Best Amd Motherboards Under 100 – Out of dozens of motherboards under $100, I selected these 6 based on VRM, Components compatibility and additional features such as connectivity and onboard troubleshooting.
From $60 up to $100, it’s not impossible to get a good motherboard for Intel or an AMD processor and with the release of the latest generations of processors, it’s only becoming easier to find a better motherboard than ever before.
ROUND UP
If you are looking to save cost on the motherboard while building an AMD rig so you can maximize budget on the rest of the components then you need to look in to the best AM4 motherboards under $100.
1.GIGABYTE B450M DS3H
Pros & Cons
- Supports AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen/ 2nd Gen Ryzen/ 1st Gen Ryzen/ 2nd Gen Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics/ 1st Gen Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics/ Athlon with Radeon Vega Graphics Processors
- Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
- Feature Digital VRM Solution with Low RDS(on) MOSFETs
- HDMI, DVI-D Ports for Multiple Display
- Ultra-Fast PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 with PCIe NVMe & SATA mode support
- High Quality Audio Capacitors and Audio Noise Guard with LED Trace Path Lighting
- GIGABYTE Exclusive 8118 Gaming LAN with Bandwidth Management
- RGB Fusion supports RGB LED Strips in 7-Colors
- Smart Fan 5 Features 5 Temperature Sensors and 2 Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP
- APP Center Including EasyTune and Cloud Station Utilities
The last of GIGABYTE’s launch day motherboards comes via the B450M DS3H which hails from the Ultra Durable range. With the shift here from gaming to a more subtle theme, the styling choices opted here by GIGABYTE come across as less ‘in your face’ without RGB LEDs built into the heatsinks, but users looking to make use of rainbow-colored RGB can do so through a single RGB LED strip header.
Without a lot of the bells and whistles of the B450 Aorus motherboards, what the B450M DS3H does focus on is providing value without sacrificing too much on the overall quality.
The general controller choice does put this board in the lower range of AM4 boards available, but the Realtek ALC887 audio codec still does a decent job of providing onboard audio. With a Realtek GbE LAN controller present also, the DS3H is admirable for users on a strict budget, but who also require a smaller microATX form facto
2.GIGABYTE B450 AORUS ELITE
Pros & Cons
- Supports AMD 2nd generation Ryzen/ Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics/ 1st generation Ryzen processors
- Dual channel non-ECC unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
- HDMI, DVI D ports for multiple display
- Integrated I/O shield of ultra-durable design
- Support for AMD Quad GPU Crossfire and 2 way AMD Crossfire technologies
The Gigabyte B450 AORUS Elite V2 is currently the cheapest B450 of all motherboards ever reviewed here on Reatbyte. Besides, it has awesome features for this price range and pretty good aesthetics and style, with some RGB LEDs, thus fitting into the gaming pattern.
But if you need a little more features, you can check out the other Elite model, its old brother Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2.
With its latest AORUS motherboard launches, Gigabyte has pleasantly surprised us. The one for today’s review, which was released last year (October 2020), caught our attention right away.
Then we decided to put it through its paces to see how it would do on the motherboard market.
3.ASRock Z490M PRO4
Pros & Cons
- Supports 10 th Gen Intel Core processors (Socket 1200)
- 10 Power Phase Design
- Supports DDR4 4500MHz+ (OC)
- 2 PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 PCIe 3.0 x1, 1 M.2(Key E) For WiFi
- AMD Quad CrossFireX and CrossFireX
All of our boards are of the smaller Micro ATX form factor, and with them also being so inexpensive, some features will be missing or not the same quality as other more premium (and expensive) boards.
We’ll see SATA port counts range from four to six, one or two M.2 sockets, Gigabit Ethernet and different audio codecs than pricier options. Read on for a complete list of specifications and features from each board, see how they performed in testing and which board receives our nod of budget-friendly approval.
Motherboards come in all shapes, sizes, and price points. Recently, we looked at the least expensive B550 motherboards we could find and pair them with a high-end CPU. Fast forward to today and we’ve done the same thing but with Z490-based motherboards.
Like the B550 roundup, we’ll look at inexpensive Micro ATX boards and see how they perform with our flagship i9-10900K compared to much pricier offerings.
4.ASROCK B560M-HDV
Pros & Cons
- CPU:INTEL SOCKET1200 FOR INTEL 10TH/11TH GEN CORE
- CHIPSET:INTEL B560
- MEMORY:2*DIMM DDR4
- SLOTS:1*PCIE4.0X16;2*PCIE3.0X1
- STORAGE:2*M.2 SLOTS;4*SATA 6GB/S PORTS
One potential pitfall of the B560M-HDV is its out-of-the-box power CPU power limits. It enforces Intel’s low-end power limit, meaning your CPU’s multicore performance will be noticeably lower than that of a higher-end motherboard with the same processor (test it out in Cinebench R23 or any other benchmarking software to see for yourself).
This is a bit of a pain but not a problem long-term; a quick trip into the motherboard’s UEFI can resolve this.
Just restart your PC and press Delete to access the computer’s UEFI. Switch to Advanced Settings if needed, go to the OC Tweaker tab, and change Base Frequency Boost to the highest possible amount (for us this was 100W). This will allow your CPU its maximum performance, as long as your CPU cooler is capable.
5.ASRock B550M PRO4
Pros & Cons
- Supports DDR4 4733+ (OC)
- Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen 3000, 3000 G-Series, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors*
- Not compatible with AMD Athlon Processors.
- 8 Power Phase Design, Digi Power
There is still the 75% rear panel cover over the top of the controllers from the back panel, also covering the power delivery (6-phase) this time, and the chipset heatsink / M.2 heatsinks are not connected either. The CPU takes power from a single 8-pin, and the socket has access to three 4-pin fan headers within reasonable distance.
To the right of the socket are four memory slots, all using single side latches as to not interfere when large bulky graphics cards are used. On the right hand side of the board, at the top we have an RGB header, then a 24-pin ATX connector, then a USB 3.0 header, two vertical SATA ports, four regular SATA ports, and then a chipset based PCIe 3.0 x2 M.2 slot.
6.MSI Arsenal AMD Ryzen
Pros & Cons
- Supports 1st, 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen / Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics and 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen with Radeon Graphics / Athlon with Radeon Vega Graphics Desktop Processors for Socket AM4
- Supports DDR4 Memory, up to 4133(OC) MHz
- Lightning Fast Game experience: 1x TURBO M.2, Store MI technology
- Core Boost: With premium layout and fully digital power design to support more cores and provide better performance
- DDR4 Boost: Advanced technology to deliver pure data signals for the best gaming performance and stability
The MSI B450 Tomahawk is the successor to the popular B350 Tomahawk and offers users a slightly better feature set. This starts with including a pair USB 3.1 Gen2 ports, as well as customizable RGB LED lighting integrated into the board.
The B450 Tomahawk is a gaming-themed motherboard and comes from MSI’s ‘Arsenal’ range of motherboards designed to offer users an affordable option with many of the features found on the more expensive models, but with some differentials to keep the overall cost down. This includes the pairing of decent quality and cost-effective Realtek controllers on audio side and the networking side.
7.Asus Prime B450M-A
Pros & Cons
- AMD AM4 Socket: The perfect pairing for 3rd/2nd/1st Gen AMD Ryzen CPUs
- Fast Connectivity: 1Gb LAN, HDMI 2.0b, D-Sub, and DVI display outputs
- ASUS CSM motherboard: ASUS Corporate Stable Model with up to 36-month supply, EOL notice, and ECN control
- ASUS Control Center Express to make IT endpoint management simpler
- 5X Protection III: all-round protection with LANGuard, DRAM overcurrent protection, overvoltage protection, SafeSlot Core safeguards and stainless-steel back I/O
- Please ensure your BIOS is up to date if installing a compatible Ryzen 5000 series CPU. Visit ASUS site search by motherboard model name, click on “Support” tab, Drivers and Tools, then BIOS & Firmware to download the latest BIOS
The style and design run in symmetry with the ATX sized version (Prime B450-Plus) and has a clean and clutter free black PCB, with a grey triangle shaped pattern.
The B450M-K omits any integrated RGB backlighting on-board, instead, users can make use of lighting emanating from the PCIe slot and audio trace paths which gives the impression the audio area of the PCB has separation.
Due to the microATX form factor, the Prime B450M-K features a single full-length PCIe 3.0 x16 slot with a further two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots. Memory wise, the board has support for DDR4-3200 with a total capacity of up to 32 GB of system memory over the two provided slots.
The Prime B450M-K represents one of the most basic B450 motherboards at launch, but this is reflected in the pricing ASUS gone with for this Prime branded board.
8.ASUS AMD AM4
Pros & Cons
- 3 PCIe 4. 0 x16 Slots with optimized lane arrangement of 3-Way x8/x8/x8 to accelerate an increasingly diverse array of workload
- Reliable and responsive ECC memory suitable for Mission critical task
- ASUS control Center: A software utility equipped with dual GbE LAN for out-of-band management for centralized and cost-saving it management
- Ultra-fast storage: up to 64bps Dual M. 2, U. 2, Plus up to 10Gbps back-panel USB 3. 2 Gen 1 with Type-A and Type-C ports
- Ultra-efficient VRM heatsink: metal-fin-array design maximizes surface area for heat dissipation to enable unthrottled performance
- Please ensure your BIOS is up to date if installing a compatible Ryzen 5000 series CPU. Visit ASUS site search by motherboard model name, click on “Support” tab, Drivers and Tools, then BIOS & Firmware to download the latest BIOS.
Offering support for both the Ryzen 5000 and 3000 series processors, X570 is still AMD’s flagship consumer chipset with plenty of PCIe 4.0 support through its full-length PCIe slots and M.2 slots. For users considering B550, chipset-based PCIe 4.0 is the major benefit here.
One of the models launched back when X570 was announced is the ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming, so even though it has been out a while, it has been a popular option and we wanted to test it. Representing the ROG Strix series that caters to the mid-range, it focuses on blending modern aesthetics with RGB, premium controller sets and features.
The X570-E follows a similar design to the vast majority of its Strix branded models, with futuristic graffiti across the heatsinks, with RGB LEDs integrated into the rear panel cover and chipset heatsinks.
9.ASRock B450M PRO4
Pros & Cons
- Socket AM4 Digi Power design 9 Power Phase design Supports 105W Water Cooling (Pinnacle Ridge) Supports 95W Water Cooling (Summit Ridge) Supports 65W Water Cooling (Raven Ridge)
- Country of origin : China
- Memory 4x DDR4-3200+(OC)/2933/2667/2400/2133 DIMM Slots Dual Channel ECC Non-ECC Unbuffered Max Capacity of 64GB (AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Pinnacle Ridge))
- Slots 2x PCI-Express 3 0 x16 Slots (one runs at x8) 2x PCI-Express 2 0 x16 Slots (two run at x4) 1x PCI-Express 2 0 x1 Slot
The Asrock B450M Pro4 comes in at just and while it might only pack a 3+3 phase VRM, both the Vcore and SoC portions of the VRM feature passive cooling, something no other MicroATX B450 board offers. Cooling on the SoC VRM is important, particularly if you plan on using a Raven Ridge APU, and crucially if you plan to overclock the integrated Vega GPU.
Whilst the audio is the Realtek ALC892 codec and not the ALC1220 we see on ‘gaming’ products it’s still going to be good enough for all but the most hardcore of gamers and it fits the price point well
10.GIGABYTE GA-A320M-S2H
Pros & Cons
- Supports AMD Ryzen & 7th generation A series/Athlon processors
- Dual channel non-ECC unbuffered DDR4, 2 DIMMs
- Ultra-fast PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 with PCIe NVMe & SATA mode support
- High quality audio capacitors and audio noise guard
- Realtek Gigabit LAN with cFosSpeed internet accelerator software
GIGABYTE AM4 motherboards are ready to support the latest AMD Ryzen™ 3000 Processors and are backwards compatible with AMD Ryzen™ 2000 and 1000 Processors.
With a rich list of features on GIGABYTE AM4 motherboards such as Ultra Durable™ Armor for PCIe/ memory slots, USB Type-C™ interfaces on select boards, refined audio quality, high speed Ethernet, and the latest standard WIFI design, GIGABYTE AM4 motherboards are perfect for users looking to build the best AMD platform systems.
Best Amd Motherboards Under 100 – BUYER’S GUIDE
If you are working with a tight budget, you can definitely choose a less-expensive motherboard. And, if all you are planning on doing is building a single video card setup then you don’t necessarily have to spend hundreds of dollars on an extreme motherboard.
Ultimately, though, your motherboard is an important part of your computer and you should definitely take the time to choose one that will serve your needs and even will give you upgrade options in the future.
Form Factor
Most of the motherboard in this price range are Micro ATX motherboards with a 9.6 inch by 9.6 inch dimensions.
You can also find ATX motherboards on the higher price side but the mini ITX are quite rare to find under this price tag especially if you choose to go for the newer chipsets.
M.2 Slots
The A320 and A520 motherboards offer a max of single M.2 NVMe SSD slot. The B450 and B550 can offer 2 x M.2 slots.
Overclocking
If you are an enthusiasts who loves tweaking their system, then we recommend sticking the B450 and the B550 chipsets.
The A320 or the A520 motherboards DO NOT allow overclocking.
This has mainly to do with the fact that in order to save cost, the A520 and the cheaper chipsets lack the amount of VRMs or the VRM heat sinks to stabilize voltage or temperature in overclocked situation.
WiFi
The newer chipset, the B550 supports WiFi 6. The other chipsets, including the A520 lacks support for the newer WiFi 6.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Can You Expect From AMD Motherboards Under $100?
Motherboards under $100 are considered general purpose motherboards for home or office use. They bring the minimum specs to the table.
However, as seen above, there are a certain few motherboards under the $100 range that can provide you with an extraordinary value for your money if you are a gamer too.
Here are some of the things you can expect from AM4 motherboard from this price category:
Chipset
There are four chipsets that you can usually find under this price range i.e A320, B450, A520 and B550. Of these four, the A320 and B450 are older and hence cheaper.
The A520 and B550 are newer and slightly more expensive.
We recommend that you stick with the newer chipsets because they support the latest processors from the get go. On the older chipsets you may have to update the BIOS to support newer Ryzen Gen 3 or 4 processors.
Also, it is worth nothing that the “A” series are the entry level chipsets, where as the “B” series are a mid range AM4 chipset.
We explore the characteristics of chipset in the sections below.
PCIe Expansion
If you choose to go for A520 or the A320 chipset, you can only find a single PCIe x16 expansion slot because this chipset can only support a single GPU.
You may or may not find the smaller X1 slots.
The B550 and B450 are a bit more versatile. These can handle dual graphics card so you may find 2 x X16 slots here albeit the second X16 slot generally operates at X4 speed (enough to run an AMD card).
PCIe Version
If you want to go for a motherboard featuring the latest PCIe V4.0, then B550 is the way to go. The PCIe V4, like all the previous gen, improves by doubling the lane speed.
An x4 lane on PCIe V4 can top 8 GB/s second. The same with a V3 can top only 4 GB/s.
Higher the transfer speed, the better and newer graphics card or other devices like SSDs you can install.
The A520, albeit new in the market, does not feature PCIe V4.0. Instead its GPU and general purpose lanes from the chipset all conform to PCIe V3. This is in contrast to the A320 chipset on which the general purpose lanes conformed to PCIe V2.
WRAP UP
Best Amd Motherboards Under 100 – AMD’s popularity is on the rise, there are articles over articles these days singing the praise of the newer AMD processor as well as the graphics so it only makes sense that your next investment be an AMD setup.
In this article we look at the best AM4 motherboards under $100. Basically we look at motherboard that will be suitable for office/home use as well as for gamers who want to keep the cost of their motherboard to a bear minimum.
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