Does Motherboard Matter For Gaming?

With more and more people getting into gaming, the community is expanding and recruiting more gaming enthusiasts. Interested to get into gaming, but not sure whether your current PC or gaming equipment will pull you back or not? Well, the following article answers the question - “Does motherboard matter for gaming” in detail.

So, what are you waiting for? Jump right into the article and learn whether your current motherboard helps you get into gaming or not! We will also discuss the different motherboard features that matter and help you decide on a budget. Let’s get started!

 

What Factors Must You Consider?

To give you an answer to - “Does motherboard matter for gaming”, a motherboard does not directly affect your gaming performance, but there’s a lot to it. Your motherboard does indirectly influence your gaming performance. This is why you need to consider several factors and understand the different aspects that come into play.

For example, your installed apps, overclocking capacity, and expandability are crucial functions determined by your motherboard choice. Let us now discuss the different concepts that will help us understand the answer to - does motherboard matter for gaming?

 

Motherboard Chipset And PCIe Lanes

A crucial factor that differentiates a premium motherboard chipset from one on a budget is the number of PCIe lanes. After all, the higher the number of PCIe lanes in your PC, the more the expandability in your motherboard’s PCIe slots, M.2 slots, or SATA slots.

So, your CPU and the motherboard’s chipset determine the total number of PCIe lanes in your computer. Other than the CPU’s PCIe lanes, you can also find some provided by your motherboard. Refer to the following table that breaks down the total number of PCIe lanes offered by the different chipsets available.

 

Manufacturer	Chipset	PCIe Lanes	Category
Intel	Z690	28 12 x v.40 16 x v.30	High Performance
	H670	24 12 x v.40 12 x v.30	High Performance Without Overclocking Support
	B660	14 6 x v.40 8 x v.30	Mid-Range
	H610	12 12 x v.30	Budget
	Z590	24	High Performance
	Z490	24	High Performance
	B460	16	Mid-Range
	B560	12	Mid-Range
	X299	24	Workstation
	H510	4	Budget
AMD	X570	16	High Performance
	B550	10	Mid-Range
	A520	6	Budget
	TRX40	16	Workstation

 

It is quite evident from the above table that the more premium the motherboard chipset is, the higher number of PCIe lanes available. This means that the more the number of devices you could install on your gaming PC. Based on this factor, the answer to - “Does motherboard matter for gaming” is yes!

 

Better VRMs And Higher Overclocking

Another important feature that comes into play when discussing - “does motherboard matter for gaming”, is overclocking. In simple terms, overclocking means boosting the clock speed of your gaming PC’s components beyond the factory settings for better frame rates and processing power. This can improve your overall gaming experience and make it more enjoyable.

If you’re an overclocker, your motherboard’s VRM quality and the phase power design come into play. VRMs, also known as voltage regulator modules, are small but very crucial electrical components that supply clean, consistent, and stable power to the CPU.

This component is also essential for overclockers because if your VRMs are not powerful enough, it would be impossible to stabilize the higher voltage level as the CPU voltage is increased for a higher clock speed. And, it is a fact that premium motherboards have a greater number of more powerful VRMs.

Want to know the number of VRMs your motherboard has? Well, you can find it mentioned as the Phase Design Power in the spec sheet, and is always in the format of 6+1, 8+2, 14+2, etc. Here, the number of VRMs of the CPU is represented by the first number, while the second number represents the number of VRMs present in the RAM.

You can also find premium motherboards with a robust power phase design, which are designed specifically to satisfy the needs of overclockers. For example, the ASUS ROG Strix Z590-A comes with a 14+2 power phase design. To answer - “Does motherboard matter for gaming” from the point of view of VRMs, yes they do!

 

PCIe Version Of The PCIe Lanes

Another factor that one must consider when looking for the answer to - “Does motherboard matter for gaming” is that a motherboard chipset determines your PC’s PCIe version. Now, based on your GPU, this factor might directly influence your gaming.

With every new generation of your system’s PCIe version, the throughput rate or the speed doubles. Check the following table to understand how the throughput rate varies with respect to the PCIe version.

Version	x1 (GB/s)	x2 (GB/s)	x4 (GB/s)	x8 (GB/s)	x16 (GB/s)
1.0	0.250	0.500	1.000	2.000	4.000
2.0	0.500	1.000	2.000	4.000	8.000
3.0	0.985	1.969	3.938	7.877	15.754
4.0	1.969	3.938	7.877	15.754	31.508
5.0	3.938	7.877	15.754	31.508	63.015
6.0	7.877	15.754	31.508	63.015	126.031

 

As discussed in the previous section, this directly impacts the number of devices that can be installed on your PC. For example, motherboards conforming to the newer PCIe v4.0 standard allow users to install the faster Gen 4 NVMe SSDs with a maximum speed of 5000 MB/s. In contrast, the Gen 3 SSDs can only support a maximum speed of 3500 MB/s.

However, the real benefit comes to light because a newer PCIe version has a direct effect on the PC’s graphics card performance. And, it is all the more the case if you have a high-end GPU generating a huge amount of data. In mid to mid-high graphics cards, this impact is quite manageable, but these cards are not capable of generating enough data that can saturate even the basic PCIe 3.0 slots.

As of now, only the recent motherboards offer support for PCIe v4.0. This includes AMD’s AMD X570 and AMD B550 chipsets and Intel’s Z590, B560, and H570 chipsets. So, this section further proved that although there is no direct impact to answer - “Does motherboard matter for gaming”, these features do factor in and justify why your motherboard specifications do matter in your gaming journey.

 

SLI Or Crossfire Support

If you’re interested in building a gaming PC that supports an SLI or a crossfire multi-GPU setup, the answer to - “Does motherboard matter for gaming” is more straightforward. The answer is YES and not all motherboard chipsets support multi-GPU.

For example, budget motherboards like the Intel H and B series and the AMD A-series, do not support multi-GPUs. So, in case you’re looking for a motherboard that can help leverage the power of dual GPUs for a better gaming experience, look into Intel’s Z series chipsets and AMD’s B and X series chipsets.

 

How Much Money Should You Invest On A Motherboard For Gaming?

Although it is clear that the answer to - “Does motherboard matter for gaming” is YES, most motherboards differ very little in the offered gaming performance to users. So, it might not be a wise choice to spend a few hundred dollars just to get a board with an extra 4FPS.

We recommend going for mid-range boards if you can spare the budget. Or, you can shortlist the essential specifications you would prefer in your PC and shortlist some. Keep in mind that higher prices do not always mean better features. Especially in the case of motherboards, higher prices are sometimes attached to looks and fancy LED lights attached.

The feature set also has an effect on the ultimate price of the motherboard which is why you must thoroughly check the specifications. For example, motherboards with three USB 3.0 ports will undoubtedly cost more than those with three USB 2.0 ports. To give you a ballpark estimate:-

• AMD’s motherboards that offer lower-end overclockable capabilities can set you back by USD 75 (B350) - USD 90 (B450)
• Intel’s similar motherboard models like the Z370 board and the Z390 board can cost a little over USD 100 for low-end models.

 

Does Motherboard Matter For Gaming? - The Final Verdict

We have discussed the different factors one must consider before answering - “does motherboard matter for gaming”. To give you a final verdict, we need to answer the question in two parts:-

 

Motherboard Does Not Affect Stock Performance

The first part of the answer depends on the stock performance of the CPU and GPU. If you’re only concerned with the stock performance of most GPUs and CPUs, your motherboard will not affect your gaming performance.

You must also consider that an entry-level A520 motherboard offers the same performance as a high-end X570 motherboard with a Ryzen 7 processor.

 

Motherboard Matters For Overclocking

If you are looking for something more than the stock performance of the CPUs and the GPU, this part of the answer concerns you.

For overclockers, the more premium a motherboard, the higher its overclocking capability. It can have a direct and significant impact on your gaming performance. Moreover, low-end motherboards do not support overclocking meaning they might not offer the high-end gaming performance you’re looking for.