ASRock Phantom Gaming B850 Riptide WiFi Motherboard Review

TweakTown Rating: 93%

Our Verdict

Users on a budget looking for a feature rich and highly capable AM5 motherboard should strongly consider the ASRock Phantom Gaming B850 Riptide WiFi.

Pros

• Affordability
• Quality VRM and SSD heatsinks
• Subtle aesthetic
• WiFi 7 included

Cons

• No USB4
• UEFI could use a re-skin

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon for $209.99 USD

Buy at Newegg for $332.99 USD

Buy at Amazon for $417.30 CAD

Buy at Amazon for £229.26

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Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

ASRock's Phantom Gaming sub-brand has only been around for a few generations, but it's already earned itself a reputation for value for money and solid feature sets. In a world where $500+ motherboards are simply out of reach for many, affordable motherboards such as the ASRock Phantom Gaming B850 Riptide WiFi draw far more attention from mainstream buyers.

With a few exceptions, AMD B850 motherboards fall within the $150 to $300 price range. That's well below premium-tier X870 and X870E boards. The cheaper boards tend to lack VRM quality or heatsink design, while the $300 boards may be a bit pricey for some or are overkill for mainstream builds.

That makes the $200 price point critical. Such boards have a superior feature set and designs for just a few tenners more than the cheapest boards. On paper, the ASRock B850 Riptide is a very solid offering that doesn't sacrifice too many important features.

Like all B850 motherboards, the B850 Riptide WiFi can be considered an evolutionary update over its B650 predecessors. Despite its affordable price, it has the key important 2025-era specs, such as WiFi 7, a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, and a PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 SSD slot. With those boxes ticked, building a powerful system with a single GPU and an SSD or two is possible. However, the lack of USB4 is a notable omission, but thankfully, there is a header for a front USB 20GBps port.

The B850 Riptide WiFi incorporates high-surface-area heatsink designs, ALC 4082 audio, and support for DDR5-8000+. Thanks to ongoing socket support from AMD, the B850 Riptide WiFi is likely to support Zen 6 and possibly even Zen 7 processors, too, pending confirmation from AMD. Contrast that to Intel's B860 platform, which is likely a one-hit wonder.

Looks are always subjective, but the B850 Riptide WiFi is a decent-looking motherboard. It incorporates a subtle wave-like theme, with flowing lines and attractive splashes of blue and purple. Its predominantly black design should make it easy to blend into various build themes.

The ASRock B850 Riptide WIFi was priced at $210 at the time of publication, making it a very competitive offering.

Best Deals: ASRock Phantom Gaming B850 Riptide WiFi Motherboard

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$209.99 USD	$209.99 USD	$219.99 USD	Buy
	$332.99 USD	$332.99 USD	-	Buy
	$417.30 CAD	$417.55 CAD	$382.99 CAD	Buy
	£229.26	£214.98	£224.90	Buy
	$209.99 USD	$209.99 USD	$219.99 USD	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 5/11/2025 at 11:00 am CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Packaging, Accessories, and Overview

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The B850 Riptide WiF's box is unassuming, with only a select few highlights.

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In contrast to the front of the box, the rear is anything but. The board's key features and specifications are highlighted.

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There isn't much to speak of in the way of accessories, but at least there's no expense-adding fluff. The WiFi 7 antennas consist of a pair of single screw-in type affairs. That should be ok for many, though a wired and user-placeable option would be preferable. You get two SATA cables and a thermistor cable to measure the temperatures of anything you wish to attach it to. A 3-in-1 ARGB splitter cable will be helpful for those owning cases with lots of ARGB cables.

A quick start guide and regulatory notice are included. You'll need to grab the manual and download drivers from the ASRock website.

Motherboard Overview

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The B850 Riptide WiFi features an understated look except for the purple and blue flourishes. It's an ATX board, and in contrast to X870E options, it doesn't need a large chipset heatsink as there's only one Promontory 21 chip to cool.

A row of six very bright RGB LEDs runs underneath the length of the bottom SSD heatsink. The board includes three addressable RGB headers plus a 12V/3A RGB header for additional RGB support for things like LED strips. If you factor in the three-in-one bundled ARGB cable, the board gives you a lot of RGB control potential for a well-lit system.

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Alongside the standard case connector headers, the B850 Riptide WiFi includes an atypical set of headers. You get six 4-pin fan headers, a thermistor cable header, and a decent USB complement consisting of four USB 2.0 ports, four 5Gbps ports, and the aforementioned Type-C 20Gbps port.

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The board's four DIMM slots support speeds of up to DDR5-8000+, with up to 256GB supported. Of course, you won't be able to run 256GB at those speeds. Even with a more worldly 32GB or 64GB of RAM, DDR5-6000 to 6400 or so speeds remain the sweet spot for AMD Zen 4 and Zen 5 processors.

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The B850 Riptide WiFi includes four M.2 slots, one of which supports PCIe 5.0. The other three run at PCIe 4.0 speeds. Four SATA ports allow for a maximum capacity of eight drives, which will be more than enough for most consumer-class and gaming systems.

There are two PCIe expansion slots. The topmost one supports PCIe 5.0 x16 devices, while the second one is 16x physically and runs at PCIe 4.0 electrically.

Overall, the maximum storage and expansion card potential is excellent, and ASRock mentions only a single lane-sharing compromise. If you install a drive in the M.2_4 slot, the secondary PCIe slot will be disabled.

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The primary M.2 PCIe 5.0 slot above the topmost expansion slot has an easily detachable heatsink. It has a welcomely large surface area. The bottom two slots are cooled by a plate attached with screws. The slot in the middle of the board does not include a heatsink at all. Still, three M.2 drives will suffice for most users, and it's not like SATA drives have gone extinct when it comes to bulk storage.

The positioning of the bottom pair of slots is a good design choice. They're positioned away from a heat-dumping graphics card, which will definitely help keep them cool.

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The B850 Riptide WiFi features an impressive VRM for a board in this price range. Even a Ryzen 9 9950X or 9950X3D is not overly demanding, and a 14+2+1 phase design with 80A stages is more than adequate for powering such chips with PBO enabled. Users will find their CPU cooling is a limiting factor when overclocking, not the board.

ASRock didn't cut back on the board's VRM cooling. Many boards feature a detached section atop the rear I/O section that can be considered something like a 'vanity panel'. This section of the Riptide is actually part of the heatsink, and it certainly adds extra surface area and sits directly in the path of front-to-back case airflow. As we can see in testing, the B850 Riptide's VRM cooling ability puts some more expensive boards to shame.

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The B850 Riptide WiFi's rear I/O panel is well-equipped. The USB complement includes eleven ports: two 10Gbps Type-C ports, two 10Gbps Type-A ports, three 5Gbps ports, and four USB 2.0 ports.

The yellow-colored USB ports are what ASRock refers to as Lightning Gaming ports. These have their own interfaces, which aim to reduce latency and jitter. The Ultra USB Power ports derive their source power from the 12V PSU rail. The aim is to reduce the load on the 5V rail under heavy loads.

A Killer E3100G controller controls the single 2.5G LAN port. Unlike several competing boards in this price range, which include WiFi 6 or 6E, the B850 Riptide WiFi includes WiFi 7, with a 160MHz connection and Bluetooth 5.4.

Next are the audio ports, which consist of 3.5mm line-in and line-out ports and S/PDIF. A current-generation Realtek ALC4082 codec drives these, which is nice to see as it's definitely preferable to the aging ALC897 codec common to many affordable boards in recent years.

Finally, there's a single HDMI 2.1 port and a BIOS flashback button. The latter means installing a future CPU without updating the BIOS with a currently available chip is possible. ASRock's support page suggests a 9800X3D will work with the board's original 1.00 BIOS, but you'll need an update to run a 9900X3D or 9950X3D, so BIOS flashback functionality is still vitally important for new builds with one of those CPUs.

UEFI, Software and Test System

UEFI

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The ASRock X870 Riptide WiFI's BIOS follows the same layout and theme of recent ASRock UEFI designs. It's simple, with few graphical flourishes. Anyone familiar with an ASRock BIOS from the last few years will find it easy to navigate.

However, the fan control page looks very dated, and its fonts and colors resemble those of a 1990s desktop PC. It could really use an overhaul.

Visiting the ASRock website is necessary to download things like the ASRock motherboard control utility, Norton 360 trial (if you really must), and Polychrome RGB control software. All of the relevant drivers are available, too, though it's worth checking the AMD website for newer versions of things like the chipset and integrated graphics drivers.

Test System

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X - Buy from Amazon
• GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Neo RGB 2x16GB DDR5-6000 CL30 - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux - Buy from Amazon
• OS Storage: Teamgroup T-Force Z540 2TB - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex Titanium 850W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro - Buy from Amazon

Benchmarks - Rendering and Encoding

Cinebench 2024

Cinebench 2024 is the latest version of Maxon's reliable and frequently used benchmark that measures single and multi-threaded performance. Note that all our benchmark testing used the latest available Windows updates and a BIOS that includes AGESA 1.2.0.2, which features improved inter-core latency for AMD Ryzen 9000 series processors.

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The B850 Riptide came in a touch behind the other boards, though not alarmingly so, with a result of 2,243 in the nT test and 137 in the 1T test.

Blender

A rendering application like Blender is just one of many reasons a user will consider a high-core-count CPU like a Ryzen 9 9950X. We use the Whitelands demo file and record how long it takes to render the image.

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A result of 435 seconds is only a tiny fraction slower than the fastest boards. The motherboard makes little difference in this CPU-dominated benchmark.

Handbrake

Handbrake is a simple-to-use video encoding and transcoding application. Here, we convert a 4K movie trailer to 1080p. The results below show the average FPS, where a higher result means the task will take less time to complete.

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The B850 Riptide trails a bit here, but not by a worrisome amount.

Benchmarks - File Compression and Memory latency

7Zip

7Zip is a commonly used free file compression and decompression app. It's susceptible to memory speed and latency changes and scales with the number of CPU threads.

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A result of 223.51 BIPS in this memory-sensitive benchmark is likely down to some slightly looser memory sub-timings.

AIDA64 Memory Latency

Memory latency is an area that currently favors Intel. AMD's chiplet architecture and the Infinity Fabric link inevitably add some latency compared to Intel's monolithic chips. The real-world benefits aren't that important, though.

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Although the margins are small, a result of 71.9 nanoseconds indicates the B850 Riptide WiFi doesn't set very aggressive memory sub-timings-your results, whether tweaked or an XMP kit, may vary. In the end, though, the real-world differences will not be noticed.

Benchmarks - PCMark and 3DMark

PCMark 10 Productivity

We'd love to use our PCs purely for leisure, but some of us have to work, too! The PCMark 10 productivity test performs a series of tests using office productivity applications.

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All the AM5 boards are close enough to each other, but again, the Riptide trails ever so slightly.

3DMark Storage

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. It is superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs of the actual game. This test is the same as running the actual game without the inconsistencies inherent in application testing.

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There's a strong result for the B850 Riptide!

3DMark Time Spy Extreme

Time Spy Extreme is losing favor as a graphics benchmark in favor of Speed Way and Steel Nomad, but its CPU test is still a good measure of multi-core performance.

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A result of 12,994 in the Time Spy Extreme CPU test puts it right in the middle of the pack, though the differences between the boards are minor.

Benchmarks - Gaming

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is brutal on graphics cards, but when things like ray tracing are removed, it becomes more sensitive to CPU and memory performance differences with top-tier graphics cards.

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Here's a good result for the B850 Riptide. It tops the chart, even though the differences between the boards are highly GPU-limited and minuscule with an RTX 4070 Ti Super.

Horizon Zero Dawn

When using the 'favor performance' preset, Horizon Zero Dawn can achieve high frame rates with powerful graphics cards.

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This is another solid gaming result for the B850 Riptide.

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition

Metro Exodus received an update that added improved DLSS support, enhanced ray tracing features, and variable rate shading, among other things. Still, with a powerful graphics card, it is affected by CPU and memory performance at 1080p, though less so with a card like the RTX 4070 Ti Super.

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All the tested motherboards performed essentially identically.

VRM and SSD Temperatures

These tests are performed to show off the differences between each motherboard's cooling assemblies. In the case of VRM testing, each board is subjected to a 20-minute Cinebench loop, while the SSD test records the peak temperature recorded during the lengthy 3DMark Storage test.

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Though a result of 58 degrees appears unremarkable in comparison, it's important to remember we're dealing with a board around the $200 mark, so to see the B850 Riptide WiFi competing with much more expensive boards is very impressive.

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It's another good result for the B850 Riptide. With a load temperature of 56 degrees, it beats out the much more expensive ASUS and MSI X870E boards.

Final Thoughts

The increase in motherboard pricing in the post-pandemic era has been quite shocking. While we'd all like to own high-end motherboards, far too many are priced at levels that rule them out for the majority of buyers. However, it's good to know that some excellent models exist around the $200 mark, and the ASRock B850 Riptide WiFi is probably the best of them.

It has a robust core feature set. The key to this is the support for WiFi 7. That is not common at this price point. However, the B850 Riptide WiFi also has very good VRM and SSD cooling. Installing a CPU up to a Ryzen 9 9950X3D will not pose any problem for it. PCIe 5.0 GPU and SSD support is also an advantage over older budget B650 models.

It has a good audio codec, four M.2 slots, an attractive, understated design, and support for up to 256GB of memory. About the only thing missing is USB4. That might not mean much right now, but it would be better to have it than not in the years to come. At least it has USB 3.2 20Gbps support. The UEFI, particularly the fan control page, could also use a graphical update.

Spending just $210 on a motherboard is likely to free up money for a faster CPU, GPU, or more memory, which really adds performance to a system. If you want 5G or 10G LAN or a fancy I/O display, you'll need to spend more - a lot more. But for a user with an SSD or two and a single GPU, the B850 Riptide WiFi is a board that's got it where it counts.

Regarding its performance, the B850 Riptide WiFi loses out on the last one or two percent of CPU performance in memory-sensitive benchmarks. There's no real cause for concern, though. Real-world noticeable differences are non-existent. When it comes to gaming under a graphically limited load, the B850 Riptide WiFi performs particularly well.

If you are looking for a board that offers excellent value with a solid core feature set and care little for expense-adding bells and whistles, the ASRock Phantom Gaming B850 Riptide WiFi is an excellent choice.