ASRock Phantom Gaming B850 Riptide WiFi Motherboard Review

Overview

Phantom Gaming is designed by gamers and for gamers! Underneath its relentless appearance lie plentiful gaming oriented features and excellent gaming capabilities. It’s all about bringing a new gaming experience to gamers!

Riptide is named after a specific kind of water current with strong waves that occurs in the ocean, representing the philosophy of sea’s double-side, calm and unlimited strength. Built around powerful gaming-related features, the Riptide has given a powerful smash and immersed users in the sense of stability.

Exclusive 20K Cap with 1000uF Capacitance

The upgraded 20K Black capacitor not only extends the lifespan to 20,000 hours but also increases the capacitance value from 560uF to 1000uF, bringing several benefits.

14+2+1 Power Phase Design

Featuring sturdy components and completely smooth power delivery to the CPU. Plus, it offers unmatched overclocking capabilities and enhanced performance with the lowest temperature for advanced gamers as well.

Dr. MOS

Dr.MOS is the integrated power stage solution which is optimized for synchronous buck-set down voltage applications! Compared to traditional discrete MOSFETs, it intelligently delivers higher current for each phase, thus providing improved thermal result and superior performance.

Hi-Density Power Connector

CPU overclocking requires higher current, ASRock Hi-Density Power connectors is able to withstand current higher traditional CPU 8-pin and ATX 24-pin connector, giving a more stable system as well as lowering the risk of fire under heavy overclocking.

8 Layer PCB design

The 8 Layer PCB provides stable signal traces and power shapes delivering lower temperature and higher energy efficiency, ensures a reliable and long-lasting system while delivering ultimate performance without any compromise.

Derived from the “built for stable and reliable” designing concept, ASRock does not compromise on any details. This motherboards is built with high quality materials, enthusiasts are able to enjoy the boost of DDR5 memory overclocking performance by enabling the pre-tested profiles. Make sure the memory modules are Intel^® XMP/AMD EXPO™ capable and overclocking can be made so affordable, satisfying and absolutely no sweat at all.

The reinforced steel slot is capable of supporting PCI Express 5.0 standard. The various benefits include:

✔ Extra anchor points
✔ Stronger latch
✔ Ensure signal stability
✔ Make sure heavy graphics cards to be well-installed.

PCIe Gen5 Blazing M.2

The Blazing M.2 accommodates the latest PCI Express 5.0 standard to perform twice the bandwidth compared to previous generation, with a breathtaking 128GB/s transfer speed, it is ready to unleash the full potential of future ultrafast SSDs.

Graphics Card Lite Release

Equipped with an enlarged latch for easy pressing, simplifying both the installation and removal of graphics cards.

M.2 Heatsink Toolless Design

Besides the M.2 SSD toolless design on the motherboard, ASRock up a notch by introducing this industry first M.2 heatsink quick release mechanism on the motherboard. The user friendly toolless design helps installing M.2 SSD super easy & simple

M.2 Bottom Heatsink

The M.2 bottom heatsink is able to dissipate heat of the M.2 SSD efficiently through the motherboard PCB, maximize performance while maintaining system stability.

XXL M.2 Heatsink

The extra large aluminum alloy M.2 heatsink effectively improves heat dissipation to keep those high speed M.2 SSDs as cool as possible, it is able to give better stability while maintaining top performance.

Intelligent Cooling Design

The first thing that catches the eye is the optimized Aluminum Heatsink Design. Heatsinks are crucial for efficient heat dissipation, especially during heavy workloads like gaming or productivity tasks. Motherboard that built with heatsinks can effectively manage thermal performance, hence ensure system stability and durability effortlessly.

Wi-Fi 7 802.11be

Latest WiFi 7 technology delivers extreme wireless internet speeds and low latency, with higher throughput and Multi-RU as well as puncturing technology. The new WiFi 7(802.11be) technology is able to accelerate cloud-based gaming, 8K video streaming, and video conferencing.

Killer™ Ethernet E3100

The Killer E3100 2.5 Gbps Ethernet controller is designed specially for competitive gamers and performance-hungry users. The enhanced detection and prioritization engine provides the ultimate networking experience for gaming and multimedia applications.

The latest USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C delivers up to 20 Gbps data transfer rate which is 2x as fast as previous generation, providing a blazing fast data transfer interface with reversible USB Type-C design that fits the connector either way.

Lightning Gaming Ports

Aimed for die hard gamers and enthusiasts! Lightning Gaming Ports are sourced from two different controller interfaces that assist gamers in connecting the high speed mice/keyboard with the lower jitter and latency!

Ultra USB Power

Provides stable power and better sound experience! Ultra USB Power provides 5V power transformed from +12V power rail, whose voltage drop will be much lower than the +5V from the PSU under heavy loading, and prevents noise from other devices or RGB LED.

Nahimic Audio

Whether you are using headphones, a headset, external or internal speakers, via USB, Wi-Fi, analog output or even HDMI, Nahimic Audio offers you the most engaging listening experience, vibrant and rich with details.

Polychrome RGB

This motherboard features onboard RGB headers and addressable RGB headers that allow motherboard to be connected to compatible LED devices such as strip, CPU fans, coolers, chassis and so on. Users may also synchronize RGB LED devices across the Polychrome RGB Sync-certified accessories to create their own unique lighting effects.

SignalRGB

SignalRGB unifies your RGB devices, offering seamless customization, game-reactive effects, macro automation, and system monitoring. The official partnership empowers ASRock motherboards with advanced lighting control, enhances compatibility with a diverse range of RGB devices, and provides greater customization flexibility.

Features

• Supports AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen™ 9000, 8000 and 7000 Series Processors
• 14+2+1 Phase Power Design, 80A Dr.MOS for VCore+SOC
• 4 x DDR5 DIMMs
  Supports Dual Channel, up to 8000+ (OC)
• 1 PCIe 5.0 x16, 1 PCIe 4.0 x16
• Graphics Output Options: 1 HDMI
• Realtek ALC4082 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec, Nahimic Audio
• 1 Blazing M.2 (PCIe Gen5x4)
  3 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4x4)
  4 SATA3
• 1 USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (Front)
  4 USB 3.2 Gen2 (2 Rear, 2 Rear Type-C)
  7 USB 3.2 Gen1 (3 Rear, 4 Front)
  8 USB 2.0 (4 Rear, 4 Front)
• Killer 2.5G LAN
• 802.11be Wi-Fi 7 + Bluetooth
• Supports Lite Release Design,
  Toolless Multi-Layer M.2 Heatsink,
  M.2 Bottom Heatsink\

Specifications

• Unique Feature
  Superb Productivity
  – PCIe Gen5 (Graphics, M.2)
  – Dual Channel DDR5
  Rock-Solid Durability
  – 14+2+1 Power Phase, 80A Dr.MOS for VCore+SOC+MISC with Enlarged Heatsink Armor
  – Flexible Integrated I/O Shield
  – 20K Long-lasting Black Caps (high quality and conductive polymer capacitors)
  Ultrafast Gaming
  – Killer 2.5G LAN, 802.11be Wi-Fi 7 Module
  – ASRock Lightning Gaming Ports
  EZ Update
  – BIOS Flashback Button
  – ASRock Auto Driver Installer
  EZ Troubleshooter
  – ASRock Post Status Checker
• CPU

  – Supports AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen™ 9000, 8000 and 7000 Series Processors*

  * The availability of expansion slots may vary by CPU. Please refer to PCIe/M.2 Bandwidth Table for details.
• Chipset
  – AMD B850
• Memory
  – Dual Channel DDR5 Memory Technology
  – 4 x DDR5 DIMM Slots
  – Supports DDR5 ECC/non-ECC, un-buffered memory up to 8000+(OC)
  – Max. capacity of system memory: 256GB
  – Supports Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) and EXTended Profiles for Overclocking (EXPO) memory modules
• BIOS
  – 256Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with GUI support
• Graphics
  Integrated AMD RDNA™ graphics (Actual support may vary by CPU)
  – 1 x HDMI 2.1 TMDS/FRL 8G Compatible, supports HDR, HDCP 2.3 and max. resolution up to 4K 120Hz
• Audio
  – 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC4082 Audio Codec)
  – Individual PCB Layers for R/L Audio Channel
  – Direct Drive Technology on Front headphone port (Supports up to 600 Ohm headsets)
  – Nahimic Audio
• LAN
  – 2.5 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000/2500 Mb/s
  – Killer E3100G
  – Supports Killer LAN Software
• Wireless LAN
  – 802.11be 2×2 Wi-Fi 7 Module
  – Supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/axe/be
  – Supports 2.4GHz/5GHz/6GHz* frequency band
  – Supports 160MHz channel bandwidth with 6GHz* frequency band
  – 1 antenna to support 2 (Transmit) x 2 (Receive) diversity technology
  – Supports Bluetooth 5.4
  – Supports MU-MIMO

  *The Wi-Fi 7 module is supported by Microsoft Windows^® 11 only. There is no driver available for Windows^® 10. The availability of the 6GHz band will depend on the different regulation status of each country and region. It will be activated (for supported countries) through Windows^® Update and software updates once available.
• Slots
  CPU:
  – 1 x PCIe 5.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1), supports x16 mode*
  Chipset:
  – 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot (PCIE2), supports x4 mode*
  – 1 x Vertical M.2 Socket (Key E), supports type 2230 WiFi/BT PCIe WiFi module
  – 15μ Gold Contact in VGA PCIe Slot (PCIE1)

  * PCIE1 will run at Gen5x16 with 9000 and 7000 series processors, Gen4x8 with 8000 (Phoenix 1) series processors and Gen4x4 with 8000 (Phoenix 2) series processors.
  If M2_4 is occupied, PCIE2 will be disabled.
  Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks
• Storage
  CPU:
  – 1 x Blazing M.2 Socket (M2_1, Key M), supports type 2280 PCIe Gen5x4 (128 Gb/s) mode*
  – 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_2, Key M), supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) mode*
  Chipset:
  – 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_3, Key M), supports type 2230/2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) mode*
  – 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_4, Key M), supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) mode*
  ASMedia ASM1061:
  – 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors

  * Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks
  M2_1 is the first priority for M.2 installation.
  M2_1 will run at Gen5x4 with 9000 and 7000 series processors and Gen4x4 with 8000 (Phoenix 1 and Phoenix 2) series processors.
  M2_2 will run at Gen4x4 with 9000 and 7000 series processors, Gen4x4 with 8000 (Phoenix 1) series processors and Gen4x2 with 8000 (Phoenix 2) series processors.
  If M2_4 is occupied, PCIE2 will be disabled.
• RAID
  – Supports RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10 for M.2 NVMe storage devices
• USB
  CPU:
  – 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (Rear)
  – 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (Rear (USB32_3))
  – 1 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (Rear (USB32_1)) Chipset:
  – 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (Front)
  – 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (Rear (USB32_4))
  – 6 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (2 Rear (USB32_2 and USB32_5), 4 Front)
  – 8 x USB 2.0 (4 Rear, 4 Front)

  * All USB ports support ESD Protection
• Connector
  – 1 x SPI TPM Header
  – 1 x Thermistor Cable Header
  – 1 x Power LED and Speaker Header
  – 1 x RGB LED Header*
  – 3 x Addressable LED Headers**
  – 2 x CPU Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)***
  – 3 x Chassis Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)***
  – 1 x AIO Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)***
  – 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
  – 2 x 8 pin 12V Power Connectors (Hi-Density Power Connector)
  – 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector
  – 2 x USB 2.0 Headers (Support 4 USB 2.0 ports)
  – 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Headers (Support 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports)
  – 1 x Front Panel Type C USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Header (20 Gb/s)

  * Supports in total up to 12V/3A, 36W LED Strip
  ** Support in total up to 5V/3A, 15W LED Strip
  *** CPU_FAN1 supports the fan power up to 1A (12W).
  CPU_FAN2, CHA_FAN1~3 and AIO_PUMP support the fan power up to 3A (36W).
  CPU_FAN2, CHA_FAN1~3 and AIO_PUMP can auto detect if 3-pin or 4-pin fan is in use.
• Rear Panel I/O
  – 2 x Antenna Ports
  – 1 x HDMI Port
  – 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
  – 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C Ports (10 Gb/s)
  – 3 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A Ports*
  – 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Ports (10 Gb/s)**
  – 4 x USB 2.0 Ports
  – 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port
  – 1 x BIOS Flashback Button
  – 1 x Line Out Jack (Gold Audio Jack)
  – 1 x Microphone Input Jack (Gold Audio Jack)

  * USB32_12 are Lightning Gaming Ports.
  ** USB32_34 supports Ultra USB Power.
• Software and UEFI
  Software
  – ASRock Motherboard Utility (Phantom Gaming Tuning)
  – Killer Control Center
  – ASRock Polychrome SYNC*
  UEFI
  – ASRock EZ Mode
  – ASRock Full HD UEFI
  – ASRock Auto Driver Installer
  – ASRock Instant Flash

  *These utilities can be downloaded from ASRock Live Update & APP Shop.
• Accessories
  – 2 x SATA Data Cables
  – 2 x ASRock WiFi 2.4/5/6 GHz Antennas
  – 1 x ARGB Splitter Cable
  – 1 x Thermistor Cable
• Form Factor
  – ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
  – 8 Layer PCB

More information on ASRock’s website.