Best Cheap Gaming Motherboard for Mid Level Gaming PC

As a gamer, you don't have to buy an expensive motherboard when building a good computer for gaming. Well, this article aims to show you some good cheap motherboards which are good enough for modern gaming with the price around $200, $150, and $100.

But first, when choosing a good motherboard, these are few things you should know:

* One of the most important tips is how many budget you want to spend, a mid level motherboard for gaming are range from $100-$200 while High-end and extreme level motherboard are more expensive (they usually come with extra memory slots or multiple CPU sockets).

* In order to get the full performance of high-end graphics cards, get motherboard with PCI Express 3.0 slot, however, if budget is your concern, a PCI Express 2.0 motherboard is more than enough for you.

* If you want a motherboard with optimal performance in gaming for affordable price, get AM3+, FM1, FM2+/FM2, LGA 1150, or LGA 1155 motherboard.

* Recommended manufacturer: MSI, Gigabyte, ASUS, ASRock.

A. GIGABYTE AMD A55 Hudson D2 DDR3 1800 Micro GA-A55M-DS2

CPU Socket Type: FM1

Beside graphics card, Gygabyte also offers gamers with their quality motherboard. Note that since this is the cheapest motherboard in this article, you won't find a lot of features that you can get from mid range motherboard. However, if you are tight on budget, then you shouldn't miss it.

B. ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AMD 970

CPU Socket Type: AM3+

ASUS, without a doubt, is very popular for its quality gaming motherboard, the ASUS M5A97 is one of them. Equipped by AM3+ Socket Type, this motherboard is ready for a strong and cheap processor like AMD FX 6-Core Black Edition. Of course this is a good news for gamers who want to build a good gaming PC with low budget.

Get ASUS M5A97 R2.0 from amazon

C. ASUS P8B75-M/CSM LGA 1155 Intel B75   

CPU Socket Type: LGA 1155

ASUS P8B75-M/CSM is a good choice for you if you want to build a cheap home computer, as well as a good mid level gaming computer. This motherboard offers the GPU Boost feature which can improve the integrated GPU's power so you can get the better performance in gaming. And the best thing about this hardware is the PCIe 3.0 slot. Overall, ASUS P8B75-M/CSM is a good motherboard for the price.

Click here to buy ASUS P8B75-M/CSM from amazon

D. MSI ATX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboards Z97-G45

CPU Socket Type: LGA 1150

MSI is not just popular because of its high quality graphics card, but also because of its motherboard. For years, MSI has been providing gamers with quality product, MSI Z97-G45 Motherboard is one of the best example.

Some features of MSI Z97-G45:

* Dragon Heat Sink

* OC GENIE 4

* MSI VGA Boost
MSI VGA Boost allows the MSI video card to get better performance in gaming.

* Sound Blaster Cinema
It helps you get great surround sound through your stereo headphones. 

* Multiple graphics cards motherboard
If you are planning to use dual graphics cards, then MSI Z97-G45 is the right choice for you.

Click here to buy MSI ATX DDR3 Z97-G45 from amazon

E.Gigabyte GA-G1.Sniper A88X

CPU Socket Type: FM2+/FM2

Sniper A88X is one of the best motherboard from Gigabyte especially if you want to build AMD gaming computer. Equipped by FM2+/FM2 socket, this socket type is intended to replace the FM1 socket.

Just like we all know, most modern games demand at least quad qore processors. Well, with this kind of socket there are strong processors available like AMD APU series and Richland.

Thanks for reading this article...

Update

Related info about newest gaming motherboard

* MSI Z97 MPOWER MAX AC

MPower series motherboards from MSI has a unique characteristic that makes it different from other MSI motherboard series: This series motherboard is designed specifically for overclocking. Almost all aspects of design, components are given, up to the embedded features, all packaged to provide a wide tuning capability, and of course the extra resilience in the face of extreme circumstances.

Like its predecessor which bears the name of 'The OC Series', MSI Z97 MPOWER MAX AC is designed to provide extra stability and durability, as well as a high tuning potential.

A few months ago, Intel officially released their latest chipset, the Intel 9-series chipset, with two main variants: Intel Intel Z97 and H97. From both chipsets, only the Intel Z97 has the option of tuning (overclocking), so obviously  MSI chose Z97 chipset for their OC series motherboards.

Intel Z97 itself is not too much different from the Intel Z87 series before, the difference is this chipset series supports Intel next-gen 'Broadwell ", and also there is Intel Rapid Storage support for M.2 PCIe SSD.

Speaking in terms of equipments, the MSI Z97 MPOWER MAX AC does not have a lot of equipments (such as audio special chip, chip specific networking, additional plx bridge for 4-way multi-gpu), because this motherboard has a focus on their design to creating a motherboard with high overclocking potential, with the stability and durability of extra components. Apparently this is why MSI does not embed equipment such as extras LAN - as most overclockers motherboard do not need it. 

The same thing happened with features, almost all made with the same goal: to make sure the motherboard is able to squeeze all the available potential performance, starting from a given tuning software, the BIOS is optimized to give a lot of overclocking presets, up to the onboard buttons / switches that are available in the motherboard.

Focus on overclocking is what ultimately makes the Z97 MPOWER MAX AC into a motherboard that could meet the needs of gamers who love overclocking - even extreme overclocking. No wonder why MSI calls this motherboard as a "World Record Breaker", because of the potential of course.

* Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SOC Force

Gigabyte, the leading motherboard vendor, recently launched a variety of Intel Z97 chipset motherboards. One of the most promising series of Gigabyte Z97 product line is for overclocking Series, with the model name GA-Z97X-SOC Force. And the motherboard in this series is characterized by the dominance of the orange color.

The Gigabyte unique orange color looks so dominant on the motherboard. In addition, this motherboard also densely filled with a variety of expansion slots and overclocking functions.

What makes the motherboard Gigabyte OC series different with other series is how the motherboard is prepared to 'race' in the overclocking arena. Of course, Gigabyte embed various peripherals and extra supplies to make this motherboard becomes overclocking friendly. Well you can see the video below: