First look at B850 boards. ROG Strix and Aorus Elite WiFi7

Details of the Asus ROG Strix B850-F Gaming WiFi and the B850 Aorus Elite WiFi7

New B850 motherboards have been released for AMD Ryzen 9000 (and possibly 7000) processors, promising lower prices (compared to X870/E motherboards). Not much was known about the specific models until the last minute. But now we’ll take a look at two, one from Asus and the other from Gigabyte, which we’ll also take a look at in detailed tests later on. So for now, just a little preview.

For quick orientation: You can put an “equals” sign between the AMD B850 chipset and the AMD B650 chipsets from previous motherboards. B850 motherboards (as well as older B650 models) use a single Promontory (21) chip. However, there is one detail in which the “new B850” is more attractive, namely in the better connectivity coming from the processor.

B850 motherboards can pull a PCIe 4.0×16 interface out of the processor or split it into PCIe 4.0×8/×8, but at the same time do not support PCIe 5.0 graphics cards. But there is a difference in (PCIe) lanes for SSDs. On B850 motherboards, there must be a “mandatory” single PCI Express 5.0-enabled slot. This means that one M.2 interface will be PCIe 5.0 ×4 and the other will often be PCIe 4.0 ×4. This was not the case with the older chipset – PCIe 5.0 for SSDs could theoretically be included, but it was only an option that most motherboards didn’t provide. So the fundamental difference with the new B850 boards is that the fastest PCIe 5.0-enabled SSDs will always be able to be used with them, which was mostly not the case with B650 boards. And what will also be different – new – are the various mechanisms on B850 boards (for unlatching PCIe ×16 or M.2 slots), which different companies have innovated differently.

Anyway, it is still true that with B850 boards you lose the option to use PCIe 5.0 ×16 or PCIe 5.0 ×8/×8 for graphics card. This is only possible, as far as the AMD platform is concerned, on motherboards with the B650E, X670E, X870 and X870E chipsets. And also, there doesn’t have to be a USB4 controller on B850 models, which is always fitted on B870 and X870E motherboards. This disadvantage has a positive side, namely that it doesn’t take up four PCIe lanes that come from the CPU. Thus, two SSDs can be directly connected to the CPU, while on X870 and X870E boards it’s only one, and the other slots are already connected to the chipset.

The fact that the B850 chipset uses only one Promontory chip means that it can only provide four SATA ports, one 20-gigabit USB port, six 10-gigabit USB ports, eight PCIe 4.0 lanes, and four PCIe 3.0 lanes as additional connectivity. This is where it differs from the dual-chip X870E, X670E, and X670 chipsets, which have more or less double the above, except for the PCIe 4.0 lanes. They have twelve of those. Compared to the other single-chip chipsets (which are X870 and B650E, which is very close to X870), this chipset-based connectivity is identical.

B850 boards are basically a cheaper alternative to X870 or B650E boards. However, you have to say goodbye to PCIe 5.0 for the graphics card or USB4 connector(s). Compared to B650 boards, however, they may be “slightly better” for the guaranteed PCIe 5.0 SSD support. The B850 chipset still supports both overclocking of the CPU and memory (RAM), so there is no degradation in either of these directions. With motherboards, however, the quality of VRMs, PCBs, and similar things not directly related to the chipset can vary, of course. B850 boards may also advertise the ability to overclock DDR5 memory to 8000 MHz, something that has not been seen before with B650 boards. That said, you’ll naturally be able to install the new Ryzen 9000 processors in them as well, and the older Ryzen 7000s will also work in B850 motherboards.

Photos of Asus and Gigabyte motherboards

Out of all the motherboard models, we’ll be taking a close look at the Asus ROG Strix B850-F Gaming WiFi and the (Gigabyte) B850 Aorus Elite WiFi7. That is, we’ll only lightly skim through them for now, and we’ll cover them in more detailed tests later on. We may also apply this format to motherboards again later on. Admittedly, for now it’s out of necessity as we haven’t had time to test these motherboards, but we can also see the potential in doing this, where we can better incorporate some of our readers’ questions into our tests as well. You’ll know which motherboards we have in the testlab, which is also an opportunity to ask about things you’re interested in. We can then, as long as it’s not something too time-consuming, focus on these questions in the analyses.

So, we’ll be testing two motherboards in the near future, one from Asus and the other from Gigabyte, in ATX format. The B850 Aorus Elite WiFi7 may only have three M.2 slots (instead of four as on the Asus ROG Strix B850-F Gaming WiFi), but it’s also likely to be the cheaper option. At the time of writing, we don’t know the exact pricing yet, but it will be in the standard tests and we’ll see how much either of these motherboards will cost. The Asus motherboard (ROG Strix B850-F Gaming WiFi) has, in addition to a second M.2 PCI Express 5.0 slot, also the first PCIe ×16 slot with support for this standard (PCIe 5.0). This is above-standard for B850 boards in both cases.

The Asus ROG Strix B850-F Gaming WiFi is also likely to have a more robust VRM, with 16 phases for Vcore (instead of 14 – B850 Aorus Elite WiFi7). But again, this is something that typically lower-end CPU models (and these boards do target such cheaper ones…) may not benefit from virtually at all.

The number of USB ports on the rear I/O panel is equal – both boards have twelve. Although each has a slightly different speed and type configuration. The Strix B850-F’s external options also include an HDMI connector. The B850 Aorus Elite WiFi7 only has this internally, for connecting a display inside a case. This is typically for monitoring temperatures, clock speeds, or other key parameters of computer components.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

… and a table of basic specifications

• Contents
• Details of the Asus ROG Strix B850-F Gaming WiFi and the B850 Aorus Elite WiFi7