Cheap boards are often cheap because they use shoddy construction, and may easily flex against light pressure.

The physical quality of the board itself is another concern. For high powered PCs, a quality motherboard can be the difference between a power surge costing you $200, or a surge costing you $2000 and all of your data. If there’s an electrical problem, it’s up to your motherboard whether or not a surge will wipe out your entire system. But the motherboard is the central connection for all your other components. Inexperienced people who are buying computer parts have an unfortunate tendency to cut corners on their motherboard budget.

In general, it’s accurate to say that motherboards advertised for gamers tend to perform equal or better than those targeted at general audiences. Motherboards specifically designed for gaming are often made to accommodate large graphics cards, hot CPUs, and other bulky components. But powerful hardware eats up data bandwidth, tends to take up more space, and produces plenty of heat in the process. Playing modern games can require considerable processing power, which is why PC gamers own some of the most powerful computers on the planet. There are a handful of appreciable differences between ordinary motherboards, and those marketed towards gamers. But as your system gets larger and more involved, those concerns become more important. For someone running one GPU against one hard drive, that’s never going to be a concern. Likewise, every board will have a finite number of PCIe lanes, meaning a finite number of peripherals it can support. For example, your motherboard is one factor that can limit the total amount of RAM your system can support. All X470 boards are equipped for second generation Ryzen CPUs as well as modern DDR4 RAM.īut you can never completely escape compatibility concerns. Fortunately, the fact we’re looking only at X470 boards means you don’t have to be concerned with many compatibility issues. On the most fundamental level, you want to know your CPUs chipset will fit on the board. Many of the most tedious aspects of choosing a motherboard involve compatibility. You’ll also want to take a moment to reflect on the kind of chipsets you need, and how any given board can help fill those needs. The good news is that if you know what you’re looking for, then this new generation of X470 motherboards will provide you with a wide selection of quality choices to consider.īut depending on how familiar you are selecting a motherboard, you will need to take a moment to consider the quality and quantity of connections you want on your next board.

In anticipation of the next generation of Ryzen CPUs, nearly every major motherboard manufacturer has gone to great lengths to be prepared at release with a new line of X470 boards.

Asus prime x470 pro review