The 10 Best EATX Motherboards of 2022
Reviewing the best extra large motherboards for enthusiast builds
We updated this article in June 2022 after reviewing some of the latest E-ATX motherboards. Many of the top picks have been updated to reflect the latest Z690 and X570 chipset options.
Sometimes, ATX isn’t big enough.
Perhaps you’re looking for a motherboard form factor that can accommodate the most overclocking and be the basis for the most powerful build you can possibly think of.
We’ve put together this feature on the best E-ATX motherboards available after reviewing the decent options and marrying them up between price and quality.
2
Best X299 E-ATX Motherboard
Gigabyte X299X AORUS Master
Our Rating: 8.5/10
3
High-End E-ATX Intel Pick
ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme
Our Rating: 9.25/10
6
Best XL-ATX Motherboard
Gigabyte X299X AORUS Designare 10G
Our Rating: 8/10
Intel vs AMD EATX Motherboards
While AMD usually takes the top spot in the mid-range Micro ATX / ATX motherboard sizes, Intel is king for E-ATX.
There are simply more good options available between the Z690 and X299 chipsets in this form factor when building a very high-end PC.
This is why we’ve primarily focussed this guide on Intel options.
That said, we do have a couple of great options for AMD HEDT CPU builds below. You can still build with whichever choice you like, there are just fewer options than Intel.
Now, let’s get to it:
Overall Best E-ATX Motherboard: MSI MEG Z690 ACE
One thing that instantly stood out to me over the Z690 ACE is its price point.
Many HEDT motherboards quickly approach the 4-figure range, but the ACE comes in at half that cost while still retaining a ton of great premium features.
Firstly, while the design may not be your primary concern, I was really pleasantly surprised at how gorgeous it was in person. High-end motherboards are slowly moving away from RGB and the ACE’s minimalist black and gold aesthetic is not just stunning, but a great foundation for a ton of different aesthetics.
That said, for you RGB lovers, there are plenty of headers on board (and also a helpful LED dip switch to turn them off as needed).
There’s plenty on offer between USB, M.2, SATA, and 2 x PCI-E 5.0 inputs. The ports are nicely-balanced bandwidth-wise and I think they’ll comfortably match the need of most enthusiast builds.
Larger than it looks when you see it in person. Source: JTDtom1984
I’m pleased with the overclocking results observed on the ACE, too. With decent results across both CPU and memory (even for the likes of a Core i9-12900K), we expect you’ll sooner be bottlenecked by the limitations of your cooling than of the motherboard. The overclocking failure recovery is an easy enough process by most standards too, which can be a huge perk when trying to maximize your settings.
So what don’t we like about this board? Well, not too much.
Even though the price is very slim by ATX standards, the one thing that comes to mind for me is that many users would be happy with an ATX board in the $300-400 range, even though I think the extra features and quality-of-life changes here are immense if you have the extra budget.
Aside from that, nothing notable comes to mind, the motherboard is great for installation, overclocking, thermal management, design, and onboard features.
If you’re looking to build an E-ATX powerhouse with forking out 4-figures, I think this is the best option you’ll find by a notable distance!
Best X299 E-ATX Motherboard: Gigabyte X299X AORUS Master
For most cases, we’d highly recommend our top pick as the chipset will better suit you for the latest Intel CPUs.
That being said, if you are interested in X299 for this chipset’s advantages in certain areas (e.g. RAM capacity), then the AORUS Master is a feature-packed option.
This board offers:
- 4 x PCI-e x16 slots, with the bandwidth capability to run a Multi-GPU gaming PC (SLI or CrossFire)
- 8 x DIMM outputs for up to 256GB DDR4 RAM up to 4333 Mhz
- 3 onboard M.2 storage outputs
- A great I/O panel with good Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and LAN outputs.
- Beautiful RGB design with great onboard addressable headers for an RGB-centric build
- Fantastic onboard ALC1220-VB HD Audio with an ESS SABRE9218 DAC chip capable of making the most for high-end headphones.
The above are just the highlights.
Source: ironbar
There are a bunch of additional onboard/BIOs features that make this a premium motherboard (anything from excellent onboard heatsinks to great build quality for durability in a heavy EATX PC Case).
At its price point, it’s the best motherboard for overclocking on X299 I’ve come across from various benchmark reviews.
With great inputs available for high-capacity graphics cards, storage, RAM, and cooling capability, you’ve got a great motherboard for video editing, gaming, streaming, and production.
As good as the Aorus Master is, it’s still on the CPU chipset that is becoming outdated compared to our top pick’s one, so bear that in mind.
That said, if your wallet is thick but not so thick that you’re looking at the pricier picks and are interested in building with an X299 CPU, then this is a great option.
High-End Best Intel E-ATX Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme
And now we come to the choice for those who care more for power than price. This MSI motherboard is simply incredible.
To start, it’s built on the Z690 chipset / LGA 1700 socket, which combined with the features below, easily makes this one of (if not the) best motherboard for the brand new Core i9-12900K and other 12th gen CPUs.
- 2 x PCIe 5.0 x16 slots
- 4 x DDR4 RAM slots with max speeds up to 6400 MHz+
- Fantastic I/O panel with 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports
- 5 x M.2 storage outputs with optimized heatsink.
These specs, alongside the sophisticated cooling and fantastic layout, are simply mindblowing, and really shows the power of what a high-end Z690 motherboard can do.
Source: tikishark
You may be asking yourself, “why does this board have fewer max RAM/GPU slots than our runner-up pick”?
Well, while we love the high RAM/GPU approach, the Z690 GODLIKE has chosen alternate bandwidth allocations.
Each motherboard can only circulate so much power and this MSI offering puts more into its CPU chipset, overclocking potential, and other features.
With a fantastic array of headers for an RGB build, wonderful LED lighting, and an OLED screen to act as a “dashboard” for your computer status, we love to focus on hard specs, but if you’re spending this much money on a motherboard, we appreciate the extra mile going in for aesthetic.
The ACE has a host of onboard features and incredible thermal solutions across the board, reviews are quickly finding that this is one of the best motherboards for overclocking available.
You’re going to achieve a fantastic high FPS 4K gaming build if tied with the right CPU/GPUs.
Maximus Z690 Extreme vs MSI MEG Z690 ACE
So with all that said, why do we give the ACE our top pick over the Extreme?
Well, while the Extreme does boast an even further capability in overclocking, bandwidth allocation and thermal management, we think that there is some level of diminishing returns, give it’s around twice the price of the ACE.
Although I sing the praises of a more minimalist motherboard aesthetic like the ACE, it’s also worth bearing in mind that the Z690 extreme is on the other end of the aesthetic; boasting plenty of gorgeous lighting in addition to its OLED screen. This wasn’t a major factor in reviewing the board for me as it’s largely down to personal preference. Really, both look great.
Do I think, dollar-for-dollar, the extra features of the Extreme are worth it over the ACE? No.
But, if budget is only a secondary concern, and your only question is “how do I achieve the most power”, then I think you’ll love this choice.
High-End Best AMD E-ATX Motherboard: MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE
Now, we’ve focussed on Intel E-ATX mobos as there are better options for them in most of the price ranges.
But for a premium choice, MSI released an AMD version of our top Intel pick that is just as impressive.
The X570 chipset enables PCI-e 4.0 support which will give you incredible bandwidth/performance for top-end GPUs/M.2 storage.
While this bandwidth may not be fully exploited with all current hardware, you easily have one of the best motherboards for a Ryzne 5900X / other 5000 GPUs as these can take advantage of it.
Source: honts
Let’s breakdown the spec highlights:
- 4 x PCIe 4.0 x16 slots with 4-way Crossfire support
- 4 x DDR4 slots with up to 128GB RAM OC’ed up to 5000Mhz+
- 3 x onboard high-performance M.2 storage with an M.2 XPANDER-Z GEN 4 PCIe adapter allowing for 2 more, all with excellent thermal control
- Incredible build quality, design and light features (including onboard lights, RGB header availability and OLED screen)
- Fantastic onboard audio and Wi-Fi
As we’ve stated above, you can make an incredible gaming build with 2-3 GPUs.
But if you’re looking for more, this is perhaps the best Quad-GPU motherboard available today.
Additionally, the thermal solutions across the board will give you incredible overclocking capability, with benchmarks showing amazing OC performance on this board for RAM, CPUs, and GPUs.
At the top of its class, the GODLIKE is one of, if not the best X570 motherboard on the market.
If your heart is set on AMD and this is out of your price range, there are good options in other form factors. The Strix X570-E is a great example.
But if you have the budget, know that you really can’t get much better than this.
Best Budget E-ATX Motherboard: MSI X299 Pro
Whether for high-end gaming or production, we’d recommend the picks above. Especially the ones with more modern sockets.
That being said, what MSI manages to fit into this cheap EATX motherboard is insane for the price if you’re looking at a X299 chipset.
This includes:
- 8 x DDR4 RAM slots for up to 256GB memory (up to 4200Mhz)
- 4 x PCIe x16 slots with capability for up to 3-way SLI GPU builds.
- 2 x M.2 storage outputs
- Decent RGB header options
Between these features, you still have the utility here for a high-end build for gaming, streaming, and other production rigs.
Source: flipflopsoncats
If you’re in the video editing business (or similar), it’s the RAM that offers an insane amount of future-proofing for memory (though to be clear, most users do not need to buy 8 slots worth of RAM).
You don’t have the same level of onboard features for overclocking/cooling as you do on the above boards, but it’s still capable of great clock speeds across your hardware.
The issue with this pick for budget builds is that it’s an X299 motherboard; we think most budget builders are going to significantly prefer Motherboard/CPU combos that are either LGA 1700 or AM4.
But if your goal is focused on the best cheap extended ATX motherboard, the MSI X299 Pro is the cheapest available.
Best XL-ATX Motherboard: Gigabyte X299X AORUS Designare 10G
2022 mid-year update: The XL-ATX market is very slim these days, so much that there is no current recommendation for motherboards on the latest gen chipsets. We’ve kept this recommendation at the bottom of our list if you are happy to be after a X299 build (or TRX40) but in nearly every case, we’d recommend looking at our E-ATX picks above.
We’ll start by repeating what is said in our complete guide to motherboard sizes:
You don’t need an XL-ATX motherboard over an E-ATX one for a large high-end build.
The options above will give you more than enough for a premium gaming motherboard (or for production, streaming, etc).
That being said…
If you simply want more space to play with in a “super tower” PC case, we included this as it’s still a fantastic pick.
Source: GIGABYTE
A Socket 2066 motherboard, the AORUS Designare boast:
- 8 x DDR4 RAM slots for up to 256GB memory at
- 4 PCIe x16 outputs capable of 4-way CrossFire or SLI builds
- A fantastic I/O panel including 2 x Thunderbolt 3 connectors
- Great Onboard Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio
- Gorgeous LED lighting with great RGB header support for an RGB build
- Fantastic build quality with lots of port reinforcement, good for such a large setup
When you can combine this colossal graphics card capability with all of the onboard thermal solutions/excellent BIOs, you have one of the best gaming motherboards for overclocking.
Its price-point sits in between our top picks and high-end picks, and we’d say that’s about right for what it offers.
If you’re looking to build an absolute monstrous PC both in power and size, this is perhaps the best XL-ATX Intel motherboard available.
Best Z490 E-ATX Motherboard: EVGA Z490 Dark
What a beast this is.
The EVGA Z490 Dark strikes an amazing balance between accommodating different types of high-end builders whilst also maintaining excellent value for its price.
Yes, it is an expensive motherboard. But considering many other competitive E-ATX picks are close to the 4-figure mark, this EVGA offering sits at around half of that.
We like the approach EVGA has taken with the Z490 Dark; specifically, they’ve reduced bandwidth consumption on certain elements that will not be used by an overwhelming amount of users.
The two main examples are the 2 dual-channel DIMM slots and max-2 SLI/crossfire GPU capacity (with 3 x PCIe x16 available onboard).
Sure, this sounds low if you’re trying to max out specs across the board, but the balance has been crafted around still providing enough capability for most powerhouse users, while also allowing you to push as much as possible with overclocking your CPU, GPU, and RAM all at an impressive motherboard price.
Source: GIGABYTE
To put it another way, 64GB of RAM (that could be 4800MHz+) and 2 (even 1) GPU on this board would make for a superb 4k gaming motherboard or high-end production desktop.
(If you’re one of the rare users who does demand more GPUs/RAM, say for very intensive rendering, video production, or a server PC build, then most of our other picks on the list accommodate just that).
Speaking of overclocking; this is, of course, the crowning jewel of the Z490 Dark. With an oversized VRM cooler, great quality-of-life features surrounding the board (including a unique layout specifically designed to better transmit heat/bandwidth between integral parts), and a great software interface for the BIOs, you are really set up here to push a lot out of your CPU and memory.
The other great SSD storage options that you’ll enjoy for a high-end build are 2 x M.2 110m (up to 32GBps) & 1 x U.2 NVMe.
With the fantastic Z490 chipset, this is one of the best LGA 2000 motherboards around, giving you compatibility with Intel’s 10th & 11th gen processors, you’ll be able to achieve some incredible processing power.
The EVGA Z490 has many more great features that we could take all day describing, from a good featured I/O panel to great onboard audio.
2022 mid-year update: Although I still rate the Z490 Dark well, this glowing praise is built from a time when the Z490 was an emerging chipset.
With that in mind, we’d say that a majority of users will be wanting to look at the Z690 top picks over this shoice.
If you’re looking for a build on an older chipset however, and don’t want to fork out double the price for the high-end picks, this is still a decent pick for you.
Alternative Quick-Fire Picks (Best of the Rest)
The top 6 picks are our main choices for the best extended-ATX motherboards. However, we’ve included a couple more options just in case you have very specific requirements.
Alternative AMD pick: GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Xtreme
Coming in slightly cheaper than our top AMD pick, this is a great choice with many of the same features for slightly smaller budgets.
Cheapest E-ATX Motherboard: EVGA X299 FTW K
Due to the volatile nature of Motherboard prices on Amazon, it’s possible that our top budget pick may be cheaper at the time you’re looking. But usually, the EVGA X299 is the cheapest option for EATX builds if you’re comfortable with the X299 chipset.
Best TRX40 E-ATX Board: ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha
If you’re after the best E-ATX motherboard for AMD, but are more inclined towards the TR40 chipset over the mainstream CPUs, the Zenith II Extreme Alpha is your best bet.
What's Next?
The 10 Best Quiet PC Cases for a Silent PC Build in 2022
Hear that? It’s the sound of silence.
The 15 Best PC Cases of 2022
After hundreds of case reviews, here are the best
The 6 Best Motherboards With 8 RAM Slots in 2022
For serious production users
The 5 Largest PC Cases for High-End Builds in 2022
The largest towers worth buying
About the author
Such a useful page! Was surprised on the lack of good info on EATX motherboards, appreciate it
Glad it helped!