Best DDR5 motherboard in 2022 (overclocking & budget) (2023)

Last Updated: February 7, 2022

DDR5 RAM is finally becoming a reality for gamers and other PC enthusiasts, but you’ll need to buy yourself a brand spanking new DDR5 motherboard to play it on, not to mention a DDR5 compatible CPU. When it comes to the all-important motherboard component, at the time of writing Z690 motherboards are the only ones you can buy that are capable of supporting DDR5 memory, though other chipset types will soon be released. In terms of the CPU, Intel’s latest Alder Lake CPUs are currently the only processors that support DDR5, and you can pick yourself up one on our Where to buy Intel 12th genpage, as well as read more about them in our Best Intel 12th gen CPU guide.

If you still aren’t sure what all the fuss is about relating to DDR5, do have a quick scan through our DDR4 vs DDR5 page, which should shed some light on the situation. If you haven’t yet bought your new memory, check out our Where to buy DDR5 page for all the latest links from the biggest retailers.

For everyone else will be discussing the best DDR5 motherboards available depending on your budget and personal requirements, taking into account price, performance, features, and aesthetics and updating our selections accordingly as new DDR5 memory compatible motherboards become available.

DDR5 will also be available on the up and coming AM5 platform from AMD, here’s everything we know on AM5 so far.

What budget do I need for a DDR5 motherboard?

As time goes by and more DDR5 motherboards come on the market, the minimum budget you will need for your DDR5 motherboard will reduce. At the present time, however, the only motherboard chipset currently compatible with DDR5 RAM is the Z690 series, and these are largely high-end offerings for enthusiast gamers and PC builders, coming with the most features and the only way to overclock the new Intel 12th Gen series of CPUs. You’ll only really want to consider buying a Z690 motherboard if you’re planning on pairing it with an Intel Core i9-12900K/KF, Core i7-12700K/KF, or at a push the i5-12600K/KF.

If your budget can’t stretch to this, then we’d consider waiting until the more affordable H670, B660, and H610 motherboards arrive. That being said, we have made a budget DDR5 motherboard selection in this guide, which represents the cheapest you can currently by at this time.

DDR4 Vs DDR5

If you want a detailed breakdown of the comparison of DDR5 vs DDR4 RAM then we’d check out our dedicated DDR5 and DDR4 vs DDR5 pages, but in short, DDR5 will offer greater clock speed/data rates, lower power consumption, a greater amount of memory per stick, and greater protection against file corruption compared to its predecessor. See below for a comparative table.

Feature	DDR4	DDR5	DDR5 Advantage
Data rates	3200Mhz	4800-6400mhz	Increased performance and bandwidth
VDD/VDDQ/VPP	1.2	1.1	Lower power
Device densities	16GB Max	64GB	Larger monolithic devices
Prefetch	8n	16n	Keeps the internal core clock low
CRC	Write	Read/Write	Strengthens system RAS by protecting read data
Burst length	BL8	BL16, BL32	Allows 64B cache line fetch w/only 1 DIMM subchannel.

Motherboard form factor

Regardless of which chipset you buy, you need to consider its form factor when building out a PC. Motherboards come in a wide variety of sizes, from large E-ATX models, all the way down to the smaller Mini-ITX. Which you go for largely coincides with your choice of case, however, the vast majority of builders tend to find themselves in the mid-tower, ATX range.

We generally recommend ATX, as they aren’t restricted in terms of features and you can really push your new hardware with this form factor, without overspending on an E-ATX. If you are tight on budget, you probably aren’t going to be shopping for a Z690 period, so it is worth waiting for the other chipsets and looking for an mATX form factor board.

LGA 1700 socket

Currently, only Intel 12th Gen CPUs are compatible with DDR5, with the new AMD Zen 4 CPUs still a way off yet. As all Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake processors use the LGA 1700 socket (which replaces the previous-gen LGA 1200), all the current DDR5 motherboards will need to come with this socket.

The LGA 1700 features an additional 500 contact points compared to its predecessor, and a size increase from a square 37.5mm x 37.5mm (LGA 1200) to 45mm x 37.5mm.

This means that your current cooler will not fit with your new setup unless you get yourself an LGA 1700 mounting bracket from the manufacturer. Luckily, as long as you can show proof of purchase, most manufacturers are giving away the supporting bracket for free on compatible coolers.

For those who may have lost their receipt or cannot be bothered waiting don’t worry, the LGA 1700 mounting bracket kits are now largely on sale. They can cost anywhere between 1 cent and $5.

Is a DDR5 motherboard worth it?

If you’re planning on picking up an Intel 12th gen CPU as soon as they release, namely the 12900K, 12700K, or 12600K, then most of the compatible Z690 motherboards will be DDR5 enabled anyway. Unless you’re really keen on saving money in the short term then we’d avoid going with the few DDR4 Z690 options as these will limit your future upgrading capacity, and pick up a DDR5 motherboard. If you’re planning on waiting for the non-K Intel Alder Lake CPUs to be released in 2022, or for the lower-powered Intel 12400, then sticking to a DDR4 motherboard could be worth it (we’d wait and see until closer to the release of these CPUs), but if you’re holding out for an AMD Zen 4 Ryzen CPU then DDR5 is likely the way to go, as AMD processors tend to be strongly bottlenecked by the RAM they use.

This has been our guide to the best DDR5 motherboard. We hope that it has proved useful in helping you decide which of the DDR5 motherboards on offer is the right one for your needs, and that your PC build is coming along beautifully. Don’t forget to read our Where to buy Intel 12th gen CPU page if you’re looking to pick up an Alder Lake CPU for your DDR5 build, and of course, our Where to Buy DDR5 page to pick up your precious RAM sticks themselves. Do also let us know in the comments below if you’ve got any DDR5-related motherboard questions.