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An Exceptional Choice!
Review Summary
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi is a $209.99 motherboard that comes in an all-white color scheme that looks excellent. Moreover, the powerful VRMs with strong black capacitors give it enough juice to produce impressive performance on screen. The number of features is also quite impressive and makes it one of the best options in the sub-$250 motherboard category.
Hours Tested: 10
Overall
-
Performance - 9/10
9/10
-
Features - 9/10
9/10
-
Design - 9.5/10
9.5/10
-
Value - 9/10
9/10
Pros
- Supports high-speed RAM (8000+ MT/s (OC))
- The white aesthetics look great
- VRMs are sturdy and powerful (14+2+1 with 80A SPS)
- 20GB/s Front USB
- Has Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
- 1x PCIe 5.0 & 3x PCIe 4.0 M.2 expansion slots
- EZ Troubleshooter & Updater
- Decent Audio Codec
- Thermistor support
Cons
- No 5G LAN
ASRock’s Steel Legend motherboards are known for their competitive price and a mix of good features and performance. With that in mind, we’re going to check out the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi. We have also tested and reviewed the ASRock X870 Steel Legend WiFi, if you can afford a high-end chipset and want a great, white motherboard, I suggest you read that review. In any case, the B850 variant comes in at the price of $209.99 USD, so let’s see if this one offers the same level of value.
Key Takeaways
- The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi is a white-themed mid-range AM5 motherboard with solid gaming performance, robust power delivery, WiFi 7, and a good selection of USB ports.
- You should buy the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi if you’re looking for something with great features such as the EZ update & troubleshooting, temperature monitoring via thermistor, and a neat selection of I/O.
- The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi is an amazing choice, and you should only skip it if you’re after the X870/X870E chipset or if you specifically don’t want a white motherboard.
You can check out the specifications of the motherboard in the chart below:
| Specs | ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi |
|---|---|
| CPU Support | AMD Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 processors |
| Memory Support | Up to DDR5 8000+ MT/s (OC) |
| PCIe Slots | 1x PCIe 5.0 x16, 1x PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| M.2 Slots | 1x PCIe 5.0 x4, 3x PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| SATA Ports | 4x 6Gb/s |
| Audio | Realtek® ALC4082 Codec |
| Network & Connectivity | 1x Dragon RTL8125BG 2.5G LAN, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
| USB Ports | 20 Ports |
| Size | 244 mm x 305 mm, ATX |
| MSRP | $209.99 USD |
Packaging & Unboxing
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi comes in a white cardboard box that has minimal graphics work over it. Just some going all over it alongside the pic of the motherboard itself. Moreover, in parallel, we can see the model of the motherboard. Also, at the bottom, we again don’t have too much information to look at. Only the chipset name, WiFi 7, and ARGB software support branding.
Accessories:
- Two SATA Cables
- Two ASRock WiFi 2.4/5/6 GHz Antennas
- One Thermistor Cable
- Quick Installation Guide
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend does not offer a lot in terms of accessories and sticks to only include the most crucial ones except for the thermistor cable which is a bonus as this motherboard supports this feature like some other ASRock boards.
Design
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi has an all-white aesthetic, with great artwork on the chipset heatsink and the VRM and M.2 drives’ heatsinks. The motherboard’s overall design looks great, and the PCB’s build quality is excellent. It’s made with the same 8-layer PCB design that provides decent sturdiness and isolation.
Another thing we couldn’t help but notice is the lack of heatsink on the secondary M.2 slot. This is the same as the cheaper ASRock motherboard, the ASRock B850 Pro RS WiFi.
As per the block diagram of the motherboard, we’re certain that the motherboard is using a single PROM21 chip that works alongside the AM5 processor to handle all the features and on-board headers. As usual, the AM5 processor handles the primary stuff like the DIMM slots, the Gen5 M.2 drive, and the Gen5 x16 graphics card slot. Some of the USB 3.2 Gen2/1 and one PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot also come under the processor’s reign.
As for the wired and wireless internet connectivity, both are handled by the PROM21 chip. Also, the rest of the storage drive slots, the audio chip, and the remaining USB ports are assigned to the chipset.
CPU Socket And Power Delivery
This motherboard, the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi boasts the same AM5’s LGA1718 socket that accommodates all the AM5 processors.
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend is equipped with a 14+2+1 phase power delivery solution with 80A SPS for VCore, SOC, and MISC. Moreover, the motherboard uses 20K black capacitors that allow it to increase its capacitance to 1000uF from the standard 560uF. This ensures less rippling, more stable output current, and better performance. So, on the performance side of things, this additional upgrade would prove to be beneficial.
If you pay attention to the top left corner you can clearly see the integration of ASRock’s high-density EPS CPU power connectors.
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend features two hefty-looking heatsink blocks that also have thermal padding on the bottom side to help cool down the power VRMs and MOSFETs more effectively.
DIMM Slots
ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi offers the same memory speed as the ASRock B850 Pro RS WiFi, which is 8000 MT/s (OC). Moreover, since it has four DIMM slots, you can install up to 256 GB of RAM without any problem. As for the memory to run at its rated speed, you have to enable the Intel X.M.P or AMD EXPO memory overclocking profile from the BIOS.
Storage
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend features four M.2 drive slots, one of which is powered by PCIe Gen5, and the rest of the three are limited to PCIe Gen4 standard. Fortunately enough, there’s no PCIe Gen3 drive slot. The PCIe Gen5 slot has support for 2280 cut drives only while the 2nd and 4th M.2 drive also supports 2260 cut drives along with the 2280 cut. Similarly, the 3rd M.2 slot, however, the 2230 cut as well.
One thing that’s also the same here is the lack of a heatsink on the 2nd M.2 slots, while the rest of the slots benefit from heatsink blocks with thermal pads for better cooling. It would have been nice if this slot also had a heatsink for the drive.
Besides the M.2 slots, the board also has four SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors to attach the 3.5″ or 2.5″ drives when needed.
PCIe Slots
The motherboard boasts two PCIe x16 slots, however, both work at different speeds and have different specs. The primary slot supports x16 mode and works on PCIe 5.0 standard. This slot also features a unique PCIe release lever. Moreover, here the slot also gets a stronger build with the ASRock slot armor.
All this isn’t available in the 2nd slot, which works on PCIe 4.0 standard and is limited to x4 mode only. Meaning that it is meant for expansionary cards and not graphics cards itself.
USB Connectivity
The motherboard also has a neat selection of USB ports:
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (Rear)
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (Rear)
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (Rear)
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (Front)
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (Rear)
- 6x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (2 Rear, 4 Front)
- 8x USB 2.0 (4 Rear, 4 Front)
On this motherboard, you can see a fair selection of USB ports both fast a some slow to keep things balanced on the pricey side as well. The board features USB ports having 20 Gb/s, 10 Gb/s, and 5 Gb/s. These are more than adequate for an average user that doesn’t need too fast like USB4, since it lacks that.
Networking And Connectivity
The motherboard does receive an upgrade in terms of WiFi functionality. It features an 802.11be 2×2 WiFi module that provides WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. However, when it comes to the wired internet connectivity, we’re still stuck with the Dragon RTL8125BG which is capped at 2.5G LAN speed.
Audio Solution
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi comes integrated with a Realtek ALC4082 Audio Codec that helps it provide crisp audio when coupled with the SteelSeries Nahimic audio-enhancing software. The motherboard also supports Direct Drive Technology on the front that allows it to support up to 600 Ohm headphones.
Internal Connectors And Components
Here are all the connectors that the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi offers:
- 1x SPI TPM Header
- 1x Thermistor Cable Header
- 1x Power LED and Speaker Header
- 1x RGB LED Header
- 3x Addressable LED Headers
- 2x CPU Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
- 3x Chassis Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
- 1x AIO Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
- 1x 24-pin ATX Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
- 2x 8-pin 12V Power Connectors (Hi-Density Power Connector)
- 1x Front Panel Audio Connector
- 2x USB 2.0 Headers (Support 4 USB 2.0 ports)
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 Headers (Support 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports)
- 1x Front Panel Type C USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Header (20 Gb/s)
This ASRock B850 Steel Legend is full of useful connectors on the board such as the two EPS power connectors, EZ troubleshooting LEDs, USB ports, and headphone port headers. RGB LED headers as well as ARGB headers.
Moreover, the thermistor header is also present, so you get an additional thing that not all ASRock boards or boards of other brands integrate into their motherboards. All these things need a controller to work and this is where the installed Nuvoton NCT6686D comes into play.
Rear I/O
- 2x Antenna Ports
- 1x HDMI Port
- 1x Optical SPDIF OutPort
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C Ports (10 Gb/s)
- 3x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A Ports
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Ports (10 Gb/s)
- 4x USB 2.0 Ports
- 1x RJ-45 LAN Port
- 1x BIOS Flashback Button
- 1x Line Out Jack (Gold Audio Jack)
- 1x Microphone Input Jack (Gold Audio Jack)
There’s a neat selection of ports on its rear I/O side as well. We get plenty of ports with distinctive colors and labeling to make it easier to differentiate from each other. The rear I/O here offers two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C ports, two Gen2 Type-A ports, three Gen1 Type-A ports, and four USB 2.0 ports.
There’s also a BIOS flashback button to easily flash the BIOS and we also get one line out and one microphone input jack. Moreover, the standard SPDIF out port is also available along with the two WiFi antenna ports.
Test Setup
This is the rest of the setup that we use to run our benchmarks:
Here is our test bench and configuration:
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16C/32T
- ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 Liquid CPU Cooler
- G. Skill Trident Z5 Royal NEO DDR5-6000 CL28 EXPO Kit (2×16 = 32GB)
- XPG Lancer RGB 32GB 7200MHz DDR5 RAM
- Nvidia GeForce Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC
- Western Digital SN850 Black 500GB NVMe SSD [For OS]
- Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB Gen4x4 NVMe SSD [For Software]
- Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 4TB Gen4x4 NVMe SSD [For Games]
- Sabrent Rocket NANO V2 4TB Portable SSD
- Corsair HX1200i Platinum PSU
- Windows 11 Pro Build 23H2
Synthetic Benchmarks
ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi starts strong during our benchmarking by securing 140 points for single-core and 2297 points for multi-core in the Cinebench 2024. This placed the motherboard in 4th place, and the score disparity with the top scorer was 15 points on a multi-core and a single point on a single-core test run.
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi, this time around, came one position lower as we ran it through the Geekbench 6’s multi-core test where it was able to collect 21704 points.
In our Blender 4.0.2 test run, the motherboard is back on its feet and is in 4th place again, which can also be called 2nd as it has achieved the same time as the other competing motherboard. Both motherboards completed the run in 51 seconds.
ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi performs great yet again. In Corona 11, the board completed the full benchmark run in 64.1 seconds, which is exactly one second behind the first-place holder.
To wrap up the synthetic benchmarking, we did a V-Ray benchmark run where the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi actually performed a lot better and came 2nd on our result chart with 48904 points.
Gaming Benchmarks
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi starts great in gaming by attaining the highest average FPS of 144 with also the better minimum FPS (109 FPS) during the benchmark run of Cyberpunk 2077.
As far as the Starfield benchmark is concerned, the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi doesn’t disappoint. It performed neck to neck with the B850 Tomahawk, and B850 Riptide in the average FPS test by outputting 111 FPS. Moreover, it maintained a better minimum FPS than all other B850 motherboards that we tested.
The story is the same with Far Cry 6, ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi performed superior to all other motherboards with 85 average FPS and 139 as minimum FPS.
Power Consumption, Boot Times, And VRM Temperatures
While the board does output great performance, it surely takes a lot of power to do that too. According to our testing, the motherboard consumed 113W during gaming, 104W in idle mode, and 388W when we put some serious load on it.
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi also has a pretty decent boot-up speed, in our testing, the motherboard completed the boot sequence in exactly 22 seconds placing it at the same place as the ASRock B850i Lighting and others.
The motherboard is a green tick in terms of VRM temperatures as well. It manages the maintain the VRM temperature at 62°C – placing it as the 3rd best motherboard in terms of VRM cooling.
Should You Buy It?
Buy It If:
✅ You want superior gaming performance: If you’re considering a motherboard that should perform great in games, then the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi is a great option.
✅ You want a decent feature set: If you’re looking for a motherboard that should offer many features like WiFi 7, powerful VRMs, 20 Gb/s USB ports, EZ Update & Troubleshooting, and thermistor support, then this board is one of the best picks for your build.
Don’t Buy It If:
❌ If you want a higher-end chipset: The only reason to skip the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi is if you want an overall more packed motherboard, in that case, you may want to consider some X870/X870E options.
My Thoughts
Now that we’re at the end of the review, what I can say about the board is that it’s a lot of cool about it. It has an appealing white look and impressive artwork on the heatsink blocks. Also has the ability to outshine other boards in gaming and also perform well enough on the productivity side of things.
Moreover, the VRM cooling solution works fine as well, as it keeps the temperature within decent limits. And to clarify the temperatures of other components, the included thermistor support helps to let you do that. So, in conclusion, I definitely liked the motherboard and everything about it except for the memory speed, which could have been a little higher than 8000 MT/s, like the ASRock B850i Lighting WiFi.
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[Hardware Reviewer]
Hi! I’m Ali Tauseef, and I have been writing for Tech4Gamers since 2022. I love all things computer hardware but am particularly fond of CPUs and motherboards, and I like to stay up-to-date about the latest advancements in these worlds, and when possible, write about it. When I’m not doing that, I like to get into a little FPS action in CS2 or get lost in the vast world of RDR2.
Get In Touch: ali@tech4gamers.com
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