Best AMD gaming motherboard 2018

The best AMD gaming motherboard can make a huge difference to your final gaming PC build. We’ve put the top AM4 options – from X470 motherboards to X370 and B350 boards – through their paces so you can make the right choice for your rig.

Choosing the best AM4 board is vital in getting the most out of your new AMD Ryzen CPU. You don’t have to go for the latest X470 motherboard either, because the older 300-series boards from the likes of Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASRock are still seriously capable, completely compatible, and a lot more affordable. All AM4 boards work with the current second-gen Ryzen processors, as well as the first-gen chips, making it a very stable platform with impressive potential future-proofing on offer.

Team red has also now announced that the AMD Zen 2 architecture update is going to start sampling before the end of the year for a likely launch in 2019 – again with AM4 socket compatibility. With the promise of AMD’s subsequent CPUs being compatible with current processor sockets until 2020, that gives AM4 a hell of a long life.

AMD’s second-gen Ryzen 2 processors demonstrate the maturation of the red team’s Zen CPU architecture before we even get to the AMD Zen 2 chips arriving next year, and they’ve regained the top position in our best CPU list. But with a host of different chipsets, features, and manufacturers, which motherboard should you be partnering with them?

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To take advantage of the platform’s backwards compatibility, you do need to ensure your motherboard is up to date with the latest BIOS. Don’t worry, all 400-series and most 300-series boards coming fresh out of the factories will feature a new sticker confirming whether they’ve been updated, just look for the “AMD Ryzen Desktop 2000 Ready’ sticker on the box. But, if not, you’ll have to update the board yourself, and that requires a compatible Ryzen 1000-series processor to boot the system – so keep that in mind when shopping around.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean you can buy any ol’ AMD motherboard with a compatible AM4 socket for your Ryzen chip – there are a bunch of other factors you’ll need to take into account before finding the forever home for your new CPU. Do you have a PCIe SSD? Do you aspire to run a multi-GPU rig? Do you want to build a micro machine PC? These are all questions you’ll want answers to. And that’s why you come to the experts…

THE BEST AMD GAMING MOTHERBOARDS ARE:

Gigabyte AB350 Gaming 3
Asus ROG Strix X470-F Gaming
MSI X370 Gaming Pro Carbon
Asus ROG Strix X470-I Gaming
ASRock X370 Killer SLI
Gigabyte Aorus AX370-Gaming 5
ASUS ROG STRIX X470-F GAMING
Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero
MSI X370 XPower Gaming Titanium
Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi
ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Professional Gaming
MSI B350M Mortar
GIGABYTE AB350-GAMING 3
ASRock AB350 Gaming K4

WINNER: BEST AMD GAMING MOTHERBOARD

GIGABYTE AB350-GAMING 3
Approx. $96 | £90

AB350-GAMING 3

A surprisingly powerful and seriously affordable Ryzen board. Perfect for the Ryzen 5 chips.

ChipsetB350
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire (ish)

You might have expected to see an X470 motherboard topping our list of the best AMD gaming motherboards. But, in real terms, there’s precious little to choose between the B350 and either the X470 or X370 boards in our tests. And, considering out of all the Ryzen chips AMD has released, it’s the Ryzen 5 2600 we’re recommending as one of our favourite gaming CPUs – spending anything over $100 on a supporting motherboard seems like overkill.

And so Gigabyte’s smartly priced B350 board is the AM4 mobo we’d be lovingly jamming our Ryzen chips into. It’s only around $85 / £83, and yet, at stock settings it’s one of the most capable of any of the AM4 boards we’ve tested so far.

It actually posted the highest multi-threaded Cinebench R15 figures, though the delta between the top and bottom of that benchmark list is pretty darn minimal. That’s its only win, but the Gigabyte board is essentially as capable as the rest. It does share bottom spot in the Doom Vulkan test, but again, we’re talking about a range of only 5fps between the best and worst of them.

More concerning though is the power/thermal side of things. It’s the toastiest of the boards, running hotter at both peak and idle temperatures, and that’s borne out by the fact it also draws the most juice when running at full chat. It also doesn’t have the friendliest BIOS, nor the most effective overclocking performance – we managed the same 4.05 GHz all-core overclock most of the other AM4 boards delivered, but it needed a chunk more voltage to get there.

And, if you’re chasing a multi-GPU setup, this probably isn’t the board for you. Gigabyte claims CrossFire support, but there’s only one full x16 PCIe 3.0 socket – the second one only runs at x4 bandwidth, and shares that with all the x1 sockets on the board, too.

But if you’re after a straight gaming board, not one that demands the sort of price premium much more feature-packed mobos do, then the Gigabyte AB350M-Gaming 3 is an excellent, value motherboard to drop a stock chip into and just game away, worry free.

RUNNER-UP:

ASUS ROG STRIX X470-F GAMING
Approx. $190 | £185

STRIX X470-F

As you might expect from the ROG branding, this Asus X470 is a brightly coloured, expensive, powerful affair.

ChipsetX470
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way SLI, 3-way CrossFire

Yes, we’re still recommending the bargain-priced Gigabyte B350 to go with our favourite Ryzen processor And that’s because Asus still holds the title of having made the most powerful AMD board we’ve had the chance to test so far. Its CPU performance is ahead of the MSI and Gigabyte motherboards we’ve checked out, and ahead of its X370 forebears, too.

It also delivers higher basic overclocking performance than the other X470 boards, though only gets our Ryzen 7 2700X up to the same level as the X370. That is, though, somewhat against the expectation that the new chipset would offer improved overclocking frequencies.

But if you’re after a seriously high-end AM4 motherboard, this is the one we’d recommend right now. It’s not a horrendously pricey offering, and has a really solid feature set. You might want more USB ports on the rear I/O if you use a lot of professional attached storage, but that’s the most minor of niggles.

RUNNER-UP:

MSI X370 GAMING PRO CARBON
Approx. $144 | £95

PRO CARBON

One of the most affordable of the X370 boards we've checked out, and packs in a great feature list. And RGBs. Obvs.

ChipsetX370
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire/SLI

MSI’s Gaming Pro Carbon is one of the most affordable of the X370 crew, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s light on features. Aside from the RGB LED downlighting inspired by The Fast and the Furious, MSI has also ensured it’s got all the bases covered on the specs front, as well as the aesthetics.

The memory, GPU, and PCIe SSD slots have all been reinforced to avoid damage when poking components into them, the screw holes are double-protected so you don’t break the PCB when installing, it’s added both AMD’s CrossFire and Nvidia’s SLI multi-GPU support, and MSI has also specced-out a pair of VR-ready USB ports too. Like its small-form factor mini-PCs, MSI has added a little silicon to the mix that ensures a stable signal across the USB port, which is absolutely vital in VR to avoid a full-on barf fest.

There’s nothing particularly exemplary in the Pro Carbon’s benchmarks (which is true almost across the board), though it’s never less than utterly competitive in the gaming benchmarks, and stands tall in the CPU tests, too. So it’s got the performance chops and it’s also an impressively feature-rich board for money – a worthy runner-up.

RUNNER-UP:

ASUS ROG STRIX X470-I GAMING
Approx. $192 | £175

STRIX X470-I

A tiny board that still manages to pack in a host of features, RGB LEDs, and a decent amount of performance, too.

ChipsetX470
SocketAM4
Form factorMini-ITX
Multi GPUNone

Judge Yoda by his size, do you? No, and so you shouldn’t. Likewise, Asus’s mighty X470-I gaming shouldn’t be judged purely on scale, either. It’s a minuscule Ryzen X470 motherboard that still manages to pack in a wealth of features and enough performance so it never feels like a compromise.

Well, it might do if you’re talking about USB and SATA ports, but if you’re after server-level motherboard fare then the massive ROG Crosshair boards are probably more to your tastes. Inevitably, it’s a little down in the overall performance metrics compared with the other top boards, but considering what Asus has packed into this tiny package it’s a bit of a miracle mini motherboard.

RUNNER-UP:

ASROCK X370 KILLER SLI
Approx. $125 | £115

KILLER SLI

Still competitive with the motherboard big boys in performance terms, despite its relatively low price.

ChipsetX370
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire/SLI

Don’t let the name mislead you, if you’re planning on jamming multiple AMD GPUs into one rig then the X370 Killer SLI will happily support CrossFire too. Just don’t be too excited about the touted four-way support. This isn’t going to be your quad-GPU gaming behemoth because ASRock is talking about quad-SLI and CrossFire running across the PCIe 2.0 x1 slots – that’s for those crypto-miners who are nabbing all our graphics cards, not us gamers.

In performance terms, the ASRock is absolutely competitive with the big boys. However, it comes behind the MSI Pro Carbon in our gaming tests -though never by a particularly long way, it has to be said. It does run hotter than the others, with only that bargain-priced Gigabyte winner up top running hotter. And when under overclocked conditions with our 1800X chip that heat did seem to become a bit of a stability issue in-game.

RUNNER-UP:

GIGABYTE AORUS AX370-GAMING 5
Approx. $190 | £170

AX370-GAMING 5

Neither a super-powerful, high-end board, or a bargain-busting mid-ranger either, sitting square in the middle.

ChipsetX370
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire/SLI

Gigabyte’s Aorus Gaming-5 is perched uncomfortably on the fence between the standard gaming motherboards and the high-end, high-priced boards below. It’s got a beefy feature set, with reinforced slots, Killer network support, and discrete front and rear headphone amps. Oh, and it’s got RGB LEDs for that ‘daddy, daddy, look at me!’ aesthetic. Obviously, because gaming.

But that all comes at a high price compared with the very similar yet cheaper boards, which makes the Aorus a bit of a halfway house between the value and high-end segments. If you’re looking to save cash, go for the Gaming 3, and if you want to splash the cash it’s the Asus ROG below we recommend.

WINNER: BEST HIGH-END AMD GAMING MOTHERBOARD

ASUS ROG STRIX X470-F GAMING
Approx. $190 | £185

STRIX X470-F

It's not quite the best overall board, but if it's performance above all else for the, the Asus STRIX won't disappoint.

ChipsetX470
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way SLI, 3-way CrossFire

Asus’s ROG Crosshair VI was our previous pick as the money-no-object AM4 board, but the Strix just about gets the nod because of its overall performance. Its CPU pace is ahead of the MSI and Gigabyte motherboards we’ve checked out, and ahead of its X370 Crosshair VI forebear too.

It also delivers higher basic overclocking performance than the other X470 boards, though only gets our Ryzen 7 2700X up to the same level as the X370. That is somewhat against the expectation that the new chipset would offer improved overclocking frequencies.

But if you’re after a seriously high-end AM4 motherboard, this is the one we’d recommend right now. It’s not a horrendously pricey offering, and has a really solid feature set. You might want more USB ports on the rear I/O if you use a lot of professional attached storage, and that’s where the Crosshair VI has the edge, but that’s the most minor of niggles.

Asus Crosshair VI Hero

RUNNER-UP:

ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR VI HERO
Approx. $200 | £183

CROSSHAIR VI HERO

The Crosshair is, and always has been, the go-to Asus board for serial tweakers and those needing more USB ports than you can shake an external drive at.

ChipsetX370
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire/SLI

Asus’s Republic of Gamers brand is always about the high-end and that’s no different with its AMD boards. We haven’t seen one of Asus’s AMD-focused Crosshair boards in a long while (it took them soooo long to bring us Zen) but, thankfully, the AM4 version really delivers. The Strix X470 just about pips the Crosshair VI at the top of the pile because of its extra CPU performance, but it’s mighty close.

It’s all down to the build quality and feature-set of the ROG board. It’s a tight battle between this and the MSI XPower Gaming Titanium, however, but thanks to the classically stuffed ROG feature set, the Crosshair gets the nod. Both are aimed at overclockers, with dedicated features like the on-board controls and extra CPU power connections, but the Asus board has extra power phases – 12 vs. the MSI’s ten – a physical LN2 mode switch, voltage check points, and more USB sockets than there are Beatles ‘greatest hits’ albums.

In terms of a board for the serial tweakers, the ROG is likely to satisfy them more than the MSI below. As well as the packed feature set it’s also cooler and draws less power at full chat, too. This Crosshair VI is also a touch cheaper than the top MSI, especially in the UK, making it almost a clean sweep for team ROG.

But if you want a serious, feature-rich, high-performance, multi-GPU ready AM4 motherboard, Asus has got you covered.

RUNNER-UP:

MSI X370 XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM
Approx. $169 | £214

GAMING TITANIUM

It's one of the most expensive X370s in our test, but it's got a quality feature set and some decent overclocking chops.

ChipsetX370
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire/SLI

MSI’s AMD-focused XPower board is a bit of a beast, but it’s also the most expensive of the AM4 mobos we’ve tested. That high price isn’t the reason it’s sitting close to the top of our pick of the money-no-object Ryzen boards, it’s also thankfully right at the top of the performance tree. The XPower is one of the fastest in our CPU tests and also polls higher than nearly all the boards in the graphical tests too, especially if you look at the 3DMark scores.

It’s also potent when it comes to the overclocking side of things. While we could only hit the same 4.05 GHz all-core overclock with our 1800X that most of the other boards managed, the XPower has a whole lot of dedicated overclocking features for the pros, too. There’s an extra four-pin power connection for the CPU and, combined with the ten-phase power setup, on-board power, reset and overclocking buttons, it’s a mobo with a lot to offer the serial frequency tweakers. It also stays relatively cool even when you’re jamming a lot of extra voltage through your processor too.

But the ROG board above has just got it pegged due to the extra USB connections, lower price, and even more extensive overclocking features. That said, the attractive titanium-shaded PCB is one for the aesthetes and, if you crave storage performance, the XPower features a pair of M.2 sockets (one with their M.2 Shield cooler) giving you scary levels of RAID performance potential.

RUNNER-UP:

GIGABYTE X470 AORUS GAMING 7 WIFI
Approx. $230 | £225

AORUS GAMING 7

One of the most beautiful X470 motherboards you're going to see. Unfortunately, not the most powerful...

ChipsetX470
SocketAM4
Form FactorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire/SLI

The Gigabyte X470 Aorus is a gorgeous AMD motherboard. There’s something almost retro about its nude heatsinks and chunky heatpipes around the power components, but it’s got the requisite bling you need to be allowed in the gaming motherboard club these days.

It’s also nicely specced, with the twin M.2 SSD sockets, which seem to be the hallmark of X470 boards, and reinforced sockets for all the full-size PCIe and DIMM slots, too. The only problem is that it’s not as capable a performance board as the likes of the either the Asus X470 or Crosshair boards. It’s rather pricey, too…

RUNNER-UP:

ASROCK FATAL1TY X370 PROFESSIONAL GAMING
Approx. $210 | £188

PROFESSIONAL GAMING

A seriously feature-rich motherboard, with a 16-phase power design it's built for overclocking.

ChipsetX370X370
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire/SLI

ASRock’s high-end Ryzen board is a great example of how far the company has come from its humble beginnings. Originally a low-end offshoot of Asus, designed to handle the more basic side of board building, ASRock is now capable of competing directly with its one-time parent company.

The Fatal1ty Professional Gaming is another feature-rich AM4 board with a great deal of focus on the overclocking side of the CPU game. It actually generated the highest stable overclock with our Ryzen 7 1800X CPU, hitting 4.075 GHz with just some light tweaks. The best-in-test 16 phase power design plays its part here, allowing the processor to hit those frequency heights and post the highest Cinebench score, but it’s also what helps the board as a whole remain cool during heavy use and avoid the excessive peak wattage of some of the other boards.

But it’s not the most stellar gaming board around, hence it sits beneath the Asus and MSI competition. Though, as you can barely squeeze a 4K pixel between the actual frame rate performance of the suite of motherboards we’ve tested, that’s not necessarily a major issue here.

WINNER: BEST CHEAP AMD GAMING MOTHERBOARD

MSI B350M MORTAR
Approx. $110 | £100

MORTAR

A genuine budget gaming board. Has the performance of bigger boards while lacking the feature set.

ChipsetB350
SocketAM4
Form factorMicro ATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire

The B350 is AMD’s more budget-focused Ryzen chipset, yet it retains essentially the same performance and almost all the overclocking potential of the top-end X370 chipset. Officially, it cannot utilise the extended frequency range (XFR) of AMD’s Ryzen CPU’s, but we’ve found that of limited import during our testing of the platform as a whole.

Which all means MSI’s sub-$100 B350M Mortar board is a motherboard capable of delivering the same stock performance as some of the big boys in this test, which cost at least twice as much. The gaming performance is certainly on par with the rest of the AM4 gang and the Mortar is mighty competitive on the CPU side, too. And it does all that in a smaller form footprint. It doesn’t have the super small stature of a mini-ITX board, but the micro ATX form factor will still allow you to create a pleasingly diminutive gaming rig.

Where you’re losing out is, inevitably, in the feature-set MSI is providing. The BIOS is the first indicator; it’s a cut-down, basic affair, with little in the way of high-end niceties. There aren’t even any multiplier settings when you’re doing the CPU overclocking dance. That said, I was still able to hit a happy 4.05 GHz without setting the board on fire.

You do still get shielded audio, separated on the PCB to avoid electrical interference, and MSI’s Steel Armor reinforcement on the primary PCIe connection. There is a secondary slot, but that only runs at x4 speeds making the CrossFire performance a little under par. It’s also a little light on USB, with a scant six on the rear I/O panel, though there are a number of expansion headers on the board for front panel connections.

But this is a bargain-priced motherboard that retains the performance of its larger siblings. It may be light on features, but it’ll make a great base for a budget Ryzen gaming rig.

RUNNER-UP:

GIGABYTE AB350-GAMING 3
Approx. $75 | £58

GAMING 3

A surprisingly powerful, seriously affordable Ryzen board. Perfect for the Ryzen 5 chips.

ChipsetB350
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire (ish)

I mean, if it’s our pick as the best overall board, and only a little more expensive than our favourite budget board, Gigabyte’s AB350-Gaming 3 still needs to get an honourable mention in the value sector, right?

The Gaming 3 is a fantastic combination of price and performance, delivering the highest stock-clocked Cinebench score of the lot, and is never less than seriously competitive in the gaming benchmarks too. Our biggest concern is the level of heat it generates at full speed, but if you’ve got decent cooling, and aren’t too concerned with building the most energy efficient machine, then it really is a great value Ryzen mobo.

If you want to save a little more money and don’t need the extra PCIe slot, the Micro ATX version of this board is down to $85 at the moment…

RUNNER-UP:

ASROCK AB350 GAMING K4
Approx. $115 | £102

VITAL STATS

ASRock's Gaming K4 is the company's hero B350 board, but it falls short of beating cheaper boards.

ChipsetB350
SocketAM4
Form factorATX
Multi GPU2-way CrossFire

Yes, it’s a bit of a bargain, but the Gaming K4 is actually the weakest of all the AM4 boards we’ve tested. Aside from the Doom test, it posted the slowest gaming frame rates and was propping up the 3DMark scores too. When it came to overclocking, the budget board’s weakness was laid bare, only managing to hit 4.02 GHz with our test chip and even struggled nailing 2,667 MHz with any of our different DDR4 memory kits.

Like the other ASRock boards, the intention behind the Gaming K4 is also ambitious enough to claim compatibility with quad-CrossFire, despite only sporting a single x16 PCIe 3.0 connection. Even with a pair of cards you’re limiting your second to x4 bandwidth, so jamming another two into the waiting PCIe 2.0 x1 slots is going to make a mockery of your tertiary and quartenary GPUs.

It’s not a bad Ryzen board, and its performance metrics really aren’t that far behind the rest, but when there are cheaper, quicker mobos out there this ASRock really becomes a bit of a last resort.

AMD has done it right creating the motherboard platform for its Ryzen processors. It hasn’t tried to limit support, it’s not opted to demand users upgrade their boards for every single iterative CPU update. No, it’s created a stable AM4 platform that is supposed to support every mainstream desktop AMD chip from here to 2020.

And that means you don’t have to go for the highest spec chipset in order to get the best performance from your Ryzen processor, and that’s why we’ve given the win to Gigabyte’s bargain-priced B350 board. It has a feature set that will cater to almost every gamer out there, and delivers frame rate performance that is the equal of much more expensive options.

That does also mean it’s a contender for the budget choice, but MSI’s B350M Mortar just about pips it to that honour. On the more high-end side it’s hard to look past the gorgeous Asus STRIX X470. It’s feature-rich and performance heavy, but then, so is its price.

Either way, no matter your budget there’s a great AM4 motherboard out there just waiting to be built into a great gaming rig.