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
- Gigabyte B450 AORUS M (Best Budget Motherboard For Ryzen 2600)
- MSI X470 Gaming Plus
- Asus ROG Strix X470-F (Best Motherboard For Ryzen 2600 Overall)
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: Check Price On Amazon
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.
MSI X470 Gaming Plus: Check Price On Amazon
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.
ASUS ROG Strix X470-F: Check Price On Amazon
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
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.