There’s quite a lot of thrilling {hardware} popping out proper now. AMD, Nvidia, and Intel all have new merchandise for us fanatics to salivate over, however there is a clear development, and it is a unhappy one. PC {hardware} simply retains getting ever dearer. The extra characteristic wealthy AM5 motherboards are a working example. The concept of dropping effectively over $500 on a motherboard is ludicrous to many.
Information is rising that AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 sequence is not promoting in addition to AMD would need (opens in new tab). Broader financial issues apart, steep motherboard pricing is definitely a contributing issue. After years of being spoiled by the AM4 improve path, upgraders are pressured to purchase a brand new motherboard and DDR5 reminiscence. I hate to say it, however consoles appear to be actually good worth compared.
Fortunately, not all AM5 boards are exorbitantly priced. One such instance is the ASRock X670E Professional RS I’ve bought available for evaluation. It is designed to be an economical motherboard that provides the necessary X670E characteristic set, together with PCIe 5.0 GPU and SSD help, the flexibility to run a Ryzen 9 7950X (opens in new tab)with out difficulty, and supply the necessities like Wi-Fi 6E and ample storage help.
At $279 / £320 / AU$569 it is one of many cheaper X670E motherboards. In truth, it is one of many cheaper X670 boards full cease. You will want to decide on a B650 or B650E board if you wish to save extra money. At half the worth of high-end boards like ASRock’s personal Taichi, the Asus Crosshair X670E Hero (opens in new tab) or Aorus Excessive, does the X670E Professional RS have to chop an excessive amount of for such a saving? Let’s examine what it has to supply.
X670E Professional RS specs
Socket: AMD Socket AM5
CPU compatibility: AMD Ryzen 7000 desktop processors
Type issue: ATX
Reminiscence help: As much as DDR5-6600+ (OC), As much as 128GB
Storage: 5x M.2; 6x SATA
USB: As much as 1x USB 3.2 Gen2x2, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 8x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 8x USB 2.0
Show: 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DP 1.4
Networking: Wi-Fi 6E; Realtek 2.5G LAN
Audio: Realtek ALC897 7.1 Channel HD Audio
Value: $279 / £320 / AU$569
The ASRock X670E Professional RS isn’t what you’d name a good looking board, however I just like the silver and black mixture, together with the fonts atop the M.2 heatsinks. There’s a bit little bit of RGB lighting aptitude beneath the chipset heatsink, nevertheless. And, for those who love your RGB lighting, there are three ARGB headers plus an extra non-addressable one.
ASRock features a graphics card help machine that mounts to 2 of the motherboard screw holes. That is useful for those who plan to purchase a monster sized graphics card. Sure, I am taking a look at you, chonky RTX 4090 (opens in new tab).
The board consists of 5 M,2 slots, as soon as of which is a PCIe 5.0 slot cooled by a chunky heatsink. You will nonetheless wish to have respectable case airflow although as M.2 heatsinks adjoining to a graphics card can really take up warmth if uncared for. I’d not advocate utilizing the center two slots for those who’re utilizing a gaming GPU. Use the 2 on the backside of the board earlier than these center two.
Rounding out the storage help are six SATA ports.
Picture 1 of 8
The VRM is satisfactory, if nothing particular, although you would not anticipate ASRock to incorporate all the pieces a high-end board has. A 14+2+1 part resolution is sufficient to energy a 7950X with out difficulty. The board consists of 4+8-pin CPU energy connectors.
The heatsinks are good for an ‘entry degree’ X670 board. Operating a 7950X underneath a sustained all core load, they have been merely heat to the contact.
The I/O on the rear is great for a board at this value level. You get Wi-Fi 6E and Realtek 2.5G LAN which matches some far more costly boards. Then you definitely get DP 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 ports to be used with the brand new built-in GPU capabilities of Ryzen 7000 CPUs.
The USB complement is nice, with a complete of ten rear ports. There are two 3.2 Gen 2 ports (certainly one of which is Sort-C) plus 4 3.2 Gen 1 and 4 2.0 ports. Inside headers can present one other eight ports plus the all-important USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 type-C.
The audio is an space that is much less spectacular. Realtek ALC892 is affordable, however an costly controller and issues like DACs are how board makers justify including the massive bucks for prime finish boards. As one of many cheaper boards providing a full X670E characteristic set, I perceive ASRock having to make just a few compromises.
ASRock’s BIOS retains issues easy, the brand new releases actually decrease the boot occasions and except you are into tweaking reminiscence for hours on finish searching for just a few additional 3DMark 2001 frames, it consists of all the pieces a gamer wants, together with the spectacular ECO modes.
ASRock goes additional and consists of enhanced PBO modes that help you set most temperatures and voltages. These modes are a improbable approach to tune your system, permitting you to optimize for any sort of cooler.
System Efficiency
Gaming Efficiency
As we virtually all the time say, utilizing benchmarks as a differentiating issue between motherboards is not often very revealing except there’s one thing very flawed. The ASRock is maybe a contact underneath the common of the boards I’ve examined to date, although in the case of gaming, the variations are all the time inside a margin of error.
Take a look at rig
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
Graphics: Zotac GeForce RTX 3080 Ti AMP Holo
RAM: 2x 16GB G.Talent Trident Z5 DDR5-6000 C30
Storage: 2TB Seagate FireCuda 530
Cooling: Cooler Grasp PL360 Flux 360mm AIO
PSU: Corsair AX1000
Maybe ASRock nonetheless has that final 1% of BIOS optimizing to do. I do know for a truth some engineering groups are stretched skinny with each AMD and Intel launching new platforms on the identical time. In the event you purchase an ASRock X670E Professional RS, it is undoubtedly value grabbing a brand new BIOS off the ASRock web site earlier than you do the rest with it.
Nonetheless, at this early stage of the lifetime of the AM5 platform, it feels remarkably mature basically. There’s nonetheless some work to do to enhance boot occasions, and we’re but to see PCIe 5.0 SSDs attain the market, however in comparison with a few of the points that first technology Ryzen had on the time of its launch, ASRock and AMD cannot be too sad.
I am additionally happy to see BIOS flashback help on the Professional RS and seemingly all different AM5 motherboards. This implies you can improve to a future CPU while not having a Zen 4 chip. Future and proofing are two soiled phrases, however within the case of AM5 presently, comparatively, it is pretty much as good because it will get.
Picture 1 of 3
The ASRock X670E Professional RS is a usually plain motherboard. And there is nothing flawed with that at this value level. In the event you’re a gamer who sticks your PC underneath the desk, out of sight and thoughts, then there is no want so that you can spend cash on bling.
It is proof you do not have to spend a great deal of cash on an costly motherboard. Saving a few hundred {dollars} and placing it in direction of a quicker CPU or higher graphics card will ship precise efficiency features. Except you want issues like USB 4, 10G LAN or a number of PCIe 5.0 SSD help, you do not actually lose all that a lot in comparison with dearer boards.
What it does do is ship the core X670E characteristic set with no fuss. You get PCIe 5.0 graphics card and SSD help, Wi-Fi 6E, a succesful VRM and presumably you can drop a future Ryzen 8000 or 9000 CPU in with only a BIOS replace.
The ASRock X670E Professional RS is proof you need not spend a great deal of cash on an costly motherboard.
So, if the asking value of X670E boards within the area of $600 / £600 / AU$1,000 or extra leaves you incredulous, a board just like the ASRock X670E Professional RS is one you must contemplate. However do not forget B650 and B650E too, B650E specifically affords most of the identical options at a fair lower cost level.
Throw in a 7600X with a RTX 40 or Radeon RX 7000 card, and 32GB of DDR5 and you have a succesful gaming system in your palms, however even higher, you can improve your parts for years to come back. If you take a look at it in these phrases the ASRock X670E Professional RS affords glorious worth, and that is one thing that may’t be mentioned for too many AM5 motherboards.
