5 best gaming motherboards for Ryzen 5 9600X
The Ryzen 5 9600X will be released on August 8, 2024. This new processor brings about 16% IPC improvements over the Ryzen 5 7600X. The exact price tag has not been revealed yet, but it is expected to be cheaper than its competitors, and even cheaper than its predecessor, the 7000 series. Thus, the processor will be an attractive option in the budget mid-range category.
However, you need a decent motherboard to drive all the performance out of the Ryzen 5 9600X. In this article, we present some of the best boards you should buy to pair with this new CPU.
Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.
List of the best gaming motherboards to buy for Ryzen 5 9600X
1) ASUS Prime X670-P WiFi motherboard
Price: $199
Thus ASUS X670 motherboard is a fantastic option for the Ryzen 5 9600X. It boasts a total of three M.2 ports with support for up to PCIe Gen 5. The PCB of the board has a six-layer design to achieve better signal integrity. It also has a high-end 12 + 2-phase digital VRM system that is cooled with large heatsinks. It will provide all the power the Ryzen 5 9600X or even the Ryzen 9 CPU needs.
Both the processor and memory have great overclocking potential with this motherboard, which enthusiasts will absolutely love. You will find a premium audio system with robust audio capacitors and proper audio shielding.
Pros
- Has quality components and a stable power delivery system.
- Equipped with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth.
- Has a USB Type-C port on the rear side with a Type-C header.
Cons
- No PCIe Gen 5 support for the x16 slot, which could be needed in some future graphics cards.
2) ASRock B650E PG Riptide WiFi motherboard
Price: $179
The ASRock B650E Phantom Ghost Riptide provides a ton of connectivity options at a decent price tag. It has PCIe Gen 5 support for both SSD and GPU, which no other motherboard on this list has. It has a total of 10 USB ports, including a USB Type-C port, therefore you will find no issues in terms of connectivity.
This board also has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth for wireless connectivity. The primary PCIe x16 slot has Gen 5 support, so next-gen and future graphics cards like the upcoming RTX 5090 will be supported. It has multiple RGB headers to connect all your LED accessories.
Pros
- Can overclock memory modules to 7600 MT/s speeds.
- Equipped with PCIe Gen 5 support for M.2 and PCIe X16 slots.
Cons
- The audio performance is not as great as other similarly priced boards.
3) MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ProSeries motherboard
Price: $149
The MSI PRO B650-S motherboard is available at an incredible deal, especially considering everything it offers. It costs under $150 but still provides a full-size ATX board with two PCIe X16 slots. You will also find cooling heatsinks for both the VRM system and the SSD slot, which should prevent thermal throttling.
The motherboard brings a great audio performance with six audio ports. You will also find built-in Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth, so there's no need to buy a separate PCIe card for that. For wired connectivity, it has a 2.5G Gigabit Ethernet port.
Pros
- Equipped with a powerful 12 + 2-phase power delivery system to provide stable power to the Ryzen 5 9600X.
- Is available at a fantastic value.
- Has a great VRM cooling solution built in.
Cons
- No PCIe Gen 5 support.
4) GIGABYTE B650M K motherboard
Price: $119
The GIGABYTE B650M K motherboard brings the performance of the B650 chipset to under $120. Thanks to its high-performance chipset, you get two M.2 slots. Therefore, you will face no issues expanding your NVMe storage down the line. It has PCIe Gen 4 support for both M.2 slots, and the primary M.2 slot is also cooled with a dedicated heatsink.
You will also find a USB Type-C port, which is quite rare for a board costing so little. It has a total of eight USB ports. There's a dedicated BIOS flashing utility, which will be required to support the Ryzen 5 9600X.
Pros
- Dual M.2 SSD slots.
- Equipped with a robust 8 + 2 + 1 PWM power delivery system.
- Has a 2.5G Gigabit Ethernet port.
Cons
- Limited to four SATA ports.
5) ASRock A620M-HDV/M.2+ motherboard
Price: $101
The ASRock A620M is among the cheapest motherboards you can find for the Ryzen 5 9600X. Although it only costs $101, the board still has a decent 6 + 1 + 1-phase VRM system with high-quality MOSFETS. Therefore, it will support Ryzen CPUs with up to 120W of TDP, which many other A620 boards cannot.
The motherboard has dual M.2 ports and can support PCIe Gen 4 SSDs. You can also overclock the CPU and the memory, but I would advise you not to overclock the processor on this cheaper board. However, you should be able to overclock the memory just fine.
Pros
- Has a decent VRM system.
- The DDR5 memory sticks can be overclocked to 7200 MT/s.
- Dedicated BIOS flashing utility.
Cons
- No 2.5G Gigabit Ethernet.
While these are all excellent choices for the Ryzen 5 9600X, I recommend the ASRock B650E PG Riptide WiFi motherboard due to its excellent price-to-performance ratio. However, if you want something on a budget, the GIGABYTE B650M K is also quite decent for the price.