Review ASRock B850I Lightning WiFi Review: Well-rounded $210 mini-ITX, but no USB4

[Admin]

ASRock’s B850I Lightning WiFi is a solid all-around Mini-ITX option for AMD’s latest and greatest. At about $200, you won’t get the fastest Wi-Fi or USB ports, but it is the least expensive B850-based Mini-ITX solution.

ASRock B850I Lightning WiFi Review: Well-rounded $210 mini-ITX, but no USB4 : Read more

 

[lmcnabney]

Your purchase links go to the A620I.

Also, if it was mATX it would be a $140 board. That's a 50% premium for a small board that still only has 7 layers.

 

[logainofhades]

None of those cons are cons to me, really. If I were to rebuild in one of my ITX cases, this would be on my list of boards to consider.

 

[HideOut]

While it sucks to have an older audio codec, the 1220 isnt horrible. Its far better than the 8xx crap some boards come with.

 

[qwertymac93]

It blows my mind that over $200 is considered "budget" now.

 

[cp0x]

[td]

DIMM Slots​

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[td]

(4) DDR5-8200+(OC), 256GB Capacity​

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Sure looks like only 2 slots to me 🤷‍♂️

 

[Notton]

IMO, in some ways, socket 754 was way ahead of it's time.
AM5 mobos need to work with a 16-core, potentially even a 24 to 32-core down the line, and the VRMs are complete overkill for an 6 or 8-core.
Extra VRMs aren't free and neither is the space they occupy on an already cramped board.

Minisforum's BD795i / BD795M approach to this is better from a budget and I'm never going to upgrade the CPU or mobo perspective. All it really needs to be perfect is a mobile 8-core X3D chip with an iGPU and faster DDR5.

Instead, we get these so-called "budget" mITX mobos that have outlived their usefulness.

 

[Amdlova]

Got my asrock h670 for 105usd... Amd boards are overpriced junk

 

[Mopar_63]

I think sometimes, with a gaming ITX board, to much emphasis is put in the wrong places.

The B850I looks to be a great gaming board and at current prices easily the best option. Losing Wifi7 might matter if you spend all your time with large data transfers but for day to day use and gaming Wifi6 does a wonderful job. I see at the other end of my house connections speeds to 600mb and latency of around 20ms for internet connectivity which is more than enough for a great gaming, or everyday use experience. Adding Wifi 7 might add more bandwidth but except for downloading the games it does not really matter.

For audio, the AC1220 might not be the most current but it is a SOLID choice. If you need better audio, you're always better off going with a USB AMP/DAC instead of a newer motherboard codec.

Lack of USB 4? Again, who cares, the only time the high-speed USB comes into play is if you're using an external storage device. Even with a simple USB C I can max out an external SSD, no need for USB 4 yet. Speaking of that this board takes dings for having 4 USB 2.0 connections. However again, as a gamer this will not harm you. Keyboard, Mouse, AMP/DAC and Camera all work fine on USB 2.0 gaining nothing from the higher speed connections.

I do hate that we think of a $200 board as a budget option but if you're building a SFF Gaming rig this board is the best choice on the market of current generation boards.

 

[ocer9999]

It blows my mind that over $200 is considered "budget" now.

I think at this point is just the new normal and I dont even think companies are making much money, it's the cost of things gone up so much the last 4 years..
But I agree I don't think USB 4.0 is relevant for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't say the B850i is a no go because of that..

 

[2Be_or_Not2Be]

ASRock's Phantom Gaming mITX boards were usually ones that had the latest technology parts integrated onto the small mITX format, at a slightly cheaper price versus ones from MSI/Asus. It's why I usually purchased their boards. So now they've put the PG branding on this board, but without the associated latest-tech components (USB4, WiFi7, etc.). That, to me, is a bit of letdown for this series. So while I usually considered all of the latest from each board maker, now they lose a bit in comparison.

Perhaps they'll release a "fully-loaded" mITX board with the PG moniker & the 870 chipset.