Introduction

With few small form factor PC owners concerned about overclocking, B-series chipsets for both Intel and AMD have been the preferred options when it comes to Mini-ITX motherboard choices, especially as the extra engineering required to fit everything onto undoubtedly drool-worthy more premium models unfortunately sees price tags that are simply out of reach for many. The ASRock Phantom Gaming B860I Lightning Wi-Fi aims to offer a comfortable home for an Intel Core Ultra Arrow Lake processor, and with a price of just over $220, it's fairly reasonable too.

Mini-ITX has additional demands over its larger counterparts, though, and there are plenty of potential areas of potential failure, from AIO liquid cooler support, layout, VRM cooling or M.2 cooling. Any of these being implemented poorly could mean the board becomes difficult to deal with in the tight confines of a small form factor PC. Thankfully ASRock is an old hand at creating Mini-ITX motherboards now so it will be interesting to see its take on an ITX Intel B860 motherboard.



ASRock has three LGA1851 Mini-ITX options, which is more than any other manufacturer, with the Phantom Gaming B860I Lightning Wi-Fi sitting in the middle at around $220, a cheaper model with various cut backs at $160, and full fat Phantom Gaming Z890I Nova Wi-Fi for $290. The Phantom Gaming B860I Lightning Wi-Fi seems to be more similar to the Z890 model both in terms of features and aesthetics. However, both ASUS and Gigabyte alternatives are the same price, and Gigabyte's B860I AORUS PRO ICE sports a dashing white color scheme too.

Specifications