Best Motherboard for the RTX 3080
Gigabyte Aorus X570 Xtreme
The Gigabyte Aorus X570 is a great motherboard thanks to its great jam-packed feature and AMD’s PCIe Gen 4.0 support. It is the best motherboard for the newer RTX 3080 and great for any AMD build. The RTX 3080 is a fast card, and pairing it with the Gigabyte means fully utilizing its power. The Gigabyte Aorus X570 is an excellent AMD motherboard supporting the latest AMD Ryzen 2000 series, 3000 series, and the next-generation Ryzen CPUs. The motherboard supports overclocking to allow squeeze in more power from the GPU. The PCIe Gen 4.0 x16 slot is an excellent addition to the X570 Xtreme board. It will thoroughly saturate the speed of the RTX 3080, orchestrating its true potential in the GPU realm. It has tons of extra PCIe 4.0 port, but the RTX 30 series doesn’t support SLI. So a single X16 PCIe Gen 4.0 slot will do the work. It has some robust VRM to obtain stability while running the system. The VRMs and the chipset of the X570 Xtreme are passively cooled. A single heat pipe is attached to the VRM heatsink and the chipset allowing for even better cooling. The motherboard overall is excellent, supporting 128GB RAM at a maximum of DDR4 4400 MHz RAM. There is a 3 x M.2 Key for SSD storage and a 6 x SATA port for storage expansion. The motherboard has a 10 GbE Aquantia Port for better connectivity and comes with a WiFi 802.11ax module. It supports the latest WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. Not only that, but the motherboard does look good with the black theme and few things of RGB.
MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi
The MSI MPG Z490 has an attractive price tag spewing adequate amounts of features. MSI is one of the top manufacturers of motherboards in the market. The MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon is a new addition to the MSI lineup. The Intel 10th generation Processor will be a great match when paired with the Nvidia RTX 3080. There are still some lingering questions about whether PCIe 4.0 supports newer Z490 motherboards. But even without it, it can handle the speed and the performance of the RTX 3080. The MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi has reliable VRMs supporting the latest Intel 10th generation. Not only that, you can upgrade the CPU to an Intel 11th Gen Core processor. The motherboard features 3 x PCIe x16 slots, configured in x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4 PCIe lanes. The RTX 3080 will benefit from the X16 PCIe lane configuration pushing to it’s top. The chipset and the VRMs on the motherboard come with a thick heat sink, allowing more heat transfer. The VRM does give better stability to the system, but it is weak and won’t support the Core i9 CPUs. The MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon is the toned-down version of the premium MPG lineup. The Gaming Carbon WiFi brings the motherboard’s cost down plus reducing some of the features as well. The 2.5 GbE is an excellent addition for a seamless internet connection and has an 802.11ax WiFi module for wireless connectivity. The WiFi 6 supports and the Ethernet port enough for a gamer or a professional. The PCIe 3.0 is not as fast as the PCIe 4.0, but it does the job handly the RTX 3080. It has only 2 x PCIe M.2 keys and 6 x SATA ports for storage ports. The M.2 Key is easily accessible and doesn’t require removing tons of screws. All in all, the motherboard is built like a tank but a more affordable price range.
AsRock X570 Taichi
The AsRock X570 Taichi is one of the best ATX X570 motherboards on the market right now. It is stylish and cool, but the features like PCIe Gen 4.0 support, 1 GbE Ethernet, actively cooled chipset, etc. make it an excellent addition for the RTX 3080. Not only that, the AsRock BIOS is very user-friendly, making it easier for even newbies to get a hold on it. The AsRock Taichi has a robust VRM power phase design able to handle even the top-end Ryzen 9 3950X. We are not only suggesting an excellent motherboard for the RTX 3080, but we want an overall better stable motherboard for all the components. The PCIe 4.0 slot is a great addition on top of the shielded PCIe slot. AsRock ships with a Taichi motherboard with 3 PCIe slots supporting the Nvidia SLI configuration. The RTX 3080 officially doesn’t support SLI, so that is a complete bummer. The AsRock X570 Taichi supports the latest Ryzen 3000 series CPU and the upcoming AMD Ryzen CPUs. The motherboard supports 128GB system memory running at a maximum of 4666 MHz. The more significant system memory supports gamers to add more memory or help you take loads to tasks in a 3D rendering application. It has 3 x M.2 Key for SSD and 8 x SATA ports for storage options. The 1 GbE LAN port is not the best but does the job well. Even better, AsRock includes a WiFi 802.11ax module for better WiFi 6 connectivity. The I/O ports are rich with tons of USB ports and even a thunderbolt Type-C port. The overall design and visual quality is an excellent addition to the already jammed packed feature.
Asus ROG Strix Z490-I Gaming/ X570-I Gaming
The Asus ROG Strix I Gaming boards are the top tier board from Asus. Asus has a budget section called the TUF series, but the ROG is slightly on the premium side. The ITX form factor is relatively small and requires a good case and graphics card slot to hold a thick card like the RTX 3080. So please use caution while picking the ITX motherboard for the RTX 3080. Asus, on the other hand, have perfected the ITX form factor. The Asus ROG Strix I Gaming motherboard is great not only for the GPU but also for the build’s overall composition. Asus focused on building a premium ITX motherboard built to last even inside a cramped case. The VRMs on the ROG Strix I gaming motherboard is of high quality, even allowing to overclock a fair bit. The VRM’s on the AMD version is actively cooled, whereas the Intel version is passively cooled with a thick heatsink. The main difference between the AMD and Intel version is the chipset. The X570 chipset on the motherboard offers more superior PCIe speed and accessibility. The PCIe Gen 4.0 offers more lanes and faster communication between the CPU and GPU. The RTX 3080 will bear the fruit of the AMD system’s quicker PCIe lane, but Intel looks to integrate PCIe on their motherboard. But we still think that the PCIe 4.0 will be behind a paywall system. But the PCIe Gen 3.0 can catch up to the RTX 3080, so there is no need to fear it. The PCIe Slot is shielded for better stability and supports a more massive card. Both the AMD and Intel version of the ROG Strix I Gaming are perfect. Both of the cards support a max of 64 GB of system memory. The Dual-channel memory config is great for the system. It has excellent I/O selection, including a USB Type-C Gen 3 port and 6 USB 3.0 ports. The 1 x M.2 Key is enough for high-speed SSD storage and 2 x SATA ports. The Gigabit Ethernet port is a great addition but not as fast as the 2.5GbE found in the bigger version. But the WiFi 802.11ax module provides smooth wireless connection and Bluetooth 5.0 support. Plus, the RGB strip on the side of the motherboard does increase its overall aesthetic when inside a case.
MSI B550 Tomahawk
MSI has ruled the B450 motherboard on launch and looks to continue the legacy with the B550 Tomahawk. The manufacturer has truly matched their old B450 motherboard in functionality but even in price as well. The motherboard is built like a tank, offering solid VRMs in a budget system. Greater VRM and support for the latest AMD B550 chipset. The value and the offer option it presented are great but finite. The VRM and the chipset are passively cooled with a thick heatsink. Unlike the X570 chipset, the B550 chipset doesn’t produce a large amount of heat. The B550 Tomahawk uses the latest Ryzen B550 chipset, offering PCIe 4.0 support, which means faster speed and better communication between the motherboard and the CPU. The ATX motherboard has 2 x PCIe x16 slots for the graphics card. The top x16 slot is shielded for GPU stability and to eliminate some GPU sag. The Top x16 slot supports the PCIe Gen 4.0, allowing for better speed and faster communication. The RTX 3080 won’t be a bottleneck thanks to the quicker PCIe Gen 4.0 speed. The B550 Tomahawk supports the Ryzen 3000 series out of the box. It will support the latest Ryzen CPU but still will need a BIOS upgrade. The motherboard supports 128GB of system memory at a maximum speed of 5100 MHz. It features 2 x M.2 Key for SSD storage and features 6 x SATA port for storage expansion. The I/O port on the back is OK and has a 2.5 GbE Realtek LAN and Intel Gigabit Ethernet LAN for a seamless connection. It doesn’t have WiFi but can be added in the free 1 x PCIe slot on the motherboard. The motherboard is excellent for packing tons of features on a budget price range.
MSI Creator TRX40
Gamers aren’t the only ones who should use the RTX 3080. The MSI Creator TRX40 is an excellent motherboard for the creator who wants the right motherboard for the massive Ryzen Threadripper 3000 series. The AMD’s TRX40 chipset provides features like PCIe Gen 4.0 motherboard and more PCIe lanes for the system. Plus, you might use the RTX 3080 in Virtual machines operating tons of systems for a household or even an office. The MSI Creator isn’t your average motherboard; it supports the big gun CPU like the Ryzen 3960X to the massive 64 cores Ryzen 3990X. Yes, it is specifically for the creator who needs more horsepower or looking for a large platform to build VMs. The MSI Creator has updated the TRX40 chipset enabling PCIe Gen 4.0 and an increase of PCIe lanes. It can fully support 4 RTX 3080 running simultaneously. The increased PCIe allows the motherboard to add more components to it. The Creator TRX40 supports 256GB RAM divided into eight slots. The motherboard supports a maximum speed of 3200MHz, supporting both ECC and non-ECC memory. The VRMs on the board are robust, ensuring better stability even when using a massive 64 cores processor. The chipset is cooled with an active fan cooling system. The VRM is passively cooled with a thick heatsink. The storage solution is great with 3 x M.2 Key Slot and 8 x SATA port. The storage supports RAID configuration. The 10 GbE Aquantia Ethernet port is an excellent addition for network connectivity and an 802.11ax wireless module for seamless, uninterrupted wireless connectivity. As a fact, it is a creator motherboard for the high-end enthusiasts’ builders.
Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X
So the budget segment of the Z390 spectrum is filled with budget boards like the Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X motherboard. The Z390 chipset is old, last-gen but doesn’t under-estimate the last generation. Intel 9th generation and 8th generation processor are tremendous and still match up against the top of the line Ryzen and 10th generation Intel processor. The Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X is a budget motherboard great for the RTX 3080 in general. The motherboard is a full ATX Size motherboard featuring a robust 10+2 power phase design. A great addition if you are looking to fit a Core i9 9900K. The Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X has a PCIe Gen 3.0 slot support. The RTX 3080 will efficiently work well with the motherboard, and Intel does have the upper power with its single-core clock. The Z390 Gaming X comes with 2 x PCIe x16 slots, but the top x16 PCIe lane can be used in the x16 link. So you are off with a single x16 slot on the motherboard. The Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X motherboard of the previous generation, but it does support a vast number of CPUs. The motherboard supports 128GB system memory divided over 4 DIMM-slot and a rated maximum speed of 4266 MHz. The VRMs on the motherboard are robust with a thick heatsink to cool them off. The motherboard has 2 x M.2 Key for the storage and 6 x SATA ports for storage options. It comes with an Intel Gigabit Ethernet port for excellent connectivity. There is no WiFi on the motherboard. It might come off weak, but it is enough for the gamer out there with and perfectly fits the RTX 3080.
AsRock B450M Pro4
AsRock produces one of the most underrated MATX motherboards in the market. It has not only an excellent set of the internals but does support the latest RTX 3080. It supports the current Ryzen 3000 series processor. The question to support the latest Ryzen processor still lingers. But AsRock confirmed that the B450M Pro4 would support the upcoming Ryzen processor. So that is a sense of relief for the enthusiasts out there. The AsRock B450M Pro4 comes with 2 x PCIe X16 lanes allowing more expansion slots. The motherboard supports RTX 3080. But there won’t be any shielded slots for stability. As for the RTX 3080, you will be limited to a single x16 slot utilizing its full limits. Not only that, the 1st x16 directly communicates with the CPU—an excellent pathway commuting with the CPU and the GPU. The motherboard has decent VRMs and enough to support the Ryzen 9 3900X. The AsRock B450M Pro4 supports 128GB system memory rated at a maximum speed of 3200 MHz. It has a single M.2 PCIe SATA key and an M.2 SATA key. AsRock B450M Pro 4 has only 4 x SATA port for storage but indeed can be configured in RAID. It comes with a single Gigabit Ethernet port better enough for excellent communication. The BIOS on the motherboard is great for tweaking and some bit of overclocking the system. A user-friendly BIOS even to the newbies accessing the motherboard and its features.
Asus TUF Gaming B460-Pro
The B460 series motherboard plays lower fiddle to the Z490 series motherboard. The Asus TUF Gaming B460 motherboard is an excellent addition to the B460 family. It supports the latest Intel 10th gen processor and even the upcoming 11th Intel Core processor. Asus TUF Gaming B460-Pro is a perfect pairing for the RTX 3080. It is cheap and sleek for the minimalistic build. The motherboard supports 2 x PCIe X16 slots for expandability. The Top slot is rated for x16 PCIe lanes and is appropriately shielded, whereas the bottom one is just an x8 slot. So the RTX 3080 seemingly goes on the top slot of the Asus TUF Gaming B460 Pro Motherboard. Asus’s design is ingenious thanks to carefully planned out PCB. Plus, the performance of the CPU is going to scale well with the GPU. 10th Generation processors are quite good on their gaming side. The motherboard has an LGA 1200 socket for the 10th generation and 11th generation CPUs. The Asus TUF Gaming B460 can easily support the Core i7 but will limit the Core i9 CPUs’ feature. It supports 128GB system memory rated at 2933 MHz. Enough quality for future upgrades. There is a single M.2 PCIe key and M.2 SATA key. It has six sufficient ports for SATA storage upgrades. The motherboard has only a Gigabyte LAN port for connectivity but has an upgraded WiFi 6 version. Asus has always been an enthusiast platform, but the BIOS is user friendly and easy to navigate. A great props to the Asus Team.
ROG Strix B365-G Gaming
So this is B365, the slightly upgraded chipset from the B360 boards. It offers more lanes for the system, increasing the expandability. The ROG Strix B365, even though being old, is one of the stable motherboards of the older generation which can handle the RTX 3080. Not only that, but it does look more attractive than any motherboard on the market. The ROG Strix B365-G Gaming is an excellent motherboard for the RTX 3080. It has got great as its successor, the Z390 motherboard but still packs a punch to it. The board features 2 x PCIe 16 slots, which the top slot has only full x16 lanes support. The RTX 3080 can fully adapt to the PCIe Gen 3.0 speeds. Even though the GPU fully saturates the bandwidth of the motherboard, it can run without hitches. Plus, you are getting a shielded PCIe slot for better stability. The motherboard is quite troublesome with its looks, but it does feature the premium Asus treatment. The VRMs are top-notch and support the highest 9th generation Core i7 processor. The ROG Strix B365-G supports a total of 64GB memory, which is a slight downfall. The motherboard supports the 2666MHz Max system memory speed. Like all the motherboards, it comes with only 2 x M.2 Key, where one is PCIe, and the remaining is the SATA key. The 6 x SATA port is enough for more expandable storage. The Gigabit Ethernet port is excellent for faster communication but lacks WiFi for its little expensive price. But all in all, the board is an incredible find for the RTX 3080 graphics card.
Buyer’s Guide
So getting a motherboard is relatively easier for the RTX 3080. But there are some things that you must take a look at before buying a motherboard. There are tons of motherboards on the market with their respectful platform. Randomly buying parts and forcefully building the system isn’t going to bring the motherboard’s full performance. There are only Intel and AMD processors in the market. Intel is the dominant king in terms of single-core performance, very fruitful for gaming. The Core series processors are always ahead of AMD in terms of gaming performance. But as a content creator and multi-tasker, AMD’s Ryzen series is excellent thanks to its multi-core performance and larger cache size.
Intel
Intel currently has 3 – 5 chipset for the mainstream consumers. The Z490, B460, Z390, B360, B365, H11 etc. Intel offers a good amount of PCIe Lanes but stuck on the older generation PCIe Gen 3.0. It is still good enough for the RTX 3080 and won’t bottleneck while gaming or doing GPU intensive tasks.
Z490 & B460
The Z490 is the top of the latest chipset for the Intel motherboards. It supports the latest Intel 10th generation and the upcoming 11th generation processor. The Z490 and B460 uses the LGA 1200 socket to offer better power and stability for the newest processor. It still uses the PCIe Gen 3.0, but we expect an upgrade is coming in the next 11th generation Intel processor. Since this is not a workstation-based CPU, you will face a slope in the number of PCIe lanes than the Ryzen Threadripper processors. The Z490 chipset allows unlocked processors to be overclocked. The overclocking potential is seen in a significant margin—a great feature for the enthusiasts. The B460 is the younger brother of the Z490 with reduced features. Yes, the overclocking part is completely removed, or the multiplier on the motherboard is very limited. The overclocking potential on the motherboard is negligible, great for entry-level or budget PC builds.
Z390 & B360/B365
The Z390 is the previous generation flagship chipset for the Intel motherboard. The Z390 supported the top-end Intel 8th generation and 9th generation processors. They use the LGA 1151 socket size fitting for the older generation processor. The flagship motherboards allowed the user to overclock the motherboard to a substantially high core clock. The B360 is the lowered down version of the Z390 motherboard that offers tiny PCIe lanes and no overclocking potential. It wasn’t well-received by the enthusiasts but still worked well in the entry-level system. That is where the B365 was introduced with more PCIe lanes and a better headroom for overclocking. Both the Z390 and B360 series motherboard use the PCIe 3.0 generation good enough for the RTX 3080.
AMD
AMD has a lot of chipset with the same AM4 socket. The whole Ryzen processor used the same socket with significant changes in the motherboard chipset. The most capable seems to be the newest X570, B550, and the older X470 and B450 chipset. The X570 and X470 motherboard are the top of the line model for the Ryzen CPUs. The chipset is enhanced to perform better with the higher-end model of the Ryzen 3000 series processor. The X570 and X470 give users a lot of headroom to overclock the CPUs. But the Ryzen CPU, all in all, doesn’t push for as much. The Ryzen processors are known for their multi-core speed and efficiency with the larger cache size. The B550 and B450 are the drops down version of the high-end motherboard like the X570 and X470. But they do offer similar features to their higher-end counterparts supporting more than 24 PCIe lanes. The B550 and the X570 motherboard will support the upcoming Ryzen processors. An upgrade path for the hardware enthusiasts. Plus, you are getting the PCIe Gen 4.0 in the B550 and X570 motherboard. The RTX 3080 fully shines utilizing the bandwidth speed offered by the latest PCIe Gen 4.0. A great steal if you are looking for upgradability and future-proofing your system.
PCIe Lanes
The Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, known as PCIe, is a communication path between the CPU and other system components. Other components like the Graphics card, WiFi module, communicate and send data through the PCIe interface. There are 1,4,8 and 16 in a single PCIe port. The Graphics card usually uses the PCIe Gen X16 link. Getting an x16 link for the GPU is crucial. For the PCIe Gen 3.0, the X16 link gives 15.75 Gbps bandwidth, whereas the PCIe Gen 4.0 provides a 31.5gbps offer with double the performance. But the RTX 3080 doesn’t thoroughly saturate the bandwidth of the PCIe link, so PCIe 3.0 is still a better option for the RTX 3080. The X16 link is usually reserved for the top PCIe port, and some premium motherboards have more x16 link PCIe slots.
