Motherboards
Along with Intel's comprehensive selection of 12th Gen Core series processors, there's an equally comprehensive selection of motherboards to go with them. For the entry-level, there's the very affordable and solid bang for buck Core i3-12100 ($130), with the mid-range being dominated by the Core i5 and i7 processors with up to twelve cores (8P/4E). At the top of the stack is the flagship Core i9-12900K and Core i9-12900KS processors with sixteen cores for the most demanding workflows, applications, and games. Every processor regardless of use case and price point needs an equally capable motherboard to get the most out of the performance. With a wide variety of LGA 1700 motherboards including the premium Z690, more affordable H660, and B660 chipsets, to the more affordable...
ASRock Z490 Aqua Motherboard Review: The $1100 LC Monoblock Flagship
It is no secret that Intel's 10th generation processors are power-hungry. Intel has been squeezing every last drop of MHz out of the 14 nm process with its fastest...
51 by Gavin Bonshor on 10/2/2020The ASRock Z490 PG Velocita Motherboard Review: It Means SPEED
For the foreseeable future, or at least until Intel's Rocket Lake is likely to be unveiled, Intel's main platform for consumers is currently the Z490 chipset for Comet Lake...
16 by Gavin Bonshor on 9/21/2020EVGA Launches Z490 Dark K|NGP|N Edition: Built for Overclockers
One of the biggest names on the extreme overclocking scene is Vince 'K|NGP|N' Lucido, who is highly regarded as one of the best sub-zero overclockers. He is a longtime...
59 by Gavin Bonshor on 9/8/2020ASRock B550 Taichi Review: The $300 B550 Motherboard with Chutzpah
Outside of its Aqua series of motherboards, which come with exquisitely crafted monoblocks, ASRock's Taichi brand has been a critical part of the company's offerings in the land of...
63 by Gavin Bonshor on 8/21/2020AMD Releases the A520 Chipset: For Ryzen on a Budget
AMD has officially lifted the lid on its latest entry-level chipset designed for its Zen 2-based Ryzen 3000 and 4000 processors, the A520 chipset. Following AMD's mid-tier B550 chipset...
41 by Gavin Bonshor on 8/18/2020The Z490 Mini-ITX Showdown: GIGABYTE's Z490I Aorus Ultra and MSI's MEG Z490I Unify Reviewed
The mini-ITX form factor is as popular as ever, with a handful of options already available for Intel's new LGA1200 socket. Over the years motherboard vendors have been perfecting...
22 by Gavin Bonshor on 8/4/2020GIGABYTE's New Z490 Aorus Master WaterForce Combo with Bundled 360mm AIO
Up until now, GIGABYTE has reserved the monoblock clad WaterForce series for its flagship Aorus Xtreme models. In an interesting move to further enhance the performance of the Intel...
13 by Gavin Bonshor on 8/3/2020The ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi Motherboard Review: Premium Value
Motherboards based on AMD's B550 chipset have exploded onto the scene. Despite B550 being a cost-down version of X570 for the budget market, motherboard manufacturers have gone a little...
41 by Gavin Bonshor on 7/22/2020Colorful Announces Two sub-$130 micro-ATX B550 Motherboards
With AMD's B550 models now on the shelves, a lot of focus around its launch was based on pricing - or rather the lack of very low-cost entry-level models. The...
50 by Gavin Bonshor on 7/9/2020ASUS ROG Maximus XII Apex Now Available
Back in April, Intel released its Z490 chipset for its 10th generation Comet Lake processors with a choice of over 44 models for users to select from. One of...
20 by Gavin Bonshor on 7/1/2020The Intel W480 Motherboard Overview: LGA1200 For Xeon W-1200
During Intel's unveiling of the Z490 chipset and Intel Core 10th generation Comet Lake processors, Intel also announced its series of Xeon W-1200 processors. To accompany this announcement, without...
38 by Gavin Bonshor on 6/24/2020The AMD B550 Motherboard Overview: ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, ASRock, and Others
AMD’s budget motherboard range is often at times more successful than the bigger, full fat versions. Users have in the past got almost all of the same chipset features...
102 by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on 6/16/2020ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero Wi-Fi Review: The Tale of Two Motherboards
Some of the recent discussions around motherboard design are whether the motherboard manufacturers are actually adhering to the CPU vendor specifications. If a motherboard manufacturer improves the base power...
34 by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on 6/11/2020ASRock Rack Offers Rome mATX Motherboard with only 6 Memory Channels
One of the items that makes a motherboard immediately standout is the amount of memory slots it has. For mainstream platforms, having two or four memory slots, for dual...
28 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 6/8/2020GIGABYTE Announces Z490 Aorus Ultra G2 Motherboard, with G2 Esports Tie-In
Collaborations between hardware vendors and Esports teams isn't a new thing, but it is becoming an apparent and common trend within the industry. GIGABYTE and G2 Esports has announced...
9 by Gavin Bonshor on 6/5/2020The Biostar Racing Z490GTN Review: $200 for Comet Lake mini-ITX
Small form factor boards are always a key talking point for any desktop market. The usual breakdown on Mini-ITX sales for any given generation is usually around 10%, and...
40 by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on 6/5/2020MSI MPG Z490 Carbon EK X: LGA1200 Motherboard with an EKWB Monoblock
In one of the coolest collaborations of the year so far, MSI and EK Water Blocks have come together to create a new Z490 motherboard, the MSI MPG Z490...
18 by Gavin Bonshor on 6/3/2020Biostar's Two New H410 Motherboards: H410MHG and H410MH
Not only did Intel unveil its Z490 motherboard chipset for Intel's 10th generation desktop processors, but it also announced its more budget-friendly chipsets. Biostar has announced two new micro-ATX...
26 by Gavin Bonshor on 5/29/2020The ASRock Z490 Taichi Motherboard Review: Punching LGA1200 Into Life
In our first Intel Z490 motherboard review, the ASRock Z490 Taichi takes center stage. With its recognizable Taichi clockwork inspired design, a 12+2 power delivery, three PCIe 3.0 x4...
63 by Gavin Bonshor on 5/27/2020AMD's B550 Motherboards Start Appearing Online
Today is the next stage of the AMD AM4 B550 motherboard rollout: numerous vendors have started listing its models in place of an expected launch on June 16th. One...
51 by Gavin Bonshor on 5/21/2020