The Biostar Racing X470GTN is a lot of motherboard in a tiny package. Biostar has done an excellent job of engineering a board that will fit into a small form factor build from any angle. The only thing smaller than the Biostar Racing X470GTN Mini-ITX is its price. The board packs a lot of performance and all the features you would expect from a full-size X470 board. The Biostar Racing X470GTN is not without its drawbacks and compromises, however.

First, let's talk about the concessions Biostar made when translating the X470 chipset down to the Mini-ITX form factor. Unlike its full-size competitors, the Biostar Racing X470GTN has just one M.2 slot, and that slot is on the back of the board, where it will be inaccessible once the system is fully assembled. The SATA ports suffer here as well, though four ports will be plenty for most potential buyers, especially in a smaller build. There are only two DIMM slots on the Biostar Racing X470GTN, which limits RAM expandability. Fan headers are also limited to just two and are at the top of the board.

Some features are missing or are poorly implemented even though their poor implementation is not due to any space constraints. The weird and unwieldy voltage controls are the most prominent of these. The loud default fan curves are another, though that could qualify as a nitpick.

What the Biostar Racing X470GTN did not compromise on is performance. The board matched the clocks of the full-size ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate and surpassed the ASRock AB350M Pro4 while being physically smaller than both. The "Out-of-box" performance of the Biostar Racing X470GTN was quite good as well, keeping pace with its full-size counterparts. The rear I/O also has everything you would expect from a full ATX board, including a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port and S/PDIF Out port. The RGB, while not the best I have seen, is respectable and offers good expandability.

The bottom line is that the Biostar Racing X470GTN is a dangerously competitive board at a very affordable price. If you are looking for a new AM4 motherboard, you should take a good and hard look at the Biostar Racing X470GTN.