Closer Look
ASRock B650E PG-ITX WiFi motherboard arrived in a retail package which is well described as all ASRock motherboards.
Like all Phantom Gaming series products, also the tested motherboard package is kept in black color with red and silver details. The exterior tells us about the key features and specifications of the motherboard.
Inside the box are a motherboard, user’s manual, a postcard, a keycap with a PG logo, SATA data cables, cable stripes, M.2 screws, and a WiFi antenna. It’s everything we may need for the installation, and even some more.
I had no chance to take a look at the ASRock ITX motherboard for some longer, so I’m even more curious about the B650E PG-ITX as it’s a fresh product for the latest AMD processors.
At first look, the motherboard presents exceptional, but we could expect that from the Phantom Gaming series. There are a few higher-series ITX motherboards for AMD 7000 series processors, making the ASRock option even more interesting. When we check the specifications, then we can see that this tiny motherboard supports pretty much the same hardware as most ATX-size motherboards.
In the beginning, it’s not hard to miss the huge M.2 SSD heatsink, which covers the PCIe 5.0 x4 socket. I won’t hide mixed feelings about the cooler, especially for this motherboard. As long as it cools M.2 SSD well, then it’s a very close PCIe slot, so it may cause problems with some graphics cards, or at least both may heat up each other. Even worse seems the small fan, which at auto settings, goes at full speed quite often, making a buzzing noise. At a 12k RPM, it’s no surprise, and we could expect a better solution from ASRock.
The motherboard has no additional fans, and used heatsinks are enough to keep everything cool. There are no problems with VRM temperature, even under a long full CPU load.
The motherboard has a 10+2+1 power phase design, so it’s a very strong design for an ITX motherboard. We shouldn’t have problems with overclocking Ryzen 7950X as long as we cool the CPU in the right way.
The B650E PG-ITX WiFi has a pre-installed IO shield. It’s already a standard in higher gaming series motherboards. On the back, we will find fast USB ports, a 2.5GbE LAN socket, WiFi antenna connectors, high-end Audio ports, and video ports for integrated graphics. We could say there is everything we may need.
On the motherboard, we will find an older but still good ALC1220 audio codec. I guess that the 4080/90 series codecs are reserved for top motherboards only, as barely any B650/E motherboard has it. On the other hand, most less expensive motherboards have much worse audio design, so we should be happy with what we see on the B650E PG-ITX as it’s still one of better options on the current market.
The B650E PG-ITX WiFi is designed to fully support PCIe 5.0 graphics cards and M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4 SSD. It’s a huge advantage, as most competitive motherboards won’t support both at the same time. We can plan a PC build for long years with the latest AMD Ryzen 7000 CPU with an open window for upcoming SSD and graphics cards.
Above are additional photos of the product and our unboxing video, which shows even more.
One more great feature is ASRock’s BIOS/UEFI, which I will describe on this review’s next page.
