ASRock Phantom Gaming B850I Lightning Wi-Fi

[Combatus]

The ASRock Phantom B850I Lightning is a good choice if you want a Mini-ITX board for around $200. Compared to most of its B650 predecessors it has two additional power phases. In our testing it handled a 16-core Ryzen CPU just fine, making it a good value choice for any compact AMD system.

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[Dimitriman]

Very nice review thank you. I was thinking of including this board in a friend's build, but I am more inclined now to go for an Asus ROG B650E-i instead due to the better component cooling overall and goes for similar price here in EU.

 

[Pepamami]

wow Renesas, not some boring Vishay from Asus, and less expensive than Asus. thats Illegal.

wow, and Ez to access Wifi module, that I can replace with a secondary 2.5Gb ethernet, if I want too.

wow, they even highlighted 2 USB ports sourced from 2 diff places (CPU and SB). And I don't have to go thru mental gymnastics in order to figure out which usb sourced from where. Prob few clicks in HWINFO.

wow, no ugly "pro extra deluxe RGB branding", this motherboard should be banned. I think I will get this one for my next build.

 

[Mrgravia]

Had this one on my wishlist after the even more inexpensive B620i appears to be MIA everywhere these days.

Still quite pricey if one is out for an APU only build, like say for a small office or dorm computer. That M-ITX premium is a real pain.

Still, looks like the best current board gen offering for those on an mitx budget.

 

[Jtuck9]

Compared to some of the ASRock Intel ITX boards (Z760 Z790) it really does look like AMD got the short end of the stick

 

[phints]

Nice review and well priced motherboard. My Asrock B550 Phantom ITX has been trouble free for over 4 years, next small build I do will probably go with something like this and a 9900X.

Two comments for TPU:
-Please include boot times, since this can vary a lot between boards, especially on DDR5.
-M.2 SSD temps seems moot because the 990 Pro offers its own heatsink, just use that.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

In table with specifications on first page I catch this: "4x DIMM, Support up to 256 GB"

 

[lukart]

Nice review and well priced motherboard. My Asrock B550 Phantom ITX has been trouble free for over 4 years, next small build I do will probably go with something like this and a 9900X.

Two comments for TPU:
-Please include boot times, since this can vary a lot between boards, especially on DDR5.
-M.2 SSD temps seems moot because the 990 Pro offers its own heatsink, just use that.

Same here! Their ITX products are solid. Funny enough even overclocks well, but I don't think many will overclock their ITX air flow constrained build, just me

 

[_roman_]

Nice mainboard. I like the thermistor couple.

--

Are boot times really an issue? I would prefer to see only POST times.

I really do not care how long a crappy windows with a crappy windows bootloader on some drive needs. POST time is universal for any operating system.
Windows 11 pro 24h2 has a much longer boot time here with autologon without wifi autoconnect and without ethernet in comparison with other operating systems.

 

[Shou Miko]

In table with specifications on first page I catch this: "4x DIMM, Support up to 256 GB"

I wass like yes finally a ITX board with 4 dimm slots and Asrock made some kind of klanky wanky adapter

 

[aktpu]

I wass like yes finally a ITX board with 4 dimm slots

Well, back in the day Asrock made X299E-ITX, so if anyone is going to do it, it'll be Asrock

 

[Shou Miko]

Well, back in the day Asrock made X299E-ITX, so if anyone is going to do it, it'll be Asrock

Agreed they have made one that's wider than ITX without a chipset using what the cpu can provide that's their "X600" board from the DeskMeet X600 series.

Spoiler: Asrock DeskMeet X600-ITX Mobo

Source: https://www.asrock.com/Nettop/AMD/DeskMeet X600 Series/index.asp

 

[Caring1]

Failed to cool a Gen 5 SSD adequately because an AIO was used and not a top down cooler

 

[Jtuck9]

Failed to cool a Gen 5 SSD adequately because an AIO was used and not a top down cooler

That's what puts me off something like the b850-i from ASUS. Especially considering the rear port...

 

[Mothertrucker19]

Well, with the USB-C port, you can drive 3 displays from that port alone, so there is no need for a discrete GPU.

 

[Mrgravia]

Agreed they have made one that's wider than ITX without a chipset using what the cpu can provide that's their "X600" board from the DeskMeet X600 series.

Spoiler: Asrock DeskMeet X600-ITX Mobo

Source: https://www.asrock.com/Nettop/AMD/DeskMeet X600 Series/index.asp

I really wish the only US sold option for that wasn't the Deskmeet x600. There are also the Deskmate, Deskmix, and Deskmax versions in Asia with various case and cooling differences. I think you can also buy the Mix and max cases by themselves, but that's an extra $50 + import fees and shipping.

As far as I'm aware, no one makes a 3d printable replacement case like those that exist for the Deskmini x300 and x600.

 

[kapone32]

Why does no one ever mention that all As Rock boards support 120hz on the HDMI and DP ports? That makes a huge difference in experience if you have a monitor or TV that supports it.

 

[_roman_]

Failed to cool a Gen 5 SSD adequately because an AIO was used and not a top down cooler

I highly doubt my X670 mainboard will ever see a PCIE 5 nvme.

THE KC3000 2TB which I have is still on the first spots in any review I saw. And it is not pice 5.0, it is pcie 4.0. SAMSUNG, micron is not able to do that with pcie 4.0
I want to see really big difference in daily scenario with pcie 5.0 with less heat than my KC3000 2 TB drive. Of course with less power consumption with at least the same or higher amount of DRAM cache on the nvme. With less power consumption not only in average, but for any given scenario: peak consumption, idle, and so on

It's nice to see USB 4 and pcie 5.0 nvme adapted to certain devices. This may drive down the prices for certain devices in several years hopefully.

Well, with the USB-C port, you can drive 3 displays from that port alone, so there is no need for a discrete GPU.

did you mean USB 4 or thunderbolt?

My smartphone has usb-c mechancially but electrically usb 2 protocol. some mainboards have usb 3 (whatever) ports with mechanically usb-c

 

[Shou Miko]

I really wish the only US sold option for that wasn't the Deskmeet x600. There are also the Deskmate, Deskmix, and Deskmax versions in Asia with various case and cooling differences. I think you can also buy the Mix and max cases by themselves, but that's an extra $50 + import fees and shipping.

As far as I'm aware, no one makes a 3d printable replacement case like those that exist for the Deskmini x300 and x600.

I have only heard of the Deskmeet and Deskmini not mix or max but interresting looks to be "China" only models or something

Spoiler: Asrock DeskMax and Deskmix

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1cnm3pk

I have been thinking about using the Deskmeet X600 as my server with a APU or something in it but the price of about £220 keeps me off.

 

[Mothertrucker19]

did you mean USB 4 or thunderbolt?

My smartphone has usb-c mechancially but electrically usb 2 protocol. some mainboards have usb 3 (whatever) ports with mechanically usb-c

No.
It's a USB-C port with DP-alt mode. So it has DisplayPort capabilities and can use awesome features such as MST. So, if you want to run more than 3 displays from it, you can do it without a discrete GPU.

 

[ErikG]

4x DIMM, Support up to 256 GB?

 

[Shou Miko]

4x DIMM, Support up to 256 GB?

Do I need to say more @ErikG ?

I wass like yes finally a ITX board with 4 dimm slots and Asrock made some kind of klanky wanky adapter

 

[mechtech]

"1x Intel Killer E3100G 2.5 Gbps Ethernet"

That's not based on the intel chip that had all the issues is it??

 

[Shou Miko]

"1x Intel Killer E3100G 2.5 Gbps Ethernet"

That's not based on the intel chip that had all the issues is it??

Intel acquired the Killer company so I guess it would make the driver support almost as good as Intel.

Source: https://www.techradar.com/news/intel-has-acquired-the-company-behind-killer-wi-fi-cards

I can't say because I use a Realtek 2.5G nic on my gamer and I do not really have any issues with networking.

 

[Mrgravia]

I have only heard of the Deskmeet and Deskmini not mix or max but interresting looks to be "China" only models or something

Spoiler: Asrock DeskMax and Deskmix

View attachment 383994
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1cnm3pk

I have been thinking about using the Deskmeet X600 as my server with a APU or something in it but the price of about £220 keeps me off.

Yeah, they are, much like the deskmate x600, Asia only. You can get them on Superbuy though, but beware the import shipping costs.

the deskmeet is a bit of a hotbox, but with even entry level b850i boards being $199, 220 for case, motherboard and psu isn’t that bad. The deskmini for 179/189 is an absolute steal these days for an APU rig.