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The saturation of the market for motherboards for Intel Coffee Lake-S processors continues due to the release of the B365 hub. We studied the capabilities of this chip in the ASRock B365 Phantom Gaming 4 review. The key ones are: working with Intel Optane and organizing RAID arrays, the ability to install Windows 7 (there are still no official drivers for the iGPU, full support for the rest of the infrastructure); a secondary advantage will be guaranteed support for all current processors out of the box, unlike a number of other devices. The visitor of our laboratory belongs to the game class of products – you can count on increased attention to the nodes of the Sound and the Network. I also want to carefully study the strength of the voltage stabilizer.
Support for the latest generation of balanced USB output is not available on the rear panel or for the case, by using an internal cable. The implementation of high-speed USB Type A outputs took place with the involvement of a chip from ASMedia. There are no additional controllers, the main set of characteristics is collected in the table below, we will get acquainted with everything in detail in the course of this review.
| Model | ASUS ROG Strix B365-G Gaming |
|---|---|
| Official product page on the Web | asus.com |
| Chipset | Intel B365 |
| Processor socket | Socket 1151 |
| Processors | Core i9, Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, Pentium Gold, Celeron (Coffee Lake-S) |
| Memory | 4 DIMM DDR4 SDRAM 2133/2400/2666, 64 GB maximum |
| PCI slots | 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 (x4) 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x1 |
| M.2 | 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x4, SATA 6Gb/s (Key M, 2242/2260/2280) 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x4 (Key M, 2242/2260/2280) 1 x Wi-Fi (Key E, 2230) |
| Integrated video core (in the processor) | Intel UHD 610/630 |
| Video connectors | HDMI 1.4b, DVI-D |
| Number of connected fans | 4x 4pin |
| PS/2 ports | 1 (keyboard/mouse) |
| The port is USB | 2 x 3.1 Gen2 (2 connectors on the rear panel, ASM3142) 6 x 3.1 Gen1 (4 connectors on the rear panel, B365) 6 x 2.0 (2 connectors on the rear panel, B365) |
| VR Ready | + |
| Serial ATA | 6 x SATA 6Gb/s (B365) |
| RAID | 0, 1, 5, 10 (SATA, B365) |
| Built-in sound | SupremeFX (7.1, HDA): Codec — Realtek S1220A Op Amp — Texas Instruments RC4580 и OPA1688 |
| S/PDIF | Optical (output) |
| Networking | Intel I219V (Gigabit Ethernet) |
| COM | 1 (internal) |
| LED Addressable Header | – |
| LED RGB Header | 1 |
| TPM | + |
| UEFI | UEFI AMI BIOS, 128 Mb Flash ROM |
| Form factor | mATX |
| Dimensions, mm | 244 x 244 |
| Additional features | Aura Sync, Armory Crate, Fan Xpert 4 Core, AMD 2-Way CrossFireX support |
| Retail price, $ | 117 |
Packaging and equipment
The box is small, to match the size of the board. On the front side, they also mentioned a software bonus for the Network – the GameFirst complex.
The reverse side is replete with technical details. There is a product photo and a separate view for the ports on the back. Key aspects are listed. In the spirit of the times, a separate compact M.2 slot is implemented on the board for a wireless network adapter.
There are no special bonuses in the set, judge for yourself:
- user manual, which illustrates and describes the UEFI sub-items in detail (in English);
- short multilingual user manual for PC assembly;
- an additional booklet with information on the need to comply with a number of safety measures when assembling and operating the system;
- a set of stickers with various images of the ROG Strix series, including those for cables;
- disk with drivers and proprietary software;
- ROG device owner welcome brochure;
- seven nylon ties;
- two SATA 6Gb / s cables, one of which has an L-shaped connector on one of the ends;
- mounting screw and M.2 device stand — two sets;
- sign on the door “GAME ON! YOU SHALL NOT PASS”/“GAME OFF! YOU MAY ENTER”.
Appearance
The device with its dimensions corresponds to the understanding of the mATX format and has eight holes for fixing in the case. The initial status in the segment of ROG Strix gaming boards does not imply equipping with any buttons or switches. The model was deprived of four LEDs – a set of Q-LEDs, which is a simplified analogue of the diagnostic indicator of POST codes. The hinged canopy is small in size, reminiscent of what older products in this series can have.
He and all cooling designs use a screw type of fastening. The back side actually has no electronic components, only eight small LEDs of a red tint near the area with an insulating strip of etched layers in the textolite form the core of the illumination unit inside the system unit. That’s right, no more luminous elements are provided here.
The red stripe on the visor and the similar one on the cooler hub use a special paint that reflects light at a certain angle. The radiator itself is compact in size, it is monolithic, without special fins.
For mounting drives, you can use a pair of seats with M.2 slots, where the length of the devices does not exceed eight centimeters. There are no heatsinks included, and I didn’t notice any auxiliary racks for them.
The top of the board is equipped with four transverse SATA outputs.
Two more longitudinal nests are soldered lower. A single ROM chip can be seen next to them.
There are only three pads for USB implementation using body sockets, and all of them are transverse. One for USB 3.2 Gen 3.1 and a pair of classic version – 2.0.
The reinforced PCI-E x16 socket functions in conjunction with the processor, and the lower ones interact with the hub.
The network controller from Intel, the sound subsystem boasts a group of special capacitors and a pair of op amps, the codec is protected by a shielding cap. To support LED equipment, there is one platform for four contacts.
VRM radiators are low, they won’t create problems even with overall COs. There is also plenty of space between the socket and the top PCI-E slot, not least because of the M.2 slot between them. So we managed to avoid a conflict between the cooler and the video card, but the extra emphasis on compatibility in the selection of components should be emphasized.
The stabilizer is based on the ASP1400CTB PWM controller. We’ve seen it more than once in motherboards from ASUS, and the total number of channels subordinated to it never exceeded five. Everything indicates that here the connection is implemented according to the 3 + 2 “phase” scheme. There are eight external drivers – two are the basis for the iGPU voltage, six are dedicated to the processor, so there are paired channels for the CPU. Below all is a group of elements for the combined source of IO and SA Voltage. Transistors are selected manufactured by Vishay Intertechnology – SiRA12BDP and SiRA14BDP. Capacitors of “military” reliability class with a life of five thousand hours at elevated temperatures.
Separately, I would like to touch on the aspect of the new surface-mounted chokes. As part of our booth, they became a source of distinct “noise”. Various attempts to deal with it – changing the operating voltage, switching to different methods of its formation, enumerating LLC and the PWM setting frequency – did not fundamentally change the situation. There were only changes in shape – whistling, hissing, crackling and so on. In a word, it was not possible to completely get rid of the negative color, and this is a rare case from the practice of our laboratory over the years of work. It is important to emphasize that the very first seconds of a serious load on the converter instantly nullified this manifestation, only the Windows Desktop mode (simple PC) or completely light operations like copying files led to its manifestation. Silentfreaks should definitely ignore such a fee.
The second negative nuance is ensuring proper heat dissipation from power elements. Here branded thermal pads have an indecently small area. According to the traces on the transistors (previous photo), it is noticeable how much the contact is defective, moreover, on two groups of elements at once. However, even replacing the thermal substance will not completely save the situation, since the total surface area is still not sufficient for full contact with the plastic housings of the elements. Against this background, there are absolutely no comments on the PCH cooler.
The regular set of I / O ports is quite diverse and plentiful. You can complain about the lack of DisplayPort and USB Type C, but for such research, the cost of the device should be higher, and for local buyers, such subtleties are unlikely to be an obstacle when choosing a board within a limited budget.
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