I'm really into motherboards with plenty of ports, and the X570 Steel Legend has become my ideal choice — it has only USB 3+ on the back I/O, a whopping 8 SATA ports, and 2 M.2 slots that can all be used at the same time, plus 2 PCIe x16 slots and 3 PCIe x1 slots. I'm planning to upgrade to an LGA1851 CPU in the next few years, and I want to know if there are any ATX alternatives that offer similar features. I've been considering the Asus TUF GAMING Z890-PLUS, but I'm open to other recommendations.
3 Answers
These days even 6 SATA ports are getting hard to come by. You might find a board with 4 SATA ports and consider adding a Host Bus Adapter (HBA) if you need more. The ASRock Z890 Livemixer can be a solid option. It has 3 M.2 slots and won't block anything important with its PCIe layout, plus it has a good number of USB ports at the back.
You might want to reconsider the LGA1851 chip. It's likely that by the time you're upgrading, Intel will have moved on to a new socket with all-new processors. Just something to keep in mind!
Check out PCPartPicker to find motherboards that meet your needs! It's super handy for filtering by features.
Thanks! I actually browsed around on there a bit yesterday (which led me to the TUF GAMING Z890-PLUS), but I was just looking for personal suggestions from other users like myself. 🙂
I had a feeling that might be the case, especially since my upgrade isn't happening for another few years. Thanks for the heads up!