[Serious] Is there a point in buying a high end motherboards in 2023?
Best Gaming Motherboard - PCPartPicker
Best X670E motherboard after a couple months since launch?
The Best AMD X670E Motherboards
Are Gaming motherboards worth it?
Typically, gaming motherboards will fit in nicely with both aesthetics and feature sets. There is a chance that you may have to pay a higher price for enthusiast models, however. More decadent RGB and feature-rich motherboards will command a premium, and often have similar functionality to less “gaming” focused motherboards.
So, Which Motherboard Should I Buy?
As you can see, there is a lot to remember when buying a motherboard. Unlike buying a single component—such as a CPU, GPU, or RAM—numerous interlocking factors need consideration beyond just performance benchmarks. With the CPU socket, the RAM support, the audio hardware, the networking hardware, the power hardware, overclocking features, and so much more, buying a motherboard can start to feel rather overwhelming.
Just take things in order to keep the task from feeling too daunting. It's easiest to pick a motherboard once you know how big a PC you are building or upgrading. Settle on a size, after which choose a CPU that you want to buy and fits your budget. Then comes the chipset consideration; that, to a large extent, will set the price range for the board itself, and you can make sure it fits your budget.
We didn’t delve deeply into the issue of price in this article, because motherboards can range from as low as $50 for the most basic models (likely last-generation) to more than $1,000 for rare and elite, extreme-tweaker models with built-in liquid cooling hardware. Simply put, we can find no way to do justice to that large a price range with one-size-fits-all advice. The vast span and mix of parts that can change on a motherboard also significantly alter the value of any given board for people with specific needs. It needs to be calculated on a case-by-case basis.
To be sure, some boards offer more value than others. However, don't fret; as long as the board you buy is compatible with the CPU you want, the size you want, and within a comfortable price range, it should generally work fine. All of the other features—an I/O port mix, an onboard audio solution, and suitability for overclocking—are best considered only if they are important to you personally. These factors may also help you decide between two similarly priced motherboards. But, ultimately, features like the audio and networking systems should be secondary considerations.
Our helpful comparison grid and list of product picks showcase some of our favorite models that we have tested in recent months, organized by platform and rough use case. Regardless, motherboard manufacturers release a vast array of models, and no one on the internet comes even close to reviewing them all. Use these models as a jumping-off point in your search, and look for professional reviews of the specific models you are considering for the fine points.
What is the typical lifespan of a gaming motherboard?
In terms of build quality, most motherboards tend to easily last years—especially since they’re safe inside your PC case. In rare exceptions, some can be damaged— such as the pins on the CPU socket, or random short circuits.
In terms of component compatibility, it can vary. For example, AMD’s AM4 platform enjoyed years of CPU upgrades up to the Ryzen 9 5950X. Intel typically supports at least two generations of CPUs on a motherboard: A Z690 motherboard can take both a 12900K and a 13900K, for example. Currently AMD’s AM5 will have the longer lifespan compared to Intel’s 13th-gen, which will eventually have a socket change.
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EDIT: I'm NOT saying everyone should buy the cheapest available motherboard. The cheapest boards can for example still have lackluster VRMs, especially since upper-midrange CPUs like the in 13600K can suck back a lot of power and need sufficient VRMs. Cheaper boards can of course also lack in wireless connectivity, lack of sufficient m.2 slots, or usb slots.
I've been in the computer space since about 2013 and have built probably around 50-60 PCs in that time for friends, family, and myself of course. In that (short) history there were often very valid reasons to get a high end motherboard, as to get the features you want. But I'm seriously asking the community for their view on this in 2023, as I simply don't see it anymore. [Serious] If you have any other view on this, please let me know as I would love to give some valid feedback on people around me asking for this.
Let's take AM5 for example. What's the point of a $350+ X670(e) motherboard, when you can get something like a $149.99 ASRock B650m Pro RS WiFi with:
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4 M.2 slots (3x for SSDs),
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plenty good VRMs for a 250W+ AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (even keeping the coolest of any B650 boards),
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PCIe 5.0 for GPU & 1 M.2,
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BIOS-flashback
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Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.2,
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2.5Gb Ethernet,
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10Gb/s USB-C,
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8+ USB ports of which 6 are 5Gb/s or faster,
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HDMI 2.1 + DP 1.4 for iGPU,
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RGB headers,
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5 Fan Headers
The MSI Pro B650m-A WiFi is very similar and gives the same points basically
Higher end motherboards have:
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Faster USB, but seriously (sorry to be blunt), who needs more than 5Gb/s or even 10Gb/s for real-world use-cases? People used to pay a lot more for faster USB, as USB 1.0 vs 2.0 vs 3.0 was a massive real world difference that you actually noticed. I just don't see that to be the case anymore.
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More USB, but isn't 8 enough..?
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Seven segment display, fair enough. Not many people use this however, but as Gamer's Nexus said, this is actually a feature that cheaper motherboards used to have, but don't anymore - they should probably get a return.
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Better VRMs, but the 14x 60A power stages on the ProRS is already ridiculously overkill.
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More PCIe expansion, but what you still use PCIe expansion for in 2023? I suspect that almost no one uses any PCIe cards on WiFi-enabled boards - even if you do, you still have a full 16x slot to install something into. People used to need ATX for all the PCIe expansion that actually mattered 'back in the day', but I basically see no one actually using them anymore.
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Better audio, but the Realtek ALC897 audio chip is seemingly good enough for 99.9% of users, and people who really care about audio will use an amp+dac anyway? Stock audio on PCs used to be absolutely trash, but there's a good reason why they've died out over the years.
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More SATA ports, but who still seriously uses more than 4 SATA drives in the PC itself? People used to have everything on their PCs, but with how large/cheap SSDs have become, how big a single Hard Drive can be, and how many people use NAS/Cloud storage, I don't see the point.
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Have more M.2 slots, but that's not even always the case, and even if they do you're going from 3 to 4 slots in a time where you can get 'affordable' 4TB SSDs for less than $200
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ATX vs mATX , but what's really the point beyond aesthetics? I've basically given my arguments above.
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Aesthetics, but... Fair enough, anyone can splurge as much as they want on aesthetics.
So... Does it basically just come down to aesthetics and brand/model names? Can anyone give me some counterarguments? I have no doubt that there are people who still use $300+ sound cards, $200 USB cards with separated USB controllers for optimal VR setups, 10Gb NICs, or have 8+ Hard drives. Please let me know though why you bought a high end motherboard recently! I'm genuinely curious!