ASUS TUF GAMING B850M-PLUS WIFI Review – Solid Upgrades

AMD has just unveiled its new B850 chipset for the new batch of Socket AM5 motherboards, which is a direct successor of the B650(E) series that represented the bulk of AM5-powered systems (and jettisoned the ‘E’ sub-variant that wasn’t performing well commercially). Here is our detailed look at the new entry from ASUS: the TUF GAMING B850M-PLUS WIFI motherboard.

Unboxing

As far as packaging goes, the B850M-PLUS is bog-standard. Opening the box reveals the uppermost section that houses the Wi-Fi antenna; flip the layer open and you’ll see the motherboard packed inside an ESD package. The remaining accessories sits under it, and the following is what you’ll be getting.

You get very little accessories for this motherboard – aside from the Wi-Fi Q-Antenna we just mentioned, you get just a pair of SATA cables, a bunch of M.2 rubbers, and a spare SSD screw set (not even the Q-Latch that comes pre-installed on the motherboard). You also get the TUF-branded sticker pack for cosmetics.

Walkaround

Design-wise, there are some changes made to the heatsinks. Gone is the tile-like VRM heatsink and in comes the straight lines that is visually less chaotic than the predecessor. That aside, there are some key upgrades: you lose one PCIe slot in exchange for one more SSD slot, and the CPU now gets full 8+8-pin EPS power that, on paper, should provide enough juice to the flagship Ryzen CPUs to flex their muscles.

There are a total of five heatsinks, with two responsible for VRM, another two for SSDs, and one exclusively for the B850 chipset. As seen here, there are three SSD slots available, with the larger heatsink covering two SSDs. It’s worth noting that none of the SSD heatsinks feature tool-less mechanisms, so you’ll need a screwdriver to get SSD installed; the silver lining is that all screws on the heatsinks are of the captive type, so you don’t end up dropping screws into awkward gaps during installation.

In terms of I/O, the B850M-PLUS gained four more USB ports, and while AMD didn’t specify mandatory USB4 support for B850 chipsets, I do think it can do with one such port available. I’d personally be happy to trade a USB port or two for a faster one, especially given that most mid-range Intel-based systems has featured Thunderbolt ports for many years by now.

Specifications

ASUS TUF GAMING B850M-PLUS WIFI

CPU Support	Socket AM5 (AMD Ryzen 7000, 8000, 9000 Series)
Form Factor	micro-ATX (9.6 x 9.6 in / 244 x 244 mm)
Chipset	AMD B850 (Promontory 21)
Power & VRM	2x EPS 8-pin 14+2+1 stage (Vcore+SA+GT) MOSFETs: Alpha & Omega Semiconductor AOZ53071QI (80A per powerstage) PWM Controller: ASUS DIGI+ EPU ASP2308GQW
Memory	4-slot Max. 192GB DDR5-5600 unbuffered Overclocking support up to DDR5-8000+
PCIe Expansion Slots	1x PCIe 5.0 x16 (CPU) 1x PCIe 4.0 x1 (PCH)
Storage	4x SATA 6Gb/s 3x M.2 slots: – 1x PCIe 5.0 x4 (CPU), M.2 2280 – 1x PCIe 4.0 x4 (CPU), M.2 2280/2260/2242 – 1x PCIe 4.0 x4 (PCH), M.2 2280
Networking	MediaTek MT7922 (AMD RZ616) Wi-Fi 6E module (M.2 2230) Bluetooth 5.3 Realtek RTL8125D 2.5GbE LAN
USB Outputs	Rear: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps) Type-C 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type-A 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-A 4x USB 2.0 Type-A Front (headers): 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) with 15W (5V/3A) PD 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) (splitting to 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1) 2x USB 2.0 (splitting to 3x USB 2.0)
Onboard Display	1x HDMI 2.1 TMDS @ 4K 60Hz 2x Thunderbolt 4 (DisplayPort 2.1 UHBR20 @ 4K 120Hz / 8K 60Hz)
Audio	Realtek ALC1220P codec 120dB output SNR, 113dB input SNR 32-bit/192kHz 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 3x 4-pin Chassis Fan headers Miscellaneous 3x Addressable Gen 2 headers 1x Clear CMOS header 1x Chassis Intrusion header 1x COM Port header 1x Front Panel Audio header (F_AUDIO) 1x 10-1 pin Front Panel System header
Accessories	Cables 2x SATA 6Gb/s cables  Miscellaneous 1x ASUS WiFi Q-Antenna 1x TUF GAMING sticker 2x M.2 rubber packages 1x Screw package for M.2 SSD Documentation 1x Quick start guide

Test System

CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
Cooling	Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux 30th Anniversary Edition Polartherm X-10
Motherboard	> ASUS TUF GAMING B850M-PLUS WIFI
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5-6400 CL32 (2x16GB)
Storage	ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX 1TB
Power Supply	GameMax Rampage GX-1050 PRO (ATX 3.1) 1050W
Case	VECTOR Bench Case (Open-air chassis)
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 24H2

Teardown

VRM

ASUS has given the new TUF B850M-PLUS WIFI a much beefier VRM to work with, in this case a 14+2+1 stage that all features the same Alpha & Omega Semiconductor (AOS) 80A powerstage across the board. That’s way more than the 60A 12+2+2-stage found on the B650 – besides that, the upgrade to two full 8-pin EPS connectors over 4+8 layout is a clear indicator of the upgraded power delivery system to feed the more powerful Ryzen CPUs.

Storage & Expansion

In terms of storage and expansion, the B850 has ditched one full-length PCIe slot in exchange for an additional M.2 slot, which is a welcomed change. Only the second slot accommodate sizes outside of the M.2 2280 standard, while the third slot is the only one connected via the B850 chipset.

You only have a single PCIe 4.0 x1 connection for any specialty devices (i.e. sound cards or capture cards), and that can limit your options. For example, you can’t use Elgato’s 4K60 PRO capture card, since it uses the x4 connector. ASUS has opted to enable PCIe 5.0 signaling for both GPU and SSD, the former of which is technically an optional spec under AMD’s guidelines for this chipset.

LAN & Wi-Fi

For networking components, the TUF B850-PLUS WIFI opted for Realtek’s RTL8125D controller for the 2.5GbE LAN port, while the Wi-Fi chip is the MediaTek MT7922 Wi-Fi 6E that is also rebranded as AMD RZ616. Not entirely sure why Wi-Fi 7 is absent here – perhaps cost-saving? In any case, the antennas do use the new screwless Q-Antenna design that plugs directly into the coaxial connectors.

I/O

The only bare chip we could find designated as USB or other I/O duty is the one ASMedia chip shown above; the rest are likely integrated into the chipset and CPU, negating the need for discrete controllers (that also likely explains the four more USB ports found on rear I/O, since the chip was located nearby). For front panel, you have a pair of USB 2.0 headers (2+1), plus USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) and Gen 2 (10Gbps) headers for compatible cases.

Audio

All the audio circuitry are located at the very edge of this motherboard, and hidden under this TUF logo is the Realtek ALC1220P codec that is commonly found in other mainstream motherboards on the market. Perfectly capable on paper, with high SNRs (signal-to-noise ratio) in both directions and high-res audio support.

Other Features

Like the ROG Crosshair X870E HERO and ROG Maximus Z890 HERO motherboards we reviewed before, the TUF B850M-PLUS is equipped with the new M.2 Q-Latch for tool-less installations; though M.2 Q-Slide is not present here. Meanwhile, the PCIe Q-Release is another new addition to this motherboard, using the lift-open mechanism that slightly differs in terms of implementation compared to previous ROG motherboards.

Besides that, you also get two uncommon headers – one is a BIOS header undocumented in the user’s manual, and our guess based on the information available indicates that this might be for diagnostic use only, not for normal use. There’s also the chassis intrusion header sitting right below the PCIe slot, the function of which is mostly redundant on DIY systems.

Thermals

The VRM stress test with the most powerful Ryzen CPU available today shows us the motherboard has no issues feeding the power needed for the Ryzen 9 9950X, as the CPU is limited by its own temperature (at 95°C max). However, it seems like the sensors wasn’t reporting the correct values – so we also included the values from our IR thermometer for reference. In any case, this represents the worst-case scenario with no airflow, and it looks like the TUF B850M-PLUS WIFI managed to pass this test perfectly.

BIOS & Software

The BIOS menu retains the same look as before, though for this iteration there’s high-resolution support for less blurry texts. In our case, we have to specifically turn on the “Full HD Setup” setting to enable 1920×1200 resolution (not sure why it’s 16:10 though), but enabling this will make navigating through menus slightly slower due to longer render times on the menu graphics. Some of the newer features designed for new Ryzen systems include EXPO on-the-fly mode, Turbo Game Mode, and PBO Enhancement are also present here.

You also get a convenient Q-Dashboard feature that display all the available connections and their activity, useful to diagnose any loose or broken connections. For some reason, activating Full HD Setup for the standard BIOS doesn’t convert this screen to FHD resolution, and instead it sticks to the default 1024×768 resolution.

Launching into Windows, most functions will then be handed to Armoury Crate, which can be used to monitor system metrics and configure ARGB settings (the motherboard itself has no lighting, however). Like the new ROG models, you have the option in BIOS to enable ASUS DriverHub – but this is mostly redundant as the software simply takes you to the website to search for relevant driver updates (which you can do by just heading to the product page manually anyway).

Verdict

At RM1,279, the ASUS TUF GAMING B850M-PLUS WIFI motherboard offers good value and good upgrades over its predecessor, with the VRM upgrade in particular opening up the upgrade path to high-power CPUs if more performance is ever needed. It’s still got some aspects that can be further improved in the next iteration, but for today, it’s decently good as a starting point for new AM5-powered mid-range PC.

Special thanks to ASUS Malaysia for providing the TUF GAMING B850M-PLUS WIFI motherboard for this review.