(Image credit: Future)
Check out more of the year’s best tech in our PC Gamer Hardware Awards 2025 coverage.
Every year, vendors fill the market with a veritable mass of new motherboards, all vying for your attention and wallet. There are so many that it would be almost impossible for anyone to review and test them all (unless they gave up eating and sleeping for 12 months), but we managed to get through nearly 20 of them.
Some of them were actually launched last year, but they’re still relevant in 2025, because of the way that motherboards follow CPU release cycles. AMD and Intel released their latest generation of processors in 2024 (Ryzen 9000, Core Ultra 200S), and the first series of motherboards that came with them were all sporting the high-end chipsets (i.e. X870/870E and Z890). The mainstream chipsets (AMD’s B850 and Intel’s B860) didn’t really appear in great numbers until the start of this year.
Common features that we all loved to see were: Wi-Fi 7, lots of fast M.2 slots for SSDs, user-friendly BIOS/UEFI interfaces, and quick-release mechanisms on the main PCIe slot for graphics cards and M.2 heatsinks. We also saw big improvements in the rear IO panels, with a proliferation of motherboards sporting lots of 10 Gbps or faster USB/Thunderbolt ports.
Compared to only a few years ago, motherboards have vastly improved in terms of build quality, although there have been a few too many cases of boards ruining CPUs for our liking. The good news is that you don’t have to spend a small fortune to bag yourself a motherboard that will serve you well for many years, with excellent storage and expansion options.
We tested a lot of very good motherboards this year, as well as a lot of very average ones, but three really stood out for us. They’re not the best because they’re the cheapest or fastest, or because they have the most ports or sport the best VRMs. They’re just the best motherboards of 2025 that we’d happily use in our own gaming rigs.
Best gaming motherboard 2025: the nominees
ASRock B860 Steel Legend WiFi
2025 is probably a year ASRock would like to forget, and that’s mostly down to problems with some of its AM5 motherboards that could permanently damage Ryzen X3D chips. Prior to this, ASRock had worked hard to improve its reputation for making motherboards that were just cheap, and nothing more, and it’s hard not to think that all of this was proof that they hadn’t.
However, when it comes to the B860 Steel Legend WiFi, it’s clear that ASRock can deliver the goods when it puts its mind to the task. For under $200, you’re getting a seriously good motherboard for Core Ultra 200S processors, held back only by Intel’s chipset overclocking block and a dated BIOS/UEFI.
Mainstream motherboards typically have fewer storage and connectivity options than pricey enthusiast-level boards, but that’s not the case here. You get four M.2 slots (half PCIe 5.0, half PCIe 4.0) with decent heatsinks.
On the rear IO panel, you’ll find one Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port, rated to 40 Gbps, along with two 10 Gbps USB Type-A ports, four 5 Gbps USB Type-A, and three USB 2.0 sockets.
Sadly, you don’t get Wi-Fi 7 (just Wi-Fi 6E), but at least there’s a 2.5 Gbps LAN port for super-speedy downloads. And it looks absolutely splendid with its white and black colour scheme.
Read our full ASRock B860 Steel Legend WiFi review.
Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice
Another white motherboard? Pure coincidence, honest! But just like ASRock’s B860 Steel Legend, this motherboard from Gigabyte looks fantastic and has the feature set to back up its aesthetics. Oh, and a very reasonable price tag, too.
The AM5-socket X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice launched at $290, but it rapidly shed a respectable $30, and it’s still like that now, making it one of the best value X870 boards around.
And oh boy, do you get a lot of motherboard for your money. Three PCIe slots, four M.2 sockets for SSDs, and ten USB ports on the rear IO panel. Gigabyte favoured the storage aspects when it came to distributing the limited number of chipset PCIe lanes, as three of the M.2 slots are Gen 5, whereas only one of the PCIe slots is rated to that speed.
You can get motherboards where it’s all faster stuff or have more USB ports, but then you have to pay a lot more money for it. To our eyes, the Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice offers the best balance of price tag, features, and performance of all the AMD AM5 motherboards we’ve tested this year.
Read our full Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice review.
MSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi
You’ve possibly picked up by now that there’s a bit of a theme going on with our nominations for best motherboard of 2025, and that it’s all about value for money. You can always pay more or less for a mobo, but you’ll either miss out on really useful features or shell out for something that you’ll never use.
That’s not the case with MSI’s MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi for Intel Core Ultra 200S processors. Like the X870 Aorus Elite Ice, it launched with a higher price tag than what it currently sports, and although it’s still around $40 more expensive than the B860 Steel Legend, you’re getting some really nice extras.
To begin with, Wi-Fi 7. Admittedly, unless you have a Wi-Fi 7 router to go with it, you won’t see the full benefit, but if you do, then say hello to super-fast, low-latency wireless networking. As someone who converted wholesale to Wi-Fi 7 this year, I can assure you that it’s worthy of the hype.
Intel Z890 chipset is stellar, too, and it’s why MSI’s board has three PCIe slots (one Gen 5, two Gen 4) and four M.2 sockets (one Gen 5, three Gen 4). The rear IO panel boasts two 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 4 ports, plus four 10 Gbps USB (one Type-C, three Type-A) and four 5 Gbps USB ports.
The MAG Z890 Tomahawk is also very easy to live with, thanks to a clear and user-friendly BIOS/UEFI interface, quick release mechanism on the GPU PCIe slot, and the top and bottom M.2 slots, plus a wealth of sensibly positioned power sockets and headers.
Read our full MSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi review.
These three motherboards, our favourite ones out of all the boards we’ve tested and reviewed this year, are equal nominees for winning the award. As to which one gets the crown of 2025, we’re announcing all the winners on New Year’s Eve, so be sure to check back then.
