicely, with some fluctuation on {hardware} pricing already taking maintain; though it stays to be seen on the total extent the virus could have on pricing and availability within the coming months.
For customers on the lookout for different choices, we have additionally gone over a number of chipset households as nicely within the hyperlinks under.
Best Motherboard Q1 2020: Money Is No Object
GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Xtreme ($700 at Newegg)
We’ve had the prospect to assessment and analyze fairly just a few X570 boards up to now (with some nonetheless to do), however one of many standout fashions boards that piqued our curiosity throughout testing was the GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Xtreme, which is the one X570 board to incorporate a passively cooled chipset heatsink. For our cash is not any object choice, there is not a extra well-rounded X570 flagship than the GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Xtreme. What made the X570 Aorus Xtreme stand out, nonetheless, got here in our energy supply thermal testing, which confirmed how far GIGABYTE has are available its energy supply implementation and design. With a real 14-phase energy supply for…
