Forgive me, I somehow forgot the Asus ROG STRIX B650E-I Gaming was a thing. I will get my hands on this board as soon as I can and include it in the next update. I might be able to get it in time for the AliExpress Mini-ITX update!
No need to worry, I had the B650E-I Strix, and it was terrible. Coil whine, instability at STOCK, couldn't run DOCP or XMP without crashing and overtightened screws that would make anyone wanting to access for maintenance cry. Awful board, not worth it.
Hey guys, one suggestion: when showcasing these ITX board, it is very crucial that you give viewers how it looks at the back of the motherboard. This might not be important for larger form factor, but in small form factor world, looking at the back of the board can give users some idea about the compatibility of the CPU coolers.
And the bootup times, first(training), subsequent (with memory context restore). Also wakeup times that I saw suffering on AM5. Most crucial for me. Wasted opportunity. VRM quality is important, but it can be quite nicely interpolated from the paper spec.
All of the above is also so highly variable based on every single other part in the PC (literally every other) that it would be pointless to include. Let alone the fact that it can completely change with bios revisions. It should now be easy for you to realize why these metrics cannot be included in the video. Regards.
@@fVNzO Memory training comes pretty early, test benches are about minimal config and latest BIOSes anyway, but you have point with memory variance. Such test should have same capacity representatives from samsung, hynix.. From my experience, If the board trains slow, it trains slow everything. I had to buy different sticks of ddr5 to find out. Reviewers have better access to interesting combinations of HW.
@@vladimirljubopytnov5193 Yes but generally it will depend on memory and you will probably not have the exact same bin as steve or run the same settings. The board version (sometimes it gets worse with newer AGESAS). It depends on the CPU itself, depending on how close you are to "stability" with those RAM settings, and even auxiliary PCIE or sata devices marginally alters the boot up time (but by very little). You could in theory produce such a figure but i bet that if you tried to do so you'd end up with very noisy data that isn't very practical. And off course be highly singular to the hardware configuration used at the time.
I haven't followed tech for years and then hopped back in less than 3 months ago. So far Asrock is among the only companies I have not heard relating to any recent horrors. Only motherboard I ever bought was Asrock and it still works well. They'll almost certainly be my pick if I ever get to build another pc.
As long as they don't go back to terrible VRMs they've sometimes used in the past Asrock has always been a price:features champ, especially if you're building an i5/R5 or i3 budget system.
Thank you for letting me know about the ASRock A620I. Curse you for letting others know, since now it's going to be impossible to find on stock, or on stock at that price :)
I am in your same boat, but idk if I should purchase the Asrock a620 or the Asrock b650. Idk if Undervolting will be important for me later on but those extra 60 bucks... 🥲
Yes, I agree. These are among my favorite HUB videos, and I think they are very important and useful for consumers. However, with Zen 2, 3, 4, and likely also Zen 5, it has been kind-of hard to really go too wrong unless you're planning to get a 16-core CPU. And, just the fact that even a really cheap crappy board can still run a 7950X without losing very much performance is quite impressive, though I would obviously still strongly recommend avoiding those boards which have the hottest running vrms as well as the ones which can't go over 134 watts of sustained power delivery, given that there are other ones for around the same price (or even less) which are much better than that. And, if you are planning to get a 16-core CPU, I would definitely recommend going with one of the boards with the better VRMs, as you can definitely afford to pay another 40-60 bucks, if not more, for a good board if you're also planning on getting one of those 16-core workhorses and using it for actual work.
I’ve built 2 ASRock B650i and 1 ASRock A620i PCs so far. Great value (for ITX) and no issues. Love that they didn’t skimp on the VRM on the A620i, gives budget ITX builders an actual option.
@@DeinoriusWhat is the purpose of curve optimizer? Can an you few questions about a620i, I want to build it with 4070 super ryzen 7700x, 32gb 6000mz cl30 ram. My goal is to undervolt maybe Even power limit both CPU and GPU I also want to be able to run my RAM at its designed speed. Is this all doable with a620i? My goal is to basically run this cooler, draw less power with small performance reduction
@@igntambir The curve optimiser is undervolting. If you want that you have to buy a B650 board. The only thing you will be able to do is setting PPT, so the CPU just consumed less power but didn't do this more efficiently with the same (or more) performance.
I had an A620i on order, but when it got to the time I was supposed to get it, it hadn't even shipped yet and by the time I'd get it, all the other parts would be past the return window and I'd be screwed if any of them ended up being bad. I ended up canceling the order and getting an Asus B650E-I instead. But it looks like a good board that does everything you need in a mini-ITX system (especially a secondary system like what I was building) and has a decent VRM for a stupid low price.
ASrock Motherboards are good, their GPUs though... Oof. My ASRock 6800 XT Taichi had thermal issues, I opened it up myself, they didn't use enough thermal paste so half of the die wasn't covered!!! No wonder it went up to 100C (no, not hotspot, the edge went up to 100c!!!) They also use too hard thermal pads in all of their AMD GPUs which can cause hotspot issues.
@@100500daniel I've actually heard a lot of surprisingly good things about ASRock's GPUs. Nothing that says that they are super good or the best-of-the-best, but that they are decent options at lower prices than basically everyone else (the only other manufacturer being Acer, who just started, thus, has a very short track record). I could see ASRock being less reliable though, given their pricing and pedigree. Still, it could always be (a bad) luck of the draw that you had, as bad/not-so-good things can happen even to the best brands (for AMD, at least, given that we're talking about ASRock GPUs). (Ex.: PowerColor, XFX... but not Sapphire, from what I'm aware of, lol. Perhaps they are so good that they don't encounter those issues.)
Always been saying, if you buy the big name brands you not only are over paying for the product you also many times are better off with a Asrock. They always offer more features for the money.
@@Personalinfo404 My guy, go outside, smell a flower, enjoy some sunshine, find happiness. Just because i praised one person, doesn't mean i'm taking a shot at the 7 billion other people on this planet, damn
Yeah, it's weird why a lot of motherboards tend to fluctuate - even outright *increase* - in price over time. Really sucks, and also makes it anxiety-inducing to shop for motherboards (before they potentially go up in price).
I bought the MSI recently, mostly because it was far and away the cheapest b650 board, even the Aorus Ultra was roughly 60 dollars more expensive. Knowing that after seeing this video I'm happy with the purchase. Bizarre how the prices fluctuate over time.
It's mostly due to the fact that mobos use standard componentry. All the smds, vrm, connectors you name it are utterly dependent on current market pricing for raw material. Which lately has gone up a lot. Motherboards are like PSUs in that sense that they don't follow those trickle down cost trends in the same way as other electronics. They do but over larger timescales.
Love to see the deeper dive into itx boards! I'm finally turning over the Gigabyte B550i build I have to my son I've ran since it came out. This is timely info regarding the AM5 itx options. Personally I'm going to hold out for the next AM5 chipset to see if any of those are in itx and how they compare. Maybe some sales on these 'old' boards will come about?
If anyone is wondering why some boards are short on ports or slots, they all share lanes between the CPU and chipset. When the B650E is giving you PCIe 5.0 x16 GPU and PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2, those 4 PCIe lanes can't be used for USB 3.
B650 has total x8 CPU PCIE for M.2. Board manufacture just use it poorly Not only the ITX, even the ATX they made questionable choice regarding PCIE utilization
@@fleurdewin7958 some1 still overclock CPUs in 2024 above PBO numbers? People in fact undervolt these days to get more performance and less temps, getting 20*C extra for a 5% performance boost is hardly an option
Thanks Steve - good call out on the Aorus having 3 m.2 with one being on the back which is huge. Also for others, I believe it also has the higher audio codec along with the Asus ROG so if audio is a concern then it definitely is the best of the bunch.
If you have any hyperlinks to share on them, I'd love to see them. I wish you (and many others in poorer countries) got better tech and pricing! I know things can be really shitty over there. :(
@@ShadowMKII the pg lightning has the same price as the gaming x ax plus there isnt much stock of boards, i wish i live in the usa Thats in argentina
@@ShadowMKIIeverything tech is a fraud in Latam, almost 2 years living here full time and their prices are above current gen in the us and Europe while being last gen at best, and if you try to import 50% of the time they “loose” your package or show up with an empty envelope with the barcode and postal info just cut from the original packaging and taped onto the envelope as to trick the system that it still exists (beat up a delivery guy *with* the police over that last year) and if you buy the same stolen current gen “legit” from a store it’s missing or have parts on the mb replaced. Latam is a shit show, still prefer it over the Swedish taxes and authoritarian government (and the cold and darkness) but damn is it ever impossible to trust anyone here where “mentira” or “lie”, pr the act thereof is considered joking while we take your teeth for lying where I’m from. At least the police is too afraid to actually do anything here anyway and also hates the criminals so they look the other way or join in 😂
@@alexmeza5155 it's pretty much non existent here as well, maybe a few available in Mercado Livre and some less known websites that are kinda of a gamble
One thing I missed on the video is mentioning Front I/O ports. Last gen there were a few I quickly discarded for not having a front USB C, which most Mini ITX cases have and something that is a deal breaker for me. Other than that, amazingly helpful video as always. Thank you very much!
Wait hold on, you didn't mention a pretty big difference between AsRock's A620 and B650 boards. On A620 you only get 5 rear panel USB ports, whereas on B650 you get 7. That's a big deal if you want to connect more than just mouse/kbd/mic/flashdrive/speakers...
Hubs exist and are fine for a lot of things. E2A: Should be mentioned, you're right, just ... Hubs are often overlooked and are often fine (preferred often as they save digging around behind rig).
I'm using the Gigabyte B650i Auros Ultra and it is an awesome mobo. 3x m.2 and one being PCIE 5 is really cool. Combined with the 7800x3D it is a killer combo.
There are a few things I wish you'd covered: - fan noise. I have the MSI B650I Edge (chosen for the sole criterion of having been the first to market) and the useless little chipset/M.2 fan sounds like a jet engine. You can't even fully disable it in the BIOS, so my PC is super loud until I've logged into Windows and Fan Control is on - BIOS features. On my MSI board, I can't update the BIOS without my losing literally every BIOS setting. Not super user friendly. - Cool bonuses like the little daughterboard that Asus gives you for your front I/O. - Connector placement. My board's front I/O pins are so close to the PCIe slot that i couldn't even use the plastic sleeve that my case provided to group the connectors together. I had to use tweezers.
I have the B650I Lightning and I can set a PPT target of 230 watt via PBO. BUT I don't have my 7950x installed, so I can't tell you if the board will actually deliver 230 watt. I might try installing it in the B650I Lightning at the end of the week, if nobody else provides an answers.
The Asrock A620 board does not have manual CPU overclocking, but it can unlock the CPU power limit with PBO (I ran 7900 at 160W in it, instead of the 88W stock). It's a great value board.
19:29 I appreciate your video... for all my criticisms of gigabyte, I very much appreciate your video. It had a lot of very good information, I just have to tell people how I feel and why I feel the way I do about gigabyte. Regardless, your videos are awesome. Every single time
I think the Asrock B650i lightning is the best pick for most itx builders. Many of us want to undervolt to get lower temps in our tiny cases. And this is the cheapest board that has both pbo and a good vrm
I've been debating picking up the a620i lightning for a while now to replace my giant desktop with on my 7800x3d and this pushed me to do it. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for the video HU, there seems to be a real lacking on Mini-ITX board choice for AMD in Australia these days, and the pricing is little out of control as well, the last good well priced board was the ASROCK X370.
i've had the Gig Aorus B650 wifi for a year and couldn't be happier. i have a massive hi-res audio collection (i only stream when i'm not at home) so the 3 M.2 slots were a major feature for me. i paid a bit more than it's going for now, but hey i knew early adopters pay more, and in this case was only $25 more than what it goes for now.
Hmm - at 9:59 Asrock B650i Lightning is $160-180, but by 14:54 it's gone up to $200. Whether it's $80 or $40 less than the Aorus board would make a difference for me....
Just a note to be aware: Gigabyte B650I Aorus, Gigabyte B650i AX, Jginyue B650i Night Devil is very sensitive to quality of riser cables. I had pretty good 4.0 risers, two LinkUp Ultra to be exact which worked flawlessly on B550i Aorus board but when I switched to B650I Aorus my system failed to boot or started to glitch randomly showing PCI-E link speed between 1.1 and 2.0 in GPU-Z. I bought around 5 different riser cables until I find the one that actually works without an issue. This also related to Z690i Aorus, I saw a thread on reddit where people was complaining about the same issue.
I've been thinking about an AM5 Mini-ITX motherboard for a HTPC build, and it looks like the Gigabyte B650I Aorus Ultra would be the board I'd go with. Need to find a case that doesn't look like a computer tower or fish tank to fit in with the rest of my entertainment unit. Silverstone seems to be the closest and has some lovely cases, but none that supports any water cooling, seeing airflow is going to be an issue.
Thanks guys. The one I'm interested in, is the Asroc X870E Taichi Lite, which I'm expecting about late September. I'm planning a 9950X going into that. Yeah, I know, September, maybe October .... "The new boards won't provide much the present ones don't." Yeah, I know that, but the power will be at least as good, the memory support will be at least as good, and it's the first 'revision' of the AM5 motherboards. They have some experience now. It's got to be better. 'Lite' doesn't mean cheap. It means less fake diamonds and gold plated ornaments, less RGB bullshit. That's what I want. I don't care for bling, I care for performance & reliability, for quality. The existing Taichi Lite motherboards have exactly this reputation.
Same, when I bought mine in late 2023, it was quite a bit cheaper than all other available B650(e) ITX boards in Sweden. But my decision going with the MSI B650i Edge Wifi was more than just the price, it was all the small details of actually building on it in an SFF case that mattered the most, like onboard connector position, extremely tall VRM along with m.2 heatsink can kinda limit you in what you can do when going SFF. Its not all about the VRM's and how many USB v3/4 ports you get.
On an A620 board, will the lack of the ability to overclock the affect boost clocks? I’m planning on putting only a 7500F in it because I’m probably only gonna use the PC for gaming.
One correction for the differences between the asrock a-620 and b-650I boards, the b-650I version offers two more usb-2 ports on the rear and one of the rear usb-3 ports is faster (Went from 5gbps to 10gbps). The chart towards the end is right, but the review earlier in the video was a little off, but honestly it doesn't matter. I don't even know why I'm being picky. Great video though, I'm loving these mother board comparission videos!
YES! please do an ALI Express roundup say maybe 5-6 boards that you can find? :) Would be good to see those boards put through your rigorous testing to see if there are some worthy boards out there!
Asus ROG Strix B650E-I user here. I’ve been using this board with a 7800X3D and 6000 MHz CL30 combo for about a year now and it has been rock solid. I‘d recommend it, if it wasn’t for that whole Asus RMA drama atm. If you can live with that it’s the perfect sweet spot for AM5 ITX and an absolute no brainer choice imo.
What if the Asrock b650i lightning is $200, while Auros ultra, Asrock PG ITX, MSI MPG, and both ASUS boards are $350-400? (In sweden) Should I spend the extra if I’m going for a 7800X3D?
Merci beaucoup pour ce test 😉 Je viens d'acheter une b650i ax, la plus mauvaise carte de ton test 😅 Mais elle accueillera un 9600x qui a un tdp de 65w ( max 105w ) Le Ryzen 9 7950x a lui un tdp de 165w Es que selon vous, dans ce cas, c'est un bon choix ? Je vous remercie par avance 😉
16:22 not a chance, I will never buy gigabyte again. It's been 20 years and they still owe me an RMA. And they haven't improved since, as attested by many of my friends who against my advice bought gigabyte and have regretted it ever since. I'd rather go with a significantly worse on paper board, and not ever have to worry about dealing with gigabyte again. It's very simple, if you're a gambler and you seriously believe that you'll never have a problem with any item that you buy from gigabyte, go ahead, they do produce on paper a fantastic piece of kit. But if you ever have to get anything RMAed you will get screwed by them. Just the amount of time wasted would have been better if you had gotten something else, even if you only value your time at a few bucks an hour. Never mind what you actually make an hour. Time is the one thing you can never get back, and gigabyte will cost you time, a lot of it. And as I stated you will never get it back. Not a chance am I ever going to waste my life trying to deal with that s***** company... And if you value your life and time you will not either I don't care if they give you the kit for free, the amount of time you will have to deal with them, while tearing your hair out, isn't worth any price. Go with any of the other products mentioned here, even if they are on paper worse, those companies while not good with their customer service, are at least not 20 years and counting on their RMA
Forgive me, I somehow forgot the Asus ROG STRIX B650E-I Gaming was a thing. I will get my hands on this board as soon as I can and include it in the next update. I might be able to get it in time for the AliExpress Mini-ITX update!
No worries Steve; the ASUS B650E-I is a hot garbage that is not worth your time and energy anyway
Cant wait for the jginyue b650i review. It's a very intriguing board. On paper it should be good. But a bootleg chinese bios is never a good sign.
@@CsQ_RandomRepository no it is not, i have one for many months and it works very well, no problems
Thanks Steve!
No need to worry, I had the B650E-I Strix, and it was terrible. Coil whine, instability at STOCK, couldn't run DOCP or XMP without crashing and overtightened screws that would make anyone wanting to access for maintenance cry.
Awful board, not worth it.
Hey guys, one suggestion: when showcasing these ITX board, it is very crucial that you give viewers how it looks at the back of the motherboard. This might not be important for larger form factor, but in small form factor world, looking at the back of the board can give users some idea about the compatibility of the CPU coolers.
Also useful for checking for extra m2 ssd slots
And the bootup times, first(training), subsequent (with memory context restore). Also wakeup times that I saw suffering on AM5. Most crucial for me. Wasted opportunity. VRM quality is important, but it can be quite nicely interpolated from the paper spec.
All of the above is also so highly variable based on every single other part in the PC (literally every other) that it would be pointless to include. Let alone the fact that it can completely change with bios revisions. It should now be easy for you to realize why these metrics cannot be included in the video. Regards.
@@fVNzO Memory training comes pretty early, test benches are about minimal config and latest BIOSes anyway, but you have point with memory variance. Such test should have same capacity representatives from samsung, hynix.. From my experience, If the board trains slow, it trains slow everything. I had to buy different sticks of ddr5 to find out. Reviewers have better access to interesting combinations of HW.
@@vladimirljubopytnov5193 Yes but generally it will depend on memory and you will probably not have the exact same bin as steve or run the same settings. The board version (sometimes it gets worse with newer AGESAS). It depends on the CPU itself, depending on how close you are to "stability" with those RAM settings, and even auxiliary PCIE or sata devices marginally alters the boot up time (but by very little). You could in theory produce such a figure but i bet that if you tried to do so you'd end up with very noisy data that isn't very practical. And off course be highly singular to the hardware configuration used at the time.
Asrock becoming hero for this generation is something I didn't expect...
I haven't followed tech for years and then hopped back in less than 3 months ago. So far Asrock is among the only companies I have not heard relating to any recent horrors. Only motherboard I ever bought was Asrock and it still works well. They'll almost certainly be my pick if I ever get to build another pc.
As long as they don't go back to terrible VRMs they've sometimes used in the past Asrock has always been a price:features champ, especially if you're building an i5/R5 or i3 budget system.
I dont know it looks to be the best value for money goes to Gigabyte Aorus. Again.
only with the B650M-HDV. PG ITX lightning sucks. I had my horrors.
asrock always make one of the the best amd boards and price them really good too. Loved my b450, b550 and b650e steel legends.
Thank you for letting me know about the ASRock A620I. Curse you for letting others know, since now it's going to be impossible to find on stock, or on stock at that price :)
Just bought a Cooler Master NR200 case so this video is very timely, thanks!
I am in your same boat, but idk if I should purchase the Asrock a620 or the Asrock b650. Idk if Undervolting will be important for me later on but those extra 60 bucks... 🥲
This kind of comprehensive motherboard testing has become more important in recent years, and HUB's work is the best. Keep it up Steve.
Yes, I agree. These are among my favorite HUB videos, and I think they are very important and useful for consumers. However, with Zen 2, 3, 4, and likely also Zen 5, it has been kind-of hard to really go too wrong unless you're planning to get a 16-core CPU. And, just the fact that even a really cheap crappy board can still run a 7950X without losing very much performance is quite impressive, though I would obviously still strongly recommend avoiding those boards which have the hottest running vrms as well as the ones which can't go over 134 watts of sustained power delivery, given that there are other ones for around the same price (or even less) which are much better than that. And, if you are planning to get a 16-core CPU, I would definitely recommend going with one of the boards with the better VRMs, as you can definitely afford to pay another 40-60 bucks, if not more, for a good board if you're also planning on getting one of those 16-core workhorses and using it for actual work.
I’ve built 2 ASRock B650i and 1 ASRock A620i PCs so far. Great value (for ITX) and no issues. Love that they didn’t skimp on the VRM on the A620i, gives budget ITX builders an actual option.
The only thing I'm missing with A620 is the curve optimiser, which should be even more useful in a smaller case.
@@DeinoriusWhat is the purpose of curve optimizer? Can an you few questions about a620i, I want to build it with 4070 super ryzen 7700x, 32gb 6000mz cl30 ram. My goal is to undervolt maybe Even power limit both CPU and GPU I also want to be able to run my RAM at its designed speed. Is this all doable with a620i?
My goal is to basically run this cooler, draw less power with small performance reduction
@@igntambir The curve optimiser is undervolting. If you want that you have to buy a B650 board. The only thing you will be able to do is setting PPT, so the CPU just consumed less power but didn't do this more efficiently with the same (or more) performance.
@@Deinoriuscan we still undervolt using software like pbotuner on windows? (for a620)
I had an A620i on order, but when it got to the time I was supposed to get it, it hadn't even shipped yet and by the time I'd get it, all the other parts would be past the return window and I'd be screwed if any of them ended up being bad. I ended up canceling the order and getting an Asus B650E-I instead. But it looks like a good board that does everything you need in a mini-ITX system (especially a secondary system like what I was building) and has a decent VRM for a stupid low price.
Thanks for your hard work Steve! finally a test on the AsRock B650I Lightning! :)
ASRock again providing more value than any other manufacturer. Wonder when we will finally see the others catch on.
ASrock Motherboards are good, their GPUs though... Oof.
My ASRock 6800 XT Taichi had thermal issues, I opened it up myself, they didn't use enough thermal paste so half of the die wasn't covered!!! No wonder it went up to 100C (no, not hotspot, the edge went up to 100c!!!)
They also use too hard thermal pads in all of their AMD GPUs which can cause hotspot issues.
I also recommend the ASRock b650 pro rs wifi mATX mobo. Extremely good value
@@100500daniel I've actually heard a lot of surprisingly good things about ASRock's GPUs. Nothing that says that they are super good or the best-of-the-best, but that they are decent options at lower prices than basically everyone else (the only other manufacturer being Acer, who just started, thus, has a very short track record).
I could see ASRock being less reliable though, given their pricing and pedigree. Still, it could always be (a bad) luck of the draw that you had, as bad/not-so-good things can happen even to the best brands (for AMD, at least, given that we're talking about ASRock GPUs). (Ex.: PowerColor, XFX... but not Sapphire, from what I'm aware of, lol. Perhaps they are so good that they don't encounter those issues.)
@@100500daniel They will get better! Some GPU engineers just moved over to ASRock according Kingpin
Always been saying, if you buy the big name brands you not only are over paying for the product you also many times are better off with a Asrock. They always offer more features for the money.
Thanks for covering ITX-boards!
God's work this guy is doing
Well, there's three of them on the team.
@@Personalinfo404 My guy, go outside, smell a flower, enjoy some sunshine, find happiness. Just because i praised one person, doesn't mean i'm taking a shot at the 7 billion other people on this planet, damn
@@leong4352 As a National Park Ranger, your comment is null.
@xd2456 1989. 35 soon. Swing the bat again, you'll hit the ball eventually, son.
@@Personalinfo404act like it then
cheers for all the hardwork you and your team does!
Yes, I've been waiting for this!
Same! Excited to watch
Yes, exactly what I'm looking for. The actual build has to wait but good to know more about the options.
As I'm looking to move into the Fractal Era 2 case, this roundup came at quite a good time. Thanks for all of your testing and updates!!
just what i needed after scratching my head for a while trying to find youtube videos on ITX boards. Top Man!
Appreciate all the work sir... you've been grinding lately.
That ASROCK A620 has me sold!
Straight into my Velka 3 build 😁
Just wanted to say thanks so much for providing this kind of material
12:00 - Very nice way of measuring the thermals. Very comfortable to do
I got the MSI over a year ago for what translated to just under 200 usd.. no idea why it's 290 usd now.
I've got this board too, got it in a bundle last year with the 7600x for $600 CAD.
Yeah, it's weird why a lot of motherboards tend to fluctuate - even outright *increase* - in price over time.
Really sucks, and also makes it anxiety-inducing to shop for motherboards (before they potentially go up in price).
I bought the MSI recently, mostly because it was far and away the cheapest b650 board, even the Aorus Ultra was roughly 60 dollars more expensive. Knowing that after seeing this video I'm happy with the purchase. Bizarre how the prices fluctuate over time.
I got it for 230 about 3 months ago and for the pricing and what I need was ok, the Aorus and AsRock were close to 300$
It's mostly due to the fact that mobos use standard componentry. All the smds, vrm, connectors you name it are utterly dependent on current market pricing for raw material. Which lately has gone up a lot. Motherboards are like PSUs in that sense that they don't follow those trickle down cost trends in the same way as other electronics. They do but over larger timescales.
Love to see the deeper dive into itx boards! I'm finally turning over the Gigabyte B550i build I have to my son I've ran since it came out. This is timely info regarding the AM5 itx options. Personally I'm going to hold out for the next AM5 chipset to see if any of those are in itx and how they compare. Maybe some sales on these 'old' boards will come about?
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! for the round up and for taking the confusion out of the different boards that are out on the market. 🙌🙌
Thanks for looking into ITX offerings :)
If anyone is wondering why some boards are short on ports or slots, they all share lanes between the CPU and chipset. When the B650E is giving you PCIe 5.0 x16 GPU and PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2, those 4 PCIe lanes can't be used for USB 3.
B650 has total x8 CPU PCIE for M.2. Board manufacture just use it poorly
Not only the ITX, even the ATX they made questionable choice regarding PCIE utilization
Asrock a620 board with a 7800X3D would be great proposition for the price, great work steve
But the upcoming R7 9800X3D will support overclocking. So A620 is kinda not making full use of its features.
@@fleurdewin7958for the price? Who gives a fuck?
@@fleurdewin7958that’s what I was thinking about as well
That's correct, however make sure it's the A620 with the heatsink on.
@@fleurdewin7958 some1 still overclock CPUs in 2024 above PBO numbers? People in fact undervolt these days to get more performance and less temps, getting 20*C extra for a 5% performance boost is hardly an option
Thanks Steve - good call out on the Aorus having 3 m.2 with one being on the back which is huge. Also for others, I believe it also has the higher audio codec along with the Asus ROG so if audio is a concern then it definitely is the best of the bunch.
love you guys, was waiting for this for so long
Credit where credit is due, well done Asrock on really upping your game! And thanks for all your efforts Steve.
Thanks for the Itx coverage. it was needed!
HU, I appreciate you and the work that you do.
If you guys saw what kind of a620 they bring to Brazil you would die laughing
If you have any hyperlinks to share on them, I'd love to see them.
I wish you (and many others in poorer countries) got better tech and pricing! I know things can be really shitty over there. :(
@@ShadowMKII the pg lightning has the same price as the gaming x ax plus there isnt much stock of boards, i wish i live in the usa
Thats in argentina
@@ShadowMKIIeverything tech is a fraud in Latam, almost 2 years living here full time and their prices are above current gen in the us and Europe while being last gen at best, and if you try to import 50% of the time they “loose” your package or show up with an empty envelope with the barcode and postal info just cut from the original packaging and taped onto the envelope as to trick the system that it still exists (beat up a delivery guy *with* the police over that last year) and if you buy the same stolen current gen “legit” from a store it’s missing or have parts on the mb replaced.
Latam is a shit show, still prefer it over the Swedish taxes and authoritarian government (and the cold and darkness) but damn is it ever impossible to trust anyone here where “mentira” or “lie”, pr the act thereof is considered joking while we take your teeth for lying where I’m from. At least the police is too afraid to actually do anything here anyway and also hates the criminals so they look the other way or join in 😂
Bro atleast you can buy it in your country, over here in Peru am5 mini itx are non existent 😂
@@alexmeza5155 it's pretty much non existent here as well, maybe a few available in Mercado Livre and some less known websites that are kinda of a gamble
Yes! Finally!
Thank Steve!
...back to you Steve...
wow, my Asrock A620I Lightning WiFi just arrived now.
tks
One thing I missed on the video is mentioning Front I/O ports. Last gen there were a few I quickly discarded for not having a front USB C, which most Mini ITX cases have and something that is a deal breaker for me.
Other than that, amazingly helpful video as always. Thank you very much!
omg this video came at such a great time, I was looking to get into sff build
Yesss thank you so much!!! Committed to ITX but hard decision
I got the B650i Aorus Ultra just because it has 3 NVME slots which is super good for an ITX pc.
@perceptivity_ is it good?
@@FyXeeu yes, it is the best am5 itx motherboard
Wait hold on, you didn't mention a pretty big difference between AsRock's A620 and B650 boards. On A620 you only get 5 rear panel USB ports, whereas on B650 you get 7. That's a big deal if you want to connect more than just mouse/kbd/mic/flashdrive/speakers...
Hubs exist and are fine for a lot of things.
E2A: Should be mentioned, you're right, just ... Hubs are often overlooked and are often fine (preferred often as they save digging around behind rig).
Holy crap...I asked but didn't think you would actually do it. Thanks Steve! I love iTX systems.
Thanks for the video. This helps me a bunch. I purchased the Asrock A620, but want to use PBO on my 7900X3D so am looking into a new board
The board can enable PBO (I have it). But it is only useful for many core workloads (unlocks CPU power limit, but keeps max boost clocks the same).
I'm using the Gigabyte B650i Auros Ultra and it is an awesome mobo. 3x m.2 and one being PCIE 5 is really cool. Combined with the 7800x3D it is a killer combo.
There are a few things I wish you'd covered:
- fan noise. I have the MSI B650I Edge (chosen for the sole criterion of having been the first to market) and the useless little chipset/M.2 fan sounds like a jet engine. You can't even fully disable it in the BIOS, so my PC is super loud until I've logged into Windows and Fan Control is on
- BIOS features. On my MSI board, I can't update the BIOS without my losing literally every BIOS setting. Not super user friendly.
- Cool bonuses like the little daughterboard that Asus gives you for your front I/O.
- Connector placement. My board's front I/O pins are so close to the PCIe slot that i couldn't even use the plastic sleeve that my case provided to group the connectors together. I had to use tweezers.
can you possibly unlock the 165w limit on the Asrock B650I Lightning wifi?
I have the B650I Lightning and I can set a PPT target of 230 watt via PBO.
BUT I don't have my 7950x installed, so I can't tell you if the board will actually deliver 230 watt. I might try installing it in the B650I Lightning at the end of the week, if nobody else provides an answers.
This was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Steve!
The Asrock A620 board does not have manual CPU overclocking, but it can unlock the CPU power limit with PBO (I ran 7900 at 160W in it, instead of the 88W stock). It's a great value board.
19:29 I appreciate your video... for all my criticisms of gigabyte, I very much appreciate your video. It had a lot of very good information, I just have to tell people how I feel and why I feel the way I do about gigabyte. Regardless, your videos are awesome. Every single time
I think the Asrock B650i lightning is the best pick for most itx builders. Many of us want to undervolt to get lower temps in our tiny cases. And this is the cheapest board that has both pbo and a good vrm
I've been debating picking up the a620i lightning for a while now to replace my giant desktop with on my 7800x3d and this pushed me to do it. Thanks for the video.
Great video, love the spec summary on min 14-15.
Great video, I never realized how big difference a mthboard can make, and I would just have choose a random one without this video!
I just brought the asrock b650i lighting as it was 10 euro more than the 620 and apparently a good fit for the 9600x
The Aurus Ultra is what I was targeting for my wife's Christmas upgrade. Glad to hear it is recommded!
Finally some love for ITX!
Thanks for the video HU, there seems to be a real lacking on Mini-ITX board choice for AMD in Australia these days, and the pricing is little out of control as well, the last good well priced board was the ASROCK X370.
ASRock again the best. The A620I Lightning seems like the most sensitble board for an ITX setup
I have an A620I lightning. Great little board.
Tbh for mini itx the max id get is b650
Even then that seems a bit overkill
@@sushai1742 since on ITX you usually don't OC your CPU (if anything you undervolt), there is basically no difference between B650 and A620 for ITX
@@Violet-ui well the tdp for the socket technically
Weird, the MSI Edge is around USD200 in Asia, one of the cheapest AM5 ITX
i've had the Gig Aorus B650 wifi for a year and couldn't be happier. i have a massive hi-res audio collection (i only stream when i'm not at home) so the 3 M.2 slots were a major feature for me. i paid a bit more than it's going for now, but hey i knew early adopters pay more, and in this case was only $25 more than what it goes for now.
I have an asrock A620i with a 7600. Good little combo
Thanks for the hard work! My first build was ITX, still have.
Hmm - at 9:59 Asrock B650i Lightning is $160-180, but by 14:54 it's gone up to $200. Whether it's $80 or $40 less than the Aorus board would make a difference for me....
If it wasn´t for you Steve, I´ve staying with the idea that my Asrock A620i have only two fan headers lol! Pretty good MoBo by the way.
Not looking for a mini-ITX right now. But as always these MB videos are great either way.
Just a note to be aware: Gigabyte B650I Aorus, Gigabyte B650i AX, Jginyue B650i Night Devil is very sensitive to quality of riser cables. I had pretty good 4.0 risers, two LinkUp Ultra to be exact which worked flawlessly on B550i Aorus board but when I switched to B650I Aorus my system failed to boot or started to glitch randomly showing PCI-E link speed between 1.1 and 2.0 in GPU-Z. I bought around 5 different riser cables until I find the one that actually works without an issue.
This also related to Z690i Aorus, I saw a thread on reddit where people was complaining about the same issue.
I heard that about the Gigabyte B650I Aorus but didn't have any issues just using the one that came with the Fractal Terra.
@@Nib_Nob-t7x Terra have decent riser cable. Friend of mine also doesn't have any issues with it and B650I Aorus.
At last itx gets some love, great job Steve.
Nice review.That's what I was looking for.Thank You
I've been thinking about an AM5 Mini-ITX motherboard for a HTPC build, and it looks like the Gigabyte B650I Aorus Ultra would be the board I'd go with. Need to find a case that doesn't look like a computer tower or fish tank to fit in with the rest of my entertainment unit. Silverstone seems to be the closest and has some lovely cases, but none that supports any water cooling, seeing airflow is going to be an issue.
Such a good review. Cheers!
Thanks, Steve!
So if you want to future proof your GPU Slot with Pcie 5.0 the fully equipped Asrock PG B650e is the way to go
A620 + 7500F/8400F = 🔥🔥
Steve already getting in better shape by just building the gym room xD
10:23 you said the same i/o, but I see to 2 extra usb 2.0. however I don't think it's worth the $20 to $40 extra
Steve watched the am5 vid and was like what... Not itx? But then you drop this! Awesome thank you for this itx goodness
Thanks guys. The one I'm interested in, is the Asroc X870E Taichi Lite, which I'm expecting about late September. I'm planning a 9950X going into that. Yeah, I know, September, maybe October ....
"The new boards won't provide much the present ones don't."
Yeah, I know that, but the power will be at least as good, the memory support will be at least as good, and it's the first 'revision' of the AM5 motherboards. They have some experience now. It's got to be better. 'Lite' doesn't mean cheap. It means less fake diamonds and gold plated ornaments, less RGB bullshit. That's what I want. I don't care for bling, I care for performance & reliability, for quality. The existing Taichi Lite motherboards have exactly this reputation.
Right on time, I'm about to build one
Unlike most others making requests and complaints left and right, i'm not a freeloader, thank you for the data on B650I Aorus Ultra
haha thanks mate :) Appreciate you!
too close to new cpu's to invest a penny right now. thanks for the video !
Crazy to hear the MSI board labeled expensive. I bought it Christmas 22 for $240 because it was by far the cheapest ITX AM5 board
Same, bought it last summer for 221€, was also the cheapest!
Same, when I bought mine in late 2023, it was quite a bit cheaper than all other available B650(e) ITX boards in Sweden.
But my decision going with the MSI B650i Edge Wifi was more than just the price, it was all the small details of actually building on it in an SFF case that mattered the most, like onboard connector position, extremely tall VRM along with m.2 heatsink can kinda limit you in what you can do when going SFF.
Its not all about the VRM's and how many USB v3/4 ports you get.
@@daflipflop Alpenföhn Black Ridge cpu cooler with a 120/15mm fan positioned under it, also many times faces issues with m.2 heatsink designs.
You're all naming expensive motherboard prices.
That Asrock A620 looks great for a low TDP build and the price is reasonable, definitely considering that one on my next build
On an A620 board, will the lack of the ability to overclock the affect boost clocks? I’m planning on putting only a 7500F in it because I’m probably only gonna use the PC for gaming.
So the Asrock a620i and b650i cap cpu power at 165 watts?
8:20 tbh it has the best looking ass out of all boards reviewed. it doesnt get the most ports but look they are cleanly aligned.
The SFFPC community thanks you!
That asrock a620 is a A series baord that is pretty cool
Your face on the thumbnail made me laugh out loud 😆
One correction for the differences between the asrock a-620 and b-650I boards, the b-650I version offers two more usb-2 ports on the rear and one of the rear usb-3 ports is faster (Went from 5gbps to 10gbps). The chart towards the end is right, but the review earlier in the video was a little off, but honestly it doesn't matter. I don't even know why I'm being picky. Great video though, I'm loving these mother board comparission videos!
Would love to see your opinion/recommendation between the B650i Aorus Ultra and the Strix B650E-i!
These are the two boards I've been considering. I don't know if I wanna gamble with getting a board with the coil whine issue.
YES! please do an ALI Express roundup say maybe 5-6 boards that you can find? :) Would be good to see those boards put through your rigorous testing to see if there are some worthy boards out there!
Been using asrock since they came out. I have yet to have a failure running some mobo's for a decade.
Awesome, thanks!! Thumbs up.
I think I've already bought the itx mother from AliExpress that you are talkiing about, its it the Night Devil?
Man only two boards with Optical audio out and one is the Asus ROG STRIX B650E-I. Looking forward to the review.
Thanks for this video its nice to see that asrock 620i is a good budget option
Asus ROG Strix B650E-I user here. I’ve been using this board with a 7800X3D and 6000 MHz CL30 combo for about a year now and it has been rock solid. I‘d recommend it, if it wasn’t for that whole Asus RMA drama atm. If you can live with that it’s the perfect sweet spot for AM5 ITX and an absolute no brainer choice imo.
What if the Asrock b650i lightning is $200, while Auros ultra, Asrock PG ITX, MSI MPG, and both ASUS boards are $350-400? (In sweden) Should I spend the extra if I’m going for a 7800X3D?
10:10 I think the B650I Lightning WiFi has more USB ports on the rear IO compared to its A620I lightning WiFi counterpart
Great video. I love motherboard content and this was interesting
Merci beaucoup pour ce test 😉
Je viens d'acheter une b650i ax, la plus mauvaise carte de ton test 😅
Mais elle accueillera un 9600x qui a un tdp de 65w ( max 105w )
Le Ryzen 9 7950x a lui un tdp de 165w
Es que selon vous, dans ce cas, c'est un bon choix ?
Je vous remercie par avance 😉
16:22 not a chance, I will never buy gigabyte again. It's been 20 years and they still owe me an RMA. And they haven't improved since, as attested by many of my friends who against my advice bought gigabyte and have regretted it ever since. I'd rather go with a significantly worse on paper board, and not ever have to worry about dealing with gigabyte again. It's very simple, if you're a gambler and you seriously believe that you'll never have a problem with any item that you buy from gigabyte, go ahead, they do produce on paper a fantastic piece of kit. But if you ever have to get anything RMAed you will get screwed by them. Just the amount of time wasted would have been better if you had gotten something else, even if you only value your time at a few bucks an hour. Never mind what you actually make an hour. Time is the one thing you can never get back, and gigabyte will cost you time, a lot of it. And as I stated you will never get it back. Not a chance am I ever going to waste my life trying to deal with that s***** company... And if you value your life and time you will not either I don't care if they give you the kit for free, the amount of time you will have to deal with them, while tearing your hair out, isn't worth any price. Go with any of the other products mentioned here, even if they are on paper worse, those companies while not good with their customer service, are at least not 20 years and counting on their RMA
Fantastic video!