The Ryzen 5 3600X is one of the better mid-range processors from AMD. Ready for overclocking and supporting PCIe 4.0 components, it makes for a capable PC. If you're looking to build around this CPU, you'll need an appropriate motherboard, so we've rounded up the best motherboards for the AMD Ryzen 5 3600X in various budgets and chipsets.
Entry X570
MSI doesn't sacrifice much in terms of quality here. You get heatsinks for VRMs and other essential components, active cooling for the chipset, PCIe 4.0, Gigabit LAN, and everything else you'd expect from a mid-range motherboard.
Premium X570
The ASUS ROG Strix X570-E fully supports PCIe 4.0 and features an actively cooled chipset, onboard Gigabit LAN with Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), and Gen 4 M.2 slots capable of unidirectional transfer speeds up to 64GB/s. Plenty of RGB lighting options to boot, too.
Enthusiast X570
The Crosshair VIII Formula from ASUS is a mighty board, as reflected in the price. The heatsink for the VRMs can be hooked to your custom water-cooling loop. There are also five Gigabit LAN ports, onboard Wi-Fi 6 (802. 11ax), and active cooling for the chipset.
Affordable Wi-Fi
Another X570 from ASUS, this time in its TUF Gaming range, this board features a 12+2 stage VRM paired with high-quality heatsinks for efficient power management and cooling. Dual PCIe 4.0 M.2 sockets support up to 22100 NVMe SSDs, and you get onboard Wi-Fi 5 with an antenna.
Budget B450
This B450 board had full support from Ryzen 1st and 2nd Gen CPUs, then ASRock added 3rd Gen Ryzen 3000 processors. You'll be able to throw a Ryzen 9 3900X into this thing and call it a day, so long as the BIOS is up to date. It's a budget board, so that means numerous missing features.
Budget B550
This affordable MSI motherboard ticks the right boxes with its M.2 heatsink, onboard Mystic Light RGB, plus a 2.5G LAN port for high-speed networking. It's a full-sized budget ATX board ready for the AM4 socket, loaded with MSI's fantastic BIOS software for easy overclocking.
Choosing the best motherboard for AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
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Most of these boards are stable enough for some overclocking and perform well enough under load in games or intensive applications. For anyone who desires a tremendous X570 chipset motherboard, seriously consider the ASUS ROG Strix X570-E for how much you get for the price. Dropping to the entry-level MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus doesn't mean you lose out on much, and it's still a fantastic entry into the chipset.
X570 chipset boards are some of the best motherboards, but if you want to save a little, you can choose the ASRock B450M Steel Legend or MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk featuring slick RGB lighting on both. No matter which board you choose, they're the best for the AMD Ryzen 5 3600X and make a solid foundation for a decent gaming PC.
