Deciding on a motherboard is less of a religion than finding something that you can afford and that supports your processor.
The question of the motherboard is more complicated depending on how high end of a CPU you are planning on using. If you are just planning on a small 4 core/8 thread pc you could probably get away with any of the existing compatible motherboards. It would most certainly be overkill to get the brand new x570 AMD motherboards if you are planning on getting an Ryzen 3 with only has 4 cores.
With certainty you could find a motherboard from last years lineup and use it with even the most current Ryzen 3, well with a few exceptions. If You are planning on going to the other extreme and getting a high end processor you might then opt for a newer motherboard with all of the new functionality. It might not be necessary to have a PCI 4 bus for your new Ryzen 7 or 9 CPU but if you are getting a high end processor you might also be getting a high end graphics card and that would benefit from the faster PCI 4 bus.
In my case the decision was to go with one of the existing motherboards that supports the AM4 and 3rd gen ryzen or to get one of the new motherboards that is chock full of newer technology.
| Motherboard | Motherboard |
| x470 | x570 |
| pci 3 | pci4 |
| usb 3.1 | usb 3.2 |
| 8 pci 3 lanes | 20 pci 4 lanes |
| max 64gb ram | max 128gb ram |
Depending on the boards you might also be talking about better built in audio, more support m.2 cards, built in Wifi or even 2.5 gigabyte Ethernet port. Other things might also be availble such as newer easier to use versions of Bios or the ability to flash the firmware without even having a CPU.
Both motherboards have the AM4 socket which was released in 2017 and seems to be holding strong. The socket seems scheduled to be in use into 2020. How to actually select a motherboard is really difficult. I have done a lot of research and it is not to difficult to find negative reviews for all of the different motherboards.
My old computer is about 56 years old (in dog years) and I can only imagine that my new computer will also be kept for longer then the normal two or three years upgrade cycle. With this in mind I will be getting the current x570 which supports pci4 which will future proof things.
| Wish list |
| 2 x M.2 drive support |
| 128gb ram support |
| USB 3.2 |
| 7 segment display for post codes |
A lot of these options are actually available on a lot of x570 motherboards with the exception of the 7 segment display for post codes.
There is of course one additional consideration, the ability to install Linux. This actually falls under the heading of the UEFI bios and the ability to disable secure boot so I can install a non-microsoft signed operating system.
Note: make sure you get a motherboard with the same socket as your CPU.
