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Asus ROG Strix B850-F Gaming Wifi Neo motherboard review: Pricey proposition for B850, but packed with features
The ROG Strix B850-F Gaming Wifi Neo offers users one of the best-equipped B850 refresh motherboards, but it is pricey at almost $320. If you value the improvements and Asus’ value-add features, it’s worth the price, though X870 boards come squarely into focus above $300 and could be a better alternative depending on your needs.
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Asus B850-F Gaming Wifi Neo is one of the best B850 refresh motherboards, but at a high price. At $319.99, it’s one of the more expensive non-Mini ITX B850-based boards, eclipsed only by Gigabyte’s B850 AI Top for $350 and the B850-E Gaming Wifi (~$350 MSRP). For the money, it’s a top-of-the-line board for the mainstream platform, offering users a premium aesthetic, high-quality hardware, and a long feature list including AI Intelligence, a clock generator for overclocking, loads of USB ports, and a slew of EZ PC DIY functions to help make building easier. If we didn’t tell you, one might believe it was an X870 board by specifications alone (and maybe price), blurring the lines between enthusiast and mainstream platforms.Hardware-wise, it has just about everything you want from an AM5 motherboard. You get four M.2 sockets (2 PCIe 5.0) and two SATA ports for storage, plenty of USB ports on the rear IO (and front panel, 23 total according to Asus), robust power delivery and a BCLK generator for overclocking, a quality audio solution with integrated amplifier, and a good-looking appearance, It uses multiple ‘AI’ features including AI Cache/Cooling II/Networking II, and several EZ PC DIY items like M.2 Q-Release, Q-Slide and M.2 Q-Latch, 5 GbE and Wi-Fi 7 networking, and finally, sports a unified all-black look that’s sure to look good with any black/dark themed build. That said, it’s not without some drawbacks. I would like to see at least one USB 4 port on a high-end B850 board, and the two SATA ports could be limiting for users who haven’t moved over to M.2 storage. But overall, those are minor dings.
On the performance front, the board did well and was average to above average for most tests. There were a couple of outliers that fell below average, but nothing to worry about. It performed well across a wide variety of tests from office productivity to rendering and gaming; the B850-F Gaming Wifi Neo showed its mettle through our testing suite. Below, we’ll examine the B850-F Gaming Wifi Neo’s performance and other features and find out if it has a chance to make our list of the best motherboards. But before we share test results and discuss details, here are the specifications from the ASRock website:
(2) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C(2) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)(5) USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)(1) USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Type-C(2) USB 2.0 (480 Mbps)
(4) DDR5-8400+(OC) DDR5-9200 with APU, 256GB Capacity
(2) PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm)(2) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm)
(1) USB v3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C(2) USB v3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)(3) USB v2.0 (480 Mbps)
Inside the box along with the motherboard are a few accessories to get you started. You get the usual fare from a budget board, including SATA cables, a Wi-Fi antenna, guides, and more. Nothing stands out in this accessory stack, but it should help get you started.
Compared to the existing B850-F Gaming Wifi, the biggest differences aesthetically on the updated Neo are the plate-style heatsinks on the bottom half of the board. The new one goes monochrome (black and grey) with a brushed aluminum feature on the left and a matte finish on the rest, still retaining its 8-layer PCB (1 Oz copper) design. A ROG symbol made by horizontal lines yields a more premium appearance than the previous B850-F non-Neo version. The left VRM heatsink cleans up the RGB feature (ROG symbol) a bit and is the only integrated lighting, giving off a subtle glow. The primar