Best Budget Motherboards for Gaming PCs in 2025 

You want to play some of the newest Steam titles this year, but don’t have the budget to do it in style. Luckily, you don’t need style or the best machine money can buy to get the job done. In fact, the first thing you need is a motherboard, and even that doesn’t have to break the bank.

In this article, we’re going to be looking at the best budget motherboards that won’t drain your wallet or ruin your gaming experience.

Areas of Focus for a Gaming PC

The motherboard is where it all comes together for any PC build. It’s where all the components meet, are placed, and communicate with each other. You might think that a gaming PC is most dependent on the CPU, GPU, and PSU (power supply), but in truth, a gaming motherboard also plays a big role in the whole experience. This includes:

• Overclocking capabilities
• Better LAN connections
• Faster USB ports
• Different form factors for bigger builds (ATX, ITX, etc.)
• More RAM slots
• NVMe support for faster drives
• PCIE ports (multiple in some cases) for graphics cards
• Better audio chips

Because gamers place so much importance on connectivity, speed, and performance, the gaming motherboard is the key to the performance of these areas. Thus, good motherboards draw more power, but gives higher performance.

Best Budget Motherboard

Ultimately, the term “best” depends on what works for you. When it comes to a motherboard, it’s a good idea to weigh budget with function and capability. How much are you willing to spend, and how many components are you looking to add? With that said, let’s look at some of the best gaming PC motherboards in 2025.

The ASRock Z790 Steel Legend

This Intel motherboard comes with the standard overclocking features you’d expect from the tech giant, but also with a few other nifty extras. The board comes with a 20 Gbps USB-C port, along with eight SATA ports, an eDP port for a second monitor, and five M.2 sockets (one being a PCIe 5.0 port). It does lag a bit in the audio department with its basic codec, but connectivity still shines with an integrated Wi-Fi 6E.

All in all, you can do a lot with this motherboard for not a lot of cash.

ASUS TUF Gaming B650 Plus Wi-Fi

As the name implies, this ASUS gaming motherboard comes complete with integrated Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. It’s good enough to get the job done and comes with some neat gaming extras, including cooling and a voltage regulator module (VRM) for high power, and enhanced PBO for overclocking.

Where the board does lag a bit is in its USB (only 5 Gbps) capability and the fact that it doesn’t support PCIe 5.0 without some modifications. That said, the offering is solid, and sometimes that’s all you need.

MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK Wi-Fi

Let’s look at an excellent MSI addition to the list. The Tomahawk range has always stood out for offering value for money, and these boards vary from low to midrange in their pricing. While it too lacks a PCIe 5.0 port, it makes up for it in other ways, including DDR 5 support, Wi-Fi 6E, and three M.2 slots for more expansion. But perhaps the biggest draw to the Tomahawk is its heat regulation. The advanced heatsinks provide efficient cooling, even for the most intense gaming experiences.

GIGABYTE X870 Gaming Wi-Fi6

If you were to go to the higher end of the budget range, but remain affordable, then Gigabyte is here to tempt you. An ATX form factor means you’re getting a lot of slots and ports for your buck, including PCIe 5.0. The board hosts AMD Ryzen AM5 chips. Meanwhile, four SATA ports allow for multiple drives, and the phase design can accommodate the draw needed to run games. All in all, it’s a formidable board at an unformidable price.