New processors don’t always lead to an influx of new motherboards, but there does tend to be a correlation between the two, just to ensure that you’re getting the most from the new technologies on offer. New CPUs can also introduce a different pinout on the socket, which necessitates a slew of new boards, which is what we’ve seen with Intel’s 10th gen chips. Alternatively, a new CPU family may plug into existing boards, which is what we’ve seen with AMD’s Ryzen 5000 chips.
Back to Intel a second, and the new Z490 chipset takes care of the top end of the stack and can be found in the more tricked out motherboards, while the B460 and H470 chipsets can be found in more affordable, mainstream offerings. There are some important differences between these chipsets, with overclocking being an obvious separator, although memory performance and connectivity options are also a factor. Basically the more you spend, the more you’re going to get access to. How much of that you actually need is…