Introduction
In July of 2024, AMD announced the X870/E chipset, also together with the B850 chipset. In early January 2025 we began to see the discharge announcements of motherboards based on this B850 chipset which supports socket AM5 CPUs. This review will evaluate the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi motherboard.
The Steel Legend is a distinctly themed motherboard from ASRock and it is usually included in all their recent motherboard releases. This board is the familiar white-silver accented with black ports and is usually placed near the highest of gaming-centric offerings. ASRock is coming to this release loaded to the hilt with motherboard selections. There are a minimum of 16 different B850 motherboards to pick from in all styles and sizes.
Actually, one-half of the B850 offerings from ASRock are either mATX or ITX. Our ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi is certainly one of seven full ATX boards with loads of connectivity and storage in addition to full options inside the UEFI/BIOS for overclocking the CPU and memory. Also, the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi pushes the necessities pedal all of the option to the ground, including Gen5 PCIe and Gen5 M.2 support. About all that’s missing on this board is USB4 which is an optional offering on the B850 motherboards.
In simplified terms, the AMD B850 has a single promontory chipset and supports PCIe 5.0 (Gen5) to the NVMe with graphics support of PCIe 5.0 being an optional feature, otherwise, it supports PCIe 4.0 (Gen4) graphics. It also supports as much as USB 3.2 20Gbps natively and lacks the USB4 mandatory spec of the AMD X870/E chipsets. Motherboards based on this class of chipset still support CPU and memory overclocking, nevertheless, for full enthusiast tweaking options. AMD has an amazing chipset comparison chart available for reference.
With the discharge of the B850 chipset motherboards comes the plan to permit entry or upgrade to socket AM5 at a reasonable price without sacrificing form or function. Our ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi is priced currently at $209. Allow us to proceed and test out the idea.
ASRock B850 STEEL LEGEND WIFI AM5 ATX Motherboard
Packaging and Contents
This ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi was received directly from ASRock. As you possibly can see the left corner got a bit dinged on the way in which. The contents were undisturbed. The structure of the packaging is what now we have come to expect, obviously, it could possibly take successful and are available out just fantastic. The board is packaged in an anti-static bag. There isn’t much else to discuss. We see a Quick Start booklet, WiFi antenna, case badge, two SATA cables, a thermistor prob,e, and a coupl ofe cable straps.
ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi Features
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi is a full ATX motherboard. As we discussed earlier the Steel Legend may be very consistently carried across ASRock motherboards and graphics cards. It has a pleasant white and silver color scheme and all-black ports. It’s a slightly good-looking board. The heatsinks are likewise heavy brushed aluminum with silver and black decals and lettering. The heatsinks are solid aluminum which supplies the board a solid feel. The PCB is eight-layer copper inlayed so there is no such thing as a flex or bend to the board in any respect. There’s RGB on this board along the underside of the secondary M.2 heatsink in addition to a minimum of 4 RGB headers for more should you need it. No digital readouts or power buttons on this motherboard, but ASRock does use a set of De-Bug LEDs in the suitable upper corner for some guidance should you do run into a problem.
There are 4 M.2 slots on this board. The first M.2 slot has an EZ release mechanism. The secondary M.2 heatsink, housing M.2#3 and #4 needs a screwdriver to remove, the screws are secured to the heatsink to maintain them put, an amazing idea. The M.2_2 slot has no heatsink. All of the M.2 slots have tool-less hold-down mechanisms consisting of a small rotating latch. The M.2 heatsinks have top-mounted thermal pads. The first M.2 slot has a bottom-mounted thermal pad as well. The first PCIe slot has a “Graphics Card Lite” latch positioned alongside the rear release. It is basically an enlarged tab that sits on the latch for individuals with fumble fingers, making it easier to release your GPU. It’s a pleasant touch. The first PCIe can also be metal-reinforced.
The rear I/O panel of the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi has a reasonably well-equipped set of connections. There are nine USB-A ports (three 5Gb/s and two 10Gb/s) and two USB-C ports (10Gb/s) alongside WiFi7 and a couple of.5Gb ethernet. The wireless is from a MediaTek RZ717 and the LAN is Realtek Dragon RTL 8125BG. Audio can support as much as 7.1 channels via a RealTek ALC 4082 codec. The audio also supports Nahimic Audio from Steel Series. Recall that B850 chipsets don’t require USB4 support, so truthfully, that’s all that’s lacking on the I/O side of things.
Power Delivery
This motherboard uses a 14+2+1 Smart Power Phase setup with 80amps across the VCore. This must be greater than adequate power and protection for CPU overclocking. The twin 8-pin CPU power connectors are placed in the usual location on this Steel Legend board, the highest left. As was stated above, the VRM heatsinks are heavy brushed aluminum. We didn’t discover any heatpipes. The PCB is advertised by ASRock as an eight-layer server-grade board with 2oz copper layering. ASRock also utilizes black 20K capacitors for what they feel is higher quality and longevity.
CPU Socket, Memory and Storage
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi supports socket AM5 CPUs within the Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 series. There’s ample space surrounding the socket to position most if not all CPU coolers. Our MSI AIO MAG Core 360I gave us no mounting issues. Memory supported includes DDR5 DIMMs as much as 256 GB in total. Frequencies are advertised as much as 8000MT/s (OC). XMP and Expo profiles are supported for 1 click overclocking. The memory slots are double-latched. Spacing seems adequate for giant CPU coolers. The one issue here could also be tall DIMM heatsinks in slot A1 and low cooling fins on an air-cooled heatsink.
There’s actually quite a little bit of storage on this motherboard. Slot M.2_1 supports Gen5 SSDs (Blazing M.2) and slots 2 through 4 support full-speed Gen4 SSDs (Hyper M.2). Together with this are 4 SATA 6 Gb/s right-angled ports on the right-hand side of the motherboard powered by an ASM 1064 chip. M.2#1 and #2 are from the CPU while M.2#3 and #4 are from the B850 chipset. Transfer rates are 128Gb/s Gen5 and 64Gb/s Gen4. Of note, if the M.2_4 slot is occupied, PCIe slot 2 can be disabled.
Expansion
Expansion on this motherboard consists of 1 primary Gen5x16 PCIe slot and one PCIe Gen4x4 slot. The first slot is supplied by the CPU, the opposite by the chipset. The first slot is metal-reinforced and has a really nifty “Graphics Card Lite” Release latch positioned on the right-hand edge (pen pointer added for emphasis in photo). It isn’t quite an EZ release button or lever and you continue to should get your finger near the back end of your GPU, nevertheless it is useful, nonetheless. Again, should you populate M.2_4 you’ll disable PCIe slot#2.
The interesting point about this layout for expansion and storage is spacing. Even with a big 3-slot GPU, ASRock has placed the M.2 slots well out of the way in which. If you might have a thin-ish Gen4 SSD you will certainly find a way to utilize slot#2 which has been difficult on lots of the X870/E motherboards. Plus it is not any loss that M.2 slot #2 doesn’t have a heatsink cover, since you generally can’t use it attributable to fitment under the GPU.
I/O
The rear I/O panel is well supplied on the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi motherboard. The panel has the motherboard plate embedded which is good. Working from left to right: HDMI port, WiFi antenna, BIOS Flashback button, 4 USB-A 2.0 ports, two USB-A Gen3.2 (10Gb/s “Ultra Power”), two USB-A 3.1 (5Gb/s “Lightning Gaming”), one USB4-C (10Gb/s), 2.5Gb RJ-45 ethernet, USB-A Gen3.1 (5Gb/s) port, USB-C (10Gb/s) port and SPDIF and sound outputs.
On the major board, now we have a complete of six 4-pin fan headers. Three on the highest right, one labeled AIO, two on the underside row, and one tucked just behind the I/O panel. The “Implausible” software within the BIOS can control all these with one click, or individually. On the suitable fringe of the board, now we have a single USB type C front panel header (20Gb/s), one right-angled and one flat USB Gen 3.1 headers (5Gb/s), and 4 right-angled SATA ports. The underside edge houses the front panel header, two USB 2.0 headers, and the front audio header. This board has a complete of 4 LED headers, three are addressable and one is a 12V four-pin header. This can be a pleasant compliment to the row of RGBs already on the board. If you happen to need it ASRock Polychrome SYNC is out there as a download.
UEFI/BIOS
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi uses an ordinary UEFI/BIOS, an American Megatrend AMI UEFI. Entering the BIOS is sort of easy from the emblem screen on the boot. The BIOS enters the major screen for “Advanced mode” by default. There are “Advanced” and “Easy” modes to pick from. The Easy Mode is a single screen that provides basic information in addition to the choices to pick out RAM overclocking profiles, enable PBO, and Boot priority. Boot priority is solely a drag and drop which is good and straightforward to make use of. Hitting F6 will take you to Advances Mode which is where OC Tweaker and Advanced submenus reside, in addition to the Tool menu and Hardware Monitoring/Implausible menus.
Recall that the B850 motherboards have each manual and automatic overclocking settings for the CPU and RAM. This permits for quite a little bit of tinkering if that’s what you enjoy. Quite truthfully, should you have a look at the X870 Steel Legend WiFi motherboard review, you will see that that the BIOS for the B850 Steel Legend is basically an identical.
Our ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi got here to us with BIOS version 3.15 dated 12 Dec 24. The most recent BIOS is listed on the ASRock support as 3.18.AS01 dated 23 JAN 25. We updated the BIOS to this version using the “Easy Flash” software within the Tools section of the BIOS. Easy Flash may be very easy to make use of. Once the BIOS version is unzipped on a flash drive, all we needed to do was enable the tool and it positioned the BIOS version robotically. Once enabled the tool did all of the work. ASRock also has “BIOS Flashback” by which all you wish is a PSU and the BIOS version. The button is positioned on the rear I/O panel.
We found working inside the UEFI, was well organized. Navigation was very straightforward. The major sections were all well labeled and submenus were categorized to be easy to seek out. The layout was very smooth to navigate and selections could mostly be made with a single mouse click.
Subsystem and CPU Testing
Testing the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi was completed using the benchmarks below. The next components were used: Ryzen 7 7700X, Corsair Vengence DDR5 32GB at 6000MT/s (CMH32G5M2D6000C36), MSI Spatium M580 Gen5 NVME, and ASRock Radeon 7600XT Steel Legend 16GB graphics card. Comparison results are discussed from the recent review of the ASRock Phantom Gaming X870 RIPTIDE WiFi motherboard and ASRock X870 Steel Legend WiFi motherboard.
Benchmark Results
Above is the gallery of results that were obtained from all our standard benchmarks. In each, we compared the outcomes to our prior X870 motherboards as discussed. All in all, there have been no surprises. The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi gave us results that were the identical and even barely higher than those recorded from X870 chipsets. Ultimately, there have been simply no glaring outliers. Specifically, should you have a look at the last screenshot, VRM Temperatures, the VRMs showed a cool 33C with all CPU cores at 100% and CPU temperatures of 86C. That may be a very nice result right there.
Conclusion
This review allowed us to judge a brand latest ASRock B850 chipset motherboard, the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi. This full-sized ATX board has a virtually an identical layout to its counterpart, the X870 chipset Steel Legend WiFi. Actually, our board has more onboard storage than the X870 chipset. As well as, the B850 Steel Legend WiFi supports socket AM5 CPUs, DDR5 DIMMs as much as 8000M/T, and Gen5 PCIe and SSDs. About all you sacrifice for a cheaper price tag is USB4 support.
Installation and Use
The ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi presented no problems with set-up or initial boot. All components were installed with ease and the layout presented no issues. The CPU socket is uncluttered, memory slots are double latched, EZ release latch on the first M.2 and a brand new “Lite” GPU latch. The one place you wish a tool is to remove the secondary M.2 heatsink. The M.2 spacings are well thought out for the usage of large GPUs. Did we mention there are 4 M.2 slots? Well, one Gen5 and three full Gen4, are pretty nice. You don’t get any USB4 but you do have more USB ports than you wish, that’s a fact. Overall, side by side, you just can’t tell much difference between the B850 and the X870 Steel Legend motherboards and that’s just fantastic.
The primary boot-up was no issue. The UEFI/BIOS is basically the identical because the X870. Navigation was easy and menus made sense. You may have full automatic and manual overclocking ability for the CPU and memory. Easy Flash works and not using a hitch and it is extremely easy to make use of. Windows 11 was installed quickly and simply, with no issues. Every benchmark ran and not using a problem and the outcomes were essentially the identical as our X870 chipset motherboards featuring the identical an identical components. Cooling was no issue. Using a 20-minute run-through of Cinebench R23 the board ran flawlessly.
Final Points
Our evaluation of the ASRock B850 Steel Legend WiFi was form of a Deja-Vu. This motherboard looks and performs exactly just like the X870 model now we have previously reviewed. The B850 Steel Legend is a nice-looking white and silver ATX board with black accents and really subtle RGBs. It was easy to make use of and performed and not using a hitch from the jump. About all you sacrifice is 2 USB4 ports but you gain an additional M.2 slot over the X870 variant. The performance in benchmarks is just about an identical. The ASRock B850 Steel Legend is a uniquely designed, well-built, gaming-centric motherboard that comes loaded with every thing the B850 chipset has to supply. ASRock didn’t leave anything out here except a high price tag. This board represents a great value at $209.
ASRock B850 STEEL LEGEND WIFI AM5 ATX Motherboard
