ASRock’s B650E Metal Legend Wi-Fi is a mid-range providing within the B650E board realm. Priced at $269.99, it comes with that steely black-on-grey aesthetic, PCIe 5.0 assist, succesful energy supply, three M.2 sockets (together with one 5.0 128 Gbps socket), eight USB ports on the rear IO, and extra. Whereas it’s a succesful and performant board, it solely sports activities two SATA ports. Regardless that M.2 drives have come down in worth, many individuals nonetheless use greater than two SATA-based storage gadgets. And its audio {hardware}, whereas most likely tremendous for most individuals, is dated in comparison with the competitors.
ASRock’s B650 lineup (on the time of this writing) consists of 10 completely different motherboards. There you’ll discover all the usual sizes and wide-ranging costs, with acquainted names just like the Taichi, PG Riptide, PG LIghtning, Professional RS, Livemixer, and our Metal Legend SKU. Costs vary from $349.99 (opens in new tab) (Taichi Carrara) to the ASRock B650M PG Riptide at $169.99 (opens in new tab). There are many choices within the current lineup, together with MicroATX and Mini-ITX SKUs.
Concerning efficiency, our Metal Legend was common to above common throughout our testing suite. It carried out properly total in gaming and elsewhere in our benchmarks. Nothing was too quick, however nothing was inordinately gradual, both. With correct cooling, you’ll be capable of get essentially the most out of your AMD processor on this board.
Beneath, we’ll dig into the main points of the board and see whether or not it deserves a spot on our Greatest Motherboards checklist. However earlier than we get into our testing and board particulars, we’ll begin by itemizing the specs from ASRock’s web site.
Specs: ASRock B650E Metal Legend Wi-Fi
| Socket | AM5 (LGA 1718) |
| Chipset | B650 |
| Type Issue | ATX |
| Voltage Regulator | 19 Section (16x 60A MOSFETs for Vcore) |
| Video Ports | (1) HDMI (v2.1) |
| (1) DisplayPort (v1.4) | |
| USB Ports | (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-C (10 Gbps) |
| (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) | |
| (4) USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) | |
| (2) USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) | |
| Community Jacks | (1) 2.5 GbE |
| Audio Jacks | (2) Analog + SPDIF |
| Legacy Ports/Jacks | ✗ |
| Different Ports/Jack | ✗ |
| PCIe x16 | (1) v5.0 (x16) |
| (1) v3.0 (x4) | |
| PCIe x8 | ✗ |
| PCIe x4 | ✗ |
| PCIe x1 | ✗ |
| CrossFire/SLI | AMD CrossFire |
| DIMM Slots | (4) DDR5 6600+(OC), 128GB Capability |
| M.2 Sockets | (1) PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) / PCIe (as much as 80mm) |
| (2) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) / PCIe (as much as 80mm) | |
| Helps RAID 0/1/5 | |
| SATA Ports | (2) SATA3 6 Gbps (Helps RAID 0/1/5/10) |
| USB Headers | (2) USB v3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) |
| (2) USB v2.0 (480 Mbps) | |
| Fan/Pump Headers | (6) 4-Pin (CPU, CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/water pump) |
| RGB Headers | (3) aRGB (3-pin) |
| (1) RGB (4-pin) | |
| Diagnostics Panel | (1) Publish Standing Checked (4 LEDs) |
| Inner Button/Swap | ✗ |
| SATA Controllers | ✗ |
| Ethernet Controller(s) | (1) Realtek Dragon RTL8125BG (2.5 GbE) |
| Wi-Fi / Bluetooth | ✗ |
| USB Controllers | ✗ |
| HD Audio Codec | Realtek ALC897 |
| DDL/DTS | ✗ / ✗ |
| Guarantee | 3 Years |
Contained in the Field of the ASRock B650E Metal Legend Wi-Fi
Contained in the retail packaging, under the motherboard, are just a few equipment to assist get you began. You get two SATA cables, screws/standoffs for M.2, the Wi-Fi antenna and the person handbook. ASRock additionally features a graphics card holder that attaches to the motherboard to assist these heavy video playing cards. Just like the Z790 Livemixer’s accent stack, there isn’t a lot right here. In reality, we simply listed every little thing within the field.
Design of the ASRock B650E Metal Legend Wi-Fi
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ASRock describes the Metal Legend as a “philosophical state of rock-solid sturdiness and irresistible aesthetics.” Aimed toward each day customers and mainstream fans, you received’t discover any LED screens or a totally lined board, however there are ‘metal’ coloured heatsinks on high of an 8-layer, black PCB. The motherboard additionally has camo-like black white and gray patterns across the socket, audio space, and the chipset.
The VRM heatsinks and shroud to the left of the socket home RGB LEDs that gentle up the “S” image for the Metal Legend. You’ll discover extra RGBs underneath the chipset heatsink, whereas a big heatsink sits on high of the PCI 5.0 M.2 socket and one other covers the opposite two M.2 sockets throughout the underside of the board. General, it is a handsome mid-range B650E board.
Within the upper-left nook, the VRM heatsink sports activities the ASRock branding in white, together with the Metal Legend Collection and B650E stenciled on the heatsink / shroud. The RGBs right here (and on the chipset heatsink) are vibrant and saturated, so they are going to do a superb job illuminating the within of your chassis. The VRM heatsink isn’t as large as others, nevertheless it does the job properly. Above the VRM heatsinks are two 8-pin EPS connectors (one required) that energy the processor.
To the precise of the camo-like sample across the socket space, we run into 4 bolstered DRAM slots with the locking mechanism on the highest. Supporting as much as 128GB of DDR5, the Metal Legend helps speeds as much as DDR5-6600+(OC), however your mileage might range. Our DDR5-5600 and DDR5-6000 kits labored with out problem throughout testing.
Above the DRAM slots are the primary two (of six) four-pin fan headers. The CPU_FAN1 helps fan energy as much as 1A/12W, whereas the remainder of the headers (CPU_FAN2/WP, CHA_FAN1~4/WP) assist as much as 2A/24W fan energy. There are sufficient of those headers to run most, if not all, of your followers from the motherboard. The BIOS or ASRock’s A-Tune software controls these headers.
Transferring down the precise edge, we discover the primary two (of 4) RGB headers. On this space are two 3-pin ARGB headers, whereas on the underside of the board are extra 3-pin ARGB and 4-pin RGB headers. Just under these is the Publish Standing Checker. 4 LEDs gentle up in the course of the POST course of if there’s a drawback with DRAM, CPU, Boot system, or VGA. Subsequent is the 24-pin EPS connector to energy the board, a entrance panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) connector and the entrance panel USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) header. There are solely eight USB ports on the rear IO, so some customers might really want the extra headers/ports it gives.
The VRMs on the B650E Legend include 19 complete phases, with 16 devoted to Vcore. Energy feeds from the 8-pin EPS connectors all the way down to the Renesas RAA229628 20-phase PWM controller, then strikes to the 16x 60A Intersil ISL99360 SPS MOSFETs. The 960A out there actually isn’t essentially the most highly effective we’ve seen, nevertheless it dealt with our flagship Ryzen 9 7950X flagship with out concern.
The audio part is hidden a bit among the many stenciling on the left facet of the PCB. The ever-present audio separation line is seen, operating from the underside of the board to the highest M.2 socket, together with the dated Realtek ALC897 codec. You received’t discover any third-party DACs or Amps at this worth, so in the event you’re a vital listener or have a good set of cans / audio system, you’ll need an exterior resolution for the perfect outcomes. Most others probably received’t discover the dated codec used right here.
In the midst of the board are two full-length PCIe slots and three M.2 sockets. The highest PCIe socket underneath the massive heatsink connects by means of the CPU and runs at PCIe 5.0 x16 speeds. The underside socket sources its lanes from the chipset, operating at PCIe 3.0 x4 speeds. The board lists AMD Crossfire assist, in the event you’re nonetheless into that kind of factor.
The highest M.2 socket sits above the first PCIe slot and will get its lanes from the CPU, operating at PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) speeds whereas supporting as much as 80mm modules. The underside two sockets are underneath a smaller (by mass) heatsink under the underside PCIe slot. Every socket helps as much as 80mm PCIe 4.0 x4 drives. With this configuration, there isn’t any sharing of ports or bandwidth, so what you see is what you get!
Transferring previous the illuminated chipset heatsink to the precise edge, we discover two SATA ports. In reality, these are the one two SATA ports on the board, which might be an issue for fairly just a few customers trying to carry over older drives. Worst case: You possibly can add extra through a roughly $40 add-in-card, however I’d nonetheless prefer to see a minimum of 4 ports right here, particularly on extra budget-oriented fashions the place M.2 drives will not be as frequent SATA-based SSD or HDDs.
Throughout the underside of the board are a number of uncovered headers. You’ll discover the standard, together with extra USB ports, RGB headers, and energy/reset buttons. Beneath is an entire checklist, from left to proper.
- Entrance panel audio
- 4-pin ARGB header
- 3-pin ARGB header
- 5-pin Thunderbolt AIC connector
- (2) System Fan headers
- Clear CMOS jumper
- (2) USB 2.0 headers
- System fan header
- USB 3.2 Gen 1 connector
- Speaker header
- System panel header
The rear IO plate on the B650E Metal Legend, like many others, comes preinstalled to the motherboard. It sports activities the identical black, white and gray background towards black labels, together with the Metal Collection ‘S’ branding. There are eight complete USB slots on the rear IO. You get two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Kind-C and Kind-A ports, 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Kind-A ports, and two USB 2.0 ports. Video outputs consist of 1 HDMI and DisplayPort. You’ll additionally discover the Wi-FI antenna connections for the built-in Wi-Fi 6E, a BIOS flashback button, the Realtek Dragon-based 2.5 GbE port, and final however not least, the twin analog plus SPDIF audio stack.
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