ASUS ROG Strix X870-I Gaming WiFi Motherboard Socket AM5 (AMD, X870, Mini-ITX, 10+2+1 Power Stages, Dynamic OC Switcher, Core Flex, DDR5, WiFi 7, M.2, PCIe 5.0)

I installed the ATX Strix X870E-E into my Lian Li O11 EVO XL and appreciated how its beefy VRM heatsinks and reinforced PCIe slots cleared the chassis rails without fuss. The matte black finish and subtle ROG accents felt durable, and neatly labelled headers made cable management straightforward.In the UEFI BIOS I enabled the AMEP profile for my DDR5-6400 kit, only to find occasional instability at full speed. Dialling the memory down to 6000 MHz delivered rock-solid operation without any further tweaking. I also fine-tuned fan curves through Q-Fan—the stock pump profile was a bit loud at idle, but adjusting it took only a few clicks.Power delivery never wavered under my Ryzen 9 9950X3D. During extended Cinebench runs and gaming sessions, temperatures remained in check and there was no sign of thermal throttling or voltage droop. The primary M.2 slot consistently hit full PCIe 5.0 speeds, while secondary M.2 and SATA ports shared lanes exactly as documented.Networking impressed: onboard Wi-Fi 7 held a rock-solid link across my house, delivering lower latency and smoother multi-device performance than earlier standards. The 2.5 GbE LAN port pushed full throughput on my home switch, and front-panel USB-C plus three USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 ports covered all my high-speed peripherals without complaint.My only quibbles are the premium price tag and occasional lag when navigating deep BIOS menus. Armoury Crate still loads more background services than I’d prefer, so I pared it back to essentials after setup. Overall, in my roomy O11 EVO XL, the Strix X870E-E delivers stable performance, extensive connectivity, and Wi-Fi 7 an excellent base for a high-end 9950X3D build.

This whole platform is very powerful and is a great match for the Ryzen 9 7950X3DIn it's entirety, This Motherboard is a Feature Packed Platform with many Top spec technologies. It has been rock solid in its primary role as part of a home Compute cluster, (part-time gaming rig ;) running demanding compute workloads (VMs/Pods/containers) almost 24/7.One part where I feel that maybe a few pcie lanes could have been sacrificed would have been with native 10G LAN, but with that said the actual Intel I255-v 2.5G Ethernet is still more than good, plus with the option to use USB4/Thunderbolt/Plugin USB 10G NIC or a PCIE slot it provides a lot of flexibility options.Asus have done a solid job on the actual build quality itself, one key aspect are the heatsinks for the Gen5 NVMe slots, these are substantial/Beefy heatsinks and will actually function well as opposed to only being there as just part of the Aesthetics. The same for the VRMs Beefy heatsinks to help with any power demands you throw at this board.The Board layout is very good with ideal positioning for fan headers, etc. QLED is another very nice touch with acts as a Temperature indicator as well as displaying BIOS Codes on Boot.ConnectivityAsus have provided a huge number of ports on this board, with multiple USB USB3.2 / USB-C 20G /TB4. Lots of room for devices and future expansions. The labeling on the Rear IO shield is helpful and a nice touch. The Board also comes with WiFi 6E (.ax 160MHz spread) which works very well!This goes to my point this MOBO gives you options and the flexibility you need.Audio and DAC/DSP Chip.This board comes offers some very nice features and 32Bit @ 192k plus a SPDIF for optical in/out. It has some very nice companion apps if installed via the ASUS ARMOURY Crate Utility. It has a very nice sounding Realtek package.BIOS.The BIOS of this motherboard is packed with features, many of which I am still yet to learn about. You have complete control to change almost every aspect you could ever need to customize for their needs. With the AMD CPU you can manipulate the Curve optimizer and have a say on how you want the power delivery to be applied. There is way to much to list here the number of features this motherboard supports is crazy, in a good way!This whole platform is very powerful and is a great match for the Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU.I am Happy with this purchase and the Build I finally settled on is as follows:Spec's:CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3DMOBO: ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-E Gaming WiFIRAM: 32GB (16GBx2) Corsair Vengeance DDR5 EXPO_I 6000MHz @ CL30 (Soon to upgrade to 2x32GB Kit)GPU: RTX 3070 8GBCooler: AIO Corsair H150/170 320mm iCUE .. (I forgot if its the 150/170?)NVMe: X2 WD SN850X [2TB] Crucial 4TB SSD SATA3. (Waiting for prices to drop for Gen5 before upgrade)Case: Corsair 5000D (Very nice case BTW!)PSU: Corsair AX1600iHope this helps. Solid BUY!

If you’re building a high-performance AMD Ryzen system and want a motherboard packed with features, this is a fantastic choice. While it’s on the pricier side, the performance, connectivity, and build quality make it well worth it. Highly recommended!