ASUS ROG STRIX X870-A GAMING WIFI Review – The Practical Motherboard, And Then Some

Unboxing

Here’s the ASUS ROG STRIX X870-A GAMING WIFI in its entirety – specifically, a standard motherboard packaging since we’re dealing with a relatively more mainstream option of ROG’s motherboard lineup. Worth noting that X870-A is the sister model of X870-F, the only difference being the color – A is the white version we have here, and F is the black version.

The accessories you get include the usual like Wi-Fi antenna, SATA cables, and M.2 installation packages (which uses the new Q-Latch and Q-Slide as seen in the ROG Crosshair X870E Hero), along with some zip ties for cable management, and some ROG-themed cosmetic items like the key ring and the sticker pack.

Walkaround

The bottom half of the motherboard is now mostly covered in a huge chunk of heatsink, with several SSD slots hiding underneath (along with the chipset), and unlike its predecessor (the ROG STRIX X670E-A), the motherboard is covered entirely in white, with light gray colors on the rear.

One easter egg on this motherboard is the Morse Code located at the bottom of the SSD heatsink. The code ..-. — .-. / – …. — … . / .– …. — / -.. .- .-. . reads “For Those Who Dare”, which is ROG’s tagline.

Above are all the heatsinks laid out in their corresponding positions – the VRM heatsink uses a two-piece design that typically meant top section tend to run hotter due to a smaller surface area to dissipate heat. Like the X870E Hero, the USB4 controller gets a dedicated heatsink with thermal pad pre-applied, though it’s tucked right under the left VRM heatsink and likely won’t get in contact with case airflow.

As with most motherboards today, the primary SSD heatsink is plenty huge, while the secondary heatsink is shared across three slots, one of them supporting PCIe 5.0 signaling as well. More interestingly, the left VRM heatsink is also covered in a plastic cover with RGB lighting attached (which can be removed if you know which screw to look for), and that meant airflow will certainly be blocked from reaching the heatsinks directly.

For I/O, the ROG STRIX X870-A feature a decent array of USB ports, including a pair of USB4 ports compatible with Thunderbolt devices. 9 USB-A ports and 3 USB-C ports in total (not counting the front panel ones) should be plenty even for the complex setups, such as flight or racing simulators.

Like most ROG motherboards, the sole RGB lighting available onboard is located on the top left, covering the left VRM heatsink. Lighting can be configured through Armoury Crate app or other compatible software.

Specifications

ASUS ROG STRIX X870-A GAMING WIFI

Full specifications available on product page.

CPU Support	Socket AM5 (AMD Ryzen 7000, 8000, 9000 Series)
Form Factor	ATX (12 x 9.6 in / 305 x 244 mm)
Chipset	AMD X870 (Promontory 21)
Power & VRM	2x EPS 8-pin 16+2+2 stage (Vcore+SoC+MISC) Vcore MOSFETs: MPS MP87691 (90A per powerstage) SoC MOSFETs: MPS MP87691 (90A per powerstage) MISC MOSFETs: Vishay SiC629 (80A per powerstage) PWM Controller: ASUS DIGI+ EPU ASP2206
Memory	4-slot, single-sided latch Max. 256GB DDR5-5600 unbuffered Overclocking support up to DDR5-8000+
PCIe Expansion Slots	1x PCIe 5.0 x16 (CPU) 1x PCIe 4.0 x16 (Chipset, x4 mode)
Storage	2x SATA 6Gb/s 4x M.2 slots: – 1x PCIe 5.0 x4 (CPU), M.2 2280/2260/2242 – 1x PCIe 5.0 x4 (CPU), M.2 22110/2280 – 1x PCIe 4.0 x4 (Chipset), M.2 2280 – 1x PCIe 4.0 x4 (Chipset), M.2 2280
Networking	MediaTek MT7925B22M (AMD RZ717) Wi-Fi 7 module (M.2 2230) Bluetooth 5.4 Intel I226-V 2.5GbE LAN
USB Outputs	Rear: 2x USB4 40Gbps 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type-C (30W fast charging) 5x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type-A 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-A Front (headers): 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps) (30W fast charging) 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) (splitting to 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1) 2x USB 2.0 (splitting to 4x USB 2.0)
Onboard Display	1x HDMI 2.1 TMDS @ 4K 60Hz 1x DisplayPort 1.4 @ 8K 30Hz 2x USB4 (DisplayPort 1.4a @ 4K 60Hz)
Audio	Realtek ALC4080 codec 120dB output SNR, 110dB input SNR 32-bit/384kHz playback support
Peripheral Headers	Fan and Cooling 1x 4-pin CPU Fan header 1x 4-pin CPU OPT Fan header 1x 4-pin AIO Pump header 5x 4-pin Chassis Fan headers Miscellaneous 3x Addressable Gen 2 headers 1x Alteration PCIe mode switch 1x Chassis Intrusion header 1x CPU Over voltage jumper 1x Front Panel Audio header (F_AUDIO) 1x Start button 1x 10-1 pin System Panel header 1x Thermal Sensor header
Accessories	Cables 2 x SATA 6Gb/s cables Miscellaneous 1 x ASUS WiFi Q-Antenna 1 x Cable ties package 1 x M.2 Q-Latch package 1 x M.2 Q-Slide package 1 x ROG key chain 1 x ROG Strix stickers 4 x M.2 rubber packages Documentation 1 x Quick start guide

Test System

CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
Cooling	Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux 30th Anniversary Edition Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Motherboard	> ASUS ROG STRIX X870-A GAMING WIFI
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5-6000 CL28 (2x16GB)
Storage	ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX 1TB
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 1250 V2 Full Modular (ATX12V 2.52) 1250W
Case	VECTOR Bench Case (Open-air chassis)
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 24H2

Teardown

VRM

In terms of the VRM, the ROG STRIX X870-A features a fairly beefy VRM configuration, retaining the same 16+2+2 stage setup inherited from its predecessor while upping the MOSFETs to 90A each. That’s plenty to comfortably supply all the power a top AMD processor like the Ryzen 9 9950X3D would require, and a more powerful MOSFET on paper should mean a more efficient one as it produces less heat for the same load, which should be a good sign for thermals.

Storage & Expansion

While this is a full-size ATX motherboard, storage and expansion options are relatively conservative for its size – you only get two PCIe slots (both full length), so if you have any add-in cards to add aside from GPU, do consider this limitation. For SSDs, you get four slots – two PCIe 5.0, and another two PCIe 4.0, which should be plenty for storage-heavy setups; that said, this motherboard only get two SATA ports if you need to use HDDs or SATA SSDs for your rig.

LAN & Wi-Fi

For connectivity, the LAN controller is the bog standard Intel I-226V seen in plenty of modern-day motherboards, while the Wi-Fi chip comes courtesy of MediaTek’s MT7925B22M, also branded as AMD RZ717 (a commonality among AMD motherboards). This gives the motherboard Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support.

I/O

For USB, the ROG STRIX X870-A employs ASMedia controllers for USB4 and USB 3.2 10Gbps outputs, while the slower USB 3.2 5Gbps outputs are handled by Realtek’s controller (which applies to both rear I/O and front header). As this is the X870 non-E motherboard, only one Promontory 21 chipset is found on the board, instead of two for the E-suffixed models.

Audio

The audio department is managed by Realtek ALC4080 codec hidden under the SupremeFX cover, another common occurrence in high-end motherboards; the filtering capacitors provide up to 120dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for outputs, while input SNR is a solid 110dB. As with new motherboards this generation, onboard audio I/O now jettisons rear and sub channel outputs, leaving only line in, mic out, and S/PDIF out.

Other Features

The ROG STRIX X870-A gets quite a few creature comforts trickled down from the flagship – notably, the SSDs get the new Q-Slide and Q-Latch system that provides tool-less installations; meanwhile, PCIe slot latch is now miniaturized into the new Q-Release Slim form factor that allows the GPU to be released by lifting the card at an angle. There’s also a Start button located at the bottom of the motherboard, which can be useful if you’re doing quick diagnostics.

System indicators is a simple four-LED setup in the form of Q-LED (a Q-Code would’ve been nice), and next to it is a new addition – fan header covers to guard against accidental dings. This only applies to the three headers on top (CPU, AIO, CPU_OPT headers), and I’d argue that it’s the ARGB headers that’s more vulnerable to accidental bends and damages, which definitely could work with a header cover.

Thermals

Putting the motherboard through a 10-minute full-power stress test, the VRM temperatures hit into mid-70s by the end of the 10th minute, with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (PBO active) pulling sustained 246W throughout the test. Given that this is done in an open-air, passive-cooling configuration – the VRM heatsink being blocked by the LED didn’t help – it’s not too bad all things considered. Introduce some airflow and the temperatures should noticeably drop, so it’ll do fine in PC cases even if the air may be recycled from GPU’s heat to some extent.

BIOS & Software

The BIOS menu is all the usual with some minor upgrades, as seen on the X870E Hero: high resolution interface, additional hotkeys, Q-Dashboard, user profiles, and more. Above are some of the screenshots taken on the motherboard BIOS.

Recently, ASUS updated the Armoury Crate software to a new major version, which brought a new interface on the home page, though most settings page retain the old interface as before. One interesting feature is the Direction Finder under the Q-Antenna tab, which provides an interactive menu to align the antenna for best signal reception. Additionally, the motherboard also offers several AI tuning features, including AI Overclocking, AI Cooling II, and AI Networking II to easily maximize performance as needed.

Verdict

The ASUS ROG STRIX X870-A GAMING WIFI is, in general, a well-rounded motherboard on the more premium side of things – I/O are aplenty, expansion options are great, and some creature comforts sprinkled on top makes this a pretty great motherboard to have if you’re looking to build a fully decked-out PC at a solid price tag. Aside from minor complaints like the lack of Q-Code (honestly, all ROG motherboards should have it by this point), I haven’t find much things to pick on this motherboard.

Moreover, the new visual update greatly improves the look with an all-white PCB instead of the white heatsink, black PCB combination in the predecessor. For those looking to build all-white PCs, this motherboard will fit right into that with some style points as a bonus.

The price you’re looking for is RM2,290 currently, which is pretty solid considering the VRM capabilities and all the things you get for the price. Our verdict should also apply to the X870-F counterpart, which is the same model but in black color – regardless of which color you pick, it’s a great motherboard to have if you’re looking to build a high-end AMD-based system.

Special thanks to ASUS Malaysia for providing the ROG STRIX X870-A GAMING WIFI motherboard for this review.