I stopped paying for motherboard features I never use, and a cheaper board made a better PC

Published Nov 14, 2026, 4:30 PM EST Hamlin has been in the tech field for over nine years. Since 2017, his work has appeared on MakeUseOf, Android Police, OSXDaily, Beebom, and more. He served as the Senior Editor at Valnet's MakeUseOf for over two years before joining XDA. He uses a high-end gaming rig for desktop use and a MacBook for traveling, but dislikes some of the quirks of macOS. You're more likely to catch him at the gym or on a flight than anywhere else. I've always had a soft spot for high-end motherboards, even though I know they won't make my games run any better. For some reason, I can't shake the feeling that they'd last longer than more affordable options. And when you're buying into a platform like AM4 or AM5 that can last several generations of CPUs, spending a little extra on a premium board just seems like the sensible thing to do. That's mainly why I chose the ROG Strix X570-E for my AM4 build in 2020, and to be fair, I got five good years out of it. But when I finally moved to AM5 for the 9800X3D earlier this year, I started questioning how many of those "premium" features I'd actually used over the years. Sure, motherboards have come a long way since the days of the X570, but things like POST code displays, PCIe 4.0, and multi-gig Ethernet were already available back then. And considering how little use I got out of some of its features, I couldn't justify spending that much on a motherboard, especially when I already had to pay a premium for DDR5 memory. What are we actually paying for? Mostly convenience, overclocking, and connectivity, not performance If you look at what separates a high-end motherboard from a mid-range one, you'll notice that most of the differences have little to do with gaming performance. Sure, you get beefier VRMs with more power phases for overclocking, but how many of you are actually overclocking your CPUs these days? If anything, I undervolted my 5800X3D to keep its temperatures in check, which helped it sustain slightly higher boost clocks for longer. And considering how capable the VRMs on mid-range B650 and B850 boards are, I don't see the need to spend more. Outside of robust power delivery, it mostly comes down to quality-of-life features and additional connectivity options. For instance, my MSI B850 Tomahawk MAX Wi-Fi doesn't have a two-digit POST code display like my Strix X570-E did, but that has come in handy maybe twice in the last five years. Some more expensive options may even have onboard power and reset buttons, magnetic M.2 heatsinks, and tool-less installation across multiple M.2 slots. Connectivity-wise, you can expect more USB ports, USB4 support on newer models, faster or dual Ethernet ports, and a few other extras. These are all nice things to have, but not necessarily things I need. I preferred the cheaper board's PCIe lane allocation I can use two Gen5 SSDs without halving my GPU's available bandwidth When I was looking at AM5 motherboards initially, I had my eyes on the MSI MPG X870E Carbon Wi-Fi, but the B850 Tomahawk MAX Wi-Fi looked way too tempting for $160 less. Yes, it's still more expensive than the standard Tomahawk, but this one gives me two PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots instead of just one. While going through the X870E Carbon Wi-Fi's spec sheet, I noticed something interesting about its PCIe lane allocation in the footnotes. You'd expect the more expensive board to offer more flexibility in this department, but that wasn't the case. Installing an NVMe drive in its second slot (M.2_2) would force my RTX 4090 to run at PCIe 4.0 x8 instead of x16 because the slot shares lanes with the primary and secondary PCIe slots. The cheaper B850 Tomahawk MAX doesn't have this limitation because its two Gen5 M.2 slots have dedicated CPU lanes. This doesn't mean the X870E Carbon Wi-Fi's lane allocation is inferior, though. USB4 being mandatory on X870 and X870E boards means manufacturers have to allocate some of the available PCIe lanes to the USB4 controller. I personally have no use for USB4, so saving that money and having all 16 lanes available to my GPU was far more important to me. Tell XDB what you want the PC to do and how much you want to spend. We'll find parts that fit, with current prices. What will you use it for? Pick any Games or apps Optional Budget The price gap exists for a reason But you're better off paying for what you need right now There's a reason manufacturers keep pushing out high-end motherboards, and I can absolutely see why some enthusiasts are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for them. If you need USB4 for high-speed external storage or have multiple expansion cards that require additional PCIe lanes, the premium you pay might be worth it. You could also argue that these boards make more sense for future-proofing. A motherboard with higher-quality components, better connectivity, and quality-of-life features may age better over multiple CPU generations. But that's also the kind of thinking that made me spend more than I needed on my previous motherboard. Sure, there's always a chance I'll need some of those premium features down the line. For instance, I could spend an extra $160 on the X870E thinking I'll eventually need USB4. But I haven't actually plugged in an external drive in years, so what are the chances I'll need that kind of bandwidth? I'd rather buy a motherboard that has everything I need today. And even if it gets outdated sooner because it lacks a few cutting-edge features, it's no big deal as long as it doesn't hold back my CPU or GPU. If I'm getting everything I need, that money is better spent elsewhere One of the main reasons why I decided against a high-end X870 or X870E board was RAM prices. Even in December last year, which is when I bought the kit, prices were getting out of hand. So I wanted to offset at least some of that cost by choosing a more affordable motherboard. And considering the B850 board had practically everything I needed, including quality-of-life features like tool-less M.2 latches and PCIe quick release, I didn't feel like I was missing out on much by spending less. At least now I know mid-range boards get me 90% of the way there in terms of "premium" features, and the remaining 10% are things I can live without.