Best Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600x

Best High-End Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600X - ASUS ROG Strix X570-E

One of the top choices of every gamer out there is surely ASUS when it comes to buying a gaming device. This brand has never failed to impress the consumers because it always delivers the best.

Speaking of the ASUS ROG Strix X570-E, it has also carried the ASUS’s legacy of excellence very well. It offers a very durable design that combats the heat very effectively which makes it Best Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600X.

This is one of the major concerns of consumers. But with the ROG X570-E in your hands, you do not have to waste your time on this issue. The cooling system consists of an active heatsink for the chipset.

It is extended to dual M.2 heatsinks and a water pump paired with a header. Now you might be thinking that this stuff is very usual, and every other motherboard out there might have it but wait, here is everything else you should know.

The outstanding part is that this system also features a MOS heatsink which comes with an 8mm pipe. Now, this is the cooling system everyone has been looking for and it is unbeatable for many brands out there!

Who does not want a quality device that performs exceptionally and that too within an affordable price range? The combination of quality, performance, and low price is what everyone is seeking.

And this product under discussion is a perfect blend of these three parameters. It offers so much in an amazingly low-price range. Other features that often get ignored have been carefully planned and executed in this motherboard.

It offers high-quality audio to revamp your gaming experience like never. It uses the Supreme FX1220A and Sonic Studio III so that you never fall behind in action.

The personalization offered by ASUS such as the Aura Synchronization mechanism is what I always look forward to in their products. This feature takes your creativity to the next level as you get a lot of options to experiment with.

You can create cool effects with RGB lighting. With the three colors namely red, green, and blue, you get to create a lot many lighting effects to light up your gaming and of course, your mood!

This feature is supported by the RGB headers and Gen 2 addressable headers as well. Next, I would like to throw some light on the connectivity as it is also a major concern for the consumers.

In this motherboard, you get more connectivity options than you can think. First in line is the PCIe 4.0 port. This slot is an essential one so every other board these days has it.

Also, you get an HDMI 2.0 port and a Display port 1.2. for USB connectivity options, you have USB 3.2 Type-A and USB 3.2 Type-C connectors so that you never fall short of the connectivity slots.

With the ASUS ROG Strix, networking is no more an issue. With careful planning on this site, you will never miss a moment. The options include 2.5 Gbps LAN, The Intel gigabit Ethernet which is protected by the ASUS LANGuard.

It also provides Wi-Fi 6 with MU-MIMO. The GameFirst V is also available, and it is provided through the gateway teaming.

The motherboard is compatible with both the 2^nd and 3^rd Generation AMD Ryzen processors due to the AM4 socket. This socket is manufactured by AMD and maximizes the connectivity of the device.

Last but not the least; you can go according to your wish when it comes to optimization. You are given a completely free hand with tuning and overclocking options.

Best Budget Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600x - ASRock B450M Steel Legend

Apart from ASUS, many other brands have appeared at the front of the tech market. And have proved themselves by the quality of the products they manufacture. One such product is ASRock.

One of its motherboards is the B450M Steel Legend and with its incredible features, it is the best B450 motherboard. Not only the features but also the performance of this motherboard is exceptional.

You can get through long gaming hours effortlessly because you do not need to get worked up by the thought of your system heating up. The amazing connectivity options and the vivid graphics are to die for.

All this and much more under the most affordable price tag. Can u guess it? It is under $100 and that is true. Amazed? Just wait to get startled once I start sharing the features in detail.

First, let us talk about the AMD AM4 socket which is a prominent feature of this motherboard. It is one of the most reliable microarchitectures available right now. AMD has launched this microprocessor socket which surpasses all its predecessors.

The AMD chipset is the Promontory B450. It is responsible for high-quality graphics. These Graphics are supported by the AMD Quad Crossfire. It is backed by Crossfire Technology. 

The connectivity slots available make you feel quite rich. You get three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, out of which one runs at x8 and the other at x4. Other than this category, you get two more types.

These include three PCIe 2.0 x16 slots and each run at x4. There is another PCIe 2.0 x1 slot as well. This is quite sufficient even for gamers who face connectivity issues very often.

This motherboard will give you the audio experience you have not gone through before. An experience that every gamer deserves to have. The Realtek ALC892 7.1 Channel audio produces high-quality sound.

The one that makes you feel like you are in a gamer’s arena while sitting in the comfort of your living room. It is the one that creates such an environment that forces you to continue with your winning streak.

The Motherboard operates on Windows 10. And with this one in your hands, you do not have to worry a lot about the networking since ASRock has settled the matter completely for you.

The Steel Legend offers you Realtek RTL8111H PCI Express x1 Gigabit Ethernet Controller. The device supports DDR4 Technology RAM and you get 4 memory slots. That is quite a lot of space.

All this is provided to you at a very lightweight. So, this option is worth the money. Also, you get multiple fan headers if you buy it from the right supplier. That is why you should always make a wise choice about whom you are buying your product.

These headers include 3 water pump fan connectors. Also, it includes one CPU fan connector and one water pump fan connector.

Best Motherboard For Overclocking Ryzen 5 3600x - MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus

If you are willing to take a chance with the motherboard shopping, then go for this option and I am pretty sure you will not regret this decision.

The MSI MPG X570 Gaming plus is a motherboard that every gamer deserves to have. Once you start using it, you will not go back to any other ordinary motherboard. It has amazing specifications which I am about to mention for you.

Your gaming experience is about to get amplified with the connectivity options this motherboard has to offer. Having a PCIe port has become a sort of standard for every motherboard to have.

So along with the PCIe 4.0 port, you get an AMD Turbo and a USB 3.2 Gen2 port. The Store MI option is also available in case you think that you are still low on connectivity. And if you are still thinking then the Lighting Gen 4 x 4 M2 will seal the deal for you.

Also, you get to experiment a lot with the frequency and overclocking options. Originally, the device has DDR4 memory which is up to 4400+ MHz This is itself overclocked so I will not recommend advancing it further.

The Mystic Light feature is my favorite feature. Because it offers countless lighting options. The number of colors offered is 16.8 million and that is an insane amount. The amount of creativity you get to experiment with this feature is beyond limits.

You can control as many as 29 effects with just a single click. Isn’t that amazing? Also, the extension of this feature supports RGB Lighting and the Rainbow LED strips. Now I am sure that you will have that gaming feels in your room that you have been craving for long.

You can go with this option if you are aiming for 2^nd and 3^rd generation Ryzen processors or even for the Ryzen Radeon Vega Graphics processor (2^nd + 3^rd Generation). This product has an amazing feature of the Dragon Centre.

Many gamers look for it but either it is in very expensive options or either not available in most of the options. And here I have brought you a budget-friendly option with all the features a gamer could ask for plus this Dragon Centre feature.

With this feature, you get to integrate all the MSI tools such as the Voice Boost, Live Update, and the Game Mode. Above all, you do not have to worry about the system getting over-heated. because the design is made so to induce high-grade cooling when required.

The heatsink design features a patented fan. This is very powerful as it has the propeller blade technology and double ball bearings to support active cooling. That is a sigh of relief for many people out there as over-heating is a genuine concern and damages done by it come hard on the pocket.

There is an 8+4 pin CPU power connector. ye get both the Game Boost and the DDR4 Boost. With the amazing quality audio, you will have one-of-its-kind gaming experience.

Best X570 Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600x - ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Formula

Coming back to ASUS, I have another amazing and promising product on the list. It is from the same X570 series but has a lot more to offer than you probably think. It is the best X570 motherboard.

It has made its place on our list due to several reasons. First, it is value for money. This product offers you so much for so little money. Its features will leave you spell-bound.

On top of the list is its durable yet light-weighted design. Despite the low weight, it is engineered to perfection. It carries so much within it and is designed specifically to protect the entire system thermally.

How it does that? Well, grab your mug of coffee as I need you to understand it in detail. Firstly, the design features the ROG Cooling zone which is an amazing advancement by ASUS.

Its dual water-temperature headers and flow-rate headers have changed the game as now you do not have to face the very often heated system which used to het up your head as well.

The cooling zone feature paired up with the Integrated Crosschill EK III and an active heatsink for the chipset seals the deal as this cooling system is so far the best on the list.

You already know my favorite part of ASUS products. It is the Aura Synchronization. It offers you the RGB Lighting with the RGB headers and the addressable headers as well. So, there will be a lot of experimenting with this feature on board.

Another feature that makes the Crosshair Formula stand out of the list of its competitors is its power delivery. The design is so thin and sleek, yet the power delivery is very strong.

It provides a total of 16 (14+2) IR3555 PowlRstages. The ProCool II power connectors also add to the power delivery. Fine alloy chokes and Japanese imported metallic capacitors have been carefully incorporated into the design.

All this makes this motherboard the best available option when it comes to efficient power delivery.

Its compatibility with the 2^nd and 3^rd generation AMD Ryzen processors makes it a versatile option. It is possible due to the AMD AM4 socket.

The networking options are unlimited. First, there is Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax). then we have 5G and Gigabit Ethernet support by Intel and Aquantia. The Wi-Fi is supported by MU-MIMO and these both options are collectively protected by the ASUS LANGuard protection.

The overall design is hassle-free and requires minimum set-up time. The presence of features such as the I/O shield, the ASUS SafeSlot, and the BIOS Flashback make the setting up even easier.

Everybody loves personalizing their stuff. Guess what? There is more to personalization in this motherboard. Yes, apart from the Aura personalization, you can personalize the tuning and overclocking options.

Also, you can make yourself a cooling profile that helps you customize the way the cooling of the system works. Isn’t that incredible?

Best B450 Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600x - MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX

MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX is the revision of the previously known B450 TOMAHAWK motherboard and it added the support of 3rd generation AMD Ryzen processors out of the box while previously, you had to update the BIOS of the motherboard to make the 3rd generation processors work. 

The design of the motherboard is pretty much the same as that of the original TOMAHAWK, with a bit more black color. There is a slight touch of gray color here and there but most of the motherboard is black in color. There is RGB lighting on the right side of the laptop. 

The heat-sinks on this motherboard are not as big as some of the more expensive motherboards but the cooling performance is more than satisfactory. The VRM of the motherboard is also good enough to handle high-end processors and you would be fine even if you upgrade your Ryzen 5 3600X to Ryzen 9 3900X, etc. 

There are four DIMM slots on the motherboard and the supported speeds of the motherboard are now as high as 4000 MHz while TOMAHAWK supported around 3433 MHz RAM sticks. There are five PCI-E slots on the motherboard where two of them are PCI-E X16 slots and the rest are PCI-E X1 slots. For storage, MSI TOMAHAWK MAX provides six SATA III ports with 6Gbps of speeds. Also, it comes with an M.2 slot which can be used with a high-speed SSD drive.

As for the I/O of the motherboard, there are 6 x 3.5mm audio jacks, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, an RJ45 port, an HDMI port, a DVI-D port, a PS/2 port, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, and a BIOS button.

Since it is a B450 chipset, you don’t get the support for PCI-E 4.0, although the memory performance of this particular motherboard is much better than the older B450-based motherboards. The BIOS chip of this motherboard has a size of 32MB while the original TOMAHAWK motherboard had a BIOS chip of 16MB. This lets the user update the chip to the latest versions without any problem so that the company does not have to drop support for older processors. 

All-in-all, MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX is a motherboard that seems like a great option for someone who wants a mid-range motherboard that not only supports 3rd-generation processors out of the box but also provides great memory performance as well as powerful VRM that can withstand high TDP processors. The design of the motherboard is surely not as good as flagship motherboards but the functionality is as close as you can get with this much budget.

Best Premium Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600x - Asrock B450M Pro4

Asrock Taichi is the flagship series of motherboards while Asrock Pro4 is a budget series by the company. Asrock B450M Pro4 is a motherboard that is based on the B450 chipset that was released in combination with the second generation of AMD Ryzen processors although this chipset is forward and backward compatible with Ryzen processors. 

Asrock B450M Pro4 comes with the Micro-ATX form-factor, which is smaller than the mainstream ATX form-factor and has higher compatibility with cases. The design of the motherboard is quite similar to the Asrock B450 Pro4 that comes with the ATX form factor, having a black and gray color theme. There is no I/O cover and the chipset heat-sink is pretty small, which indicates that this is a rather budget motherboard.

The 24-pin ATX connector is present at the right edge of the motherboard, which is the standard configuration while the 8-pin connector is present right next to the VRM heat-sink. There are four DIMM slots on the motherboard, leading to a maximum memory capacity of 128 GB by using 32 GB DDR4 DIMM sticks. The motherboard supports 3200 MHz of DDR4 RAM with OC configuration, although you might be able to push a little higher if lucky. 

The major difference between this motherboard and the B450 Pro4 motherboard is that this motherboard comes with only three PCI-E slots while the latter comes with six PCI-E slots. On this motherboard, you can find two PCI-E X16 slots and one PCI-E X1 slot while for storage there are four SATA III ports and two M.2 slots. It is quite impressive to see a Micro-ATX motherboard providing two M.2 slots. 

The I/O of the motherboard is pretty good as well, providing 3 x 3.5mm audio jacks, 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A ports, an RJ45 port, an HDMI port, a DVI-D port, a PS/2 port, and a VGA port as well, which is considered obsolete as of now. The motherboard uses Realtek ALC892 audio Codec, which is not as good as the high-end offerings by Realtek but should do the job fine as long as you are not using audiophile-grade peripherals with it.

Coming to the VRM of the motherboard, it is fine to say that this motherboard can easily support the likes of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or even 3800X, even if overclocked mildly. Since you would be using AMD Ryzen 5 3600X processor with this motherboard, you can overclock the processor to its full potential without worrying about burning the VRM down. Although, it will be preferable to switch the motherboard later if you plan to upgrade the processor to AMD Ryzen 9 3900X or higher.

Overall, Asrock B450M Pro4 is a budget motherboard that provides enough ports and slots to fulfill the needs of high-end gamers. The overclocking performance is not comparable to the likes of Taichi X470 but you would get the job done fairly with hexa-core and octa-core processors. For audiophiles, it would be better to invest in an external sound card since this motherboard does not come with a high-end one.

Best Enthusiast Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600x - MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is a mid to high-end motherboard that comes with the Mini-ITX form factor, which is the smallest form-factor in motherboards. The size of this motherboard makes it a great contender for people who are wishing to make a rig that they can put in their drawing room as an HTPC or a system that they can easily carry around during tours.

The design of the motherboard is attractive and it gives those gaming vibes that you would find in a high-end motherboard. There are red zigzag patterns on both the VRM heat-sink and the chipset heat-sink while the rest of the motherboard is dark black. 

The 24-pin ATX connector is located on the right side of DIMM slots while the 8-pin connector is present at the top left corner of the motherboard. There are only two DIMM slots on the motherboard just like other Mini-ITX motherboards, which limits the RAM capacity of the motherboard to 64 GB. The motherboard supports maximum RAM speeds of around 3466 MHz while with the latest generation processors, you might be able to work with higher frequencies.

As for the PCI-E slots, there is only a single PCI-E X16 slot on the motherboard that is reinforced with metal and has a shiny look to it. For storage, there is a single M.2 slot on the motherboard and there are four SATA III ports on the motherboard. 

The I/O of the motherboard offers 3 x 3.5mm audio jacks, two antenna outputs for WiFi since it supports WiFi, 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, 2 X USB 2.0 Type-A ports, an RJ45 port, an HDMI port, a DP port, and a PS/2 port. Although the motherboard supports WiFi, it is a bit disappointing to see such a motherboard without any Gen 2 Type-A or Type-C port at the rear. For audio, the motherboard uses the Realtek ALC887 codec, which is used in budget motherboards.

One of the best things about the motherboard is that it comes with an awesome quality VRM, which is why not only you can rock processors like AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, you can even use the likes of AMD Ryzen 9 3900X without worries. For overclocking, you will have to make sure that the case has ample airflow and you will be fine running an overclocked processor like Ryzen 3900X. For overclocking Ryzen 5 3600X, there can be no problems whatsoever.

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is one of the best Mini-ITX motherboards with the B450 chipset that you can buy for a small-form-factor rig and apart from relatively low-end audio chipset and a single PCI-E and M.2 slot, you won’t find anything to complain against this motherboard.

Best Micro ATX Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600x - Asus ROG Strix B450-F

Asus ROG Strix B450-F is quite an impressive motherboard to consider. This rockstar with an AM4 socket is ready to boot-up all high-gen AMD processors and give them complete freedom of performance. It supports high-speed DDR4 memory of 3200Mhz, which can go right up to 4400MHz (OC) via 4x Dual-channel DIMM slots, which is quite satisfactory for gaming enthusiasts.

Awarded by the Australian PC Awards 2019 as the best Motherboard of 2018, should speak loudly for the ROG Strix B450-F. This middle-range motherboard provides adequate power and thermal performance to help you set a great high-end or an excellent budget build for gaming.

With up to five 4-pin PWM/DC fans around the motherboard and a single dedicated PWM/DC header for self-contained water-cooling setups, the thermal performance is as good as it gets and does a perfect job for budget gaming enthusiasts.

The high-speed connectivity is certainly a prominent characteristic of this motherboard. It offers dual NVMe M.2 for high-speed storage capabilities, supported with RAID to further enhance its performance. The USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A connectors are also part of the lightning-fast connectivity setup by ASUS. The high-quality integrated SupremeFX S1220A audio enhanced with Sonic Studio III makes the gaming experience a whole lot more immersive and realistic.

The networking capabilities of the ROG Strix B450-F with Intel® I211-AT Gigabit LAN Controller are also an excellent addition. The Lan is protected with an Antisurge LANGuard and optimized with ROG GameFirst Technology for better ethernet performance. The 5-way optimization is Dual Intelligent Processors 5 is another feature provided by ASUS to make personalization, tunning, and overclocking a lot easier for non-experienced gamers.

The overall software support on this motherboard is excellent and allows gamers to fully personalize and enhance their gaming experience. When it comes to aesthetics, the ROG Strix B450-F shines like the industrial-grade rockstar that it is. The classy pre-installed I/O shield is a DIY-friendly addition.

The durable components and detailed additions like the ESD guards and Digi+ VRM really defines the top-notch design that performs as well as it looks. With attractive RGB lightning around the motherboard that can be personalized with AURA-sync to give you the perfectly synced PC setup, aesthetics makes the motherboard a whole lot more attractive.

If you are looking for a budget motherboard that is also compatible with a wide range of high-end components and offers an excellent medium-range gaming performance on an enthusiastic level, then the ASUS ROG Strix B450-F is the way to go.