Closer Look
Like all ASRock motherboards, the ASRock X870E Nova arrived in a well-described retail package. The box is medium-sized compared to the average motherboard box size. It has two levels: a motherboard on the top and a small box with accessories. The lower level hides all the cables and manuals.
Inside the box is a motherboard, quick installation guide, SATA data cables, thermal sensor cables, WiFi antenna, RGB cable, and Phantom Gaming keycap. It’s everything we may need for the installation and more.
The motherboard’s design has been refreshed with the dominant black. Even though it’s a mid-shelf model, some elements are shared with the highest models, like the toolless PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD installation and EZ Release for the main PCIe slot.
The motherboard has a main PCIe slot and one of the M.2 sockets in the 5.0 standard called Blazing. Although we wish for more M.2 PCIe 5.0 sockets, this is enough for most users, especially since we have three PCIe 4.0 x4 sockets and possible RAID configurations.
The X870E Nova has a 22+2+1 power phase design with 110A SPS phases for VCore and SOC. It also uses high-end 20k capacitors, one of the main features of all higher ASRock motherboards. The power design is more than enough for all Ryzen AM5 processors. During the tests, we couldn’t hear any coil whine, which suggests the high quality of the design.
The X870 Riptide has many good features, like USB4 and WiFi 7. However, these controllers are already a standard in the new motherboards, while one of the most significant differences is the modern audio codec. Most of the competition uses already old Realtek ALC1200 series codecs. At the same time, ASRock gives us ALC4082 with improved audio quality and additional features listed on this review’s previous page.
Since I mentioned connectivity, we can count on the fastest storage and fast networking on desktop motherboards. While most motherboards offer a 2.5Gbps LAN, higher ASRock models like the Nova give us a 5Gbps NIC.
The X870E Nova supports all the popular DDR5 memory kits up to 8200MT/s. However, because of how the AMD Ryzen works, the optimal still seems to be 6400MT/s, and the best is dual-rank RAM. In our tests, we used Kingston Renegade RGB 96GB 6400MT/s CL32 kit, which seems the best around as it’s the fastest option at a 1:1 ratio, has a dual-rank design, and runs at tight timings out of the box. It has a programmed XMP profile, but ASRock motherboards handle it well, like EXPO profiles.
Above are some example photos of the test rig. As you can see, the Nova has an RGB backlight under the 3-part heatsink on the bottom of the motherboard and also under the IO/VRM cover. Everything makes the Nova the most eye-catching motherboard in the ASRock offer for AMD processors.
Another great feature is ASRock’s BIOS/UEFI, which I will describe on the next page of this review.
