GIGABYTE B650 Eagle AX (AM5, DDR5, WiFi)

Our analysis

Four DDR5 slots against two, three M.2 against two and up to 256 GB against 128: that is what this full ATX board adds over the ASRock B850M-X WiFi R2.0, a Micro-ATX AM5 board with the same Wi-Fi 6E. The ASRock answers with 2.5 GbE against 1 GbE here, on the newer B850 chipset, and fits a smaller case.

What stands out

• AM5 socket with Ryzen 9000 support and Q-Flash Plus. A unit from older stock may need a BIOS update for a Ryzen 9000, and Q-Flash Plus does it with no CPU installed; the 12+2+2 VRM is ready for any of them.
• Three M.2 slots, one at PCIe 5.0. Room for a fast system drive plus two more for your game library.
• Wi-Fi 6E on board. If your router is in another room, you skip buying a wireless card or running a long cable.
• Four DDR5 slots up to 256 GB, plus rear USB-C. Memory with room to grow; the rear USB-C runs at USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), with two 10 Gbps Type-A ports next to it.

Where it falls short

The graphics slot is not PCIe 5.0; for that you need a B650E board. Wired networking is 1 GbE, while several boards in this category list 2.5 GbE or faster. And its rear USB-C is only USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), where the ASUS TUF B650E-PLUS has a 20 Gbps port.

Look elsewhere if

Your graphics card needs a PCIe 5.0 slot: the ASUS TUF Gaming B650E-PLUS WiFi uses the B650E chipset and adds 2.5 GbE. If faster networking is the priority, the MSI B850 Gaming Plus WiFi lists Wi-Fi 7 and 5 GbE on the same AM5 socket.

You can see how it fits with the rest of the parts in our best value gaming PC build, or browse every board in the motherboards category.