ASRock Phantom Gaming X870E NOVA WiFi Motherboard Review

[magoo]

Introduction The AMD socket AM5 X870 chipset-based motherboards were released on September 30. Since then, we have been reviewing the entire line-up of ASRock offerings. Today will be another contribution, the ASRock Phantom Gaming X870E NOVA Wifi. There are two distinct tiers of motherboards using the X870 chipset. The top tier (X870E) utilizes, among other […]

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[Grimlakin]

1. Love the single page layout.
2. 5 gigabit network port.. are there plentiful 5 gigabit home routers available?

I mean seriously FFS I'm looking at this thing

ASUS RT-BE88U​

4 1 gig ports 4 2.5 gig ports and a sfp port that can support 10 gig, and now motherboard makers are releasing consumer motherboards with 5 gig ports?! What do I need to feed that?!

I can't find a **** thing that gives you 5 gigabit network ports for consumers let alone multiple client 10 gig ports.

 

[LazyGamer]

I can't find a **** thing that gives you 5 gigabit network ports for consumers let alone multiple client 10 gig ports.

I can order 5Gbit fiber from ATT right now, had it for years. The 2Gbit service reliably did 2.5Gbit when I had it.

(I have no need for it, to your point, which is why I have 1Gbit now; I wouldn't save enough to go any slower, and the WiFi can easily do 700Mbit+ so)

 

[Space_Ranger]

I believe the Aquantia 10Bgit chipset is capable of dropping down to 5Gbit, but your point is quite a valid one. Networking needs in the consumer place needs a LOT of work to catch up to the times.

That being said I do like this board. My only complaint about it is that for the X1 PCIe slot, they leave the edge open so that you can place a X4 or X8 card in there, but the heatsink gets in the way. I know, a nitpicking here but it's the only major flaw I saw.

Thank you for the nice review!!

EDIT: Looks like MikroTik has a 5 port switch with 4 10GBaseT ports capable of 1/2.5/5/10Gbit functionality.

CRS304-4XG-IN | MikroTik

Compact, powerful, and ready to simplify your 10 Gigabit network setups with 4x10G Ethernet ports ready to use out-of-the-box. No extra modules needed!

mikrotik.com

 

[Grimlakin]

I can order 5Gbit fiber from ATT right now, had it for years. The 2Gbit service reliably did 2.5Gbit when I had it.

(I have no need for it, to your point, which is why I have 1Gbit now; I wouldn't save enough to go any slower, and the WiFi can easily do 700Mbit+ so)

I'm not talking about the service. I just don't see the point to a 5 gigabit network port on a consumer motherboard non HEDT when you can't even find a home consumer grade router that supports a 5 gigabit port. Heck even the multiple 2.5 gigabit port ones like what I did find are freakin unicorns to find. (ok not QUITE that bad). Consider that router is near 400 bucks, but literally nothing else on the market touches it...

I just don't understand... maybe it's to be future ready? I suppose that's a good reason.

 

[LazyGamer]

I just don't see the point to a 5 gigabit network port on a consumer motherboard non HEDT when you can't even find a home consumer grade router that supports a 5 gigabit port. Heck even the multiple 2.5 gigabit port ones like what I did find are freakin unicorns to find. (ok not QUITE that bad). Consider that router is near 400 bucks, but literally nothing else on the market touches it...

Quick and dirty answer?

Because that's what Realtek's making, which means that the price floor for 5Gbit implementations has dropped considerably. Prior to that there was an Aquantia (now Marvell) solution that was more expensive. I've heard that Realtek has a 10Gbit solution coming, and like USB 4, once it's here we'll probably see that trickle down pretty quickly.

Intel is on their fourth or fifth 2.5Gbit attempt, and I'm not sure if they're going to keep pushing speeds or not; their current 10Gbit solutions are either ancient or way overspec'd for consumer use, and they've had plenty of Windows driver issues that have plagued end users. So it may just be Realtek from here on out.

 

[Gremlin]

This is an awesome mobo I do like the fact that there’s no lane sharing and all the features you get for the price. I do have to ask did they only produce a dozen of these because they’re sold out everywhere even 3rd party sellers don’t have any. You can find the Intel version though