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The Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X are two powerful CPUs. They are great for gamers who also perform demanding work on their PCs. The former can work on almost any AM4-equipped motherboard. The latter demands a high-quality board because of its higher TDP value (65W vs. 105W on the 3800X). If you’re interested in the best motherboards for other CPUs, visit our motherboards section. It’s populated with a ton of buying guides for a plethora of different CPUs.
As for the best motherboards for Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X, read on since we have a ton of great picks. You have budget choices, mainstream X570 boards, high-end X570 picks, and two choices in mATX and Mini-ITX categories. Remember that these are all quality boards. If you are on a budget, even the cheapest one among them (the MSI Tomahawk Max) will be more than enough to run these CPUs.
Before we begin, we would like to divert your attention towards our list of the best air coolers for Ryzen CPUs. The 3800X demands a higher-quality cooling solution to fully spread its wings. Next, both of these CPUs can still churn out more than 100 fps in many modern games. You should check our guide for the best graphics cards for 1440p 144Hz gaming to find out which graphics cards are the best for 1440p high refresh rate gaming. Finally, if you’re already interested in high-refresh-rate gaming, do read our list of the best 1440p 240Hz monitors.
MSI B450 Tomahawk Max: Best budget motherboard for Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X
The best B450 board on the market is also the best budget motherboard for the 3700X and 3800X. The MSI B450 Tomahawk Max features excellent VRM that should be enough to run any 3rd gen Ryzen CPU.
No matter whether you have a 3700X or 3800X, this board will provide excellent performance for both CPUs. The best part is that the board supports 3rd gen Ryzen CPUs out of the box. There’s no need for a BIOS update.
The design is pretty good. Minimalistic, with two colors and not aggressive. Features-wise, you’ve got support for up to 4133 MT/s DDR4 memory, 6 SATAIII connectors, and one M.2 slot. The back panel hosts two video outputs (DVI and HDMI) for multi-monitor support in case you run an iGPU.
The sound department is passable. It’s powered by the Realtek ALC892 Codec, which is an entry-level option. One PCIe x16 3.0 port works at x16, and the other works at x4. The board also has 3 PCIe x1 slots for expansion cards. You also get four 4-pin fan connectors.
ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus: Best mid-range motherboard for Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X
Check our previous article featuring the best motherboards for Ryzen 5 3600 for an explanation on why PCIe 4.0 supported by X570 chipset isn’t something that will give you any benefit right now or soon. But if you want an X570 board, you don’t have to get super expensive models in case you have the Ryzen 7 3700X or 3800X.
The best mid-range motherboard for the 3700X and 3800X is, in fact, a budget X570 model. The ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus offers amazing value and a solid set of features. The board has an excellent VRM solution that’s taken from high-end models.
Features-wise, the TUF has support for 4400 MT/s DDR4 memory, 2 M.2 slots, and 8 SATAIII connectors. The two PCIe 4.0 slots found on the TUF Gaming X570-Plus work at full x16 and x4.
You also get Gigabit LAN and solid 7.1 sound support. The ASUS board also comes with four fan headers and iGPU multi-monitor support since it features both HDMI and DisplayPort ports on the back panel. Finally, when it comes to USB ports on the rear, you’ve got three 10Gbps ports (one of which is USB-C) and three 5Gbps ports.
ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero: Best high-end motherboard for Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X
The ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero is among the best X570 boards on the market. It’s also our pick for the best high-end motherboard for Ryzen 3700X and 3800X CPUs. Its VRM doesn’t have a ton of phases as it does in other high-end X570 boards, but it works just as well.
Then we have a superb design with black and grey colors and a ton of heatsinks. ASUS ROG SupremeFX codec is behind the sound department. It should enable studio-level sound quality. The board can run DDR4 memory up to 4800 MT/s.
Storage-wise you can find 2 M.2 slots along with eight SATAIII ports on the ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero. Pretty good, but we would like to see 3 M.2 slots at this price range. Two PCIe 4.0 slots can work in x8/x8 mode when in Crossfire or SLI configuration, with the third running at x4 mode. The board also has one PCIe 4.0 x1 slot.
You get dual Gigabit LAN from Intel and Realtek (running a 2.5 GB LAN module), which is enough for anyone except those running demanding home media servers. The board also has a ton of additional features such as ASUS Aura RGB lighting effects, BIOS flash support, and clear CMOS button, and lots of LEDs used for diagnostic.
ASRock B450M Steel Legend: Best micro-ATX motherboard for 7 3700X and 3800X
If you want a solid mATX board, your choices are extremely limited. Luckily, there’s one mATX motherboard that can work great with both the 3700X and 3800X. The ASRock B450M Steel Legend is the best mATX board for Ryzen CPUs at the moment. It has excellent VRM and a slew of features found on higher-tier B450 boards.
First off, the design hits the bullseye. It isn’t aggressive, and it excellently combines details found on the PCB with heatsink design. There’s also a small drop of RGB effects, nothing too tacky.
The B450M Steel Legend comes with two M.2 slots (just one is PCIe enabled) and four SATAIII connectors. LAN is gigabit by Realtek. The board supports 7.1 surround sound and is powered by Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec. Memory speed can reach 3466 MT/s.
Next, we have two PCIe x16 slots, out of which one can work at x16 and the other in x4 mode. There’s also one PCIe x1 slot for expansion cards. The back panel hosts HDMI and DisplayPort connectors for a multimonitor setup in case you run an iGPU. It’s worth noting that the board has three fan connectors, which should be enough for most setups.
MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC: Best Mini-ITX motherboard for Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X
While the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 looks great on paper and has a competitive price. The issue is that no matter where you look, you’ll see lots of negative user reviews for this motherboard. We would avoid this one if we were in your place. If you need a board capable of running 3700X or 3800X CPUs at stock speeds, the MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is a better choice.
The MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is the best Mini-ITX board for Ryzen 3700X and 3800X for those who don’t want to overclock, who need only one M.2 slot, and who are looking for an affordable but quality Mini-ITX board for their CPU. Its VRM is excellent for the price and can run even the Ryzen 3800X without issues.
The design is okay. Not great, but also not too aggressive, like on other Gaming Plus models. Memory support goes up to 3466 MT/s. The storage situation is okay for a Mini-ITX board. There’s one M.2 slot along with four SATAIII ports.
The board features HDMI and DisplayPort connectors on the back, allowing for a multimonitor setup for iGPU builds. There’s one PCIe x16 slot, and that’s all when it comes to expansion slots. The audio department supports 7.1 surround sound and is powered by Realtek ALC887 Codec. Finally, there’s also Gigabit LAN by Realtek.
Why buy Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X?
Real-life differences in performance between the 3700X and 3800X are minimal. Games work virtually the same on both processors. Heavy workloads (rendering, compression, encoding) can benefit from the 300 MHz higher base clock of the Ryzen 7 3800X, but not much.
At the moment, there’s no point in getting the 3800X. It’s expensive for what it offers, and instead of getting that one, you should buy the 3700X if you need lots of cores for work and either don’t play games or play them rarely.
If you’re a gamer and you don’t use your PC for heavy multi-threaded workloads (rendering, video editing), the 5600X is a better choice than both the 3700X and the 3800X. It costs the same as the 3700X but has noticeably better gaming performance.
If you do end up with either the 3700X or the 3800X, remember that these are powerful CPUs that require quality motherboards. The good thing is that most motherboards capable of running the 3700X have quality enough VRM to run 3800X.
As for the cooling, the 3700X has a TDP of just 65W and can work with any budget heatsink. The 3800X, on the other hand, demands a capable air cooler or any decent AIO setup since its TDP is set at 105W.
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