Zen 2 has been around for nearly a year, and all of the Ryzen CPUs on offer provide amazing price-to-performance. Today we’re focused on the Ryzen 5 3600 and the best B450 motherboards currently available for it. We’re looking to get the most out of your builds by selecting stable platforms with plenty of features for overclocking the 3600.
A good motherboard ensures stable power delivery with decent VRMs, newer connectivity features such as support for Wi-Fi 6, and a decent UEFI BIOS interface to make tweaking a breeze.
Zen 2 processors like the Ryzen 5 3600 are compatible with previous generation chipsets, including the X470 and B450 – at most requiring a BIOS update. The X570 chipset is an option, but these motherboards command quite the price premium over the X470 and B450 and aren’t necessary if you don’t plan on utilizing PCIe 4.0.
Now we’ll take a look at the best entry-level, high-performance, Mini ITX, and mATX options for your next Ryzen 5 3600 build.
Related: List of AM4 Motherboards with USB BIOS Flashback (for Zen 2 compatibility)
Best Motherboards for Ryzen 5 3600 – Our Recommendations
| Award | Model | Design | VRM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Entry-Level Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600 | MSI B450 Tomahawk |  | 6 Phase (4+2) |
| Best High-Performance Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600 | MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC |  | 11 Phase (9+2) |
| Best mini-ITX Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600 | MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC |  | 6 Phase (4+2) |
| Best micro-ATX Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600 | ASRock B450M Pro4 |  | 6 Phase (3+3) |
Best Entry-Level Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600
The MSI B450 Tomahawk; this board offers excellent price-to-performance, at just under $100, given its range of features, connectivity, and best-in-class VRM quality.
MSI has nailed their B450 lineup, with the B450 Tomahawk leading its price bracket with the best VRM cooling of any B450 motherboard out there – which makes it ideal for overclocking the Ryzen 5 3600 on a budget. Only its bigger brother, the MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC, has better VRM cooling than the B450 Tomahawk. Still, considering the low TDP of the Ryzen 5 3600 and 3600X, either of these motherboards is almost overkill.
Connectivity-wise, the B450 Tomahawk has USB Type C, 6 SATA ports, and 4 DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB of 3466MHz memory.
Drawbacks here are small but present nonetheless, with no VCore offset function, and only a single M.2 slot where most other B450 ATX motherboards have at least two.
Best High-Performance Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600
Our favorite motherboard for overclocking the Ryzen 5 3600 also comes from MSI, with their B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC – serving as a jack-of-all-trades.
With arguably the best VRM design and heatsink of all the B450 motherboards – the Gaming Pro Carbon is ideal for overclocking the Ryzen 5 3600. Features such as integrated Wi-Fi, RGB, excellent BIOS interface, and super sleek design, make this our favorite B450 motherboard for the Ryzen 5 3600. Best of all, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. The B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC is an insane value given the beefy VRM, features, and performance, which is why it’s our favorite pick for the Ryzen 5 3600.
Best mini-ITX Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600
Our third pick is yet another MSI product: the MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC, and is our favorite ITX motherboard for the Ryzen 5 3600. Going toe-to-toe with the ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/AC, we chose the MSI for its 6+2 phase VRM compared to the 3+2 phase design of the ASRock. The MSI B450I has a decent VRM, heatsink, and BIOS (though lacking voltage offset), making it an excellent ITX motherboard for overclocking the Ryzen 5 3600.
A notable drawback here is a lack of USB 3.1 gen 2 – which the ASRock does have – so if you require USB 3.1 Gen 2 for your setup, we recommend picking up the ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/AC instead.
Related: Best mini ITX cases for Small Form Factor builds in 2019
Best mATX Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600
The new X570 chipset only has one, I repeat one, micro-ATX motherboard supporting the new Ryzen Zen 2 processors – which is quite the shame this form factor is not being fully supported by the major motherboard manufacturers. If you do want to do a micro-ATX Ryzen 5 3600 build, then we recommend turning to the B450 chipset, where the Ryzen 5 3600 is fully compatible out of the box, or with just a BIOS update (varies from motherboard model).
In our eyes, the best micro-ATX motherboard for the Ryzen 5 3600 is the ASRock B450M Pro4, a fantastic B450 chipset motherboard with plenty of features, great VRM and performance for its compact form factor.
Although the MSI’s micro ATX B450 motherboards are fantastic in terms of their VRM quality, the B450M Pro4 has a great and arguably better BIOS than the MSI mATX motherboards, and also due to its low price point is hence why it gets our recommendation as the best mATX motherboard for the Ryzen 5 3600.
We would recommend this motherboard if you aren’t planning on doing any heavy overclocking of the Ryzen 5 3600, since the VRM only has a 3 phase design for the CPU, but because of its feature set such as dual M.2, USB 3.1 Gen 2 and Type-C and 4 SATA ports, this is overall a great mATX option for the Ryzen 5 3600.
Summary
The Ryzen 5 3600 is a bit of a game-changer, as it opens the door for a lot more users to 6c/12t processors than ever before. With this level of price-to-performance supported by platforms that are just as feature-filled and low-cost as the unit that drives them, it’s hard to say “no,” to Team Red these days.
Best Entry-Level: MSI B450 Tomahawk – Excellent VRM and feature-set at an extremely modest price.
Best High-Performance: MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC – Best-in-class overclocking support with the most robust VRM of the available B450 motherboards, complimented by an extremely sleek design and integrated Wi-Fi. Also RGB. Who doesn’t love RGB?
Best mini-ITX: MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC – The best overall ITX B450 board with superb power delivery in a tiny package, integrated Wi-Fi, though lacking USB 3.1 gen 2 support. If you require this feature, then we recommend picking up the ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/AC instead.
Best mATX: ASRock B450M Pro4 – With only one mATX X570 board to choose from, we recommend this option for those seeking an excellent BIOS interface and feature-set in a slightly more compact package. Note: this board only has a 3 phase VRM and is not ideal for overclocking.
Have you recently built a system with the Ryzen 5 3600? Let us know in the comments below, and thanks for reading!
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