ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WIFI Motherboard Review

The STRIX series of motherboards from ASUS is typically all enthusiast gaming hardware, but it’s still quite a broad series offering a range of performance and prices. The new ROG Strix X870-A is on the lower end, or at least going to be considerably more affordable than the flagship Strix motherboards. However, without trying to confuse you, this is the lower end of a high-end motherboard. That being said, it’s not exactly lacking in features, offering support for the full range of AMD Ryzen 7000, 8000 and 9000 series processors, a powerful 16+2 90A twin power stage VRM, massive heatsinks, and a plethora of armour that should ensure it looks and performs every bit the enthusiast gaming motherboard you would hope.

ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WIFI

It ticks all the essentials for a 2024 gaming PC too, with the latest PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, which comes heavily reinforced thanks to their SafeSlot technology, and there’s an additional PCIe 4.0 x16 (x4) slot too, perfect for a capture card, sound card or something similar. You also get a pair of PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slots, and another two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, giving you plenty of room for ultra-fast storage solutions. Actually, looking at the number of USB ports, Type-C, fast networking and WiFi 7, it’s hard to imagine that you’ll need much more from your motherboard these days!

Key Features

• AI Overclocking, AI Cooling, and AI Networking
• Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 Series processors
• DDR5 memory support
• PCIe 5.0
• WiFi 7
• 2.5 Gb Ethernet
• SupremeFX audio

For more information, please visit the official product page here.

Memory Support

Memory support is impressive, offering up incredible speeds for these new CPUs, however, which generation of CPU you use will have some impact on the memory capabilities as you might expect, but typically they’re all over 8000 MHz.

What ASUS Had to Say

Elevate your build with the ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi. Featuring a sleek white PCB and support for AMD Ryzen™ 9000 Series processors, this motherboard delivers the power and connectivity needed for advanced AI applications. With DDR5 support, full PCIe 5.0 capabilities, dual USB4^® ports, and WiFi 7, it’s the ultimate blend of style and performance.

AMD 800 Series Chipset

While this review cycle we’ll be focusing on the X870E series of motherboards, of course, there’s going to be more to this series, with the X870E being the flagship models, the X870 below that, and then the B850 and the B840 being the more affordable models below those, but with some obvious compromises on the features, giving us a range of options for normal PC users, gamers, overclockers and enthusiasts.

Ryzen 9 9950X

For these reviews, we’ll be using the latest AMD Ryzen 9000 series CPU, and while we haven’t actually reviewed this CPU on its own, of course, we’ll be exploring the Ryzen 9 9950X performance through these motherboard reviews. We did a feature testing Windows 32H2 Vs 24H2 on YouTube recently, which you can check out here.

• 16 cores and 32 threads
• Up to 5.7 GHz max boost clock
• 64 MB of L3 cache
• Supports DDR5 memory up to 2x1R DDR5-5600 or 4x1R DDR5-3600
• Requires AM5 socket motherboard
• Includes Precision Boost Overdrive and Curve Optimizer Voltage Offsets technology
• Unlocked for overclocking
• Supports PCIe 5.0

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Packaging

The box looks great, with a large and clear photo of the motherboard up front, showcasing that lovely frosty-looking design. We can see key features, such as the X870 chipset, WiFi7 and Dolby Atmos support.

Around the back, they clearly detail key features and unique aspects, such as the VRM, heatsinks, M.2 support, and all I/O for the motherboard.

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A Closer Look

While this isn’t the most extreme motherboard in the ASUS range, you would be hard-pushed to say it wasn’t. It has a very stylish design, but while the armour and heatsinks have obvious aesthetic qualities, they’re all built for a purpose too.

The large VRM configuration is going to help you push CPU performance, with a 16+2+2 Power Stage rated for up to 90A per stage. This is then cooled by the two huge heatsinks on the top and left side of the CPU. As well as 5K Black metallic capacitors throughout the board’s design.

Below that, there’s a thick heatsink for the primary M.2 Gen5 slot, as those flagship drives can get pretty toasty, so this should be more than enough to ensure the best performance.

however, the entire lower section of the motherboard is also armoured with huge heatsinks, ensuring that all additional M.2 mounts also get the best cooling performance.

• 1 x M.2 22110 (PCIe 5.0 x4)
• 1 x M.2 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4)
• 2 x M.2 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4)

The top PCIe slot is reinforced, so that’ll easily deal with chunky graphics cards. The bottom one is reinforced, but not armoured, but it is finished in white to match the motherboard’s design.

There’s also powerful onboard audio with the ROG SupremeFX 7.1 Surround Sound High Definition Audio CODEC ALC4080.

• Impedance sense for front and rear headphone outputs
• Supports: Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel MIC Jack-retasking
• High-quality 120 dB SNR stereo playback output and 110 dB SNR recording input
• Supports up to 32-Bit/384 kHz playback on front panel

Audio Features

• SupremeFX Shielding Technology
• Savitech SV3H712 AMP  
• Rear optical S/PDIF outport
• Premium audio capacitors

Plus, there’s a comprehensive rear I/O, offering up USB4 Type-C, WiFi 7, 2.5 Gbps LAN, and much more.

Rear USB (Total 12 ports)

• 2 x USB4 (40Gbps) ports(2 x USB Type-C with DP Alt mode)
• 6 x USB 10Gbps ports (5 x Type-A + 1 x USB Type-C with up to 30W PD Fast-charge)
• 4 x USB 5Gbps ports (4 x Type-A)

Front USB (Total 9 ports)

• 1 x USB 20Gbps connector (supports USB Type-C)
• 2 x USB 5Gbps headers support 4 additional USB 5Gbps ports
• 2 x USB 2.0 headers support 4 additional USB 2.0 ports
• USB Type-C power delivery output: max. 5V/3A
• USB Type-C power delivery output: 5V/9V max. 3A, 12V max 2.5A, 15V max. 2.0A

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VRM Analysis

The X870-A Gaming WiFi is an ATX board featuring a standard 8-layer PCB, which is typical for boards of this size and doesn’t require the additional layers often seen on smaller ITX boards.

The 16+2+2 power delivery system is built around the Infineon ASP2206 PWM controller, which handles the bulk of the VRM phases. ASUS has utilized this controller before in their X670/X670E series, where it has proven effective in delivering stable power under heavy workloads. The X870-A employs MPS MP87691 90A Smart Power Stages (SPS) for the primary phases, a reliable choice also seen in high-performance boards across previous generations.

For the miscellaneous phases, ASUS uses Vishay SiC629 80A power stages, another part that has been used successfully on X670E boards such as the Crosshair Hero, showcasing its ability to handle demanding loads.

Additionally, the Richtek RT3672EE synchronous buck controller manages the single miscellaneous phase, a component commonly found in both X670 and X670E boards, ensuring compatibility with AMD’s SVI3 power delivery requirements.

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BIOS Screenshots

As you might expect, a lot of these motherboards launching today will have broadly similar BIOS features for the basic stuff, such as CPU, memory and other components, that much is a given. However, as you move from the more budget to the more premium solutions, you’ll expect these features to be more in-depth. It’s a lot to dive into, and frankly, not something every consumer fully understands either, but for those of you who care to see what the BIOS has to offer, we’ve screenshotted all the pages so you can dive in and see if it offers the level of fine-tuning you desire to get the best performance from your system.

However, largely most users will rely on the landing page for EXPO memory settings, the AI Tuner page for setting manual boost and overclock settings, and the voltage page for undervolting and stability. Everything else you’ll find in the gallery below.

Landing Page

AI Tuner

Voltages

BIOS Gallery

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3DMark Timespy

3DMark Time Spy is a popular benchmark focused on evaluating DirectX 12 performance. It simulates a demanding gaming scenario, stressing both your CPU and GPU with complex graphics and physics calculations. The benchmark renders a detailed scene featuring advanced lighting, shadows, and particle effects, providing a realistic representation of modern game visuals.

3DMark is available on Steam here.

3DMark CPU Benchmark

3DMark CPU Benchmark is a tool designed to measure CPU performance across various scenarios. Instead of providing a single score, it runs multiple tests using different numbers of threads (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and maximum available) to see how well your CPU scales with increasing workload. This helps to gauge performance not only for modern games utilizing many cores, but also older titles and tasks like 3D rendering. The results give a comprehensive overview of your CPU’s capabilities under different loads, aiding in comparisons, overclocking decisions, and understanding potential bottlenecks.

Available now on Steam.

PCMark 10 Express

PCMark 10 Express is a shorter benchmark that focuses on basic home PC use. It includes the Essentials and Productivity test groups. It is less demanding than the main PCMark 10 benchmark. The Essentials test group covers the common tasks that people do every day with their PCs, such as web browsing, video conferencing, and app start-up time. The Productivity test group measures system performance with everyday office applications, such as writing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

Available now on Steam.

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Cinebench R23

Cinebench is a real-world cross-platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s hardware capabilities. Improvements to Cinebench Release 23 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.

Available now on Maxon.

Cinebench 2024

Cinebench 2024 is a cross-platform benchmarking tool used to evaluate both CPU and GPU performance. Unlike previous versions which focused solely on CPU, it now leverages Maxon’s Redshift rendering engine to assess a system’s capability for handling demanding 3D tasks. It provides scores for both single-core and multi-core CPU performance, as well as a separate GPU score, making it a comprehensive solution for understanding your system’s overall rendering capabilities.

Available now on Maxon.

Blender 4.2.0

Blender 4.2.0 is a powerful, open-source 3D creation suite, not a benchmarking tool itself. It excels in tasks like 3D modelling, sculpting, animation, texturing, shading, lighting, simulation, rendering, video editing, and compositing. While it doesn’t provide a benchmark score, you can use Blender to indirectly benchmark your system by measuring render times for complex scenes. This can give you a sense of how well your hardware handles demanding 3D workloads.

Available now from blender.org

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Super PI 2.1

Super PI is a single-threaded benchmark that calculates pi to a specific number of digits. It uses the Gauss-Legendre algorithm and is a Windows port of a program used by Yasumasa Kanada in 1995 to compute pi to 232 digits. It’s a good indicator of CPU and memory performance, and a good stress test for things like the VRM and cooling hardware too.

Available now on Super PI.

Wprime 2.11

wPrime 2.11 is a multi-threaded benchmark tool designed to stress-test your CPU by performing complex calculations. It specifically focuses on evaluating your CPU’s ability to handle heavy multi-core workloads, making it useful for overclockers, system builders, and anyone looking to gauge their CPU’s performance under demanding conditions. The benchmark calculates square roots using the Newton method, providing results for both 32 million and 1024 million iterations, testing different levels of computational intensity. It offers both single-threaded and multi-threaded modes, allowing you to see how well your CPU scales with additional cores.

Available now from WPrime.

Y-Cruncher

Y-Cruncher is a specialized benchmarking tool designed to measure the computational power of your system by calculating the mathematical constant Pi (π) to trillions of digits. It’s a multi-threaded application, leveraging the full capabilities of modern multi-core processors and large amounts of RAM. Y-Cruncher is often used by enthusiasts and overclockers to stress-test their systems, assess stability, and compare performance with other configurations. While it doesn’t directly measure gaming or 3D rendering performance, its focus on heavy computational tasks makes it a good indicator of a system’s raw number-crunching abilities, particularly for memory-intensive operations.

Available now from numberworld.org.

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AIDA64

AIDA64 memory benchmark is a feature of AIDA64, a system information and diagnostics software. It measures the bandwidth and latency of the CPU caches and the system memory by performing various read, write, copy, and latency tests. It uses different instruction set extensions and optimizations depending on the processor and memory type. Typically, you want to see higher read, write and copy figures, while lantecy as low as possible, as both of these will result in improved system performance and responsiveness.

Available now on AIDA64.

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Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure RPG set in the megalopolis of Night City, where you play as a cyberpunk mercenary wrapped up in a do-or-die fight for survival. Improved and featuring all-new free additional content, customize your character and playstyle as you take on jobs, build a reputation, and unlock upgrades. The relationships you forge and the choices you make will shape the story and the world around you. Legends are made here. What will yours be?

Available now on Steam.

F1 23

Be the last to brake in EA SPORTS F1 23, the official video game of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship. A new chapter in the thrilling “Braking Point” story mode delivers high-speed drama and heated rivalries.

Available now on Steam.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered

Developed by Insomniac Games in collaboration with Marvel, and optimized for PC by Nixxes Software, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on PC introduces an experienced Peter Parker who’s fighting big crime and iconic villains in Marvel’s New York. At the same time, he’s struggling to balance his chaotic personal life and career while the fate of Marvel’s New York rests upon his shoulders.

Available now on Steam.

The Riftbreaker

The Riftbreaker is a base-building, survival game with Action-RPG elements. You are an elite scientist/commando inside an advanced Mecha-Suit capable of dimensional rift travel. Hack & slash countless enemies. Build up your base, collect samples and research new inventions to survive.

Available now on Steam.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Experience Lara Croft’s defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara must master a deadly jungle, overcome terrifying tombs, and persevere through her darkest hour. As she races to save the world from a Maya apocalypse, Lara will ultimately be forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be.

Available now on Steam.

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In the fast-paced world of today, every second counts. That’s why we put each motherboard through its paces, measuring the time it takes to boot into Windows. A speedy boot time means less waiting and more doing. We’ve meticulously timed each motherboard’s startup process, from pressing the power button to reaching the Windows desktop. Obviously, the shorter the time here, the better!

Boot Time

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Power Consumption

Power consumption on motherboards is important because it affects the stability and performance of the system, especially when overclocking or using high-end components. The power consumption of a motherboard depends on its features, the type of voltage regulator, integrated chipsets and modules, and BIOS power-saving features. More extreme VRM designs and increased levels of connectivity on a motherboard are likely to result in higher power draw. Still, we want to test that no board draws unreasonable power levels for its respective class. Typically a lower power draw is ideal for most users, but is still expected to be higher on gaming boards vs budget ones, and higher still on overclocking-focused motherboards.

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VRM Performance

When it comes to testing VRM performance, there are multiple ways to do it including using the likes of HWiNFO to measure what the sensor tells you, or to use K-Type probes, or to get a better, well-rounded picture, you can use both, which is exactly what we’ve done here today.

All of these motherboards were tested in the same room with the same probe configuration with the ambient temperature controlled at 23c for consistency in the results. First, the VRM temperature was taken at idle, with one probe on the upper VRMs and one probe to the side of the CPU A third reading was taken using the built-in sensor on the motherboard via HwiNFO.

We then leave the system sitting on the desktop for 10 minutes to settle before taking our idle readings on both HWiNFO and the probes. After this, we wanted to simulate a worst-case scenario using Prime95 with small FFTs to generate the most heat, as well as Cinebench 2024 to simulate more common, real-world usage. We run each test for an hour, along with letting the temperatures to settle down between each test.

You will find that the software reading from the sensor will vary quite wildly in areas, and this is down to the sensor location for one, and if the sensor is reporting the internal temperature instead, which based on our testing and the sensor data generally reading higher, that is the case.

When we look at our table, we can see that every board did exceptionally well with nothing hitting over 70 degrees Celsius, with our highest result coming from the X870-I Gaming WiFi Mini-ITX board at Degrees on the sensor temperature, while our highest probe temperature was 68.8 Degrees from probe 1 on the same board during our Prime95 hour long run but as it is such a small board, that’s pretty much expected.

Given that VRMs (Voltage Regulator Modules) behave similarly to CPUs and GPUs regarding heat generation and dissipation, it’s crucial to manage their temperatures effectively. Operating temperatures above 100°C can lead to long-term damage or failure. Typically, a safe operating range for VRMs is between 70°C and 90°C, but this could result in CPU performance throttling to reduce the temperatures to safer levels. however, it’s best to keep them below 70°C for optimal performance and longevity. All the boards tested here fall within these safe ranges, so that’s a big thumbs up for their thermal management.

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How Much Does It Cost?

Keep in mind that the X870 chipset is the flagship chipset for the new motherboards, so all of these are regarded as high-end motherboards. However, there are of course more affordable X870 and more premium X870 motherboards in this launch, with the largest variance being increased VRM, which is paired with larger VRM cooling solutions, which increases the price. The number of M.2 mounts, USB ports, and networking, for example, will all increase the price too. This is why the cheapest board such as the Prime starts at around $249, while a flagship board such as the crosshair is $699, despite using the same chipset and AM5 socket. Unfortunately, we don’t have UK pricing for these boards at the time of writing but will update that with retail links as soon as they’re available sometime after we publish these reviews.

However, what we can see is how these prices have changed since the previous generation (X670) motherboards launched, and largely they’re all about the same, with the Prime coming in cheaper than before, and the ProArt a little more expensive, but overall, they’re all in a similar price bracket as before.

In the US, prices for the X670/X670E and X870/X870E versions of the motherboards are generally the same, with a few exceptions. The ASUS Prime X70-P WIFI shows a 16.72% lower price for the X870/X870E version, while the ASUS ProArt X70E-Creator WIFI is 7.88% more expensive for the X870/X870E version. The ASUS ROG STRIX X70-A Gaming WIFI has a 7.52% lower price for the X870/X870E version, and the ASUS TUF Gaming X70-Plus WIFI is 6.08% cheaper in its X870/X870E version.

However, we don’t have UK pricing for these boards at the moment, and we don’t have pricing for the MSI Carbon or the Gigabyte Aorus ICE, but again, we’ll update you with these as soon as possible once the NDA lifts.

If these are too expensive for you, there will be more affordable B-series motherboards coming, but we suspect these will be revealed at CES 2025 and launch in Q1 2025, if you can wait that long, if not, then the X-series boards are clearly some of the best options right now for those building an AMD focused build.

More X870 Motherboards

This is a major chipset launch for AMD, so there are dozens of new X870 motherboards hitting the market today. Of course, we’ve been very busy testing 9 of them for you, and they’re all linked below, so if the one in this review isn’t quite meeting your needs, there’s plenty more to choose from! Largely, all being the same chipset, with the same AMD 9950X CPU being used for our testing, we expect the majority of the benchmarks to be broadly the same, with perhaps small differences in some of them. Largely, the price and performance of each motherboard are dictated by the additional features. Such as more PCIe slots, more M.2 mounts in Gen3, Gen4, or Gen5, more high-speed USB ports, more cooling hardware, etc. Largely, we recommend buying a motherboard that meets your current component requirements, with a little overhead for future upgrades; a spare M.2 slot for example.

• ASUS Prime X870-P WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Hero Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ROG Strix X870-I Gaming WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS ROG STRIX X870E Gaming WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• ASUS TUF Gaming X870-Plus WIFI Motherboard [Review]
• Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WIFI7 ICE Motherboard [Review]
• MSI MPG X870E Carbon WIFI Motherboard [Review]

Conclusion

There’s a lot to love about the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WIFI Motherboard. Firstly, it’s a gorgeous motherboard, with a largely white and silver design it’s going to appeal to those who like a lighter-looking PC build. However, there are a lot of big heatsinks, a lot of armour, and a touch of RGB lighting too, so top marks all around for the design here.

The upgraded VRM hardware is going to benefit the more extreme CPUs, especially when it comes to long sessions of gaming or extensive video rendering that’ll put consistent strain on the motherboard and VRM, but that’s unlikely to be an issue here. Plus, all that power gives you plenty of headroom for any high TDP CPU, as well as a lot of overclocking potential.

ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WIFI Motherboard

The storage options are fantastic too, with two PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 mounts, as well as two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 mounts, giving you lots of fast storage and RAID combinations, and every drive mount comes with a massive heatsink to keep their performance running optimally.

Overall, there’s really nothing about this motherboard I don’t like, with features like AI Overclocking, AI Cooling, and AI Networking putting peak performance just a few clicks away, a feature-rich BIOS, fantastic audio hardware with SupremeFX, and lightening-fast networking thanks to 2.5GbE LAN and the latest WiFi 7 technology.