For this AMD motherboard buyer’s guide, we’re primarily highlighting boards in the $120 to $200 price range, but do talk about some of the budget Ryzen motherboards. VRM capabilities and heatsinks, BIOS menus, and memory overclocking compatibility all factor into our choices.

Continuing our holiday buyer’s guides, hardcore overclocker Buildzoid has joined us to analyze the best AMD motherboards currently on the market, looking at X370 and B350 for overclocking. The boards scale from $75 to $350 as we step through nearly every single AM4 motherboard out there, with clear guidance as to which boards are most suitable for different tasks. This was primarily done as a video, but the written section below will recap the highlights. Timestamps are also provided, if the video is preferred.

Before starting, our previous buyer’s guides are here:

The article continues below the video:

Important notes about this guide

First off, this is primarily a video guide; we expect you watch the video, as that's where the in-depth information is contained. Think of the text version as a briefing or show notes. The depth is above, as it's done by Buildzoid, who works with us in a video-only format.

Second, note that this is strictly from the perspective of someone doing actual, real overclocks on their Ryzen CPUs. If you're just a daily user or don't know how to do much more than change a multiplier, different rules apply. Please keep the scope of the content in mind when determining if it is right for your needs.

($250-$350) The Best AM4 Motherboards for Overclocking

ASUS Crosshair VI Extreme (~$350 MSRP)

Buy the Crosshair VI Extreme on Amazon

Pros:

A ton of extra fan headers, slightly wider than Hero

Extra switches and jumpers for extreme overclocking

8+4-phase VRM with 60A IR power stages

One of the strongest AM4 VRMs

Cons:

Hero is much cheaper and has most the same features

Lots of features that “normal” users would never use, but still pay for

ASUS Crosshair VI Hero (~$250 MSRP)

Buy the Crosshair VI Hero on Amazon

Pros

40A Dual N-FET VRM

AM3 cooler mounting for older coolers

Strong VRM (more than enough for Ryzen)

Good IO options

Cons

Cheaper boards can accomplish much of the same work

VRM heatsinks need work

($190-$210) The Best Balanced AM4 Motherboards for Overclocking

Gigabyte X370 Gaming K7 (~$210 MSRP)

Buy the Gigabyte X370 Gaming K7 on Amazon

Pros

Our top-choice motherboard for affordable, high-end Ryzen overclocking

The best balance of features, VRM, OC support, and price

Clock gen goes to 1/100th MHz accuracy

Dual BIOS for redundancy and recovery

Cons

POST code is in a bad location

Not a particularly strong VRM (6+4 phase, IR3553 40A power stages); not bad, but not the best

ASUS Strix X370-F Gaming (~$190 MSRP)

Buy the ASUS Strix X370-F Gaming on Amazon

Pros

60A IR power stages

6-phase VCore

Second highest motherboard for peak VRM current capability

Great VRM

Best overclocking motherboard for memory on AM4

Cons

No POST code

No buttons

($120-$170) The Best Budget AM4 Overclocking Motherboards

ASUS X370-Pro ($130 at time of publication)

Buy the ASUS X370 Pro on Amazon

Pros

Much cheaper than the above options

40A Dual N-FETs, just like on the C6H, except 6-phases instead of 8

Roughly on-par with the K7 in terms of VRM potential

Strong VRM at a very low cost

Cons

No dual-BIOS

No POST code

No buttons

No clock gen

Gigabyte X370 Gaming K5 (~$135 at time of publication)

Buy the Gigabyte X370 Gaming K5 on Amazon

Pros

Honorable mention: Keeps the K7 clock gen

Trouble-shooting LEDs

Dual-BIOS

Cons

No POST code

No buttons

Anemic VRM

($75-$100) The Least Terrible Low-End AM4 Motherboards

ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4

Buy the ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 on Amazon

Pros

The least terrible low-end VRM

3-phase with a lot of MOSFETs

Half-decent heatsink, still needs airflow

Cons

Needs more airflow than normally, potentially

Missing most features

For more technical analysis of each of these, watch our above video (featuring Buildzoid). We have timestamps in the video feed, so you can jump around as needed.

- Steve Burke & “Buildzoid”

- Timestamps by Andrew Coleman