If this isn’t enough to sell you, there is a powerful CPU overclocking feature, great connectivity with WI-Fi 6E, and an awesome midrange price point. Plus, the five M.2 slots (four of which are PCIe 4.0) make the storage support on this motherboard another big advantage. There’s even a third PCIe 3.0 x 16 slot with four lanes perfect for adding in additionals. With the two PCIe 5.0 x 16 slots, you can run full bandwidth on one or split its lanes to share between the two. And, with DDR5 memory support, power consumption is reduced while bandwidth increases–what more could you want? The new Z690 chipset offers PCIe 5.0 support, so you'll be future-ready for the latest graphics cards. Priced under $400 and loaded with quality, it’s hard to beat this standout motherboard.

Intel has released their 12th Gen Core processors with an all-new socket, the LGA 1700, and the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi welcomes this major update.

MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi Best Intel MotherboardĦ See on Newegg CPU Socket: LGA1700 | Chipset: Z690 | Memory Support: 4 x DDR5 6,666Mhz 128GB | Expansion Slots: 2 x PCIe 5.0 x16 (shared lanes) 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 (4 lanes) | M.2 Slots: 4 x M.2 slot PCIe 4.0 x 4 (Key M), 1 x M.2 slot PCIe 3.0 x 4 (Key M) | Wi-Fi: Intel Wi-Fi 6E Asus ROG X570 Crosshair Hero VIII (Wi-Fi)ġ.TL DR – These are the Best Gaming Motherboards: If you're building a more compact system, then you should also check out the best Micro ATX motherboards – and click here to find them in the UK. To help you through this selection process, we've rounded up a bunch of quality motherboards for both Intel and AMD systems, so you can find one that checks all your boxes. With these things in mind, it's worth considering your motherboard carefully before getting too excited about all the impressive abilities your PC will have based on just its CPU and GPU. It also plays into how much overclocking you can do, what RAM speeds you can enable, and how many different storage devices you can attach – just because a motherboard has eight SATA ports and two M.2 slots doesn't mean you can populate all of those with drives. Plus, the ability to get plenty of bandwidth through numerous PCIe lanes will come down to your motherboard and its chipset. Especially as PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 slots become the norm. Most mainstream motherboards will let you go with your choice of graphics cards, but your choice of motherboard will figure out just what other expansion cards you can get. But, your motherboard choice goes well beyond determining your CPU compatibility, and it has a lot more to do with the all the different capabilities your gaming PC will ultimately have.

Sure, your graphics card and CPU are easier to get excited about, since they're the components that are most closely associated with all the in-game settings you'll get to dial up and just how fast you'll be running your games. Your choice of motherboard should never be an afterthought.

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