We're refreshing our picks
Prices for motherboards in this category have moved above £75 since our last review. We track the market daily and will restore the under-£75 recommendations the moment products come back into bracket.
In the meantime, here are the nearest brackets with current picks:
Frequently Asked Questions
Honestly? It's tough. The ASUS Prime B450M-K II sits just under £70, making it the only true option in this price bracket. Most decent ASUS boards start around £115-180. If you're strictly budget-limited, the B450M-K II works for basic Ryzen builds, but expect compromises on features and future-proofing.
B550 supports PCIe 4.0, which means faster NVMe drives and better GPU bandwidth. B450 is stuck on PCIe 3.0. For budget builds with older Ryzen CPUs, B450 does the job. But if you're planning to upgrade to Ryzen 5000 series or want faster storage, B550 is worth the extra £40-50.
The B450 boards (Prime B450M-K II and Prime B450-Plus) need a BIOS update to run Ryzen 5000 chips, and even then, you'll miss out on features. The B550M-Plus WiFi II supports them natively and is a better choice if you're running a 5600X or similar. Just check ASUS's CPU support list before buying.
The B550M-Plus WiFi II includes WiFi 6, which is proper decent value. Separate WiFi adapters cost £20-40 anyway, and motherboard WiFi is cleaner with better antenna placement. If you're on Ethernet, save the cash and get the non-WiFi version.
Most people use one, maybe two. Budget boards typically offer 2x M.2 slots, which is plenty for a boot drive and game storage. Unless you're running a media server or serious content creation rig, two M.2 slots will cover you. Don't overpay for extra slots you won't use.
