5 best gaming motherboards

The motherboard is the most important module of any PC, on which almost everything depends - which CPU can be installed, which memory, which additional features can be used for various purposes. There is a separate class of motherboards, which initially have a significantly higher resource in any parameters than the "motherboard" for ordinary work. We are talking about boards for professional gamers, and they will be devoted to today's rating review from Expertoogy.

All ranked gaming motherboardshave a list of common properties:

1. passive cooling;
2. 24-pin main power connector;
3. BIOS AMI with disaster recovery tools;
4. EFI support;
5. IDE controller is not provided;
6. four-channel memory mode;
7. The upper limit of RAM is 128 GB (except for Supermicro X11SPM-TF);
8. the number of slots for memory modules - 8 (except for Supermicro X11SPM-TF);
9. SLI / CrossFireX support (except Supermicro X11SPM-TF).

Top gaming motherboards

Nomination	a place	Name of product	price
Top gaming motherboards	1	ASUS ROG RAMPAGE VI EXTREME OMEGA	50 002 ₽
	2	GIGABYTE X399 AORUS XTREME (rev. 1.0)	30 877 ₽
	3	ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 XE	28 811 ₽
	4	GIGABYTE X299 AORUS MASTER (rev. 1.0)	27 271 ₽
	5	Supermicro X11SPM-TF	29 625 ₽

ASUS ROG RAMPAGE VI EXTREME OMEGA

Rating: 4.9

First, we consider the most powerful, new, multifunctional motherboard in the selection of the ROG RAMPAGE gaming series manufactured by the Taiwanese company ASUS. This is one of the most expensive models on the market as of the beginning of 2019. The form factor is EATX, that is, the board is slightly longer than the most common ATX format.

This gaming motherboard is built on a LGA2066 socket and an Intel X299 chipset. Supports Intel Core X-Series 79xx / 78xx microprocessor systems. For powering the processor are two 8-pin power connector. DDR4 RAM is supported at frequencies from 2,133 to 4,266 MHz.

Storage controllers include: SATA with six 6Gb / s connectors; RAID based on Intel X299 with support for array levels 0, 1, 5 and 10; two M.2 slots of type M key, 2242/2260/2280 - one and M key, 2242/2260/2280/22110 - another. Interface Type M.2 - combined, with support for SATA 3.0 and PCI-E. There is also a connector U.2 for connecting drives of the appropriate form factor. Supports PCI Express 3.0. There are three PCI-E 16-line expansion slots and one PCI-E on 4 lanes.

Based on two integrated Aquantia AQC-107 and Intel I219V network cards, there are two network interfaces with speeds of 10 Gbit / s and 1000 Mbps, respectively. Wireless - Wi-Fi 802.11ac radio and Bluetooth module. Sound subsystem integrated - HDA standard 7.1CH.

A set of interfaces for peripherals includes 20 USB ports, of which 16 are USB3.1 standard and 12 of them are located on the rear panel, S / PDIF output, optical output, Type-C USB interface. There is also a slot for connecting RGB-tape and two interfaces USB 3.1 Gen 2.

The package includes four SATA cables, an extension cable for LED strips, a SLI HB BRIDGE board (2-WAY-M), three thermistor cords, a dual removable ASUS 2T2R antenna, an optional fan board with accessories, a Q-connector, ROG cable tags, ROG sticker, three packs of screws for M.2.

GIGABYTE X399 AORUS XTREME (rev. 1.0)

Rating: 4.8

The rating continues with another bright motherboard for sophisticated gamers produced by the specialized company GIGABYTE, the AORUS series. The form factor is the same as the previous model - EATX. Dimensions - 305x269 mm.

This model is based on the TR4 socket and AMD X399 chipset. Supports microprocessors class AMD Ryzen Threadripper. To power the processor are two 8-pin connectors. You can install DDR4 RAM with frequencies from 2133 to 3600 MHz. What is important is that the motherboard equally perceives both ECC memory and non-ECC memory.

Storage controllers include: SATA with six 6 Gb / s connectors; RAID controller based on AMD X399 with support for levels 0, 1 and 10; three slots for connecting non-mechanical drives M.2 of types Socket 3, M key, 2242/2260/2280 and Socket 3, M key, 2260/2280/22110. M.2 have a combined format, like the previous model, with support for SATA 3.0 and PCI-E. There are four PCI-E expansion slots for 16 lines and one PCI-E for one line. Supports PCI Express 2.0 and 3.0 standards. There is a connector for connecting RGB-tape.

This gaming motherboard has significantly enhanced network capabilities that are provided by three RJ-45 Ethernet interfaces at once: two of them are gigabit based on Intel GbE controllers, one is 5 Gbit / s (or 10 Gbit / s in some other modifications) Aquantia GbE. Other network or device connectivity options are Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth.

The audio subsystem here is integrated - Realtek ALC1220-VB, works within the high standard of multi-channel sound 7.1.

The set of interfaces includes 18 USB ports, of which 14 are 3.1 standard and 10 of them are located on the rear panel. Optical output, S / PDIF and Type-C USB standard are also available.

ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 XE

Rating: 4.7

The next position of the rating is a bright product of ASRock, in which the production of motherboards is one of the priority activities. The form factor here is slightly different - ATX, but it implies a difference only in size, but not in the type of power or other fundamental properties. Dimensions - 305x244 mm.

A gaming motherboard based on the LGA2066 socket and Intel X299 chipset was built, which means compatibility with Intel Core X-Series microprocessor systems. To power the processor are two 8-pin connectors. Allowed to install RAM DDR4 DIMM or RDIMM with frequencies from 2133 to 4400 MHz.

The storage controllers are organized as follows: SATA with ten 6Gb / s connectors; RAID controller based on Intel X299 with support for levels 0, 1, 5 and 10; three slots for solid-state drives M.2 types Ultra M.2, M Key 2230/2242/2260/2280 and Ultra M.2, M Key 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110. As in the previous cases, the M.2 interface is combined, supporting SATA 3.0 and PCI-E. There are four PCI-E expansion slots for 16 lines each and one slot for one line. Supports PCI Express versions 2.0 and 3.0.

In terms of network capabilities, this motherboard is equal to the previous one, but only quantitatively, not qualitatively. It means that Ethernet RJ-45 network interfaces are also three here, but on the basis of other controllers and with different speeds - all three gigabit AQANT10 AQC107, Intel I219V and Intel I211AT. Wireless network - Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard. There is also a Bluetooth module.

The audio part of multimedia in this model is also integrated and complies with the 7.1CH multichannel standard, HDA, built on the basis of the Realtek ALC1220 microchip.

The set of interfaces includes 16 USB ports, 10 of which are 3.1 standard and 6 of them are located on the rear panel. There are also a pair of PS / 2 interfaces for connecting a mouse and a keyboard, S / PDIF output, optical, Type-C USB interface. There is a special connector for connecting RGB-tape.

The package includes four SATA cables, a 3-Way SLI-2S1S Bridge card, an ASRock SLI_HB_Bridge_2S card, two ASRock WiFi 2.4 / 5 GHz antennas, three screws for Ultra M.2, a plug for the back panel.

GIGABYTE X299 AORUS MASTER (rev. 1.0)

Rating: 4.7

The next position in the rating is another remarkable GIGABYTE motherboard, only a slightly different direction and a different socket standard. The form factor is EATX.

The system is based on the LGA2066 socket and Intel X299 chipset with support for Intel Core X series 44-lane / 28-lane microprocessor systems. To power the processor has two 8-pin connectors. Installation of DDR4 memory with frequencies from 2133 to 4000 MHz is allowed.

The storage controller is arranged as follows: SATA with 8 connectors 6 Gb / s; IntelX299 based RAID controller with support for levels 0, 1, 5 and 10; three slots for solid-state drives M.2 of types Socket 3, M key, 2242/2260/2280/22110 and Socket 3, M key, 2260/2280/22110 (combined interface, like the above solutions - PCI-E / SATA 3.0) . There are four PCI-E expansion slots for 16 lines each. Built-in support for PCI Express 3.0.

The audio multimedia subsystem is almost 100% similar to the previous motherboard - multi-channel 7.1CH, HDA based on Realtek ALC1220-VB.

Wired network connections in this motherboard are represented by two Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 interfaces. Wireless communication - Wi-Fi radio standard 802.11ac, Bluetooth module.

The set of interfaces for the gaming motherboard includes 13 USB ports, of which 11 are standard 3.1, eight of which are located on the rear panel. There are also S / PDIF, optical and Type-C USB interfaces. There is an interface for connecting RGB-tape.

Supermicro X11SPM-TF

Rating: 4.6

Completing the rating of the best gaming motherboards according to expert.bigbadmole.com/en/en/ is a model that our specialists intentionally included in the review in order to respond to the inquiry of those potential buyers who for some reason are limited to choosing the smallest motherboard. This model is made in the microATX form factor.

This board uses a LGA3647 socket (Socket P), built on the Intel C622 chipset, and supports Intel Xeon Scalable class processors. To power the processor has one 8-pin connector. Allowed to install RAM DDR4 DIMM or RDIMM with speeds from 1600 to 2666 MHz. What is important is that the gaming motherboard is compatible only with ECC memory. In total, there are six slots for RAM modules and an unprecedented maximum amount of possible memory installation - up to 768GB.

Storage controllers are organized as follows: SATA with 12 6Gb / s connectors; RAID controller based on Intel C622 with support for levels 0, 1, 5 and 10; one M.2 slot of type PCI-E 3.0 x4, 2242, 2280. There are also two PCI-E expansion slots for 16 lines and one for 8 lines. Supports PCI Express 3.0.

As part of the built-in sound, in this collection it is the only model where the integrated sound subsystem is not provided and the card must be purchased separately. But there is a built-in graphics adapter Aspeed AST2500, but in the context of the gaming motherboard is a weak advantage, as most likely, for a full game you will have to buy a discrete and much more powerful graphics card.

The built-in networking capabilities are quite impressive: two Intel X722 and Intel X557 controllers provide two Ethernet channels of 10 Gbps each.

The set of interfaces includes 11 USB ports, 5 of which are 3.1 standard, and 2 of them are located on the rear panel. There are also two classic COM ports, D-Sub.

The package includes two SATA cords and a case back plug with ports.

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Attention! This rating is subjective, is not advertising and does not serve as a guide to the purchase. Before buying, you should consult with a specialist.