Let’s get a lesson about the series, the features and the value of the purchase for the various ASUS motherboards in the new AM5 bracket for RYZEN 7000 processors and beyond
We are reaching the end of the year period and with it the hardware sales and the time of purchase for many users. Along with a drop in the prices of the new AMD processors and as part of the coverage of the new products coming to the market, this time we organize for you among all the new motherboards that have been released to the market so far manufactured by ASUS for the AM5 bracket in order to direct you to the product that suits you as much as possible.
ASUS does not need to be introduced to every user who knows the world of computers. We know them mainly in the laptop products, motherboards, video cards and monitors. Together with her and AMD we were asked to find and tell you about the models that we think are the most profitable for you to purchase. In addition, you should know how motherboards differ from each other, and how you can choose the motherboard that is right for you.
AMD now has four chipsets for the AM5 socket so the features and prices are segmented into four sometimes overlapping markets. Until you launch an ultra-cheap chipset, the AM5 mount and its motherboards are considered relatively premium, with even the cheapest ones often containing advanced features.
The most advanced chipset is the X670E and it leads the entire top line of product series between the various ASUS brands. ROG or Republic of Gamers which is the brand more associated than the rest with overclocking contains the most advanced motherboards which contain the X670E chipset. In the table above you can see the distribution of the PCI-Express interfaces in the various standards and the USB ports also according to chipsets. It is important to remember that in addition to this, the processor itself in the mount provides PCI-Express lines for the video card and one M.2 type storage medium that also rides on PCI-Express traffic.
As of now, the ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme is ASUS’ most advanced motherboard for the AM5 socket, it’s the flagship built for extreme cooling overclocking above all else. Although, we know that this is a very narrow niche for users and mainly a presentation of engineering muscles from the direction of ASUS. This motherboard mainly stars in breaking world records for frequency under liquid nitrogen.
ASUS has five different brands for its motherboard, with AMD based motherboards getting their own special name at the top end – Crosshair. On Intel’s side, this series is called Maximus, for those who know.
the seriesPro Art It is the youngest among the ASUS brands and is mainly aimed at content creators, those whose main use is dealing with any visual medium. For those who ask how this is reflected in motherboards – well, first of all on a visual level.
Here is an example of a high-end motherboard in the ProArt series. You can see that it is decorated with advanced interfaces such as USB Type-C at high rates, such as a pair of built-in network cards, even support for Thunderbolt via USB 4 including a display.
Is such a motherboard significantly different from such and other extreme boards? Usually not, although the price tag will actually be lower since less emphasis is placed on overclocking utilities. Nevertheless, in the case of the X670E-CREATOR, any overclocking can be performed without a problem with any processor that fits the bracket.
the seriesPRIME It is the one that dominates the entire entry-level market up to the mid-market level, in our case everything from the cheapest motherboards up to about the $350 level. The PRIME series is intended for the widest audience that is not specifically focused on overclocking or a large amount of interfaces.
the series TUF GAMING It can mainly be described as a PRIME series with a new coat of paint. These are often similar features per market share, but mainly with a different appearance of the heatsinks and the various interfaces.
the seriesROG STRIX She is the one who bridges over PRIME and TUF up to Crosshair level. Everything that happens in the AM5 bracket between the $260 and $500 area usually happens with the ROG STRIX brand on it. Motherboards with a lot of interfaces, a lot of overclocking aids, big heatsinks and a lot of voltage stabilization stages for the processor bracket.
In this table you will find most motherboards based on the X670E chipset by price to understand what features ASUS puts in them and how it prices them accordingly.
In general, before choosing a motherboard, it is important to think about all the features you will use now and in the future. Free interfaces are not wasted interfaces, unless there was no need to use them in the first place.
It is very important to remember that the premium market for motherboards is one that will charge you extra for certain features without a direct relationship between the cost of incorporating them into the motherboard and the cost you will pay. A $329 motherboard like the TUF GAMING X670E-PLUS WIFI is not a third of a motherboard like the X670E EXTREME even though it only costs a third.
Questions that are important for a user to ask themselves before purchasing a motherboard:
- Do I have additional expansion cards for PCI-Express besides a graphics card?
- How many M.2 interfaces will I have to drive on the board?
- Will I use a network drive? Do I have a reason to want another network login?
- Is overclocking important to me? How much?
- How many USB devices will I connect at the same time? Is Type-C necessary?
- Do I want a small case? What size device will suit me?
- Should I use the built-in or external sound card?
- Will I install processors with higher power consumption in the future?
If you look at every feature offered by a motherboard, a question related to the user’s desire can arise. Let’s look at what a cheaper motherboard actually has to offer.
As we mentioned, the AM5 bracket is still considered a bit premium, so a “cheap” motherboard with it is priced at $199. The PRIME B650-PLUS is an example of a motherboard for a user who is not interested in the flashiest technology in any category that exists, but simply to use the computer thinking that it will last as long as it will last until it is necessary to upgrade the whole thing, if not just the processor in the mount.
Such a motherboard does not contain advanced overclocking tools, it contains a processor power supply system that is expected to hold processors like Ryzen 7 7700X at default frequencies without a problem. Although, this motherboard is not built for processors such as Ryzen 9 7950X under the speed. Here, the use of a reduced number of voltage conversion stages and modest heatsinks may, in cases where there is a lack of proper air flow, result in a potential drop in processor frequency.
Other features in which a cheap motherboard is considered relatively sparse in means would be, for example, the use of a pair of M.2 interfaces for storage only. In a world where one drive comes as a permanent driver for an operating system, this leaves room for only one more drive before it is necessary to turn to other, slower interfaces such as SATA.
The idea behind such a division of features also exists because if an advanced user wants more from his system and spend more from his processor. The segmentation between the chipsets with an E suffix and those without is also that the PCI-Express interface will be based on the 5.0 standard and not 4.0 for a video card. For the most part – the upper M.2 interface that is adjacent to the processor operates with the 5.0 standard in all chipsets, although there are certain cheap boards where the standard is 4.0. It is important to check the manufacturer’s website.
Another example of something that has a little less science behind it and is presented as a feature on cheaper motherboards is the sound card. For the vast majority of users the importance of the built-in sound card is very low. It’s either that better sound quality doesn’t matter to them, or they use an external sound card and then the built-in sound card doesn’t matter at all. Manufacturers like Realtek dominate the world of motherboard built-in encoders for sound. Along with these controllers there is an indicator that is mainly made of amplification and noise filtering on the way to the various sound interfaces.
What is less described and which usually requires proper test equipment is the actual sound quality in combination with encoders with one indication or another. Usually, the simplest sound cards include encoders of smaller models with fewer tuning features and with less filtering, which is reflected in a small amount of capacitors in the sound card area.
Here is an example of a motherboard that features a more advanced component assembly and is still in accessible status given the AM5 socket prices. The ROG STRIX B650-A GAMING WIFI is a motherboard that can be described as “suitable for almost everyone”. It comes with an official price tag of $280, including three M.2 interfaces for fast storage, a power supply system for the processor that will allow unlimited overclocking for Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 along with overclocking up to the limit of air and water cooling for Ryzen 9 processors.
You can find here a more advanced sound card, the nice button that allows you to pull the lock of the PCI-Express bracket to the video card, and a host of interfaces of different types and at different speeds. We’d love to see another USB Type-A port or two for peripherals on the back of the motherboard, but seven of this type should handle most of today’s gaming and content creation market demands well.
There is no 10G speed network card or USB 4 or PCI-Express X16 5.0 connectors for a video card – but the whole idea is to save all the niche end cases and present a product that is more suitable for the mainstream and its requirements today and in the near future. To remind you – even the advanced video cards such as the RTX 4090 use an interface based on the 4.0 standard.
If we had to name one motherboard that seemed to us to be the best value for money in the bottom third, it would very likely be the ROG STRIX B650-A GAMING WIFI. On the other hand, there is a parallel option for those who have a different priority.
The ProArt B650-CREATOR is largely based on the same PCB as the STRIX B650-A but here we get the addition of a rear network card. The amount of USB Type-A interfaces drops to five and a 1Gbps network card is added to one side of 2.5Gbps. This means that for example network-based external storage can be connected directly to the motherboard alongside a standard wired network connection.
The overclocking capabilities are expected to be similar, since the same power supply system is used for the mount, and the cooling bodies on this system look quite similar in terms of area and capabilities.
So this is another example of a motherboard, this time at an official price of $270 which we consider to be a very high cost-to-performance ratio in an AM5 socket.
Those who want PCI-Express X16 5.0 for the video card, and unrestricted overclocking for all the processors of the mount under air and water and an advanced set of interfaces can add a few tens of dollars more and go for the STRIX B650E-F GAMING whose price tag of $299 represents the highest point we have been to We recommend the user who is not “crazy to talk” to come.
B650E is a lion’s tail, and the lack of an M.2 interface over its X670E counterpart for a price tag $100 and more is not an insult to the product and to the user. Those whose set of features suits them will not be disappointed with such a product, which although among all motherboards is not considered premium, but for the average user it is a real premium.
As we described in our review, there is everything here for almost everyone with a very respectable set of interfaces. While there is no invention of USB 4, 20Gbps communication will come through a single Type-C interface on the back of the motherboard.
Finding the right product at the right price
What is important to us that you take away from this article is mainly good decision-making ability in finding the motherboard for your requirements and needs. It is important that users filter between the things they need and those they don’t. While for a certain user the invention of this or that interface is not a big deal, there will be those who think ahead or who need a certain connectivity and will have to find a motherboard that includes it.
Although there is a celebration of color and different branding between different series, sometimes it is important to make the disconnection and switch according to needs. Have you found a motherboard that includes everything you want and comes with branding and a color scheme that will compliment your computer? Great, you benefited both ways.
AMD has launched four fast processors now and will launch more processors in the coming years for the AM5 socket. If there’s anything we’ve learned from the AM4 mount, it’s that sometimes a small additional investment can translate into a higher relevant lifetime for the product. Unlike the start of the AM4 mount, the AM5 mount starts at a very high speed with sophisticated products and many interfaces and power stages. There is no doubt that these motherboards were built to be relevant for the entire life of the mount and beyond.
It is possible that in the near future we will get to see a budget chipset for the AM5 mount and with it, of course, the celebration of cheap motherboards in the $150 line and below will begin. Until then, those looking to build a new AM5 computer should know what they’re getting for their money among all these high-end motherboards. It is important to filter out the noise and focus on the hardware on the printed circuit board.
Here are our recommendations among ASUS motherboards based on feasibility and interfaces:
- ROG STRIX B650E-F GAMING – The most recommended motherboard for gamers and overclockers on a medium budget
- PRIME B650-PLUS – The cheapest ATX board, mainly for gaming and creating content with Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7
- ProArt B650-CREATOR – The most affordable motherboard that includes a pair of built-in network cards
- ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI – The most cost-effective motherboard with many interfaces in the high-end market, also suitable for overclocking