Abdul Rauf
Motherboards, like all PC hardware components, come in different price categories. Depending upon their features, chipset, and size, you can expect the price to vary significantly.
$150 is actually considered a fairly decent range for most builds particularly for budget gaming builds as well as for home and office users.
Whether you are looking for a motherboard with an AM5 socket or the latest LGA1700 socket, you can find plenty of both mATX and ATX motherboards in this price range – and also Mini ITX if you dig a bit deeper.
In this article, we will have a look at some of the best motherboards under the $150 range. We will talk about some that hover near that range and also talk about budget motherboards that are well under this range.
Disclosure: PCGearLab is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
The AMD or the Intel Way
For an AMD build, you have the option to go for the newer AM5 based motherboards featuring the 600 series chipset for the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs.
OR you can go for the older AM4 based CPU if you want to stick to the 5000 series Ryzen CPUs or older.
The AM5 motherboards are naturally more expensive but they offer a newer generation of M.2 and PCIe slots, newer USB ports, and support for DDR5 RAM.
For AM4 Based Systems
Ryzen 5000 or older | DDR4 
AM4 | 2 x M.2 (1 x Gen 4) | PCIe 4.0 | ATX
There are even cheaper motherboards featuring the A520 chipset out there, but I would avoid them since they do not feature Gen 4 SSD support or overclocking support.
For AM5 Based Systems
AM5 based motherboards for Ryzen 7000 series CPUs are expensive in comparison. They are the latest to hit the market and offer newer features such as DDR5 support, PCIe 4.0/5.0 support, Gen 4 / Gen 5 SSD support etc.
Just cutting the $150 mark for an AM5 CPU is the GIGABYTE B650M DS3H motherboard.
For Intel, it is recommended to build a new system around the 13th Gen CPUs based on the LGA1700 socket. There are two motherboard series that caters to the LGA1700 based CPUs, the 600 and 700 series motherboards. The 600 and 700 series motherboards were released with 12th and 13th gen CPUs respectively. It is recommended to stick with the newer 700 series if you have a budget of around $150.
Intel 13th and 12th Gen | DDR4 The H770 chipset offers a decent amount of PCIe lanes, PCIe slots, M.2 slots, and support for newer gen PCIe 5.0 standard and newer USB ports.For Intel LGA1700 13th Gen CPUs
LGA1700| 3 x M.2 (Gen 4) | PCIe 5.0 | USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 4.0
What To Expect in Motherboards Under $150?
You can find the following common attributes in motherboards under $150.
All Kinds of Sizes but mATX is Recommended
You can find the common ATX, Mini ITX and mATX motherboards at this price range. However, if you want to save up as much cost as possible, we recommend you stick with the mATX form factor.
Briefly speaking, the three common form factors have the following dimensions:
- ATX: 12 x 9.6 inches
- mATX: 9.6 x 9.6 inches
- Mini-ITX: 6.7 x 6.7 inches
The ATX motherboard offers a high level of expansion and they are also more expensive. If you are a gamer or a power user with a slightly higher budget, these may be right for you.
Mini ITX motherboards, on the other hand, are the smallest. They offer the bare minimum expansion capability and are also expensive due to their small form factor.
mATX is the best for most users be it basic users or casual gamers. They have the best price value but limited expansion capability compared to an ATX motherboard.
If you are particularly looking for Mini ITX motherboards under $150, then I recommend reading this article: Budget Mini ITX motherboards.
Expansion Capability and Chipsets
The expansion capability depends highly on the form factor of the motherboard as well as its chipset.
Both Intel and AMD have three different categories of motherboard chipsets:
- Budget: AMD A and Intel H*10/B*60 series
- Mid Range: AMD B and Intel H*70 series
- High End: AMD X and Intel Z series
These chipsets differentiate themselves in terms of how many PCIe slots they offer, how many M.2 slots they offer, the version of the PCIe slots and M.2 slots, the number of USB ports and their version, overclocking support and the type of VRMs.
While you may be able to find Mid-range chipset in under $150 motherboards, it is almost impossible to find the premium AMD X or Intel Z series motherboards in this price category.
Additionally, all motherboards offer at least a single PCIe X16 slot capable of handling a graphics card.
If you want a second X16 slot for another graphics card, you may have to dish out some extra.
One important point to note is that not all x16 slots have equal bandwidth. If you find a second x16 slot on a motherboard under $150, there are high chances that it will only have an x4 bandwidth.
Besides that, the number of M.2 slots can range from 2-3 depending upon the price tag as well as the chipset.
What are these Motherboards Useful for?
Someone with a budget of under $150 for a motherboard either has a limited budget for the overall setup or does not have a robust requirement from their PC.
In other words, while for some a budget of $150 can be an overkill for a motherboard, for others a budget of $150 could be too low.
If you are planning on building a PC for home use, then $150 is overkill. You can easily get much cheaper motherboards and still use them to a fairly high extent with a good number of installed components.
If you are an office user, you can again go for cheaper motherboards. However, if your office work revolves around using complex software like CAD etc, and you are using powerful processors, then a more powerful motherboard chipset and VRM design would be warranted. A cheap motherboard can make a system unstable.
For gamers, the story is completely different. We do not recommend that gamers go for motherboards that hover around $50, $60, or $70.
Hence for many gamers, a budget of under $150 could land them a budget gaming motherboard.
In fact, if you are a gamer who wants to overclock, you will have no choice but to invest in a good motherboard that has premium components and offers powerful VRMs.
In short, the question of whether $150 for a motherboard is a good range is quite relative, and depending on your needs it can be too high or too low.
Final Words
In this article, we looked at some of the best motherboards under $150 that we believe stand out from the crowd in terms of their value.
Again, there is a plethora of motherboards that you can find in this range. However, you must gauge your requirements, look at the motherboard socket and chipset as well as try to understand what kind of extra features you need.
For instance, it would be unwise to procure a processor built for overclocking (Intel K series processors) and install it on a motherboard that DOES NOT allow overclocking (only Z series motherboards offer support for overclocking for Intel CPUs).
While there certainly are very expensive motherboards out there, a $150 range is a sweet spot for many buyers. It can get you some great deals regardless of whether you are a casual user, gamer, or professional.
Add comment