ASUS ROG Strix B650E-I Gaming WiFi AMD Ryzen AM5 mini-ITX motherboard, 10 + 2 power stages, DDR5, two M.2 slots, PCIe 5.0, 2.5G LAN, WiFi 6E, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C port, and Aura Sync RGB lighting

The ROG STRIX B650E-I GAMING WiFi is a fantastic board to build a mini-ITX build. With only minor improvements to the feature-set that comes with B850 motherboards, the ROG STRIX B650E-I remains the best purchase for AM5 in this form-factor given the reduced price unless the new features of B850 or X870 are a requirement for you. The layout of the board is best-in-class, with fan headers in the right place at the top of the board, and other connectors where they are easily accessible. Where some manufacturers make assembling a small form factor PC frustrating, which difficult to reach connectors or awkward cable management, ASUS make life easy with assembly a breeze (or at least as much as it can be in this form factor. The rear i/o is good, although not perfect. AM5 motherboards, particularly in the mini-ITX form-factor are unfortunately lacking when it comes to the number and speed of ports, however ASUS' B650E-I is better than the alternatives in the same price range. The USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port is a nice addition on a B650I board. The m.2 heatsink is good and enough to cool a gen 5 NVMe drive if you decide to fit one into your system. The heatsink is however set up for dual-sided NVME drives by default and requires a plastic support to be installed manually to prevent flexing single-sided NVMe drives when installed. I experienced no issues with a single-sided NVMe drive by avoiding overtightening, but some users online still report flexing with the support installed. Overall, this is still the best offering of the B650/B850 mini-ITX board heatsinks with no noisy inbuilt fan, insufficient thermal mass, or excessive height causing compatibility issues. My example has no issues with coil whine, which was one of the commonly reported issues online with this device. It seems that newer boards don't have coil whine. My example was manufactured in late 2024, as I expect most being sold now will be. In addition to this, my board shipped with the Ryzen 9000 series ready BIOS version as identified on the serial number of the board and the sticker on the box, so there was no need to flash the BIOS or use another CPU to update prior to installing a 9800x3d. Overall, this board is still the best to get for those looking to build a mid/high end mini-ITX PC on the AM5 platform unless to have specific requirements that the typical person does not (e.g. Thunderbolt, 3 m.2 slots, etc.)

I had a bad experience with an MSI board previously and switched to this and this is easily the more "plug and play" and more intuitive board, the BIOS is also a lot easier to navigate through. It runs my 7950X and Kingston Renegade Fury 6000MHz CL32 at the XMP timings with no issue at all. The boot times on this board are also an order of magnitude faster than my old board, as the memory training implementation of the ASUS boards just seems to be better overall. While there is no RGB on this board, there is support for both 12V and 5V (new ARGB) headers which was a factor I was looking for in a board as I have a few old 12V and new ARGB fans that I wanted to use in my build. It's also very useful that all 3 fan headers are next to eachother on this motherboard, makes cable tidying a lot easier. The only downside is that there is a little coil whine on this board, but this was also present with the previous board I owned and it is much less audible with the side panel of my case on. It's not a dealbreaker unless you have your PC right up to your face when using it.

Using this with a Ryzen 9 9950X—had to underclock slightly for better temps in a small case (Fractal Terra), but overall it runs stable. The board has great features: DDR5, PCIe 5.0, WiFi 6E. However, Sonic Studio is a constant headache-keeps reinstalling or running in the background even when disabled. Solid hardware for a high end build no need to spend extra, but loses a star for the intrusive software.

The ASUS ROG Strix B650E-I Gaming WiFi motherboard offers exceptional performance in a compact size. Its 10 + 2 power stages, DDR5 support, and two M.2 slots ensure powerful and reliable performance. Compatible with the Cooler Master NR200P MAX UK Edition case, Nvidia RTX 4090 Founders Edition, and AMD Ryzen 7800X3D processor, it delivers optimized power delivery. The motherboard's networking options, including 2.5G LAN and WiFi 6E, provide fast and stable connectivity. Notably, the sound card with an optical input sets it apart from competitors, offering high-quality audio. With a premium build and attractive aesthetics, this motherboard is an excellent choice for mini-ITX systems.

Fantastic board at a price that isn’t going to break the bank. This board ticks all the boxes, pcie5, 2.5gb ethernet, good vrm, decent audio, multiple m2 slots, wifi6 & Bluetooth. It’s also a good-looking board and has a good placement leading to good cooler and RAM compatibility. I’m currently running a 7700x in eco mode and some G.Skill Flare X5 Series DDR5 6000 CL30 in EXPO mode. It has been fantastic for about a month. I have no perceptible coil whine on my board and boot times are very quick. The first boot took longer while when it trained the ram but since then, very fast. I would have no issues in recommending this board.

The board works perfectly with my 8500G but has loud coil whine even after undervolting both the CPU and integrated graphics.

Great motherboard with a host of super useful features, great connectivity with superb rear I/O for an ITX motherboard and considering this is an AM5 board, not bad pricing. This is also one of the few AM5 itx boards i could find without a VRM cooling fan, meaning that is runs significantly quieter than other boards i was considering. Bluetooth and wifi work great and the easily moveable, magnetic antenna is great and be easily put closer to where your signal is coming from.

This is the 2nd time I've bought this MOBO due to the first one also being broken. The first MOBO had a damaged CPU socket. And now this 2nd one I've bought came with the box unsealed and a broken NIC. I will give it that it's super easy to build. Maybe I'm just unlucky with the MOBOs I've bought, but it's frustrating.

Carte mère Mini-ITX de top qualité, parfaite pour un montage compact et performant. Le BIOS est très complet et le refroidissement intégré est premium pour des températures basses même en charge lourde. WiFi 7 stable et I/O généreux. Son prix est très correcte pour ce qui est proposé. Recommandée sans hésiter !

It does exactly what it's supposed to. No coil whine. Asus has a bad rep nowadays but for me so far so good..

ITS THE BEST, NEWEST AND ITS QUALITY IS AMAZING

Good for a mini itx motherboard

Ich bin sehr zufrieden mit dem Mainboard. Es sieht gut aus und passt gut zu dunkelfarbigen Builds. Ich hätte mir noch einen SMA statt einem CRC9 Anschluss für die Wifi-Antenne gewunschen. Auch, dass es als einziges Mainboard zwei PCIE 5.0 SSDs aufnehmen kann ist ein Kaufgrund.