Asus Rog Strix x870-i Gaming Wi-Fi Review

While ATX motherboards do not differ significantly in terms of design and system, the mini-ITX motherboards can not be said. Like the cases that face them, manufacturers have different approaches to the press of everything into a 170 mm x 170 mm PCB, which allows them to offer similar impressions than full -size motherboards.

Wi-Fi Gaming ASUS ROG Strix X870-I is no exception, based on dignified saliva Rog Strix X670E-i Gaming Wi-Fi and switching to functions. You get USB4 ports, SSD PCIe 5.0 and GPU, Wi-Fi 7 and, like the elderly model, there is even a sound card for desktop computers, providing quick access to even more ports and functions.

Despite the fact that the mini-ITX is a niche option, there is mighty competition, especially from the BSPSTEM options from the B series, including those from Asus itself.

This means that the Wi-Fi price in Gaming Wi-Fi is in the attention center about ASUS ROG Strix X870-I and whether it is worth a significant bonus in relation to cheaper models when everyone is dealing with sedate restrictions on PCB real estate. There are premium options from the competition and what if something is better than its siblings X670E, although the latter is now final and rarely accessible, so the comparison here is more interested than a potentially better option.

Starting from what is novel and the biggest change is the transition from X670E to X870 for the chipset. All extreme versions of AMD stationary chipsets employ two physical tandem chipsettes, which means that the original plate had to find a way to drive two already packed printed plate. However, as we said earlier, the mini-ITX is never tedious, because Asus decided to mount it vertically on a separate printed plate. The downside, however, was that he was chilled by M.2, which was already fighting for coping with SSDS.

This time there is only one, so the lower port of M.2 gets heat to himself. Now that the X870 supports the PCIe 5.0 graphic processor, X670E has no significant advantages that can be developed within the tight limits of the mini-ITX motherboard. Despite the older chipset, which twice as much than 5 Gb / SI 10 Gb / s USB and SATA x870 ports, both boards have the same two SATA ports, and Wi-Fi Rog Strix X870-I Wi-Fi games have more USB ports in total.

These include two Type-C USB 4, One Type-C USB 3.1, four USB 3.1 and three USB 2.0 on the rear panel as well as USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C ports on the attached external sound card Strix Strix Hive II. The back panel I/O also contains the Clear Clear button and the USB BIOS button, along with Ethernet antennas 2.5 GB/SI Wi-Fi 7.

A vertical pile of heat for SSDS houses one port PCIe 5.0 M.2 at the top with the other port narrow to PCIe 4.0 below. Fortunately, despite the proximity of heat to the processor socket, the motherboard supports vast liquid cooler, such as the Arctic liquid freezer III and NZXT Kraken Elite 360 ​​RGB, at least with tubes at the top of the motherboard.

No best M.2 port is cooled on both sides, so you will see better temperatures with unilateral SSDs. The upper port is basic to access, but the lower one requires a few minutes to dismantle the heat to get it. Two SATA ports are on the next probe, which connects to two vertical type-C ports next to memory modules, which also provides two USB 2.0 headers and a front panel header.

The board uses a power supply of 10+2+1 with one vast taxpayer. Both IT and M.2 heat are actively cooled by two small, embedded fans. It seems that they are not rotating, even under extended loads, but they cannot be fully controlled in EFI or software than switching the VRM fan to full speed, where it sounds hideous. I hope that only in extreme situations would become a problem.

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

The average number of frames per second in Cyberpunk 2077 was on a par with other plates, which we recently tested at 117 FPS, powered by RTX 4070. In Bate Bate 3 its average 114 FPS was the highest on any last board, while its average Factorio reference time was 19.4 seconds.

The processor temperature in the games was, however, a bit high, despite the employ of the same cooling, such as the steel legend of the ASROCK B850, where the latter was 6 ° C cooler. The power of the 101 W Game processor package can explain it, because it is one of the highest we saw for the Ryzen 9 9900X processor, which we employ for testing.

Blender and 7zip results were again in fractions of other boards, so nothing to write home. However, VRM temperatures and chipset were more intriguing, with the chipset by far the hottest we saw at 73 ° C, while the VRM was an average of 53 ° C. The power of the CPU package at full load at Cinebench was much more consistent with the rest of the field at the top of 162 W, ​​while reaching a decent result of 1 833 in the multi -core Cinebench R24 test.

Perhaps the best result is that our SSD PCIe 5.0 was almost tamed by relatively diminutive and unilateral running boats, reaching a maximum at 74 ° C and making a choke avoiding, which starts from about 80 ° C.

It is always great to see how some non-construction thinking and exotic design with motherboards and Wi-Fi in the Wi-Fi Asus Rog Strix B850-I Wi-Fi game makes the current yield of the ATX motherboard looks tedious similar in comparison. However, the design is functional because it provides sufficient cooling to handle heat from the latest SSD processors and disks, while removing the road for probably the best connectivity of any AM5 Mini-ITX motherboard.

We have little concerns about chipset fans, because ASUS does not have great achievements here, which the owners of the predecessor X570 of this board are certified, while the lower SSD M.2 is a burdensome to get to burying under the heat layers. Some fans of diminutive designs do not like the HIVE external sound card and there are almost no functions free from tools.

However, the biggest problem is the price. At 450 USD it is USD 150 more than x870i Aorus Pro Ice and your own ROG Strix B850-I, which is a huge bonus that can be better spent on a better graphics card or higher capacity SSD. However, if you are building a mini-ITX PC of your dreams and you just want to get the best board you can get, although it is not perfect, Wi-Fi Asus Rog Strix X870-I is undoubtedly.