Best Motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600

ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming

Asus is constantly releasing powerful motherboards compatible with AMD Ryzen, and Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming is no exception. Therefore, the 1st best motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600 on our list is Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming. This motherboard is offering impressive performance for Ryzen generation 2, 3 processors.

When you have selected the right processor like AMD Ryzen 2600, you need the right motherboard. The STRIX is all-new, well-tuned, and is based on the powerful X570 Chipset.

The STRIX X570-E contains all the powerful parts of the ROG enthusiast boards for gaming without being too costly in terms of price. The X570-E motherboard also comes with a carefully designed range of features and ports.

Coming to its features, the STRIX comes with beautiful RGB lighting that is powered by Aura Sync. The RGB headers and addressable Gen 2 headers are also adding further to its aesthetics.

To have some great overclocking ability, you would need this powerful motherboard along with some additional powerful components. You would need a comprehensive cooling solution, the best GPU, and the best RAM besides having a great motherboard. Low capacity and cheap motherboards won’t help you.

Related: Best Motherboards for i9 9900K

The motherboard is perfect as it comes with a powerful cooling solution active having PCH heatsink, MOS heatsink having 8mm Heatpipe.

Final Thoughts

If we want to differentiate the motherboard in terms of performance, this would better be called a power-user Mobo than a gamer motherboard. The logic behind is that it comes with eight I/O-panel USB3 Gen2 and eight SATA ports but just two M.2 slots. However, the lower price and robust feature set, relative to rival versions, make it easier for me to recommend gamers.

MSI Performance GAMING AMD X470

You would agree with me that the lower budget is not a symbol of a low-quality product in every case out there. The same exception is with the MSI Performance GAMING AMD X470 motherboard. Therefore, this motherboard is mainly targeting those gamers who don’t want to compromise on performance and have a tight budget for components. Hence, it is a great budget motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600.

The MSI Performance GAMING AMD X470 motherboard is perfect for online gaming as it comes with gaming LAN with LAN Protect, offers low latency and bandwidth management.

The RGB lighting is also impressive and supports Mystic Light Sync, but some users might find the red light indicator light annoying. Besides that, the looks are perfect for making an attractive gaming rig.

The motherboard comes with six 4-pin headers divided between one for a CPU fan, one for water cooling, and four dedicated to case fans to offer effective cooling.

The motherboard comes with strong memory support for DDR4-3466 RAM support out of the box for a mid-range model. This X470 Gaming Plus Motherboard has the ability for up to 64 GB across the four memory slots available. The motherboard also has six SATA ports and two M.2 slots; one has PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA support, while the other supports PCIe 2.0 x4/SATA drives.

The X470 Gaming Plus offers a total of three PCIe full-length slots, with two running at PCIe 3.0 x16 and a PCIe 2.0 x4 bottom slot. The PCIe 2.0 x1 slots that can be used with expansion cards, such as sound cards and RAID cards, are also available.

Related: Best Motherboard for i7 9700K

The X470 Gaming Plus performs reasonably on the overclocking front. With a maximum of 0.02 V extra applied over the value set inside the BIOS at 4.0 GHz, the VDroop adopted by this board was modest. On top of the 8-pin ATX 12 V CPU power input, this board has an additional 4-pin available, and MSI advertises an 11-phase power delivery under the heatsinks. There’s also an 11-phase VRM present below the heatsinks.

Final Thoughts

The MSI X470 Gaming Plus is designed as the basis for a Ryzen driven device for gamers and users looking for an entry-level and good-value X470 motherboard. This specific ATX motherboard is identified with the gaming dragon clad style of MSI in black and red, but with adjustable RGB backlighting. So overall, this is good to go option for gamers.

ASRock B450M Pro4

The ASRock B450M Pro4 is a budget-friendly entry into the B450 motherboard lineup. ASRock was prompt to launch many new motherboards to meet different demands, and today we are looking at the ASRock B450M Pro4 motherboard.

 By reducing some non-essential features while still providing a solid foundation for your Ryzen 2nd Gen CPU, the B450 chipset is designed to offer a better value for money ratio than the X470.

The motherboard comes with a pair of M.2 ports, a pair of PCI-E x16 slots, and ASRock has retained an x1 slot. You would also get four SATA 6Gbps and four DDR4 DIMM slots to ensure enough connectivity for the essentials. All of that is well-packed into a smaller mATX form factor, but things look incredibly promising considering the low price point.

There are two RGB headers for aesthetics and a configurable LED header to accommodate LED coolers and lighting strips. The four fan headers are in logical positions.

The VRM heatsinks are large enough to be efficient, and when testing the overclocking capabilities with our Ryzen 5 2600 CPU, we did not find any problems or excessive heat. The motherboard also comes with two M.2 slots for solid-state storage; one is NVME/SATA, and the other is pure SATA M.2 and shares lanes with the SATA 3 port.

A USB 3.1 Gen 1 front-panel header, two USB 2.0 headers, and four SATA 3 connectors are also offered in this motherboard. You would be able to use the VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports on the back if you were to pair this board with a Ryzen 2200G or 2400G APU. We’ve noticed that those APUs can be very powerful when it comes to entry-level gaming, and this is an upper entry-level motherboard.

Related: Best Motherboard for Ryzen 7 2700x

However, apart from the second full-length PCI-E slot being 4X, mid-range or upper entry-level builders don’t seem to have many noticeable compromises. This ASRock offering enables gamers to efficiently concentrate their budget on a good CPU and graphics card by shaving some costs off the motherboard.

Final Thoughts

I really liked what the ASRock B450M Pro4 had to bring at the price point it occupies, as I am the one who tends to spend more time with the higher-end motherboard models. The final experience was essentially on par with a much more costly system after running the system, running benchmarks, and just using it like I would if it was my gaming system.

The ASRock B450M Pro4 can be a middle choice for users. You won’t get a premium feeling with this mobo, but it is not cheap and nasty either.

MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon Max Wi-Fi

Another best motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600 and top-level addition to MSI B450 Lineup is the all-new MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon Max Wi-Fi.

In the form of dual-channel DDR4 support, the full-size ATX B450 Gaming Pro Carbon Max Wi-Fi features two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and support for the best RAM. You get plenty of SATA ports, too, with room for two M.2 NVMe SSDs. If you are the one who cares about good sound quality, there’s also addressable-RGB, along with USB 3.2 Gen2 and Audio Boost 4.

The MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon Max Wi-Fi is the most feature-rich B450 motherboard in the MSI lineup, featuring large heatsinks and, by the looks of it, intricate VRM circuitry hidden underneath it.

GAMING PRO CARBON MAX Wi-Fi edition is for trendy gamers that perfectly fits 2nd and 3rd Gen Ryzen processors as the most popular motherboard for mainstream gamers. Mystic Light provides customization options for an ever-changing RGB experience, with millions of colors and 17 LED effects.

The B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI also features a USB 3.2 Gen2 solution with transmission speeds of up to 10 Gbps. With premium equipment, Audio Boost 4 with Nahimic 3 offers reliable and high-quality sound effects.

Also, B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI provides Advanced Heatsink Architecture and M.2 Shield for the higher performance-based 2nd & 3rd Generation Ryzen processors to ensure improved heat dissipation effects and lower temperatures for CPUs and M.2 machines. The heatsinks on top of VRM are better able to help dissipate the heat. For more thermal dissipation, an expanded heat sink has even more surface area.

The Flash BIOS button is becoming increasingly important for BIOS changes and provides more convenience.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for the latest B450 motherboard and a limited budget, this would be the recommended board. Although the price range is not that low, you must also be looking for something powerful; in that case, this mobo is the right choice for you.

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC

If you are looking for a downsized but powerful motherboard to build a high-end pc, then MSI B450i Gaming Plus AC is for you. This mobo is packed with high-quality features, even if it’s mini-ITX. It is a great value offering motherboard for Ryzen 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Gen Processors.

The MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is a Mini-ITX motherboard from the MSI Gaming range and shares a similar feature set in terms of controllers and available connections, much like the larger ATX B450 Gaming Plus. Other than the form factor difference, the key difference would be the addition of an Intel Dual-Band Wireless-AC 3168 Wi-Fi module.

If we talk about the aesthetic side, the board has an all-black heatsink PCB that follows the red and black MSI Gaming theme; the red pattern resembles a lightning bolt on both the black power delivery and the chipset heatsink. The motherboard comes with two slots capable of supporting DDR4-3466 with a maximum of 32 GB of memory allowed when we are talking about memory support.

The motherboard supports both non-ECC and ECC DDR4 memory, although the ECC memory mounted will run in non-ECC mode.

You would also get a total of six USB Type-A ports on the rear panel, divided between four USB 3.1 5 Gbps and two USB 2.0 ports. However, this board does not have any USB 3.1 10 Gbps ports and lacks Type-C connectivity. With the Intel 3168 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter controlling some space for the two included antennas to be mounted, there is a single PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo port.

With the B450I Gaming Plus AC, MSI has clearly gone the more wallet-friendly approach with a host of moderately priced controllers and supplying a smaller Mini-ITX gaming-themed alternative form factor. Users who want to modify their system’s look will be pleased to know that MSI has two 5050 RGB LED strip headers included, but it lacks any integrated RGB capabilities under the heatsinks.

Final Thoughts

As said earlier, this is a small form factor mobo packed with high quality and performance-driven features. In its price range, it’s not the wrong choice at all.

MSI B450 Tomahawk

Another best motherboard for Ryzen 2600 on our list is the powerful MSI B450 Tomahawk. The board is well-suited for the 2nd generation Ryzen processors and offers enough functionality to gamers and pc enthusiasts.

The MSI B450 Tomahawk is the continuation of the famous Tomahawk B350 and provides a slightly improved feature set for users. This starts with the addition of a pair of USB 3.1 Gen2 ports and the introduction of personalized RGB LED lighting into the board.

The B450 Tomahawk is a gaming-focused motherboard and comes from the ‘Arsenal’ line of motherboards from MSI. The board is designed to give users an affordable choice with many of the features found on the more expensive versions, but with some variations to keep the overall cost down. This involves pairing the audio side and the networking side with good quality and cost-effective Realtek controls.

Increased official memory support is the most advantageous value factor to consider this model over the previous Tomahawk. The B450 Tomahawk now has DDR4-3466 support with up to 64 GB of maximum capacity across four available memory slots. With a total of six SATA ports capable of supporting RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays, storage capability is better than expected from a B450 motherboard.

A single PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA compatible M.2 slot with a maximum of up to M.2 22110 drives is supported on top of this. The individual M.2 slot does not share bandwidth with any other PCIe slot. Still, two of the six available SATA ports can be disabled by populating the slot with a drive, specifically the two right-angled ports closest to the 24-pin ATX motherboard power input.

The B450 Tomahawk is an entry-level ATX-sized offering; however, it is more mid-range relative to other B450 choices and thus provides a host of price-conscientious controllers.

Thanks to a newer expanded design, the power delivery heatsink also get a noticeable improvement in terms of surface area on the top, as well as making the heatsinks themselves bigger in dimension, heavier in mass, and the B450 Tomahawk heatsinks now literally have fins rather than looking like lazy metal lumps.

Another advantage is the addition of two USB 3.1 Gen2 ports on the rear panel that MSI omitted from the last branded Tomahawk AM4 board. The super-fast 10 Gbps capabilities of the Type-A and Type-C ports are available, while the rear panel also has two additional USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 ports.

Final Thoughts

With a current retail price of $100, the B450 Tomahawk is difficult to overlook and provides users looking to create a good value gaming theme system with a great base to build on. The difference is bridging ever closer between the more budget B450 chipset and higher-end X470 chipset boards, and this board can be taken as an excellent example of that.

Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite

Designed especially for Ryzen 2nd and 3rd Gen processors, the Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite is the ultimate performance solution for you. It is one of the recommended best motherboards for Ryzen 5 2600. You would get a nice gaming or working solution at a reasonable price.

In addition, the motherboard comes with a guaranteed clock frequency of 2667 MHz support up to 64 GB of RAM. The motherboard also comes with overclocking to higher frequencies capability, but the increase will depend on the other components.

The motherboard also offers beautiful RGB lighting with enough controls to turn it on or off.

You would get a PCI-Express 3.0 slot running at x16 for graphics cards, and a PCI-Express x16 slot running at x4 are included on the Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite ATX motherboard. The board provides two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots for additional expansion cards. The board comes with four RAM slots that support up to 64 GB of clocked DDR4-RAM up to 2933 MHz and can even be overclocked up to 3200 MHz.

Another pro of this mobo is AM4-based; an M.2 slot with PCIe connectivity is available. M.2 SSDs that are connected via PCI-Express 3.0 lanes using the advanced NVM-Express protocol (NVMe) are up to eight times as fast as SATA 6G hard drives and allow data transfer rates of up to 32 Gbit/s. The slot is fitted with an integrated heat spreader and accepts M.2 drives up to 110 mm (22110).

The board also offers four 4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports on the back panel, and two USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports accessible via the internal USB header are included in the Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite. There are also eight USB 2.0 ports in addition (4 ports on the back panel, four ports available through the internal USB headers). An HDMI- and DVI-D port are provided for CPUs with integrated graphics, such as AMD’s Raven Ridge.

Final Thoughts

An intricately designed mobo, configured in the right manner and designed for ultimate and elite performance. The board’s RGB integration looks good, and you can turn it off if it’s not your thing. The only con or minus point is its BIOS. Some users have complained about interpreting its BIOS, but it’s not that serious for many people. However, if you are looking for a budget motherboard and don’t want to compromise on some critical features, this motherboard is for you.

ASUS Prime X570-P Ryzen 3 AM4

The ASUS Prime X570-P is an entry-level X570 chipset with two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots, dual PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, as well as a pair of Realtek budget-friendly on-board audio and networking controllers. In comparison to other versions of the ASUS X570 product stack, the most notable feature of the board’s design is how clean the PCB looks.

The board offers a white and silver design; the chipset heatsink is continuously cooled, while the PCB itself has a white and black design that is a part of the Prime series itself. The Prime X570-P entirely omits a rear panel cover. With this model at Computex, the chipset heatsink runs an 8-phase power delivery for the CPU VCore, with an obviously acceptable-looking heatsink from our hands-on.

The ASUS Prime X570-P has two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots running at x16 and x16/x4 as the board’s key features. The motherboard supports two-way AMD CrossFire multi-graphics card configurations, but none for NVIDIA SLI.

There are two M.2 slots with PCIe 4.0 x4 drive for memory support. However, if you are looking to run fast and hot running NVMe drives, you will need to buy your heatsinks because they are not included on the board. The board also comes with six SATA ports on the Prime X570-P. The four memory slots offer great support of up to 128 GB; memory support is good with the 32 GB UDIMMs qualified by ASUS across its X570 product range.

Final Thoughts

The ASUS Prime X570-P is among the lower-priced boards in the X570 lineup. This model is designed to allow users a lower-cost alternative to benefit from the features of the X570 chipset such as PCIe 4.0 and more native USB 3.1 G2 Type-A support; there are no Type-C connections in this model, although it is nothing out of the ordinary given the price of the board.

GIGABYTE B450 AORUS M

Best Budget Motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600

Second last on our list of best motherboards for Ryzen 5 2600 is the Gigabyte B450 AORUS M. This mobo is packed with high-end technology and a powerful B450 chipset.

This motherboard is a Micro ATX entry-level motherboard that provides a comprehensive set of features, and it is perfect for gamers who are just beginning to dive into the world to build their rig. It was created with the main features suitable for beginners and constructed with ease of assembly. This creates a low barrier to entry into the AMD Ryzen lineup, combined with its affordable price range.

The board does not have any standout features from an aesthetic point of view, although it has a well-structured layout. This entails a black motherboard with screen-printed grey pinstriped components that clearly label all the sockets. There is no IO Shield present to cover any of the rear peripheral ports due to the Micro ATX form factor.

You would feel a noticeable difference in not having any RGB lighting on the board. This might not be very pleasant for you if you are a gamer. However, you would get RGB headers to install external LEDs if you like to have them. This lack of RGB lighting is accommodated with more high-end features in this board and cheaper.

Final Thoughts

In short, this board is an excellent choice for new budget gamers who want the cheapest motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600. Combined with the very competitive price point, the robust features allow this motherboard to stand out among other choices that use the B450 chipset.

Even if you’re not a new gamer and only looking to update your old rig or switch into a smaller form factor setup, this board offers a lot of high-end features that will look appealing. In conclusion, the Gigabyte B450 Aorus M is a very viable choice if you’re looking for a great, inexpensive motherboard that can handle the Ryzen 5 processor.

ASUS ROG Strix X470-F

Last but not least on our list is the powerful yet budget-friendly ASUS ROG Strix X470-F Gaming motherboard. The board is specifically designed for gamers and high-end users, keeping the budget aspect in mind.

In terms of design and specification, the similarities between the ASUS ROG Strix X470-F and X370-F Gaming motherboards are numerous, while the differences are few and far between. The ASUS X470-F is not intended for existing tenants of X370 motherboards, but for those not yet using the AM4 platform of AMD and searching for a new horizon to explore.

The motherboard includes all the main features of a good gaming system. Steel-supported, the top two PCI-E x16 slots can accommodate two NVidia cards and three AMD cards, a complement that suits pricier boards, with almost nothing these days handling 4-way multi-GPU.

ASUS has built onboard RGB lighting as well as three optional RGB headers for various types of LED strips as this motherboard is positioned specifically for gamers. Dual M.2 is also available, one slot cooled by the integrated heatsink, strengthened PCIe slots, and a Realtek ALC1220-based enhanced audio solution with two operational amplifiers.

As competitors, the memory slots will accommodate the same 64 GB of DDR4 memory (you get two M.2 slots), with one shielded on the southbridge heatsink by an extension. However, please remember that the faster NVMe interface is currently enabled by only one of those connectors; the second relies on slower SATA connectivity.

Final Thoughts

The Asus ROG Strix board serves strong gaming efficiency and the right specification, and it is a cheap motherboard for Ryzen 5 2600. Performance freaks should remember that, though, it’s not always the swift board around.