These latest-gen AMD B650 and Intel B760 motherboards are available for £130 or less

There are many reasons to consider a PC upgrade in 2023. Chief among them is prices are coming down handsomely. Platform costs, often cited as a stumbling block when viewing latest-generation gear, have reduced drastically, with SSDs and DRAM now available at best-ever prices.

Of course, a cost-effective motherboard is a must for a thrifty build, and there’s good news there, as a bunch of options for either AMD or Intel configurations are now available for under £130. We’ve scoured the store shelves and, for your viewing pleasure, put together the following table to help compare four of the best-value solutions we’ve come across.

	ASRock B650M- HDV/M.2	Gigabyte B650M K	Asus Prime B760M-K D4	Gigabyte B760M Gaming X DDR4
Current price	£130	£124	£110	£116
Chipset	AMD B650	AMD B650	Intel B760	Intel B760
Form factor	Micro-ATX	Micro-ATX	Micro-ATX	Micro-ATX
Memory support	DDR5-6400	DDR5-6400	DDR4-5333	DDR4-5333
DIMM slots	2	4	2	4
M.2	2	2	2	2
SATA	4	4	4	4
PCIe	2x PCIe 4.0 x16 1x PCIe 4.0 x1	1x PCIe 4.0 x16 1x PCIe 3.0 x1	1x PCIe 4.0 x16 2x PCIe 4.0 x1	1x PCIe 4.0 x16 1x PCIe 3.0 x4
Internal USB	1x Type-C 8x Type-A	1x Type-C 4x Type-A	5x Type-A	1x Type-C 6x Type-A
External USB	1x Type-C 6x Type-A	1x Type-C 7x Type-A	4x Type-A	8x Type-A
Audio	Realtek	Realtek	Realtek	Realtek
Fan headers	4	3	2	4
LAN	2.5GbE	2.5GbE	2.5GbE	2.5GbE
Wi-Fi	–	–	–	–
Video output	1x HDMI 1x DisplayPort	1x HDMI 1x DisplayPort	1x HDMI 1x VGA	1x HDMI 1x DisplayPort
Shop at Amazon	ASRock B650M- HDV/M.2	Gigabyte B650M K	Asus Prime B760M-K D4	Gigabyte B760M Gaming X DDR4

Crucially, despite AM5 boards being restricted to DDR5-only configurations, the price gap between rival Intel DDR4 solutions is now negligible.

While much of the feature set remains consistent across affordable Micro-ATX boards – two M.2, four SATA and a couple of PCIe are par for the course – it’s good to see 2.5GbE LAN becoming commonplace even on budget boards.

Many of the bells and whistles associated with high-end gaming boards fall by the wayside – don’t expect much in the way of RGB, while Wi-Fi is nowhere to be seen – yet there’s plenty to go by for a modern build. Watch out for finer details, as it’s worth having a few spare fan headers. We’re firmly of the opinion USB-C – both internal and external – is a must.

Though both sets of boards support the latest processors right up to premium Ryzen 9 and Core i9, do understand that running top-bin chips is not generally advised; a lack of huge heatsinks and mid-range VRM support will put stress on electrical performance.

Fact is, you don’t need to spend a fortune to get started on a brand-new rig. Pair one of these boards with, say, an Intel Core i5-13400F or AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and you’re well on the way toward a potent setup.