Motherboards: Buying Advice, Tips, and News

PinSafe's flattened rear solder joints should prevent DIY PC builders from cutting themselves.

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This suggests Zen 6 could support much faster memory standards.

The wood-accented motherboard also adopts some leather pull tabs.

Building a desktop PC, or upgrading an aging one? Here's all you need to know about choosing the right motherboard—plus, our top tested picks in boards for the latest AMD and Intel CPU platforms.

ASRock's Z890 Taichi is a robust Intel ATX motherboard with all the features you'd want in a high-end board for your next premium PC build.

As GPU prices and supplies stabilize, the Trump administration declines to revive the China-focused tariffs until at least Nov. 30.

The exemption expired over the weekend, but the Trump administration gives GPU makers another reprieve as it weighs a larger package of semiconductor tariffs.

The Gigabyte X870E Aorus Pro Ice is a well-rounded midrange motherboard and the only one close to its price with three PCIe 5.0-capable M.2 sockets. It has everything you'd expect from AMD's newest platform, and a white aesthetic that sets it apart.

ASRock's X870E Taichi Lite is a handsomely equipped midrange AMD motherboard. While it lacks builder bling like RGB LEDs, it makes up for that with class-leading specifications and solid performance.

The Taiwanese motherboard and GPU vendor may avoid price increases for now, though, citing a competitive market.

It doesn't dominate the competition, but MSI's MPG Z890 Carbon WiFi is a capable, good-looking premium motherboard with user-friendly firmware and some impressive hardware features for Intel's "Arrow Lake."

Gigabyte's X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice motherboard has a helpful leading-edge feature set (including Wi-Fi 7 and USB4) and a chilly white aesthetic for AMD Ryzen builders, but the pricing leaves us a little cold.

Asus’ ROG Maximus Z890 Hero is a premium "Arrow Lake" motherboard loaded with features. Given its power-delivery components, wealth of M.2 sockets (three PCIe 5.0!), and host of PC-DIY creature comforts, you’ll have a hard time finding many boards better-equipped.

An ROG Z890 Maximus Hero board, an over-the-top Ryujin cooler, and a special new kind of RAM highlight the nuances of Intel's just-launched desktop platform. Take a look.

The Asus TUF Gaming X870-Plus WiFi is a worthwhile-value X870 AMD motherboard. It brings native Zen 5 support, new looks, the latest connectivity, and several DIY-friendly and AI features for easier use.

Gigabyte's flagship X870E Aorus Master is among the pricier AM5 motherboards using AMD's very latest chipset, but its clever layout and creature comforts make it a first-rate ATX pick for high-end AMD PCs.

The software updates tackle the CPU bug affecting Intel's 13th and 14th Generation Core chips, but as MSI notes, it's intended to 'mitigate the instability,' not fix the problem completely.

Motherboards based on new 800-series chipsets will come a month or two after the Ryzen 9000 CPUs launch. Until then, you can rely on existing AM5 ones for the new processors.

We spotted more than a dozen of the company's upcoming motherboards at Computex 2024, ready to drop for AMD's and Intel's forthcoming desktop CPUs later this year.