I am a Computer Hardware professional. I started working with computer technology in the early eighties. I have seen the evolution of technology starting with closed platforms like the game console era and then the move toward open platforms like the Home Computer Golden Age. In the last 5 or 10 years, I have witnessed technology changes that are slowly moving away from open hardware designs towards hardware that is locked down and can’t be modified by the user.
Bang for bucks, ASRock is really good. I bought a mobo when the first gen of Ryzen came out and it is still rocking today. It supports up to Matisse series cpu. I paid like, 70-80 bucks back then. I had a lot of value out of it.
It is still living inside a home server and will be soon repurposed into an arcade cabinet.