Building an SFF (Small Form Factor) PC naturally comes with some compromises, but Asus ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi aims to keep specification sacrifices to a minimum. It does so splendidly, delivering a beautiful board that’s performant to boot but it doesn’t come cheap.
Asus ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi
£360 / $300
Pros
- Great USB connectivity
- Excellent build quality
- Dual PCIe 5.0 SSD slots
- GPU Q-Release
- WiFi 7
Cons
- Minor upgrades from B650E
- No M.2 Q-Release
- High price
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How we test and review products.
Costing £360 / $300, its price even exceeds high-end B850 ATX motherboards. On top of the presumed premium for its form factor taken into account, it still demands a pretty penny. Thankfully, that’s money well spent for enthusiast builders aiming to prioritise performance over value for their next SFF system.
Specs & Features
ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi succeeds its B650E predecessor but this change in chipset doesn’t make for a dramatically different motherboard. Despite sharing numerous similarities with its forebear, the newer motherboard does boast several welcome upgrades.
| ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi | ROG Strix B650E-I Gaming WiFi | |
|---|---|---|
| VRM | 10+2+1, 70A | 10+2+1, 70A |
| RAM support | Slots: 2 Capacity: 128GB Speed: 8,400+MT/s | Slots: 2 Capacity: 96GB Speed: 8,000+MT/s |
| Onboard graphics | HDMI 2.1 (x1) 10Gb/s USB Type-C (x1) | HDMI 2.1 (x1) 10Gb/s USB Type-C (x1) |
| PCIe expansion slots | PCIe 5.0 x16 (x1) | PCIe 5.0 x16 (x1) |
| Audio | Realtek ALC4080 | Realtek ALC4080 |
| Storage | PCIe 5.0 x4 (x2) SATA 6Gb/s (x2) | PCIe 5.0 x4 (x1) PCIe 4.0 x4 (x1) SATA 6Gb/s (x2) |
| Rear USB | 20Gb/s Type-C (x1) 10Gb/s Type-A (x4) 10Gb/s Type-C (x1) 480Mb/s Type-A (x2) | 20Gb/s Type-C (x1) 10Gb/s Type-A (x4) 10Gb/s Type-C (x1) 480Mb/s Type-A (x2) |
| Front USB | 10Gb/s Type-C (x1) 5Gb/s Type-A (x2) 480Mb/s Type-A (x2) | 10Gb/s Type-C (x1) 5Gb/s Type-A (x2) 480Mb/s Type-A (x2) |
| LAN | Intel 2.5Gb/s (x1) | Intel 2.5Gb/s (x1) |
| Wireless | Bluetooth 5.4 WiFi 7 | Bluetooth 5.2 WiFi 6E |
There’s little room for a stonkingly large VRM on a Mini-ITX but Asus still finds room to equip this board with a 10+2+1 phase design and 70A SPS topped by a shiny and stylish heatsink. Suffice to say, one shouldn’t think twice about slotting a flagship processor á la AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D into its socket as it’s plenty robust despite its size.
Despite the number of DIMM slots remaining static across motherboard generations, the newer model does outclass its predecessor in its maximum memory performance. ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi supports up to 128GB of DDR5 RAM running at 8,400MT/s, making for a decent bump from the previous maximum of 96GB at 8,000MT/s.
Ethernet speeds remain the same at 2.5Gb/s but wireless connectivity gets an upgrade thanks to the adoption of Bluetooth 5.4 and WiFi 7. You’ll need devices sporting the same standards to enjoy these niceties to the fullest but they’re naturally backwards compatible with older versions. In my case, the motherboard flawlessly communicates with my WiFi 6E network.
Round the back, ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi is practically identical to its predecessor save for its new WiFi 7 Q-Antenna headers and the addition of a Clear CMOS button towards the top of the shield. I’m always thankful to see the latter given how much more convenient it makes BIOS resets. Meanwhile, BIOS Flashback and FlexKey make managing firmware all the easier too.
Asus hasn’t made any adjustments to USB connectivity but this isn’t a bad thing. Packing eight total ports, the motherboard still maintains an edge over its competitors. Quantity doesn’t come at the expense of quality either, with a single 20Gb/s connector, five 10Gb/s headers, and two 480Mb/s slots. This is a well-rounded setup that’s difficult to fault and more bandwidth-rich overall than alternatives.
You have multiple means of connecting ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi to displays, should you need to call upon your processor’s integrated graphics. In addition to a HDMI 2.1 port, the 10Gb/s USB Type-C header also supports DP Alt. Mode effectively serving as a DisplayPort 1.4 connection. Useful in a pinch but I’d suggest prioritising the outputs on your graphics card instead.
As with DIMM slots, Mini-ITX leaves little room for expansion cards but the lone PCIe 5.0 x16 slot here has all the bandwidth you need to sate enough the most-powerful graphics cards like Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090. It also makes installing and swapping out new pixel pushers simple thanks to its ‘Q-Release Slim mechanism’. My fingers are thankful they’ll no longer need to fish for fiddly latches, even if the unlocking gesture takes some getting used to.
There’s no such quick-release mechanism on ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi’s M.2 heatsink though, meaning you’ll need a screwdriver handy to install an SSD. The motherboard supports up to two PCIe 5.0 x4 drives, one on the front and the other on the rear. The latter slot doesn’t have any passive cooling owing to its placement so I’d only recommend installing drives that remain cool under load, such as Samsung 9100 Pro or a PCIe 4.0 x4 alternative.
I’m keen on Asus’ M.2 Q Latch, simplifying SSD installation by removing rotating latches in favour of a press-to-release design. Likewise, the brand’s M.2 Q-Slide mechanism makes it easy to install M.2 storage of varying sizes, namely 2242, 2260, and 2280. It’s indicative of the smart and high-standard of build quality present across the board.
Firmware
Asus hasn’t made any major changes to its ROG firmware with the advent of AMD’s 800 Series chipsets. Nonetheless, its UEFI BIOS design remains one of most attractive and easiest to use on the market.
Jumping into ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi’s firmware, its default ‘EZMode’ view provides a useful overview of your system. From here, you can get at-a-glance temperatures of your CPU and motherboard, as well as other information such as BIOS verson.
From this page, activating DOCP (Direct Overclocking Profile), Asus’ bespoke version of A-XMP, is straightforward. I’m glad to see a breakdown of speed, timings, and voltage accompany the ‘Enabled’ tooltip too. You can also easily enter the board’s ‘QFan Control’ menu to tweak curves, as well as quickly jump into the boot menu.
Q-Dashboard remains one of my favourite features of Asus’ firmware. It removes the faff of having to scrub through a manual to understand the layout by providing a labelled diagram of every connector.
Furthermore, Q-Dashboard can assist with troubleshooting. Note the green circle next to several of the labels, the motherboard has detected connected devices and they’re functioning correctly.
Of course, anyone interested in tweaking any system running on ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi beyond the basics will want to delve right into the ‘Advanced Mode’ view.
Finding the setting you’re after isn’t difficult thanks to a great layout and a reliable search function. Asus also includes welcome explainers for all parameters via a dynamic tooltip towards the bottom of the screen.
AI Overclocking serves as Asus’ one-click overclocking method. Dubious use of ‘AI’ labelling aside given its more algorithm-based, it does provide a tangible boost performance under the right circumstances.
The degree to which AI Overclocking will improve your system depends on the quality of your cooling. Using Noctua’s NH-D15 chromax.black returns a score that in ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi’s eyes is akin to custom water cooling.
Performance
Test bench components include Ryzen 9 9900X, Radeon RX 7800 XT, Crucial T700 2TB, Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black, be quiet! Dark Power 13 1,000W and 32GB (2x16GB) of Kingston Fury Renegade DDR5-6,400 RAM. I’ve captured results using manufacturer optimised defaults bar the usage of A-XMP.
| ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi | MEG X870E Godlike | |
|---|---|---|
| AIDA Read | 76,972MB/s | 77,578MB/s |
| AIDA Write | 82,942MB/s | 83,586MB/s |
| AIDA Copy | 72,347MB/s | 72,406MB/s |
| AIDA Latency | 80.0ns | 82.5ns |
| Cinebench 2024 1T | 134 points | 137 points |
| Cinebench 2024 MT | 1,808 points | 1,811 points |
| PCMark 10 | 10,525 points | 10,903 points |
| 3DMark Speed Way | 4,199 points | – |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 4,172 points | 4,188 points |
| 3DMark Time Spy | 19,144 points | 19,345 points |
| CrystalDiskMark seq. read | 12,335MB/s | 12,397MB/s |
| CrystalDiskMark seq. write | 11,772MB/s | 11,809MB/s |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (Min. / Avg.) | 68fps / 79fps | 66fps / 77fps |
| FFXIV: Dawntrail (Min. / Avg.) | 85fps / 186fps | 84fps / 188fps |
| VRM temperature | 52°C | 41°C |
| Power consumption (Idle / Load) | 70W / 238W | 98W / 265W |
Pitting ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi against MEG X870E Godlike demonstrates you don’t need to spend money hand-over-fist to enjoy the performance of your components. Across every benchmark, Asus’ motherboard is within spitting distance of its far-more-expensive opponent.
VRM temperatures are expectedly higher on the Asus board owing to its smaller power solution but nonetheless remain perfectly acceptable. ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi also manages to score a small win in terms of power consumption by pulling fewer watts from the wall while idle and under load.
Giving Asus’ AI overclocking a whirl nets a small performance uplift in Cinebench 2024. The system’s single-core score rises to 136 points (+1.5%) while multi-core increases to 1,847 points (+2.2%). This does come at the expense of power consumption, though, with idle and load wattage rising to 94W (+34%) and 268W (+13%), respectively.
Conclusion
ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi distinguishes itself in the small pool of Mini-ITX models in its premium offerings. It’s the only motherboard in its class to support up to two PCIe 5.0 x4 SSDs in addition to boasting the best all-round USB connectivity. However, these niceties don’t come free and Asus’ small-but-mighty board ends up the most-expensive option out there at £360 / $300.
The value lies in its high-end specifications. If you can forgo the likes of WiFi 7 and PCIe 5.0 storage, there are more affordable alternatives out there that otherwise offer a broadly similar feature set, including its predecessor. It does, at least, provide a more value-oriented offering than X870 alternatives like its sibling, ROG Strix X870-I Gaming WiFi, whose only real advantage is USB 4 support.
With all this in mind, ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi remains a high-quality and desirable Mini-ITX motherboard. Its splendour is on the expensive side but there are no others out there that compete with its complete feature set.
