On AMD's side it's the polar opposite, with 2009's AM3 socket processors being backwards compatible with AM2 motherboards. That situation is looking unlikely to change.
As ever, if you want a cheap PC, it's better to roll with AMD, but if you want more power you should stick to Intel.
So we've herded 10 of the best motherboards (five from Intel, five from AMD), ranging from under £70 to almost £270.
1. MSI 870A-G54 - £68
MSI's Socket AM3 board may be on the cheap and cheerful side, but it's full to the brim with useful extras. USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps are present and correct for quick data transfer, and it includes a top-spec southbridge. It also comes with MSI's OC Gear for quick and
easy overclocking at the flick of a wheel, as well as the OC Genie tool for more precise clock speeds. The way MSI has made this so cheap is by ditching onboard graphics - but who really needs that?
2. MSI 880GMA-E45 - £75
MSI's Socket AM3 board is of the titchy micro-ATX form factor, but that doesn't stop it packing a rather powerful punch. There's a whole host of overclocking options here, including the ability to unlock AMD chips' extra cores. Given its tiny size it - naturally - only supports a single graphics card, and its onboard graphics aren't the best. If you want to build a highly connectable home theatre PC that'll do more than just movies it's ideal.
3. Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 - £120
Admittedly, we had our doubts about Asus' AM3 board, but we were pleasantly surprised. It's got an in-built DirectX 10.1 AMD HD 4290, which was no great shakes when it came to gaming, but was able to deliver stunning high-definition Blu-Ray playback. With its HDMI and DVI ports it's immediately connectible, too. Two 16x PCI-Express ports offer numerous graphics card options, and it's also got AMD's Core Unlocker tech, which lets you find those cheekily-hidden processor cores.
4. Gigabyte X58-USB3 - £133
A relatively inexpensive X58 board, in fact it's the cheapest in this round-up to support Intel's chipset. That doesn't stop it being a rather decent investment, though. As the name suggests, it supports USB 3.0, although it lacks a speedy 6Gbps SATA connection. Crossfire and SLI are supported, too, for all the graphics fiends out there. Where it really impresses is in the overclocking stakes, where it delivered 4GHz on the cheapest Core i7 chip with no fiddly voltage tweaking.
5. Asus P6X58D-E - £137
Asus' Intel board packs many of the same features as MSI's X58-USB3, with one key difference: it sports 6Gbps SATA. Like MSI's board, it's a great little overclocker, too, and we were almost able to push it into the realms of Asus' own £325 Rampage III Extreme. Add to this the 16 +2 power phase design - which allows you to reach those beefy overclocks - and it's a king amongst mobos.
6. Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Rev.2 - £143
"Loaded" is how our reviewer described Gigabyte's Intel Motherboard. It's got all the latest features, such as SATA 6Gbps and two USB 3.0 ports, but it also packs four PCI Express slots for gaming heaven, and a nifty quick-charging feature for iPods and iPads, which is said to charge devices 40% faster - even when the system's turned off. Overclocking performance is good if slightly limited, but the overall package is, indeed, "loaded".
7. Asus Crosshair IV Formula - £167
The big selling point of Asus' AM3 motherboard is that it makes a six-core AMD processor perform about as well as a vastly more expensive Core i7 chip. It achieves this milestone with AMD's Turbo CORE technology, which works like Intel's TurboMode, only not quite as well. Even so, we experienced a 10 per cent boost in the taxing Dirt 2, and we hit the 4GHz mark without even touching the voltage settings. That Asus has achieved this at a comparatively low price puts it head and shoulders above its rivals.
8. MSI Big Bang XPower - £210
Above the £200 mark lurk the X58 motherboards dreams are made of. MSI's Big Bang Xpower includes just about everything: six DIMM slots supporting up to 24GB of triple-channel DDR3 memory, dual Gigabit Ethernet, six PCI-E slots (two x16, two x8, two x4 speeds) and advanced Quantum Wave audio. The build quality is incredible, too, and it just begs to be decked out with a pair of beefy graphics cards and a dozen sticks of DDR3. One for those who want to build the ultimate gaming machine.
9. Asus Crosshair IV Extreme - £242
Lucid's HydraLogix 200 makes its first appearance in our round up; it's the technology that lets you plug in two different graphics cards and enjoy the combined power of both. It's present and very correct on the AM3-based Asus Crosshair IV Extreme, and it's a very good motherboard, too. The board is also packed with features, such as 6Gbps SATA and USB 3.0, as well as an incredibly handy Bluetooth module that allows you to overclock from another PC. Pricey, yes, but definitely worth every penny.
10. Asus Rampage III Extreme - £266
As the price tag suggests, the Rampage III Extreme is something of a niche product. Designed from the ground up to cope with extreme cooling of the liquid nitrogen variety, it even includes a special mode that stops the CPU not posting on because it's just too darn cold. As you'd expect, it includes all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a high-end overclockers board, including the Crosshair IV Extreme's Bluetooth overclocking feature. One for enthusiasts - or extremists - only, then.
1. MSI 870A-G54 - £68
MSI's Socket AM3 board may be on the cheap and cheerful side, but it's full to the brim with useful extras. USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps are present and correct for quick data transfer, and it includes a top-spec southbridge. It also comes with MSI's OC Gear for quick and
easy overclocking at the flick of a wheel, as well as the OC Genie tool for more precise clock speeds. The way MSI has made this so cheap is by ditching onboard graphics - but who really needs that?
2. MSI 880GMA-E45 - £75
MSI's Socket AM3 board is of the titchy micro-ATX form factor, but that doesn't stop it packing a rather powerful punch. There's a whole host of overclocking options here, including the ability to unlock AMD chips' extra cores. Given its tiny size it - naturally - only supports a single graphics card, and its onboard graphics aren't the best. If you want to build a highly connectable home theatre PC that'll do more than just movies it's ideal.
3. Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 - £120
Admittedly, we had our doubts about Asus' AM3 board, but we were pleasantly surprised. It's got an in-built DirectX 10.1 AMD HD 4290, which was no great shakes when it came to gaming, but was able to deliver stunning high-definition Blu-Ray playback. With its HDMI and DVI ports it's immediately connectible, too. Two 16x PCI-Express ports offer numerous graphics card options, and it's also got AMD's Core Unlocker tech, which lets you find those cheekily-hidden processor cores.
4. Gigabyte X58-USB3 - £133
A relatively inexpensive X58 board, in fact it's the cheapest in this round-up to support Intel's chipset. That doesn't stop it being a rather decent investment, though. As the name suggests, it supports USB 3.0, although it lacks a speedy 6Gbps SATA connection. Crossfire and SLI are supported, too, for all the graphics fiends out there. Where it really impresses is in the overclocking stakes, where it delivered 4GHz on the cheapest Core i7 chip with no fiddly voltage tweaking.
5. Asus P6X58D-E - £137
Asus' Intel board packs many of the same features as MSI's X58-USB3, with one key difference: it sports 6Gbps SATA. Like MSI's board, it's a great little overclocker, too, and we were almost able to push it into the realms of Asus' own £325 Rampage III Extreme. Add to this the 16 +2 power phase design - which allows you to reach those beefy overclocks - and it's a king amongst mobos.
6. Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Rev.2 - £143
"Loaded" is how our reviewer described Gigabyte's Intel Motherboard. It's got all the latest features, such as SATA 6Gbps and two USB 3.0 ports, but it also packs four PCI Express slots for gaming heaven, and a nifty quick-charging feature for iPods and iPads, which is said to charge devices 40% faster - even when the system's turned off. Overclocking performance is good if slightly limited, but the overall package is, indeed, "loaded".
7. Asus Crosshair IV Formula - £167
The big selling point of Asus' AM3 motherboard is that it makes a six-core AMD processor perform about as well as a vastly more expensive Core i7 chip. It achieves this milestone with AMD's Turbo CORE technology, which works like Intel's TurboMode, only not quite as well. Even so, we experienced a 10 per cent boost in the taxing Dirt 2, and we hit the 4GHz mark without even touching the voltage settings. That Asus has achieved this at a comparatively low price puts it head and shoulders above its rivals.
8. MSI Big Bang XPower - £210
Above the £200 mark lurk the X58 motherboards dreams are made of. MSI's Big Bang Xpower includes just about everything: six DIMM slots supporting up to 24GB of triple-channel DDR3 memory, dual Gigabit Ethernet, six PCI-E slots (two x16, two x8, two x4 speeds) and advanced Quantum Wave audio. The build quality is incredible, too, and it just begs to be decked out with a pair of beefy graphics cards and a dozen sticks of DDR3. One for those who want to build the ultimate gaming machine.
9. Asus Crosshair IV Extreme - £242
Lucid's HydraLogix 200 makes its first appearance in our round up; it's the technology that lets you plug in two different graphics cards and enjoy the combined power of both. It's present and very correct on the AM3-based Asus Crosshair IV Extreme, and it's a very good motherboard, too. The board is also packed with features, such as 6Gbps SATA and USB 3.0, as well as an incredibly handy Bluetooth module that allows you to overclock from another PC. Pricey, yes, but definitely worth every penny.
10. Asus Rampage III Extreme - £266
As the price tag suggests, the Rampage III Extreme is something of a niche product. Designed from the ground up to cope with extreme cooling of the liquid nitrogen variety, it even includes a special mode that stops the CPU not posting on because it's just too darn cold. As you'd expect, it includes all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a high-end overclockers board, including the Crosshair IV Extreme's Bluetooth overclocking feature. One for enthusiasts - or extremists - only, then.
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