The X chipset might be a couple of years old, but that doesn't mean it's time to put it out to pasture just yet. With PCIe 4. It shares a lot in common with its already highly regarded predecessor.
With the inclusion of some critical feature updates and design tweaks, the XS Aorus Master should remain a best-in-class contender for AMD motherboards. When we first saw X boards en masse at Computex in , one of the things that concerned us was the almost universal presence of chipset fans.
The S in XS denotes silence. The base chipset design hasn't changed, but Gigabyte has added a lot of surface area to the cooling assembly, with almost the entire bottom half of the board now covered with heatsinks. Gigabyte deserves credit for continuing to use finned VRM heatsinks, which add a lot of surface area.
They're proof that it's possible to blend function with form. Twelve ports consist of four USB 2. Something has to be done about that ridiculous USB naming scheme, but that's a story for another day. It's got loads of USB ports and storage options. It looks good too. This AMD motherboard comes packed with all the trappings you'd expect, including an onboard thermal sensor, onboard power and reset buttons, and a BIOS flashback option on the rear IO panel.
You also get a couple of M. These specs are generally par for the course, however. Sleek matte black and chrome finish and subdued RGB lend an air of subtlety to this particular board, and while the seamless M. This isn't a glaring issue but does add an extra step whenever you're trying to upgrade your storage.
Overall, this board has many attractive features, but its comparatively steep price tag may draw your eye to more affordable offerings.
ASRock has made some great AMD Ryzen motherboards over the years, and this one packs in the latest high-end X chipset, forward-looking features, and serious performance. The PCIe 4.
That's an impressive little added extra from what is an already special board. It is worth noting that it will require an Intel-based CPU cooling bracket. That's only an issue if you want to use the stock AMD coolers, but otherwise, any third-party cooler will come with Intel brackets.
The gaming frame rates of the MSI B Mortar put it above the rest of the B crew we've tested so far, and indeed its straight CPU performance puts it up there with some of the best Xs. That bodes well if you're looking for an affordable home for your AMD Zen 3 CPU; this B has a great chance to ensure it performs to its fullest stock-clocked potential without breaking the bank.
But you will be missing out on extra PCIe 4. You can also opt to ditch wireless networking, depending on whether you pick the straight Mortar or the more expensive Mortar Wi-Fi 6 version. But, as an affordable gaming board without OC pretensions, it's a great shout.
AMD's budget Ryzen motherboard chipset, the A, has largely slipped under the radar. While B and B motherboards were mainly regarded as entry-level, A was strictly seen as resolutely low-end.
Enter the A If you're on a tighter budget and don't care about PCIe 4. There's cheap, and there's cheap, but a decent A board can more or less do everything aboard at double the price can. Best Hz Monitors. Cheap Hz Monitors. Acer Gaming PCs.
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Affiliate Disclaimer. Here are some common objectives among our readers:. The fundamentals of motherboard selection don't really change all that much between AMD and Intel, given a general demand for quality components, but there are obviously differences between Haswell and FX products. The most obvious? Board selection basics will vary slightly between budget ranges, but they're still fairly universal.
Quality is king, here -- as increasingly more features get moved to the CPU and the board's need for dedicated ICs is minimized see: on-chip VRM , it's decidedly less binary to sort good from bad -- but indicators still exist. Depending on your price-range, heatpiping and active cooling continue to play an important role in stability especially in AMD products that still use dedicated VRMs ; a proper heat dissipation system will reduce heat buildup from the VRM and power phases, aiding with overclocking by reducing the thermal footprint and increasing stability.
In general, capacitors are fairly reliable and predictable across most computing products. Once you enter the mid-range board market, though, specialized components start to see more play in manufacturing. Leak-resistant electrolytic capacitors normally advertised as "Japanese-made" or "Polymer capacitors" or "gold-plated caps" are key to stability and longevity, as cap leaks can render a board dead or power inefficient -- power efficiency degradation as a result of capacitor aging will also be mitigated by high-quality capacitors.
Capacitor quality is especially important to pay attention to when purchasing boards that undergo regular thermal stress, like when used in overclocking applications. I haven't personally tested some of the current phase design boards on Haswell architecture, but I'd imagine it's almost entirely irrelevant for most overclockers -- maybe if you're dealing with something close to needing LN2, but certainly not for the "average" overclock. Phase power design is an entirely separate article altogether, but we can cover it briefly.
Basically, the blocks sitting around the CPU socket and one or two near the RAM are responsible for converting and cleaning power that is eventually delivered to the CPU.
The best analogy I've seen was written by "davidebyzero" on TechSpot , who explained phase power design using automotive connections:. For Intel, it's just going to be RAM. You really don't need more than one phase for RAM unless you're doing some really serious memory overclocking which has very few practical applications. One phase for HT is fine as well. If the phase power design isn't listed in the specifications, it can be easily determined by counting the blocks on the board. Technically, having a more advanced phase power design will improve stability by having more consistently clean power delivery and fewer voltage drops, but neither of those is a likely issue on a mainstream rig.
As a final aside, some boards have special dedicated components on-board that offer advanced functionality. IO benchmarks are mid range, reaching the upper echelons on occasion. The system just worked without issue during our testing suite.
Two extra USB 3. While it the UP4 does not surpass any of the competition for performance some would argue it is at a lower price:performance ratio , it falls into the category of a rare board that passes my desk without any serious issues, and it should be seriously considered as a reliable purchase.
Our last board to recommend is the one that finished second in our Z77 mini-ITX review. The placing of the mSATA on the rear of the motherboard is innovative in the desktop computer space although the norm in laptops , but I think it is great — now my father has a mITX motherboard which he will not be able to destroy a SATA drive by forcefully removing a locking cable!
In the future we will get Richland processors, but these will fit directly into FM2 motherboards — meaning that I fear we are probably not due a motherboard refresh any time soon.
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