Best Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600, 3600X, 2600 – February 2021

Last Updated on August 7, 2020 by Scott

It’s been more than two weeks since Ryzen 3000 CPUs were released along with many X570 motherboards.

Keeping our tradition, we wrote the round-up review about the X570 boards released so far. But to our surprise, many people emailed us to know about the motherboards specifically for Ryzen 5 3600 and 3600X CPUs.

Both of these CPUs belong to the second-lowest tier of Ryzen 3000 CPU hierarchy and target those want to have their next PCs build within $800-$1000 price range.

So here it is.

Best Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600 & 3600X February 2021

We have initially reviewed five boards here but will probably add some more in the future. One good thing about them is that all five of them come at different prices. So a person can shortlist any of them according to his/her budget.

Another thing I must clarify at the start is that all of these boards are compatible with other Ryzen 3000 CPUs, such as 3200G and 3700X CPUs etc. It’s just that we believe them to be more suitable for 3600 and 3600X.

So, without any further any ado, let’s start.

GIGABYTE X570 AORUS PRO WiFi

Best Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600X Overall

The second board we have is Aorus X570 Pro WiFi by Gigabyte.

Costing you almost 270 bucks, it’s in the middle of x570 motherboard herd – both in terms of price and hierarchy.

But despite being a so-called midrange board, it has almost everything you can find in a high-end boards: 12+2 Phase VRM, two M.2 PCIe 4.0 slots, ALC1220-VB audio setup, Gigabit LAN, HDMI 2.0, and armored DIMM & PCIe slots etc.

Like many motherboard nowadays, it has a dark grey PCB with silver lines diagonally printed over it. Apart from this, silver color can also be found on the rear I/O shroud and the chipset heatsink.

Below its CPU socket is the first M.2 slot and is directly connected to the CPU, while the other one is located between the first and second PCIe x16 slots, and is connected to PCH lanes. Like all premium mobos, both of them come with heatsinks, and have a really easy-to-use mounting mechanism.

Speaking of PCIe slots, there are three of them. The first two are of x16 type and have metal reinforcement, while the third one runs on x1 mode. Since it has the word WiFi in its name, it’s obvious that wireless connectivity is there – in the form of an Intel I211AT and an Intel 802.11ax WiFi adapter.

Its I/O panel consists of three USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports, Two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, One USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, and four USB 2.0 ports. Not to forget about the five 3.5 mm audio jacks, BIOS Flashback USB port, and an optical S/PDIF out port.

My main concerns with this board are the fair amount of bloatware and less M.2 slots (only two). On the other hand, I still like it for excellent thermal performance, single-screw m.2 mounts, WiFi 6 availability, and having a simple yet good looking design.

Check Price on Amazon

ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus WiFi

Best Budget Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600X

As far as the pricing is concerned, X570 motherboards are proving to be a dual-edge sword.

On one hand, we can argue about how expensive they are overall. But on the other hand, you can pick a ‘cheap’ X570 motherboard for a high-end gaming PC, and still get almost all of your bases covered.

One of those ‘cheap’ motherboards is TUF X570-plus WiFi by Asus – a sub-$200 board that comes with almost every feature you can think of in a modern motherboard.

I am not joking. Let’s think about this way:

It has a 12+2 power design with a 6-layer PCB, and Digi+ VRM. To keep the temperatures down, there are two large-sized VRM heatsinks, an M.2 heatsink, a chipset heatsink, and hybrid fan headers.

Having a two PCIe M.2 slots, a lot of USB ports on I/O panel (four USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C), five audio jacks, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac WiFi with MU-MIMO support, and Bluetooth 5, it’s not short on connectivity either.

If I were to nitpick one downside in this board, it would be lack of Lack of 802.11 ax aka. WiFi 6 (you still get WiFi AC though). But to be fair, Asus had to make some compensations to keep the cost down.

Overall, it offers almost every functionality of Aorus Pro WiFi while costing almost 50 bucks less. That’s why it’s our low-end recommendation for Ryzen 5 3600x.

Check Price on Amazon

MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon WiFi

Best Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600 Overall

Since 2018, MSI has classified its motherboards in different lineups such as MPG, MAG, and MEG.

MEG is their flagship series and contains high-end motherboards (such as GODLIKE models) for the PC enthusiasts, while the MPG series caters to those who are looking for slightly affordable options but still want a premium touch.

The new X570 Gaming Pro Carbon WiFi belongs to the MPG series. Coming in at almost 290 bucks, it slightly less expensive than the ASRock Taichi.

Unlike other MSI motherboards with WiFi, this one doesn’t have any non-WiFi variant. There’s a 8+4 power delivery connector at the top. To keep the board cooler, the MOSFETS have a good quality heatsink with fewer fins.

For storage, there are six SATA ports and two M.2 slots. Like other High-end boards from MSI, the M.2 slots are covered by the SHIELD FROZR heatsinks which in turn are extended to the chipset heatsink. Since X570 chipset is actively cooled by a fan, it also helps to keep the M.2 slots’ temperature down indirectly.

There are four DIMM slots for the RAM memory, and you can install up to 128 GB in total, with up to 4400+ MHz speed for each memory stick.

Design wise, it’s similar to the other boards in the carbon series, which isn’t so surprising considering its success in the past, and features a server-grade Black PCB – according to the MSI. Being labelled as a gaming motherboard, it features RGB but it’s not in-your-face by any means.

On the bottom side of the board, there are two PCIe 4.0 x16 reinforced slots with support for CrossFire. The bottom edge is the area where most of headers are located but you can find some of them (like the power connector) near the DIMM slots.

Like ASRock Taichi, this one has a BIOS flash button in the I/O panel, along with USB 3.2 Gen 2 Ports (both Type A and C), 2×2 WiFi 6 setup, USB 2.0 and PS/2 ports for legacy hardware, and some audio connectors.

Overall, it’s a good cut-down version of MSI GODLIKE. There are some features missing but it’s also 300 bucks cheaper than the former.

Other than this, it’s perfect motherboard with good overclock-ability (thanks to high-quality power components), has attractive design, and provides good gaming performance.

Check Price on Amazon

Asus Prime X570-P

Best Budget Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600

Costing almost 60 bucks less than the Asus TUF Gaming, here we have the Asus Prime X570-P: our recommendation as the best budget mobo for Ryzen 3600.

Looks-wise, it’s a lot different than other Asus X570 models because here you get a white-silver pattern of diagonal lines on the majority area. The chipset heatsink is colored white, I/O ports and VRM heatsinks are colored grey, and the socket area (along withe PCIe and M.2 slots) is colored black.

In terms of power delivery, you get a solid 8+4 power phase design for the CPU Vcore. This setup, along with high-quality capacitors, is good enough for power even more powerful CPUs like Ryzen 3700x. In fact, the VRM found here is the exact same that Asus had put in much more expensive MAXIMUS XI FORMULA Z390.

Despite being an entry-level model, it has almost all of the bases covered in the form of six SATA ports, dual PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, two x16 PCIe slots that support AMD CrossFire (but not Nvidia’s SLI), and a couple of good-quality Realtek controllers to handle the onboard networking and audio.

There are three x1 PCIe 4.0 slots as well, and they can be used for different expansion cards. If I were to nitpick here, then it would be the lack of metal reinforcement on the second of those x16 PCIe slots.

Like most other boards out there, it has 4 DIMM slots and supports a total of 128 GB memory (36×4) in them. With Ryzen 2000 processors, you can overclock these sticks to 3.6 GHz, and with Ryzen 3000 CPUs, this mark further increases to 4.4 GHz.

The M.2 slots here don’t come with dedicated heatsinks which may cause thermal throttling in some M.2 SSDs. But you can reduce this issue (to some extent) by placing your SSD in the M.2 slot which is further away from your graphics card.

Also, many PCIe 4.0 SSDs are now coming with their own heatsink to dissipate the heat. So I don’t think it’s much of a deal-breaker.

One big thing you’ll notice here is the lack of the rear I/O cover, most probably in order to cut down costs.

But as bare as it looks at the first sight, the I/O panel has all the ports/slot you would ever need, in the form of four USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, and two USB 2.0 ports. For audio, there are three 3.5 mm audio jacks controlled by Realtek S1200A HD audio codec.

There’s no Type-C support in this motherboard but I don’t think it’s a major issue considering the price. The other things absent here are the multi-Gig Ethernet and WiFi AX capability.

Simply put, Asus has stripped all the non-essential features here, but definitely made good decisions in the form of high-quality VRMs, large heatsinks, and up to 32 GB UDIMMs support. The absence of BIOS flashback button is the only real flaw I could find here.

Coming at less than 125 bucks at the time of this review, Asus Prime X570-P is one of the cheapest motherboards in the market, and certainly a good budget X570 option to pair up with your Ryzen 3600.

Check Price on Amazon

ASRock B450M PRO4

Best B450 Motherboard For Ryzen 5 3600 & 3600X

This board is different than the other ones we’ve discussed so far.

It was released in August last year and features the B450 chipset. This B450 chipset is the reason why it costs so low – even less than 100 bucks at the time of this review.

B450 chipset, along with B450 motherboards, was introduced as a budget alternative against the then more expensive x470 motherboards.

And now, since AMD has made it clear that you can use the new Ryzen 3000 CPUs with X470 as well as B450 motherboards, we thought it would be better to list one of the B450 motherboard. These boards generally provide a better bang-for-your-buck ratio than the x470/x570 boards by removing some unnecessary features while keeping most of your bases covered.

Coming to this board, it has an 8-pin CPU connector at the top which helps you in cable management. Despite being smaller, you still get four DIMM slot with support for sticks up to 3200 MHz speed and 64 GB size (total).

Right next to DIMM slots is the USB 3.1 front panel header and the 24-pin PSU connector. Below this USB connector, there are four SATA 6 ports – not too much but not too little either.

Like the rest of the board, the rear I/O panel included almost everything you can think of, without doing anything over the top. You get the four USB 3.0 ports, one USB 3.1 Gen 2 port, and one Type-A port. For older hardware, there’s PS/2 and a couple of USB 2.0 ports.

In case you’re an RGB fan, there are two RGB headers and an addressable LED header.

For further storage, there are M.2 ports. There’s no heatsink for these slots (perhaps in order to reduce costs) but one good thing is that they’re relatively easier to access. For graphics cards and other cards, there’s a single PCIe 3.0 x16 slot along with two older PCIe slots (one 2.0 x16 and one 2.0 x1).

In terms of audio, there’s Realtek ALC892 codec and while it’s significantly lower than the new 1220 codec in terms of quality, you can’t argue too much at this price range. Another area where this board struggled is the overclocking – due to smaller heatsinks and a cut-down power delivery design.

That being said, it’s good for anyone looking for an ultra-cheap motherboard for his/her Ryzen 3600.

Another reason you might want to have this one over other x570/x470 boards is because it’s an mATX board. Smaller PC builds are new talk of the town for quite some time but there are very few mATX mobos in the market. For whatever reason, there are more mini-ITX models the mATX ones.

And I haven’t seen a micro-ATX X570 board as of now.

Heck, I can’t even recall an mATX X470 board. So, B450 boards are the only options for you if you’re looking for an mATX build and want to remain in the team RED.

And this board, B450M Pro4 is one of the best B450 models in terms of value.

Check Price on Amazon

Best Motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600 CPU

Ryzen 5 2600 is a 2nd-gen midrange processor by AMD, and was released in 2018.

Since then, this processor has been succeeded by the 3rd-gen Ryzen 5 3600 CPU but many budget PC builders continue to love the 2600.

Price is a pretty big factor behind this.

Since Ryzen 3000 processors released in July 2019, AMD has dropped the price of all the Ryzen 2nd-gen CPUs, and now you can find them at greater discounts across all the online stores.

You can get a Ryzen 5 2600 in less than 125 bucks (at the time of this writing), and make an above-average gaming rig that can easily play AAA titles at 1080p resolution within the $450-$600 range.

Best Motherboard For Ryzen 5 2600

In order to help you in building that rig, we have compiled a list of best motherboards for Ryzen 5 2600 processors. We have picked these boards from different price sections, so that you can pick one according to your requirements and budget.

Gigabyte B450 AORUS M

Best Budget Motherboard For Ryzen 5 2600

Aorus M is a budget motherboard launched by Gigabyte, and it targets those who want to build their next Ryzen 5 2600-powered build in a super tight budget.

As the letter M in the name suggests, it’s an matx motherboard with a very basic design. It has 4+3 power design phase which, although nothing to write home about, will get the job done for most budget users.

Except the LED trace near the audio jack, there’s no RGB either. But it’s no a big issue (at least to me), because Gigabyte had to make some tough decision in order to keep the cost low.

A good thing I noticed here is that this motherboard comes with 8-pin 12V power socket. This socket ensures that enough power is supplied to the CPU if you decide to overclock it slightly.

On the right side of the CPU socket, there are four DIMM slots. This board supports dual-channel memory with upto 64 GB size and 3200 MHz speed. The bottom area is the place where you’ll find all of your front-panel headers

In terms of storage, you get one M.2 slot and six SATA 6 Gbps connectors. For further expansion, there’s one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot running at x16 mode, one PCIe 3.0 x16 running at X4 mode, and a single PCIe x1 slot.

An important thing you need to know here is that if you have a single GPU to connect, then make sure to put it into the x16 slot that’s running on x16 mode.

There’s multi-GPU support but is limited to AMD Radeon GPUs only.

If we talk about the I/O panel, there are two USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet connector, and some audio jacks.

Overall, Gigabyte B450 Aorus M fulfills all the basic requirements you would expect in a decent motherboard these days.

Sure, there are some downsides in the form of no proper cooling on MOSFETS area, limited headroom for overclocking, and no Nvidia SLI support, but you do get a good value for your money overall.

This is the reason why we think it to be best entry-level motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600.

Check Price on Amazon

MSI X470 Gaming Plus

Best Midrange Motherboard For Ryzen 5 2600

In case you have some extra budget and don’t want a B450 motherboard, you can consider the MSI X470 Gaming Plus.

It’s cheaper than most of the X470 motherboards out there but provides a solid bang for its buck.

Although MSI has advertised this motherboard to have an 11-phase power design, we have found it to be running on 4+2 configuration.

On the contrary, Gaming Plus X470 comes with a 8-pin 12V ATX power input to power the CPU, and an additional 4-pin connectors for those who want to overclock their CPUs. We found the CPU and memory overclocking ability of this motherboard to be on par with much more expensive models.

Power consumption was on the higher side though, in comparison to other boards, which means you probably should invest in a higher-end PSU as well.

Speaking of the memory, there are four DIMM slots with upto DDR4-3466 support and 64 GB size. For storage, there are six SATA ports and two M.2 slots without any heatsink.

All in all, it provides almost everything that other expensive X470 options offer in the form of Eight-channel audio, VRM heatsinks, LED headers, etc. but MSI has made some compromises, such as the uninspiring design, no I/O panel cover, and older Realtek ALC892 codec for onboard audio.

Moreover, there’s no Type-C port on the I/O panel (you still get two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports) and you don’t get a Type-C header as well.

Check Price on Amazon

ASUS ROG Strix X470-F

Best Motherboard For Ryzen 5 2600 Overall

Coming in at 170 bucks (at the time of this review), Asus ROG Strix X470-f is one of the high-end motherboards, and certainly the best you can use with your Ryzen 5 2600 CPU.

Since it’s primarily targeted towards gamers, you do get typical bells and whistles associated with gaming mobos here as well: aggressive design, custom heatsink, RGB lighting, and a good-looking PCB.

Unlike other gaming motherboards however, RGB is not all the over place here, and is only present on the I/O panel shroud.

As far as overclocking is concerned, we found excellent results when tested this motherboard with Ryzen 2600. We were able to overclock the 2600 to as high as 4.2 GHz and had temperature under control for the most part.

Whether you’ll be able to achieve such amazing results will mostly depend on the cooling solution you’re using to cool down your Ryzen 5 2600. The bundled cooler can take you to 3.8 GHz, but you would have to look for 3rd-party coolers to push it any further.

Like other motherboards these days, Strix X470-f supports upto 64 GB of memory with upto 3600 MHz speed. Other goodies include two steel-armored PCIe 3.0 x16 slots that allow SLI/Crossfire multi-GPU configurations, three PCIe x1 slots, and two M.2 slots.

Regarding M.2 slots, it must be noticed that only one of those slots run on the faster NVMe interface, the other will provide you just another SATA connection.

An unusual thing I noticed here is that this board comes without any backplate to be installed on your PC chassis. This makes it more easier as well as more difficult to install, depending on the PC case you’re currently using. Generally speaking, it would be easier to be installed in new chassis.

If we talk more about the I/O panel, you get a PS/2 socket for legacy hardware, a total of eight USB ports (five USB 3 Gen 1 port, two USB 3 Gen 2 port, and one USB 3 Type-C Gen 2 port), Ethernet port, HDMI and DisplayPort (only for Ryzen APUs, not CPUs) and the typical audio connectors.

If we talk about drawbacks, I’ve found AURA software to be slightly buggy, and felt that the amount of RGB lighting is lesser in comparison to some other gaming motherboards – although this can be used a plus point as well depending on how you think it to be.

Plus, it gets slightly hotter if you’re playing heavy games. Lastly, while you do get a row of diagnostic LEDs, there’s no POST display.

But overall though, we still recommend it as the best motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600

Check Price on Amazon

FAQ For Ryzen 5 2600

Below are some of the most common questions associated with Ryzen 5 2600 processor, and their answers.

What motherboard works with Ryzen 5 2600

Any good motherboard having X470 or B450 chipset will work fine with Ryzen 5 2600. You can use an X570 model here as well, but it would be a sheer waste of money.

Does Ryzen 5 2600 have integrated graphics

No, Ryzen CPUs don’t come with any integrated graphics unit except the ones that have the letter G in their names, such as Ryzen 3 3200G, Ryzen 5 3400G, etc. and AMD calls them APUs, not CPUs.

Is Ryzen 5 better than i5

While not entirely better, Ryzen 5 CPUs provide better value for your money when compared to Intel’s i5 series.

Is X470 better than B450

While it’s not necessarily better, X470 motherboards provide more overclocking headroom and offer more ports/connectors than what you would get in B450 motherboards.

Last update on 2020-12-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API