The MSI X870E Carbon Max adds an OC Engine chip and a larger BIOS, though changes little else. But did it need to? See how the refresh fares against similarly equipped rivals in the crowded $500 space.

A motherboard that can accept both DDR4 and DDR5 memory can be the difference between you being able to build a new PC or putting it off till the shortage is over. ASRock's new H610M Combo II is otherwise pretty barebones, not even featuring PCIe 4.0 storage, but it does have enough to get you by before things settle down.

The B850 Tomahawk Max Wifii II refines the popular budget AM5 board with additional M.2 storage, an OC Engine chip, a 64MB BIOS, a minor facelift, and a small price increase.