So many mobos in 2025 but only three cut the mustard for us

Every year, vendors fill the market with a veritable mass of new motherboards, all vying for your attention and wallet. There are so many that it would be almost impossible for anyone to review and test them all (unless they gave up eating and sleeping for 12 months), but we managed to get through nearly 20 of them. Some of them were actually launched last year, but they're still relevant in 2025, because of the way that motherboards follow CPU release cycles. AMD and Intel released their latest generation of processors in 2024 (Ryzen 9000, Core Ultra 200S), and the first series of motherboards that came with them were all sporting the high-end chipsets (i.e. X870/870E and Z890). The mainstream chipsets (AMD's B850 and Intel's B860) didn't really appear in great numbers until the start of this year. Common features that we all loved to see were: Wi-Fi 7, lots of fast M.2 slots for SSDs, user-friendly BIOS/UEFI interfaces, and quick-release mechanisms on the main PCIe slot for graphics cards and M.2 heatsinks. We also saw big improvements in the rear IO panels, with a proliferation of motherboards sporting lots of 10 Gbps or faster USB/Thunderbolt ports. Compared to only a few years ago, motherboards have vastly improved in terms of build quality, although there have been a few too many cases of boards ruining CPUs for our liking. The good news is that you don't have to spend a small fortune to bag yourself a motherboard that will serve you well for many years, with excellent storage and expansion options. We tested a lot of very good motherboards this year, as well as a lot of very average ones, but three really stood out for us. They're not the best because they're the cheapest or fastest, or because they have the most ports or sport the best VRMs. They're just the best motherboards of 2025 that we'd happily use in our own gaming rigs. Best gaming motherboard 2025: the nominees Best gaming mobo 2025 nominee ASRock B860 Steel Legend WiFi 2025 is probably a year ASRock would like to forget, and that's mostly down to problems with some of its AM5 motherboards that could permanently damage Ryzen X3D chips. Prior to this, ASRock had worked hard to improve its reputation for making motherboards that were just cheap, and nothing more, and it's hard not to think that all of this was proof that they hadn't. However, when it comes to the B860 Steel Legend WiFi, it's clear that ASRock can deliver the goods when it puts its mind to the task. For under $200, you're getting a seriously good motherboard for Core Ultra 200S processors, held back only by Intel's chipset overclocking block and a dated BIOS/UEFI. Mainstream motherboards typically have fewer storage and connectivity options than pricey enthusiast-level boards, but that's not the case here. You get four M.2 slots (half PCIe 5.0, half PCIe 4.0) with decent heatsinks. On the rear IO panel, you'll find one Thunderbolt...

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