ASRock Phantom Gaming X870 Nova WiFi Review

ASRock is doing its best to appeal to DIY PC builders with their Phantom Gaming X870 Nova WiFi. The board hovers in the mid-range but includes enthusiast features such as micro buttons and a debug display. More importantly, in our view, is the inclusion of two USB 4 ports. We put it through its paces and see what it can offer around the £300 price point.

Timestamps

00:00 Start
00:48 Pricing and features
01:58 X870 Nova WiFi
05:52 Hardware for the testing
06:38 BIOS
07:22 VRM operating temperature
08:02 Cinebench R23 Multi Core
08:54 Cinebench R23 Single Core
09:08 Blender Classroom Render
09:17 7Zip Decompressing & Compressing Benchmark
09:33 AIDA64 Memory Bandwidth
09:58 Closing Thoughts

Key features

• USB4 Type-C Ports (40 Gb/s)
• Server-Grade Low-Loss PCB
• 18+2+1 Power Phase by Monolithic Power, 80A SPS for Vcore+SOC with Enlarged Heatsink Armour
• 20K Long-lasting Black Caps (high quality and conductive polymer capacitors)
• 5G LAN, 802.11be Wi-Fi 7 Module
• EZ Update
• BIOS Flashback Button

Specification

• CPU: Supports AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen 9000/8000/7000
• Chipset: AMD X870
• Memory: Dual Channel, 4 x DDR5 DIMMs, up to 8400+(OC), Maximum 256GB
• Expansion slots:
  • 1 x PCIe 5.0 x16 Slot from CPU
  • 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot (supports x4) from Chipset
  • (If M2_3 is occupied the SATA ports are disabled)
  • (If M2_5 is occupied PCIE2 will downgrade to x2 mode)
• Storage
  • 1 x Blazing M.2 2280 PCIe Gen5x4 from CPU
  • 1 x Blazing M.2 2280 PCIe Gen5x4 from Chipset:
  • 1 x Hyper M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4 from Chipset
  • 1 x Hyper M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4 from Chipset
  • 1 x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3x2 from Chipset
  • 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s
• USB
  • 2 x USB4 Type-C Ports 40 Gb/s (Rear)
  • 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (Front)
  • 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (Rear)
  • 3 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (Rear)
  • 4 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (Front)
  • 8 x USB 2.0 (4 Rear, 4 Front)
• LAN: 5 Gigabit LAN (Realtek RTL8126)
• Wireless LAN: 802.11be 2×2 Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Audio: 7.1 Channel HD Audio (Realtek ALC4082 Audio Codec)

Performance and Testing

Test system

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
• Memory: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000
• CPU Cooler: Phanteks Glacier One 360D30
• Graphics card: Palit RTX 5080 GameRock OC 16GB
• Power supply: Seasonic Vertex GX-1200 ATX 3.0
• SSD: 1TB Crucial T700 M.2 NVMe
• OS: Windows 11 24H2

Cinebench R23 Multi Core

We are only showing a couple of benchmark tests here to confirm the ASRock Phantom Gaming X870 Nova WiFi supports our Ryzen 9 9950X effectively. The result in Cinebench R23 Multi Core shows that performance is absolutely fine and everything is working correctly.

Cinebench R23 Single Core

It is the same story in Cinebench R23 Single Core where the ASRock Phantom Gaming X870 Nova WiFi works exactly as we would expect.

Closing Thoughts

In our video we show the ASRock Phantom Gaming X870 Nova WiFi alongside the X870E version which appears at first glance to be identical, where in fact there are some significant differences. This highlights the point that you cannot just navigate by model name or even by AMD chipset as subtle details like support for USB4 or the exact number of PCI Express lanes are often tucked away in the specification.

With the ASRock Phantom Gaming X870 Nova WiFi you are buying a mid-tier X870 motherboard that comes with Micro buttons for Power and Reset, a BIOS debug display and a small amount of RGB lighting.

In MSI terms that makes it a more expensive Tomahawk with a few more features or a cheaper and cut-down Carbon. It is a decent choice that works effectively but does not pretend to offer any unique features.

You can buy the ASRock Phantom Gaming X870 Nova WiFi for £305 HERE.

Edit 11th September – ASROCK informed us that there is a price deal in the UK right now for £269.99 HERE

Pros:

• 2x USB4 ports are included.
• 18-phase VRM is substantial.
• Discrete on-board RGB lighting.

Cons:

• The M.2 slots impact the second PCIe slot and SATA connectors.
• VRM heatsinks are not linked and the main heatsink is covered with a shroud.

KitGuru says: This ASRock Phantom Gaming X870 Nova WiFi is one of a great many decent AMD motherboards that are available on the market. 

Become a Patron!