AMD has just released the new Ryzen 3000 CPUs, including the first-ever Ryzen 9, and now we have a whole new motherboard-generation with X570 chipset to support these new CPUs.
Ryzen CPUs have been really popular in PC community even since their first-gen came out three years ago.
Ryzen 2, in particular, thrashed Intel chips by a 2-to-1 margin in terms of sales, according to a German retailer. That 2-to-1 margin was collected for the just one moth – November 2018 – but it just shows the Team Red’s dominance in the chip market lately.
That’s the reason why it’s natural for AMD to have high hopes because of the new features these new-gen CPUs offer.
Best X570 Motherboards 2020 Guide
- ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4(Best Budget X570 Motherboard)
- ASUS Prime X570-Pro (Best X570 Motherboard Under 200)
- Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master (Best Midrange X570 Motherboard)
- MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE (Best High-End X570 Motherboard)
- Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming (Best X570 Motherboard For Gaming)
Best X570 motherboard 2020 Review Guide
ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4: Check Price On Amazon
Best Budget X570 Motherboard 2020
Out of the three ASRock Phantom motherboards released as of now, Gaming 4 is the cheapest one.
Yet it retains some of the main functionalities of its premium siblings. It has a black and grey PCB along with a chipset heatsink of the same color scheme. In order to keep the Vcore area cool, there’s a grey colored power delivery heatsink too.
Overall, its dark color scheme makes it attractive. Oddly enough, there’s no built-in RGB despite it being labelled as a ‘gaming motherboard’.
On the right side, there are four DIMM slots allowing you for maximum 64 GB memory, and have DDR4-4066 support.
On the bottom area, there are two full-sized PCIe 4.0 slots. The top one is powered by the CPU itself and operates at x16 mode, while the lower slot is powered by the chipset and works in x16/x4 modes. Apart form this, there are also two more PCIe x1 slots, along with two M.2 slots. The top M.2 slot works on PCIe 4.0 mode while the lower one works with both PCIe and SATA SSDs.
For further storage, there are eight SATA 6 ports (most of the motherboards come with six) and they also support RAID 0,1, and 10 setup.
The one area where I like this motherboards is its 10-phase power delivery, something not found in some sub-$200 boards.
Apart from the relatively older Realtek ALC1200 HD codec, and only two full-sized PCIe 4.0 slots, I couldn’t find any real drawback here. On the positive side, it has everything a beginner (or even some seasoned builders) can ask for, that too in a relatively modest price.
As of now, it’s the cheapest x570 motherboard you can have – despite costing 170 bucks. But I believe it’s worth every penny of that amount.
ASUS Prime X570-Pro: Check Price On Amazon
Best X570 Motherboard 2020 Under 200
As I said earlier in this post, x570 motherboards were expected to be expensive, and those predictions went true last week when the plethora of those boards were released by a number of vendors.
The most hotly contested area among these boards is the price range between $200-$300. Due to the expensive nature of the boards, this price range is the new budget category. One of those boards is Asus Prime X570-pro: a $270 motherboard (not to be confused with Prime X570-p which costs $170).
From design, it looks fairly simple, with no over the top aesthetics. Perhaps it was necessary to keep the costs down. It features a glossy black PCB diagonally printed by white lines. The white color is also used on the rear I/O panel and the chipset cover, while the VRM heatsinks and M.2 slots are made up of aluminium and are grey colored. All of this gives it a nice contrast.
Speaking of M.2 slots, this boards features two of these. The first one is directly connected to the CPU by the PCIe lanes, while the second one is located between the second and third PCIe slot. The aluminium heatsink of the lower slot is cooled by the chipset fan.
For further expansion, there are three PCIe 4.0 x16 slots (two of them are reinforced) along with three more PCIe 4.0 x1 slots. For storage, this board provides six SATA 6 GB/s ports.
There are usual suspects on the rear I/O panel in the form of 4 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports, 3 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, and a single USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port; but you might like the surprise inclusion of a HDMI 2.0b port and an Optical SPDIF out port. Keeping up with its midrange price, this board has a 6 phase VRM in a 4+2 configuration.
Of course, there are some things which I didn’t like, such as the not so sophisticated VRM (despite being good), only two M.2 slots, and no WiFi; in short, the things you would normally expect in a sub $250 motherboard.
To be honest, in order to compensate for the addition of PCIe 4.0, Asus had to made some hard decisions here.
On the other side, the areas where I found it excellent are memory overclocking, a simple yet attractive design, and chipset fan to cool down the M.2 heatsink.
All in all though, I think it should be $30-40 less then its current price.
Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master: Check Price On Amazon
Best X570 Motherboard 2020 For 300
Taking a few steps above (in terms of price) from Prime X570-pro, we have the Aorus Master by Gigabyte – which costs slightly more than 350 bucks at the time of this review.
The Aorus line-up by Gigabyte has been really popular among masses in recent times, and is now being compared to the likes of Asus Strix and MSI Carbon series.
Having a successful series of any PC peripheral/components (DeathAdder Mice by Razer or Arctis Headsets by SteelSeries, for example) allows a particular company to establish a distinct brand identity and gain loyalty from the consumers.
Anyways, coming back to Aorus Master, let’s find out what it brings to the table.
Design wise, it resembles to its last-year sibling: Aorus Ultra Z390. The majority portion is colored black while the silver is used is some keys areas, like PCIe slots. Ultra Z390 had silver M.2 heatsinks but they’re black this time.
Like all modern mobos, there are 4 DIMM slots for RAM memory. Each of these slots is reinforced and is capable of having up to DDR-4400 (O.C.) on Ryzen 3000 CPUs.
Above these slots, there are different headers: a 4-pin RGB header, a 3-pin addressable RGB header, a CPU fan header, and a USB 3.1 gen 2 internal header, to name a few. In case you don’t know what each of these terms mean, check out this post.
On the bottom side, there’s a thunderbolt header along with six SATA ports. On the right side of these SATA ports, there’s the chipset heatsink, and since X570 consumes 3 times more power than X470 chipset, there’s an active cooling fan with that heatsink.
The bottom side also contains some other headers, like TPM header, two USB 2.0 headers, a 4-pin fan header, and front panel headers etc.
On the bottom left corner, there are audio components which include Nichicon audio capacitors. For PCIe devices, there are three PCIe 4.0 x16 slots and one x1 slot. All of those X16 slots are reinforced slots and work on 4.0 mode if you have a Ryzen 3000 CPU.
In case you’re using an older CPU, these slot will be limited to PCIe 3.0. Further more, if you use a single graphics card, it will run at x16 speed, but a multi-GPU setup will have them reduce them at x8.
Another thing you’ll like here, are the three M.2 slots, with all of them having heatsinks. Two of these slots are of 2210 type which supports M.2 SSDs with up to 110 mm length. The last one is of 2280 type, and it supports devices with up to 80 mm length.
Like PCIe slots, M.2 slots work in PCIe 4.0 mode if you have an Ryzen 3000 CPU, and in 3.0 mode if that’s not the case.
Power delivery is something that has been the Achilles heels for Gigabyte’ boards in the past, particular when compared to its rivals. In order to remove this problem, they have worked really hard this time, and it just shows in the performance.
Here we have a 14-phase (12+2) Infineon setup that doesn’t even require doublers to achieve high power. For better power efficiency, there are redesigned power connectors with large contact for electricity and more metal quantity (for better sustainability against heat).
Apart from this, VRM heatsink are also redesigned with more fins, which results in more area and better cooling. Infineon multiphase PWM controller and IR 3556 PowIRstage MOSFETs can provide at leas 50A power from each phase. So, this you give can a total of 700 A.
Rear I/O panel has usual options in the form of USB ports, and audio connectors, but the two thing liked here are Q-Flash Plus (which allows you to update your BIOS without even having a CPU, GPU or any memory installed), and the combo of Intel WiFi 6 802.11ax + Bluetooth 5.
The backside of this board is rather empty, but contains a large metal back-plate, which provides it stability and can also act like a secondary heatsink.
All in all, this board has everything you can ask for, and I couldn’t find any flaw despite trying fairly hard.
This is the reason why Aorus Master is the best x570 motherboard in terms of value – as of now. In fact, I don’t recommend you going for a motherboard more expensive than $400, unless you have a very genuine reason.
MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE – Check Price On Amazon
Best High-End X570 Motherboard 2020
Like other motherboards released before in GODLIKE line-up, X570 GODLIKE is a flagship motherboard, and it just reflects in its price.
Costing almost 700 bucks, this one isn’t everyone’s cup of tee. But if you’re a content creator who wants a top beast, or a PC Master wants to boast about his next build on Reddit, or just a rich kid who doesn’t know where to spend his money, this board can help you accomplish your goals.
For starters, we have a eye-catching 14+4+1 Phase digital power design. Along with dual 8-pin headers and titanium chokers + drMOS (driver and MOSFET Module), it’s good enough to draw power no matter how much you want it. And that too efficiently. To keep the temperatures down, all the VRMs come with large heat-pipes and heatsinks.
Its overall build is quite heavy and it feels really tough.
For expansion, there are four PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, three Gen4 M.2 slots with frozr heatsinks. Having four PCIe slots mean that you can use two of these for a multi-GPU setup while leaving the other two for things like RAID card and 10 GbE networking.
Did I mention that you get a PCIe Gen4 RAID card and a 10 GbE LAN card with this motherboard out of the box?
For conventional storage, there are six SATA ports.
In terms of connectivity too, there’s everything you can think of in a motherboard. Its rear panel includes 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, 3 USB 3.2 Type-A ports, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, and Realtek ALC1220 Codec. For audiophiles, there’s an Xtreme Audio DAC setup along with dual audio processors too.
Being a top-end motherboard, only Ryzen 9 will be able to complement it well, but you can use it for all Ryzen 3000 and even 2000 series CPUs, due to the fact that all of these boards have the same AM4 socket.
In conclusion, I will repeat myself by saying that this motherboard is not for everyone, and unless you’re building an extreme kind of PC build, there’s no point spending $700 on just a motherboard.
Asus Strix X570-E Gaming: Check Price On Amazon
Best X570 Motherboard For Gaming 2020
ROG Strix X570-E is the second motherboard by Asus we’re reviewing in this round-up. Unlike Prime X570-Pro, this one belongs to the ROG – a separate line-up by the Asus which features almost all things related to the gamers.
In terms of price, this board sits in the middle of the X570 boards Asus has released so far. Let’s see how its fares as compared to its competitors as well as its own siblings.
As far as the design goes, it’s an ATX motherboard having black color on its majority portion with only the PCIe slots having a slight grey shade.
Overall its design is good but simple, which is surprising considering it was geared towards gamers. While you can still make it look colorful through other components, it’s not what Strix series is known for.
The main difference we found in this board is the huge amount of USB 3 Gen 2 ports on the I/O panel. With Eight USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (7 Type-A and 1 Typ-C), it’s heads and shoulders above any board in its price range. Apart from this, you get the HDMI 1.2, DisplayPort 1.2, Bluetooth 5 & WiFi 6, Realtek 2.5 Ethernet, Intel Gigabit LAN, as well as five 7.1 audio jacks and One S/PDIF out.
There’s a BIOS flash button too, but some things are missing in the form of USB 2.0 ports and CMOS button. Yes, USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports are backward-compatible but it would be better to have 2.0 ports for older hardware.
On the top of this panel are the CPU power connectors. The I/O panel is covered and that cover is connect to one of the VRM heatsink. Speaking of the VRM, this board comes with 16 MOSFETs in a 12+4 power design, along with ProCool II power connector, alloy chokes, and power capacitors. Each of these MOSFETS is capable of 50 A power, so you get a total of 600 A energy.
There are two VRM heatsinks to keep it cool, and are connected together by an 8mm heatpipe.
Like in most other boards, there are 4 DIMM slots on the right side of the AM4 socket. Each of these slot can have up to 32 GB, which makes the overall limit to 128 GB.
On the right side of these slots is the EATX 24-pin power connector and USB 3.2 front panel header, while an RGB 4-pin header along with three 4-pin PWM fan headers is on the top side.
For graphics cards and other expansion cards, there are three PCIe x16 slots (Multi-GPU supported) as well as two x1 slots.
In order to make sure that onboard audio is unaffected by the crosstalk and interference, audio components (SupremeFX S1220A) are located on the bottom left corner.
Unlike many other competitors in its range, there are only two M.2 slots in Strix X570-E. Asus has put more (8) SATA ports, probably on order to compensate for the one missing M.2 slot, but it still leaves a bad taste.
Furthermore, you have to remove the M.2 heatsinks completely before accessing those slots. It’s something which I think could’ve been better.
That being said, there are a lot of positives here particularly Eight USB 3.2 ports, SupremeFX audio, being slightly cheaper than the competition, and good performance.
What Are The Ryzen 3000 CPUs
Now, we’ll talk about all the CPUs launched at Computex 2019.
First one, for true PC enthusiasts, is Ryzen 9 3900X. This is the first 12-core (6 core on each chiplet) CPU made by AMD – making it the direct competitor of Intel’s i9-9920X CPU – and will have base/turbo frequency of 3.8/4.6 GHz respectively.
Since then, AMD has also launched the update Ryzen 9 3900XT and 3950X.
Moreover, there’s 32 MB L3 cache on each chiplet (64 MB total) and 105W Thermal Design Power, which is quite good considering the i9-9920X has 165W TDP.
As you probably know, lower TDP means low power consumption at base frequency and it really gives 3900X an advantage over i9-9920X. But there are two other differences between these two beasts: price & CPU cooler.
Costing you almost 500 bucks, 3900X will come with a CPU cooler (although the name hasn’t been disclosed yet). Now I know that stock CPU coolers aren’t worth a lot but i9-9920X costs almost 1200 bucks and doesn’t include any CPU cooler, which means you have to spend even more to cool it down.
Next up, for mainstream users, is the 8-core Ryzen 7 pair of 3700X and 3800X or the newest 3800XT CPUs. Ryzen 7 3700X, the cheaper one, has achieved more critical acclaim due to being an 8-core, 16-thread CPU with 4 MB L2 and 32 MB L3 cache, and a frequency boost up to 4.4 GHz (base frequency is 3.6 GHz) – all of this while maintaining a TDP of just 65W.
The 3800X has all the properties of its cheaper sibling except the base/turbo frequency which is 3.9/4.5 GHz, and TDP which is 105W.
Up next we have the Ryzen 5 3600 and 3600X and the newest Ryzen 5 3600XT. These CPU have 6-cores, 12-threads, 3 MB L2 caches, and 32MB L3 Caches. The differences, like between 3700X and 3800X, is in their base/Turbo frequencies, TDP and Price.
Ryzen 5 3600 has a base/turbo frequency of 3.6 GHz/4.2 GHz, 65 W TDP, and $199 Retail price. 3600X has a base/turbo frequency of 3.8 GHz/4.4 GHz, 95 W TDP, and $249 Retail price. The 3600XT has a base/turbo frequency of 3.8/4.5 Ghz.
At last, we have the Ryzen 3 pair of 3200g and 3400g for budget-oriented PC builders. 3200g is a 4-core CPU with 65W TDP and an under 100 price tag; while 3400g is a 4-core, 8-thread CPU with 65W TDP, and comes at 149 bucks.
One good thing about these CPUs is that all of them have 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes.
What Is The X570 Chipset
X570 is the successor of X470 chipset (and the first one completely developed by AMD itself) and will include things like PCIe 4.0 support (first ever chipset to support PCIe 4.0), native USB 3.1 Gen2 ports, and slightly higher TDP (which means more dedicated chipset heatsinks on the motherboards).
As you probably know, the PCIe 3.0 interface can transmit data at the 16 GB/s on a x16 slot or 1 GB/s per lane. It looks blazing fast but as games and other graphical apps are getting more data-demanding with every day passing, there were some calls to improve that speed.
With PCIe 4.0, that speed has been doubled, and now you can transmit 2 GB/s data per lane or 32 GB/s on the x16 slot.
Due to this increment, expansion cards like NVMe-based drives, Ethernet cards, NICs, and GPUs can transmit data more quickly which would result in better performance.
Since the Ryzen 3 CPUs use the same AM4 socket, you can have them installed on your older X470 chipsets but X570 motherboard will be critical in order to get the most juice out of those beasts.
Also, the vice versa is not possible, X570 motherboards are not fully compatible with first-gen Ryzen CPUs.
The other thing which’ll probably make X570 motherboard different from their X470 siblings is the price. Not so long ago, AMD was only popular among budget PC builders, mainly because its components were thought of as the second fiddle to those to Intel.
But all of this has been changed and now AMD is considered equal (if not better) than Intel when it comes to CPU power and chipset features. MSI’s CEO has even publicly stated that even low-end X570 Mobos won’t come cheap. All in all, be ready to splash at least $500 for a top-end board this time.