Motherboards

A well-rounded overclocking-focused flagship board for under $700

An expensive but capable RGB-adorned Mini ITX B660 option.

The B660-I Gaming WIFI is the most well-rounded ITX board for B660, and it’s under $220.

MSI’s B660 Tomahawk is a reasonably priced and well-equipped sub-$200 motherboard.

The Gigabyte B660 Aorus Master is a well-equipped, non-overclocking option for around $200.

Z690 Taichi Razer Edition sports all of the Taichi's features and specs with more RGBs and Razer Chroma integration for $620.

Designed for the budget-conscious enthusiast, the Z690 Edge includes capable power delivery, premium audio solution, four M.2 sockets, Intel-based 2.5 GbE and Wi-Fi 6 for $299.99.

A handsomely equipped Z690 flagship with an integrated water block for $1,149.99.

H610 boards are good for mid-range processors, but struggle with the i9-12900K

Budget Strix comes well-equipped, with premium audio for $239.99.

Reasonable features for the price ($159), but this board struggles with heavily multi-threaded loads

To water cool, or not to water cool, that is the question.

Gigabyte’s X570S Aero focuses on creators, with ample M.2 storage, plenty of USB ports, 2.5 GbE, and capable power delivery for an upper-midrange price of $349.99.

Asus’ Rocket Lake flagships lift premium off another level.

Premium parts

A reasonably priced Micro ATX board that’s flagship-CPU capable.

Asus’ TUF B550M-Plus Wi-Fi brings TUF features to B550.

MSI’s B550I Gaming Edge Wi-Fi includes all the expected bells and whistles of the B550 chipset in a Mini-ITX size package, sans RGB.

The $1100 ASRock Z490 Aqua performed well during testing with the monoblock, keeping the VRMs exceptionally cool, even when overclocked. But is it worth the insane price of admission?

The Z490GTA EVO performs fine at stock speeds, with features comparable to other boards around this price. If you are looking to overclock, however, look elsewhere for now.