ASUS ROG STRIX B860-A GAMING WIFI

ASUS has launched the B860-A Gaming WIFI motherboard, making it the most affordable ASUS B860 Wi-Fi option in Intel’s mid-range chipset lineup. With a sleek silver-white PCB and metal heatsink, it supports Intel 200 series CPUs and features a robust 14+1+2+1 phase VRM power design. The board offers the latest PCIe 5.0 interface, four M.2 NVMe SSD slots, a 2.5G LAN module, and a Wi-Fi 7 wireless module, ensuring top-tier connectivity and expandability. Priced at just $469, it delivers a stylish and budget-friendly choice for users.

If you’re looking for a more affordable way to get into Intel’s Core Ultra 200 series, the Intel B860 chipset is a solid choice—though it doesn’t support overclocking. In contrast, AMD has the advantage of offering overclocking even on its budget chipsets, including the recently released B850.

On the back features several controllers along with some standard circuitry. The PCB is meticulously crafted, with all soldering points smoothed and polished to eliminate sharp edges. There are no protective backplate on the VRM area.

Let’s look again at the comparison table of the last 4 generations series system chipsets.

Chipset	B860	Z890	Z790	Z690	Z590
Compatibility with Intel processors	Core Ultra 2xx	Core Ultra 2xx	Core 14/13/12	Core 14/13/12	Core 11/10
PCIe Version (CPU)	4.0 & 5.0	4.0 & 5.0	4.0 & 5.0	4.0 & 5.0	3.0 (10th Gen) or 4.0 (11th Gen)
Number of PCIe lanes (processor)	20 versions 5.0 & 4 versions 4.0 = 24	20 versions 5.0 & 4 versions 4.0 = 24	16 versions 5.0 & 4 versions 4.0 = 20	16 versions 5.0 & 4 versions 4.0 = 20	16 (10th Gen) or 20 (11th Gen)
PCIe version (chipset)	4	4	3.0 & 4.0	3.0 & 4.0	3
Number of PCIe/SATA lanes (chipset)	20 4.0 & 4 SATA = 24	24 4.0 & 8 SATA = 32	20 v4.0 & 8 v3.0 or 8 SATA = 28	12 v4.0 & 16 v3.0 or 8 SATA = 28	18 version 3.0 or 6 SATA = 18
Number of SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports up to	4	8	8	8	6
DMI version	4	4	4	4	3
Number of DMI lines	x4	x8	x8	x8	x8
RAM generation	DDR5	DDR5	DDR4 & DDR5	DDR4 & DDR5	DDR4
Number of RAM channels	2	2	2	2	2
Maximum number of RAM slots	4	4	4	4	4
Maximum RAM	256 GB DDR5	256 GB DDR5	256GB DDR5/128GB DDR4	256GB DDR5/128GB DDR4	128 GB
USB4 ports (40Gbps)(processor) up to	1	2	–	–	–
USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 ports (20Gbps) up to	2	5	5	4	3
USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 ports (10Gbps) up to	4	10	10	10	10
USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 ports (5Gbps) up to	6	10	10	10	10
USB 2.0 ports up to	12	14	14	14	14
Built-in Wi-Fi support	Wi-Fi 7	Wi-Fi 7	Wi-Fi 7/ WIFI 6E	Wi-Fi 6E	Wi-Fi 6

Note that the B860 has 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes plus a maximum of 4 SATA lines, meaning that the B860 chipset essentially has 24 PCIe lines, but 4 lines for SATA ports cannot be reconfigured for other use (while the Z790 simply had 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and they could be used for up to 8 SATA ports).

The Core Ultra processors have a total of 24 PCIe lanes (20 of which are version 5.0, and 4 are version 4.0), and there is also a built-in Thunderbolt 4 controller, which essentially gives us 2 USB4 ports (up to 40 Gb/s each). Due to the DMI being limited to 4 lanes instead of 8 on the Z890, Thunderbolt 4 support is restricted to 1, and the number of other USB ports has been reduced.

With the transition to a tiled layout, Arrow Lake brings improvements to nearly every component of the processor, including the compute cores, graphics core, input-output interfaces, and the addition of an NPU neural processor. Leveraging one of the most advanced manufacturing technologies—TSMC’s 3nm process—it’s no surprise that expectations were high for improved energy efficiency and reduced heat generation compared to the Raptor Lake series. Notably, Raptor Lake, though significantly refined, still relied on Intel’s older 10nm process. As a result, Arrow Lake was anticipated to deliver a substantial boost in both performance and energy efficiency.

The Compute tile is the centerpiece, housing eight high-performance Lion Cove P-cores and 16 power-efficient Skymont E-cores, with improvements to these cores discussed below. All cores are interconnected via a ring bus and share a 36MB L3 cache for data exchange. Each of the eight P-cores is equipped with a dedicated 3MB L2 cache, while the E-cores are organized into clusters of four, with each cluster sharing a 4MB L2 cache.

The memory controller in Arrow Lake has also been updated, dropping support for the DDR4 standard. Unlike Alder Lake and Raptor Lake, which featured controllers for both DDR4 and DDR5, the new architecture exclusively supports DDR5. This shift eliminates the outdated DDR4 standard and, in theory, allows for slightly more efficient operation of DDR5 subchannels.

The graphics core components in Arrow Lake are distributed across the Graphics and SoC tiles. The Graphics tile serves as the primary component, housing the elements of the graphics pipeline and the computing units located within the Xe cores. Meanwhile, the SoC tile contains the display and media processing engines, as well as the display output interface.

The graphics core in Arrow Lake-S is based on the Xe-LPG graphics architecture, which was first introduced in Meteor Lake mobile processors. This architecture is a significant upgrade over the Xe-LP found in Raptor Lake desktop processors. The Graphics tile features the Xe-LPG core, built on TSMC’s advanced 5nm N5P process. It includes a Xe Render Slice with four Xe cores, comprising 64 EU streaming units, which correspond to 512 unified shader units in competing solutions.

Unlike other architectures in the Xe family, the integrated graphics controller in Arrow Lake lacks XMX blocks for AI tasks. Instead, AI acceleration is handled using DP4a instructions on the main computing units. Despite this limitation, the same XeSS technology will still function, albeit at a somewhat reduced performance level.

The media engine in Arrow Lake-S offers hardware acceleration for video decoding at resolutions of up to 8K at 60 FPS in 10-bit HDR format, with support for VP9, AVC, HEVC, AV1, and SSC video formats. It also supports hardware-accelerated video encoding at resolutions up to 8K at 120 FPS in 10-bit HDR, compatible with VP9, AVC, HEVC, and AV1 formats.

The display output engine can drive up to four displays simultaneously, supporting HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1, and eDP 1.4 connections. It delivers output signal capabilities of 8K HDR at 60 Hz or 2560×1440p at up to 360 Hz for a single display, and 4K HDR at 60 Hz across four displays.

Overall, at the time of their release, Arrow Lake processors stand out as the most technologically advanced solutions in the desktop CPU market. They feature a sophisticated multi-chiplet design, utilize the most advanced manufacturing process for the main compute die, and integrate powerful GPU and NPU capabilities. Initially, five processor models were launched, offering varying specifications and price points.

	P-nuclei	E-cores	Streams	P-core frequency, GHz	E-core frequency, GHz	L2/L3 cache, MB	Consumption, W	Price, $
Core Ultra 9 285K	8	16	24	3.7-5.7	3.2-4.6	40/36	125/250	589
Core Ultra 7 265K	8	12	20	3.9-5.5	3.3—4.6	36/30	125/250	394
Core Ultra 7 265KF	8	12	20	3.9-5.5	3.3—4.6	36/30	125/250	379
Core Ultra 5 245K	6	8	14	4.2-5.2	3.6-4.6	26/24	125/159	309
Core Ultra 5 245KF	6	8	14	4.2-5.2	3.6-4.6	26/24	125/159	294

• Core Ultra 9 285K is a flagship processor with 8 P and 16 E cores and a maximum turbo frequency of 5.7 GHz (for comparison, the flagships of previous generations had frequencies of up to 6 GHz and even more).
• Core Ultra 7 265K(F) is a pre-top model with 8 P-cores and 12 E-cores (one of the four clusters with E-cores is disabled) and a turbo frequency of 5.5 GHz.
• Core Ultra 5 245K(F) are currently the youngest models of the family with the number of P-cores reduced to 6 and only eight E-cores (2 of 4 clusters are disabled) with a turbo frequency of up to 5.2 GHz.

Specification

Supported Processors	Intel Core Ultra 2xx
Processor socket	LGA 1851
Chipset	Intel B860
Memory	4×DDR5, up to 8600MT/s (XMP), up to 256GB, dual-channel (DIMM/CUDIMM)
Audio subsystem	1 × Realtek ALC1220P (7.1)
Network controllers	1×Intel i226-V Ethernet 2.5Gbps 1×Intel Dual Band Wireless BE200 (Wi-Fi 7 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2.4/5/6GHz) + Bluetooth 5.4)
Expansion slots	CPU – 1×PCIe 5.0 x16 Chipset – 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 Slots support x4 mode* PCIX16(G4) * PCIE1 supports PCIe riser cards to extend one x16 slot to x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4 slots.
Storage connectors	CPU -M.2_1 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280 (supports PCIe 5.0 x4 mode 128 Gb/s) Chipset: M.2_2 slot (Key M), type 2280 (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode) -M.2_3 slot (Key M), type 2280/22110 (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode) -M.2_4 slot (Key M), type 2280 (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode)** -4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports * Intel® Rapid Storage Technology supports SATA RAID 0/1/5/10. ** M.2_4 slot shares bandwidth with PCIEX16(G4). When PCIEX16(G4) slot is operating, M.2_4 will be disabled.
USB ports	CPU: – 1 x Thunderbolt™ 4 Type-C (Rear) Chipset: – 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (Front) – 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (Rear) – 4 x USB 3.2 Gen1 (2 Rear, 2 Front) – 6x USB 2.0 (4 Rear, 2 Front)
Rear panel connectors	– 2 x Antenna Ports – 1 x HDMI Port – 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 – 1 x Thunderbolt™ 4 Type-C Ports (40 Gb/s for USB4 protocol; 40Gb/s for Thunderbolt™ protocol)* – 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s) – 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Ports – 4 x USB 2.0 Ports – 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port – 1 x BIOS Flashback Button – HD Audio Jacks: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Other internal elements	1x 24-pin ATX power connector 2x  8-pin EPS12V power connector
Form factor	ATX (305 × 244 mm)

 

Peripheral functionality: USB ports, network interfaces, I/O

Now it’s the turn of USB ports and other I/O. And let’s start with the back panel, where most of them are displayed.

On the back I/O panel of connections including 1x DisplayPort 1.4 (iGPU), 1x HDMI 2.1 (iGPU), 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen2 (10Gb/s), 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen2 (10Gb/s), 2x USB 3.1 Gen1 (5Gb/s), 4 x USB-A 2.0 (480Mb/s), 1x USB-C USB 4.0 Thunderbolt 4 (Intel JHL8540), 1x 2.5GBase-T (Intel), Intel WiFI 7 Also present on the rear panel feature for the bios flashback is included.

The board has four DIMM slots for installing memory modules. The board supports unbuffered DDR5 (non-ECC) memory, and the maximum memory capacity is 256 GB. Of course, XMP profiles are supported.

On the side of the motherboard, there are four Serial ATA 6 Gb/s ports, which are integrated through the Z890 chipset and support RAID configurations.

The PCIe x16 slot has stainless steel and zinc alloy  reinforcement that increases durability (which can be important if you change graphics cards quite often, but more importantly, such a slot can more easily withstand bending loads in case of installing a very heavy top-level graphic card. In addition, such protection protects the slot from electromagnetic interference.

The PCIe x16 slot features a convenient Q-Release Slim mechanism for easy removal of video cards. Simply lift the video card near the mounting bracket area, and the lock will disengage automatically.

The ROG team has completely redesigned the M.2 Q-Release. The M.2 slot supports blazing-fast read and write speeds of up to 16 GB/s, while the remaining slot still delivers an impressive 8 GB/s transfer rate. To manage the heat from next-gen storage, M.2 slots are equipped with substantial heatsinks for effective thermal dissipation.

There are two 8-pin EPS12V connectors supplying power to the processor

The ASUS ROG STRIX B860-A Gaming WIFI motherboard may not be considered a high-end board, but it does feature robust cooling for its MOSFETs. MOSFETs are an essential component of the motherboard’s power delivery system, responsible for regulating and supplying power to the CPU. ASRock has implemented heatsinks in the vicinity of the MOSFETs to aid in heat dissipation. These cooling features can contribute to better overall system stability and longevity, particularly when the motherboard is subjected to heavy loads or extended usage.

Power Phase Design & Component

The power supply unit is a 14+1 +2 +1  phase configuration with teaming configuration and integrated MOSFETs. On this board, ASUS used Alpha & Omega integrated MOSFETs, which have a maximum continuous current of 80 A, which means that the CPU can receive a maximum of 1120 amps of current. The VRM controller is a ASP2442GQW proprietary design, and it is located on the top side of the board.

The processor power supply circuit is designed according to the 18+1+2+1 scheme (a total of 14 phases: 14 on VCore (processor core), 1 on iGPU (integrated graphics core), 2 on VCCSA (System Agent, ring bus) and 1 on VNNAON (power saving management).

• Fourten VCore phase channel has a superferrite choke and EU004X4D (80 A) from Alpha & Omega
• One VCCGT phase channel has a superferrite choke and EU004X4D (80 A) from Alpha & Omega
• Two VCCSA phase channel has a superferrite choke and EU004X4D (80 A) from Alpha & Omega
• One VCCAON phase channel has a superferrite choke and EU004X4D (80 A)  from Alpha & Omega

The control of the VCore, VNNAON, and iGPU circuits is managed by the proprietary Digi+ ASP2442PWM controller.

• One Intel JHL9040R for ThunberBlot 4/ USB 4 interface.

The Nuvoton NCT6701 controller is responsible for monitoring the motherboard’s status and coordinating the operation of all CO (Centralized Onboard) sockets.

• AI 1315-B1 dedicated chip that provides BIOS Flashback function
• MXIC is a SPI chip for BIOS

The RTS5411S is an advanced USB3.2 Gen1 4-port Hub controller.

Intel Ethernet 2.5Gbe Controller I226-V S3273L04

REALTEK ALC1220P CODEC & Savitech SV3H712 amp

Typically, audio components are built into the motherboard’s PCB. Inside SupremeFX, an Realtek ALC1220P codec is paired with an Savitech SV3H712, producing clean high-res audio with 120 dB SNR output and 113 dB SNR input and 32-bit / 192 kHz playback. I/O includes S/PDIF out that also supports 3.5mm mic input, and an additional 3.5mm combo jack that can host mics or headphones.

There is also an operational amplifier Savitech SV3H712

 

How We Test ASUS ROG STRIX B860-A Gaming?

Intel B860-A Gaming WIFI is a gaming motherboard from ASUS. As such, our workstation, based on an B860-A Gaming WIFI motherboard and Intel Core i9 285K 24 cores 24 threads processor.  The ram we will be using KLEVV DDR5 7200Mhz memory kit. ASUS ROG STRIX RTX4080 and ADATA PCIe 4.0 1TB SSD is used as well to run with benchmark. On the Comparison, we will be using ASUS ROG Z790 APEX with Intel Core i9 13900k @ 6Ghz and ASUS ROG Z790 Formula with Intel Core i9 14900K to run side by side to see perform better.

 

	System 1	System2	System 3
Motherboard	ROG Z790 APEX ENCORE	ROG Strix B860-A Gaming WIFI	ROG Z70 Formula
Processor	Intel Core i9 13900K Delid Copper ISH @6Ghz offset -0.03	Intel Core Ultra9 285K  – Intel Default	Intel Core i9 14900K  – Intel Default
Ram	ADATA DDR5 32GB 6000Mhz CL30	KLEVV DDR5 32GB 7200Mhz CL34	ADATA DDR5 32GB 6000Mhz CL30
SSD	Samsung 980Pro 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4	Lexar NM790 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen4	Lexar NM790 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen4
Graphics	ROG STRIX RTX4080 OC	ROG STRIX RTX4080 OC	TUF RX7900XTX
Cooler	ARTIC Cooling III AIO 360mm With Liquid Metal	EK-D AIO 360 III 360mm With Liquid Metal	EK-D AIO 360 III 360mm With Liquid Metal
BIOS	1801	1001	506
OS	Windows 11 64bits 24H23 Build 26100.3037	Windows 11 64bits 24H23 Build 26100.3037	Windows 11 64bits 24H23 Build 26100.3037

 

System Information

 

Cinebench R24

Improvements to Cinebench Release 24 reflect the overall advancements to CPU and rendering technology in recent years, providing a more accurate measurement of Cinema 4D‘s ability to take advantage of multiple CPU cores and modern processor features available to the average user

	GPU	CPU Multi Core	Single Core
Core i9 13900K Delid @ 6Ghz	27225	2211	133
Core i9 14900K	15344	2181	134
Ultra 9 285K	26655	2467	146

 

 

PCMark 10

PCMark 10 features a comprehensive set of tests that cover the wide variety of tasks performed in the modern workplace. With a range of performance tests, custom run options, Battery Life Profile, and new Storage benchmarks, PCMark 10 is the complete PC benchmark for the modern office.

	Essentials	Productivity	Digital Content Creation	Score
Core i9 13900K Delid @ 6Ghz	11569	11819	15693	9247
Core i9 14900K	13070	12421	20209	10663
Ultra 9 285K	11469	12412	19420	10062

3Dmark Advanced Edition

3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your PC and mobile devices in one app. Whether you’re gaming on a smartphone, tablet, notebook, or a desktop gaming PC, 3DMark includes a benchmark designed specifically for your hardware.

	Max Threads	16 Threads	8 Threads	4 Threads	2 Threads	1 Threads
Core i9 13900K Delid @ 6Ghz	16334	11734	8425	4540	2348	1212
Core i9 14900K	16927	11974	8938	4822	2428	1255
Ultra 9 285K	18971	15047	9763	5257	2737	1404

	Core i9 13900K Delid @ 6Ghz	Core i9 14900K	Ultra 9 285K
Wild Life Extremme	60333	56840	61300
Fire Strike Ultra	17619	19982	17938
Time Spy Extreme	13739	14627	14143
Solar Bay	135018	110987	141882
Port Royal	18172	16582	18375
Steel Nomad	6675	NIL	6785
Speed Way	7408	6220	7420

 

	Core i9 13900K Delid @ 6Ghz	Ultra 9 285K
Average FPS	81	81
Maximum FPS	95	96
Minimum FPS	68	66
Low 5th FPS	71	70

 

Should you buy ASUS ROG Strix B860-A Gaming WIFI Motherboard?

Overall, the ASUS ROG Stix B860-A Gaming WIFI is a fantastic choice for budget-conscious gamers and PC builders looking for a stylish, well-equipped motherboard. While it lacks CPU overclocking and has fewer USB ports due to chipset constraints, it compensates with strong power delivery, future-proof expansion options, and high-speed connectivity. If you want a visually appealing and reliable motherboard at an affordable price, the B860-A Gaming WIFI is a compelling option.

While the ASUS B860-A Gaming WIFI is a strong contender in the mid-range motherboard market, its price point is close to ASRock Z890 Pro RS WIFI board, which may offer better overall value for some users.