Sajjad Hussain

As Tech4Gamers’ Founder and Editor-in-Chief, I bring over 13 years of PC Hardware Reviewing and 8+ years of IT Project Management experience. Certified in Google IT Support , my focus is on providing honest product reviews and analysis and fostering a strong gaming community with 130k+ members in PPG.

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Ali

I intitally started by writing CPU comparisons and since then have written articles of all kinds, from Wikis and How-Tos to dedicated CPU reviews. Currently, I test and review CPUs, motherboards, and sometimes, RAM.

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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:

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:

Accessories

1 of 2

• 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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Dr. Usman Saleem

At Tech4Gamers, I’m the PC Hardware Specialist, primarily contributing to the “Best-Ofs” section. I provide thoughtful buying advice based on thorough testing and personal expertise. I also review hardware products and games to keep things fresh.

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We have been testing and reviewing several B850 motherboards over the past few weeks, including plenty of MicroATX and Mini-ITX options. Well, now is the time to take things back to the standard ATX-size motherboards. The one we’re going to take a look at today is the ASRock B850 Pro RS Wi-Fi. The motherboard comes with an MSRP of $189.99 USD and stands at a place where cost-cutting happens a lot to fit within the budget. So, let’s get right into it and see how much ASRock has managed to pack at this low price tag.

Key Takeaways

• The ASRock B850 Pro RS Wi-Fi is a budget-friendly ATX motherboard that offers essential features, decent performance, and good aesthetics.
• You should buy the ASRock B850 Pro RS WiFi if you’re not looking to do a lot of overclocking and want something that gets the job done pretty well and doesn’t make too much trouble.
• You should not buy the ASRock B850 Pro RS WiFi if you’re after the best-performing or feature-packed B850 motherboard.

Take a sneak peek into the actual specifications of the motherboard:

Packaging & Unboxing

The motherboard comes in a beautiful and minimalistic white cardboard box. The information here is kept to a minimum. We can see the motherboard printed on the box, and right under it, we can look at the chipset name as well as the “ASRock” branding. Similarly, on the left side of the box, we can see the model name printed over the white minimalistic background.

The accessories include:

• Two SATA Cables
• Two ASRock WiFi 2.4/5/6 GHz Antennas
• Quick Installation Guide
• Regulatory Notice

Since it’s a budget-oriented motherboard, it only comes with two SATA cables, two Wi-Fi antennas, and some paperwork. Other than that, there’s no other accessory included.

Design

Unlike the ASRock B850 Steel Legend Wi-Fi, this motherboard incorporates a mix of both black and white colors to give an overall pleasant look. The combo of the all-black PCB and matte white heatsinks looks quite graceful. Besides the color scheme, we can also see that one of the four M.2 slots lacks an aluminum heatsink. However, it’s a PCIe Gen4 slot, so the NVMe will be fine without a heatsink.

As far as the RGB integration goes, it doesn’t fully drop it, because it sure has some of it underneath the 3rd and 4th M.2 slot’s armor. Moving forward, the PCB features an 8-layer PCB design that works well in the mid-range segment motherboards. 

The block diagram shows the integration of the AMD PROM21 chipset in this motherboard, which handles a lot of features and slots parallel to the AM5 processor itself. According to the diagram, the PROM21 chipset provides life to the front & rear USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, the front USB Type-C Gen2 port, and the rear & front USB 2.0 ports. Besides the connectivity ports, the chipset is also responsible for M.2_4, M.2_3, the PCIe2 Gen4 slot, two SATA ports, WiFi, and Realtek 2.5G LAN.

The number of each port that the chipset handles can be seen in the block diagram itself. As for the rest of the stuff, like the RAM, primary GPU slot, other USB ports, and audio codec, the CPU handles them pretty well.

CPU Socket And Power Delivery

The ASRock B850 Pro RS Wi-Fi rocks the same LGA1718 socket that houses all the new and old AM5 processors. You can look at the socket more prominently in the picture attached above.

Taking a look at the power delivery system of the motherboard reveals that it features the same 14+2+1 power phase design with the same 80A SPS for VCore, SOC, and MISC. This configuration is the same as the motherboards that cost slightly more than this ASRock B850 Pro RS Wi-Fi. It’s more than capable of handling not just budget but also higher-end processors if not pushed too hard.

If you look closely at the top left side, we can also see the EPS power connectors. ASRock has used two of its high-density EPS power connectors to provide juice to the CPU.

To allow the motherboard to keep delivering unhindered performance, it uses two enlarged heatsinks with good quality thermal pads. The heatsinks are not connected with each other so there is no heat pipe involved. We will see how these heatsinks perform in the real world as we monitor the VRM thermals under load. 

DIMM Slots

The motherboard features four DDR5 DIMM slots in a dual-channel configuration and can support up to 256 GB of DDR5 RAM at once. Moreover, the ASRock B850 Pro RS Wi-Fi also has support for high-frequency memory kits. This board specifically supports 8000+ MT/s (OC) straight out of the box. You can enable these settings via the preloaded Intel X.M.P or AMD EXPO overclocking profiles. 

Storage

The motherboard makes good use of the available space over the PCB and boasts four M.2 storage expansion slots. Furthermore, it also offers four SATA3 6 Gb/s slots as well. The M.2_1 slot supports type 2280 drives and features PCIe Gen5 speeds. The M.2_2 and M.2_3 both are PCIe Gen4 and support type 2280 drives, however, the M.2_3 slot also has support for type 2230, 2242, and 2260 drives as well. Lastly, the fourth M.2_4 slot maxes out at PCIe Gen3 speed and has the same 2280-type drive support. 

Another thing to keep in mind is the limitations of this board, if you happen to utilize SATA3_1 and SATA3_2 slots, the M.2_4 expansion slot will downgrade its speed to PCIe Gen3x2 instead of Gen3x4. Meaning that it will be delivering data at 16 Gb/s instead of the standard 32 Gb/s. However, this limitation is only for Phoenix 2 processors which are AMD’s 8000 series desktop APUs. 

Another thing worth mentioning is that the M.2 drive slots also feature heatsinks with thermal pads to keep them cool while utilizing. Interestingly, though, only 3 out of 4 slots have heatsinks, The M.2_2 slot features no cooling solution and relies on the PC’s airflow.

PCIe Slots

This ASRock B850 Pro RS WiFi also features two PCIe x16 expansion slots. The primary slot has all 16 lanes and runs at full Gen5 speed if a Ryzen 7000 or 9000 series processor is installed. The 2nd PCIe slot, however, supports x4 mode only and runs at PCIe Gen4 speed. Moreover, this 2nd PCIe slot will get disabled if the M.2_3 slot is occupied, meaning that you can’t use all the slots on this motherboard simultaneously. The primary PCIe Gen5 slot also has ASRock’s PCIe armor installed which ensures increased overall rigidity while holding bulky graphics cards.

USB Connectivity

Surprisingly, this budget motherboard also has a plethora of USB ports:

• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (Rear)
• 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (Rear)
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C (Rear)
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (Front)
• 6 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (2 Rear, 4 Front)
• 10 x USB 2.0 (6 Rear, 4 Front)

The USB port selection on this motherboard is impressive as it features so many USB ports on both, the front and the rear. Since it’s a budget motherboard, we can’t expect ports like USB4, however, we are still at least getting USB 3.2 Gen 1/2 ports. Moreover, the USB 3.2 Gen 1 port also has DP 1.4 standard with HBR3 support that can output a max resolution of 2160p at 60 Hz. 

Networking And Connectivity

The motherboard, while being budget-oriented, doesn’t drop the wireless connectivity and retains its WiFi chip. The ASRock B850 Pro RS WiFi has an 802.11axe WiFi module as seen in the picture uploaded above. This enables the motherboard to have Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and Bluetooth 5.2. Similarly, for wired connection, the motherboard comes with a Dragon RTL8125BG LAN controller that supports speeds up to 2.5G. 

Audio Solution

In terms of audio solution, we get the Realtek ALC897 Audio Codec. This is a decent audio codec for budget and mid-range motherboards and is mostly for casual gaming and everyday use. It’s fine for the most part but may struggle if you’re looking to connect high-impedance headphones right into it. Mainly due to the lack of DAC features within the codec itself. As for this motherboard, the audio solution is more than capable for the casual use.

Internal Connectors And Components

Connectors And Headers

1 of 3

This is the full of connectors that the ASRock B850 Pro RS WiFi has:

• 1 x SPI TPM Header
• 1 x Power LED and Speaker Header
• 1 x RGB LED Header
• 3 x Addressable LED Headers
• 2 x CPU Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
• 4 x Chassis Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
• 1 x AIO Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
• 1 x 24-pin ATX Power Connector
• 2 x 8-pin 12V Power Connectors (Hi-Density Power Connector)
• 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector
• 2 x USB 2.0 Headers (Support 4 USB 2.0 ports)
• 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Headers (Support 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports)
• 1 x Front Panel Type C USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Header (20 Gb/s)

The board comes with pretty much all the basic connectors and headers like the ARGB headers, AIO pump header, two CPU fan connectors, and four chassis fan connectors. Moreover, it also has the EZ troubleshooter which means the ASRock’s post status checker that helps with troubleshooting the type of error it is experiencing.

Going further, we have the Nuvoton NCT6796D-S I/O controller in place that takes care of the monitoring and controlling part for all the connectors and headers.

Rear I/O

•  2 x Antenna Ports
• 1 x HDMI Port
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C Port (10 Gb/s)
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C Port (DP-alt mode supports DP1.4a)
• 4 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A Ports
• 6 x USB 2.0 Ports
• 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port
• 1 x BIOS Flashback Button
• HD Audio Jacks: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone

On the rear I/O side of the motherboard, we can see two Antenna ports, one USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, and one USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C that also support the DP-alt mode. Besides these, we have some more USB ports but Type-A and one 2.5G LAN port as well as the three audio jacks. Last but not least, it also features the EZ Update button labeled as “BIOS Flashback”.

In this attached picture, you can examine the motherboard without all the heatsink covers.

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

The ASRock B850 Pro RS WiFi ends up collecting 139 points for the single-core test and, 2296 points for the multicore test in our Cinebench 2024 benchmark. This places it right behind the ASRock B850 Steel Legends—a slightly more expensive motherboard.

In our Geekbench 6’s multi-threaded test, the motherboard somehow performed even worse than its M-ATX version. This board secured 21682 points, which in comparison to others isn’t too far behind. However, a difference is a difference, even if it’s almost non-existent. 

Fortunately, this time around, it performed better than its M-ATX variant and completed the Blender 4.0.2 rendering run in 53 seconds. This makes it 1 second behind the M-ATX B850 Steel Legend and 2 seconds behind the standard ATX variant.

In the Corona 11 benchmark, the ASRock B850 Pro RS Wi-Fi is yet again performing slightly slower than its M-ATX variant. The difference between them is just 1.3 seconds, which isn’t that big of a deal.

For our last synthetic benchmark, we used V-Ray, and here the B850 Pro RS WiFi performing slower than every other motherboard. However, taking the higher MSRP of most of the competing motherboards in mind. The difference starts to make sense.

Gaming Benchmarks

Starting the gaming benchmarks with Cyberpunk 2077, we get to see that the motherboard is performing the same as many other more expensive motherboards like the MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk WiFi. Both have the same 143 average FPS, and the B850 Pro RS WiFi has only 1 less minimum FPS than the Tomahawk.

The ASRock B850 Pro RS WiFi again performed very well and is comparable to other motherboards. In terms of numbers, it gained 110 average FPS while having 79 as the minimum in Starfield.

This time, in Far Cry 6, the B850 Pro RS WiFi has the same minimum FPS as the Tomahawk, though it’s still falling behind in average FPS by 1 frame.

Power Consumption, Boot Times, And VRM Temperatures

One good thing about this board is its low power consumption. It takes about 105W on idle, consumes 114W while gaming, and ends up using 370W on full load. Though these numbers are still less than many other motherboards.

The boot times aren’t too terrible either, though they do come in last with one of the slowest boot times of 24 seconds against the 23 or 21 seconds of competing boards. Take these differences with a grain of salt, as you won’t be noticing them on a daily basis use.

Another positive thing about this board is its VRM cooling solution; the VRM cooling heatsinks work well enough to maintain VRM temperatures at 65°C after 30 minutes of stress testing.

Should You Buy It?

Buy It If:

✅ You want a cheap ATX board: If you’re looking for a cheap ATX board that doesn’t perform terribly and also does not overheat too much, then this board seems like a fine fit for you.

✅ You want acceptable performance and design: The board is also a great pick if you do not wish for the best of the best and are fine with the average performer and decent-looking board.

Don’t Buy It If: 

❌ If you want to utilize all available storage options at full potential: While the motherboard does come with a lot of storage ports. However, in reality, they are restricted due to shared lanes. The M.2_4’s speed cuts in half when the SATA3_1 and SATA3_2 ports, meaning you can’t use all storage options at full speed at once.

My Thoughts

Coming to the end of our review, the motherboard turns out to be actually quite decent for the price, sure, it lacks some bit here and there. But that’s part of being a budget motherboard where you have to have compromises on some features and overall functionality of the board. What we like about this is that the board offers the most essential features and does not skip on those, like the high-speed memory support, PCIe Gen5 NVMe storage expansion as well as PCIe Gen5 graphics card expansion slot. 

Besides the functionality, the motherboard also looks fine with its white and black aesthetics, so you’re insured on the good-looks part too. I can recommend this motherboard if you’re planning on building a casual mid-range gaming PC without hindering the overclocking side of things too much.