Asrock Phantom Gaming B850i Lightning Wi-Fi Review

If you want to build a mini-ITX PC with one of the Ryzen 7000 or 9000 AMD processors, there is quite a mini-ITX motherboard to choose from, relatively recently by starting the B850 chipset, which mostly brings lower points than X870 and X870E. One of them is Asrock Phantom Gaming B850i Bightning Wi-Fi, which will leave a change from USD 300.

Still not completely low-cost. It also has both current and previous generation chipset options, which should be taken into account for similar prices or lower, as well as significant varieties of your own price depending on where you are. The key benefit is that, unlike the B650 chipset options, such as Phantom Gaming B650i Bightning Wi-Fi, the PCIe X16 socket is compatible with PCIe 5.0.

The Phantom Gaming B850i Lightning Wi-Fi problem, however, is that there is not much more news, taking into account the price difference of almost 100 USD between these discs. Both support SSDS PCIE 5.0, both have one port PCIe 5.0 M.2 and one port PCIE 4.0 M.2 with Wi-Fi 6E.

The benefits, however, are worth considering, because they relate to sound performance and providing processor power, which can be at least part of this significant price difference. The more problem is that the view of Wi-Fi Gaming B650E-I have vigorous VRM cooling, while the B650i Aorus Ultra Gigabyte has three M.2 ports and both are cheaper. Let’s see how ASRock is beating in general.

Compared to Phantom Gaming B650i Bightning Wi-Fi, this is a similar project here, for the benefits of an additional two phases of the processor power, as well as better sound in the form of ALC1220 Realtek instead of ALC897. That’s what it is about and both boards have very tiny M.2 heat to deal with SSDS PCIE 5.0. Another competitor is its own B650E PG-ITX Wi-Fi, which includes actively cooled heat M.2. In addition, Phantom Gaming B850i Lightning Wi-Fi seems almost identical, but it costs about USD 30 less.

One of the functions that seems to be challenging to find, especially on the MINI-ITX chipset boards from the B series, is USB4, but Gigabyte managed to throw it into the x870i aorus pro ice, which costs about the same, and also includes Wi-Fi 7 and Snazzy white colors. As if the venerable Wi-Fi in the Wi-Fi game in the Wi-Fi game from Asus Rog Strix B650E-I games was not enough, adds Wi-Fi 7 to the equation, as well as actively mixed VRMS, and at the same time costs the same as ASROK’s offer. These boards especially make Phantom Gaming B850i Lightning Wi-Fi seem a bit steep for the offered functions.

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It has a decent seven USB type A ports constructed through the USB 3.1 Type-C port and unlike Gigabyte, X870i Aorus Pro Ice, has an optical output and even offers a 2-pin heat probe header. However, one of them is also included in the Wi-Fi ASUS ROG Strix B850-i. M.2, as well as tiny, does not have a cooling of the bottom of the SSD, so it is unlikely to tame the most double -sided SSDs PCIe 5.0, while the second port is on the back of the PCB and there is no completely balmy.

Perhaps we would like to see the third of three headers of fans located with others on the upper edge of the PCB, even able to get easier access to a tight mini-ITX, but otherwise smaller heat means compatibility with a wide processor cooler. Our biggest problem, however, was EFI, which simply seems dated, especially compared to those with ASUS.

Computer player test platform

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X | Cooler: Asus Rog Rejujin III 360 Argb Extreme | ARIES: 32 GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR5-6000 | Storage: 2 TB Corsair MP700 | Dog: MSI Mag AB50GL 850 W | AXIS: Windows 11 24H2 | Chassis: Open platform Monitor: Dell U2415

Unfortunately, there was no VRM temperature readings, but there was a chipset sensor, and the 68 ° C result was noticeably cooler than Wi-Fi in the game Asus Rog Strix X870-I at 73 ° C, but still noticeably warmer than any Test motherboard ATX. The performance of the game was mostly similar to the ASUS board, as well as its larger siblings, which we recently tested, although Factorio showed the same slower results that we saw from several other records, including Wi-Fi Gaming Asus Rog Strix B850-F, which are seemingly insulated results.

The average power of the CPU package in games and creating content 99 W and 162 W and 162 W, ​​respectively, was again aligned with other plates, strictly matching Mighty ASUS ROG Strix X870-I Gaming Wi-Fi, with slightly slower results in Cinebench R24. Unfortunately, one of the areas where ASUS was doing much better was the cooling of our SSD PCIe 5.0, which began to choke at the end of our conditional test, reaching 82 ° C, while Asus reached the highest level at only 74 ° C.

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ASRock Phantom Gaming B850i Lightning Wi-Fi performs a decent work, transmitting the B850 chipset with AMD support to mini-ITX forms trading, but the price is a bit high for what it offers. The competition at this price includes Wi-Fi Gaming ASUS ROG STRIX B850-I, which has much better EFI and Wi-Fi 7, as well as actively cooled VRM.

Gigabyte x870i Aorus Pro Ice looks much better and includes USB4, Wi-Fi 7, larger mud M.2 and more without a tool. Where ASRock is distinguished by a decent number of rear -type USB ports and compliance with the processor cooler. The rest largely depends on where you are in the world, but now in the US it is the same price as the above -mentioned, better options of Gigabyte and Asus, while in Great Britain it is over 100 pounds cheaper.

Here, suddenly it makes more sense as a motherboard for budget awareness AM5 Mini-ITX, which fits older deseks. We would still like ASRock to renew EFI, and M.2’s heat cannot cope with most SSDs PCIe 5.0. But if you can find it much less than Asus Alternative, this is a much better value, if you exploit SSD PCIe 4.0 or SSD heat from the third.