How to Choose a Motherboard for Gaming PC Build

Gaming is all about a better CPU with high-end performance. And a CPU is nothing without a capable motherboard. Therefore, If you want to build a gaming PC or buy a pre-built CPU, you must consider the motherboard to be capable enough to support all the necessary parts you want. And sometimes, it becomes very difficult to choose the perfect motherboard for your gaming PC. Hence, choosing the right motherboard for your PC is one of the most important decisions to make.

This article will try to convey the importance of choosing the right motherboard and the best ways to choose it for your gaming PC. All right then, let’s move on to the topic.

10 Things to consider to select a Gaming Motherboard

1. Socket & Chipset

While choosing the motherboard, make sure it supports the socket that your processor is compatible with. Suppose you’ve bought the latest 13-gen Intel Core i9 13900K, then you should buy a motherboard that comes with an Intel Z790 chipset and LGA 1700 socket.

Here’s the list of best motherboards for intel core i9 13900K.

However, you should remember that AMD and Intel processors have different sockets and chipsets. Now, if you cannot use an Intel processor on an AMD-supported motherboard. In addition, in many cases, processors from the same manufacturer don’t support the same motherboard due to their generations.

Few Basic important points;

If you want to experience the Thunderbolt technology, go for an Intel motherboard because only a few AMD motherboards come with this technology.
If you need a PC that can do a better multi-core performance, without any doubt, choose the AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors.
And for gaming, I recommend you choose either Ryzen 7000 series or the Intel Core i5-i7 13th gen CPUs. These processors are highly capable of running any high-end game smoothly.

2. Form Factor

The form factor is the physical dimension of the motherboard. It varies into four categories: mini-ITX, micro-ATX, ATX and E-ATX. If you want a compact CPU, you can use a mini-ITX motherboard.

However, I’d recommend the ATX motherboards for gaming because these motherboards are the most common and perfectly fit for gaming usage. Moreover, they come at an affordable price as compared to other gaming motherboards.

3. Upgrade

When choosing a motherboard for gaming, you must be thinking of upgrading your processor in the future. And thereby, it is necessary to select a motherboard that offers you the feature to upgrade. In this case, you must buy a motherboard that has the latest chipset support.

However, if you want to make a gaming PC to use in the long future, you can choose AMD Ryzen because it supports several CPU generations in the given motherboard.

4. Ports

Ports are something you should always consider while selecting a gaming motherboard. Always make sure your motherboard contains an HDMI and Thunderbolt port. Moreover, USB 3.2 and Type-c are other important data transfer facts. The more USB ports you have, the better compatibility you’ll get. In addition

5. Connectivity

In today’s modern gaming culture, people like playing gaming online by streaming their live video games. Hence, having a good connectivity system in your motherboard is important. My suggestion will be a motherboard with WiFi 6E and 2.5G LAN for a super-fast internet connection.

6. Storage

It is undoubtedly the most important fact to look at the storage capability of a gaming motherboard. Of course, you’ll need high-speed SSD or M.2 SSD cards for running high-end games on your PC. Hence, always select a motherboard that comes with more SSD or NVME M.2 slots.

However, you can also use the HDD for storing media files like video, audio, etc. But make sure your games are not installed on the HDD because that will not give you the proper gaming experience.

7. RAM

While choosing a motherboard for gaming purposes, you should closely examine the RAM support. Since gaming requires faster memory to cope with high-quality graphics, tasks and all, make sure your mother supports DDR4 or DDR5 RAM with overclocking for a better experience.

However, you should keep in mind that the DDR5 performs better because of its latest technology. However, you’ll have to spend extra money on that. And if you buy a motherboard for DDR5 RAM, you cannot use DDR4 RAM on it.

Another thing you should know while purchasing a gaming motherboard is the number of RAM slots. A gaming motherboard contains 4 slots.

8. Cooling System

Gamers know the importance of a cooling system for their day-to-day tasks. For example, if you play high-end games on your PC, you’ll need a proper cooling system in your motherboard to maintain the heat and performance of the CPU. And nowadays, most gaming motherboards come with at least 3 heatsinks with additional cooling fans.

Since gaming requires overclocking your processor, you should choose a motherboard that comes with large heatsinks and support for additional VRMs.

9. RGB Lighting

Believe it or not, the RGB lighting effect gives an extensive gaming experience. Most gamers these days prefer this cool feature while playing games to make the environment more pleasing. In addition, most of the motherboards for gaming come with an amazing RGB effect.

10. Budget

Considering the budget is surely something important to stress about. Processors like AMD Ryzen 5 5700X, Intel Core i5- 13600K, etc., work amazingly with any mid-range motherboards. However, if you want to build a PC for high-end gaming, make sure you’ve selected AMD Ryzen 7/9 or Intel Core i7/i9 compatible motherboards. Since these processors can run all high-quality games smoothly, you’ll enjoy the amazement of playing games on a PC.

In the end, you shouldn’t forget that the pricing of any motherboard depends on its brand name. Hence, while purchasing a motherboard, make sure that it fulfills all the requirements you have for your gaming PC. Therefore, don’t get trapped in the game of brand names and buy smartly.

Conclusion

Now that you have gone through the article, you probably have understood how to choose a perfect motherboard for gaming. However, I always recommend you select the motherboard based on your price point.

Read this blog for the best Z790 motherboards for a high-end intel PC building. And if you’re planning to go with AMD Ryzen processors, X670 motherboards will be the most premium choice, while X570 motherboards come under the budget segment.

And if you don’t like getting bored with building a PC, you can check some of the best-prebuilt gaming PCs.