Our Verdict
Pros
- Cheap price
- Wi-Fi 7
- Good cooling
Cons
- USB tops out at 5Gbps
- LGA 1851 has a limited upgrade path
- Dated UEFI design
Should you buy it?
Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing
PC builders are at the mercy of hyperscalers gobbling up all available chip supply. CPU prices are creeping up, and everyone knows just how ridiculous memory and storage prices are. There's no light at the end of the tunnel either. At least the motherboard market hasn't been impacted too much. The ASRock B860 Challenger Wi-Fi is a great example. It costs just $129. Though it won't win the spec-sheet battle, that price will appeal to builders looking to build a new system on a tight budget.
The ASRock B860 Challenger Wi-Fi is a part of ASRock's newest motherboard sub-brand. It sits above the barebones Rock series but below the Steel Legend series. First impressions suggest that ASRock designed the board with simplicity and reliability in mind. It's not what you would call feature-packed. There is an exception. I may be wrong, but I believe it is the cheapest Intel board with Wi-Fi 7. It has PCIe 5.0 GPU and SSD support, so barring generational improvements such as DDR6 and PCIe 6.0, it's a board that will not become irrelevant overnight.
The B860 Challenger Wi-Fi includes a basic feature set. The highlight is Wi-Fi 7 support. You get three M.2 slots, 2.5G LAN, and capable cooling. In other words, it's got the essential building blocks. In theory, you can install a 270K Plus, 256GB of memory, an RTX 5090, and some 8TB SSDs for a system costing well over $10,000, housed in a board that costs $129!
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Model | ASRock B860 Challenger Wi-Fi |
| CPU Socket | LGA 1851 |
| Chipset | Intel B860 |
| CPU Support | Intel Core Ultra 200S series |
| Memory | 4x DDR5 DIMM slots, up to 256GB, up to 8666+ MT/s (OC), Non-ECC, Clocked Unbuffered DIMM (CUDIMM) |
| Expansion slots | 1x PCIe 5.0 x16, 1x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x4) |
| Storage | 3x M.2, 4x SATA |
| Ethernet | Realtek RTL8125 2.5G |
| Wireless & Bluetooth | Realtek 8922AE Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
| USB | Up to 10x 5Gbps, 6x USB 2.0 |
| Audio | Realtek ALC897 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| MSRP | $129 |
Other key features include a 10+1+1 Phase VRM, dual PCIe x16 expansion slots, and support for DDR5 8666+ CUDIMMs.
At $129, the B860 Challenger is one of the cheapest B860 boards. Only ASRock's own B860 Rock consistently stays under that price, though periodic discounts bring other boards down to around that level.
Packaging, Accessories, and Overview
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The B860 Challenger Wi-Fi's box design reflects the no-fuss simplicity of the board itself.
As with all motherboard boxes, the rear highlights the key features and provides a detailed spec rundown.
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The board comes with a basic set of accessories. It includes the usual items, such as M.2 screws, documentation, and a pair of SATA cables. The Wi-Fi antennas are the basic dual RP-SMA type. You also get a set of stickers and a case badge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Open a question for an answer from TweakTown's coverage of this review, or ask your own below.
What networking options does the board provide (wired and wireless) and which controllers are used?
What VRM design and cooling does the B860 Challenger use, and is it adequate for a Core Ultra 270K Plus?
Which PCIe slots are available, what are their electrical versions/lanes, and is the top x16 reinforced?
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Motherboard Overview
The board features a simple black color scheme with a few accents. The board itself doesn't have any RGB lighting. It's not exactly a showpiece board, but it's got three ARGB headers and one 12V RGB header for connecting an AIO or case fans. It has seven fan headers, which is a good amount.
The USB header complement includes two Type-A 5Gbps ports, one Type-C 5Gbps port, and four USB 2.0 ports. 5Gbps is the fastest supported via headers or via the rear I/O.
The board mostly omits DIY friendly features. The primary heatsink features a quick-release mechanism, but that's about it.
ASRock offers a white B860 Challenger if you prefer.
The B860 Challenger has four DIMM slots that support up to DDR5-8666+ speeds and up to 256GB. With the state of the memory market, I can't see many users going beyond 32GB at around 6000 MT/s. If you can afford high-density, high-speed kits, your motherboard budget will likely let you spend more than $129.
Immediately to the right of the 24-pin power connector is a row of four LEDs that help diagnose any boot issues.
The board offers two full-length PCIe x16 slots. The top slot is reinforced and supports PCIe 5.0 x16 via the CPU. The other x16 slots support PCIe 4.0 x4 electrically and are wired to the chipset.
The board supports up to three M.2 SSDs. The topmost slot supports PCIe 5.0 x4 while the others support PCIe 4.0 x4. One slot doesn't have its own heatsink. Four SATA ports join the three M.2 slots.
With this configuration, there are no apparent lane-sharing compromises.
The primary M.2 heatsink is the only one that features a quick-release mechanism. The other is attached with screws. I'm glad ASRock didn't cut the quality of the primary heatsink. It's got a large surface area and a well-made retention mechanism that easily matches the heatsinks on some significantly more expensive boards.
The B860 Challenger features a 10+1+1-phase VRM with 60A stages. It's not an extreme design, but it's more than capable of running a 270K. Nobody buys a $129 board to thrash a CPU to its limits, but its cooling easily keeps temperatures under control at default settings.
The VRM heatsinks don't have a huge surface area, but they work well in practice. With a chip like a 245K or 250K Plus, the board won't be challenged, even if your case doesn't have the highest amount of airflow.
It's important to remember we are looking at a $129 board, so we don't expect too much at this price.
The USB complement includes six Type-A 5Gbps ports, one Type-C 5Gbps port, and two USB 2.0 ports. It would be nice to have one or two 10Gbps ports, but seven 5Gbps ports is a fair compromise. The yellow Lightning Gaming USB ports have their own controller interfaces, which aim to reduce latency and jitter.
A single HDMI 2.1 port can be used in conjunction with the Xe-LPG graphics of Core Ultra 200 CPUs. The BIOS flashback button is on the right. The B860 Challenger is a 2026 release, and its first-release BIOS supports Core Ultra Plus CPUs out of the box. Unless Intel springs a surprise, flashback capability might not be necessary given the socket is nearing the end of its life.
The B860 Challenger's networking capabilities are a highlight. A Realtek RTL8125 controller supports 2.5G LAN, while a Realtek 8922AE controller adds 160MHz Wi-Fi 7 support. It is one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest, Intel motherboards to support Wi-Fi 7.
Next are the audio ports, which consist of 3.5mm line-in, line-out, and microphone ports. A cost-saving Realtek ALC897 controller drives these. Don't expect a spine-tingling Mozart rendition from the board's audio, but headsplosions and machine-gun fire will sound fine.
UEFI and Test System
UEFI
ASRock hasn't updated its UEFI interface in a while, and it looks a bit dated. I think we can expect a new interface when Nova Lake motherboards arrive. The Fan-tastic control page in particular looks poor by modern standards.
That said, the B860 Challenger is likely to find a home in set-and-forget systems. The EZ mode page includes all the basic settings a novice user will need, including XMP, fan tuning, BIOS flashing, and boot priority. Once they're set, many users will never visit the BIOS again.
I try to avoid installing motherboard manufacturers' full software suites because they add too much bloat. The ASRock website lets you download utilities such as the ASRock motherboard control utility and Polychrome RGB control software. The Nahimic audio software might be worth a look, too.
Test System
- CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - 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 a reliable, widely used benchmark that measures both single- and multi-threaded performance. Note that all our benchmark testing used the latest available Windows updates.
We've switched over to the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus for ongoing 800 series motherboard reviews. It's a par score for the B860 Challenger Wi-Fi in Cinebench.
Blender
Intel's Core Ultra CPUs perform well in this test thanks to their high core count. We use the Whitelands demo file and record how long it takes to render the image.
The margins here aren't significant in percentage terms. The CPU has far more influence in this test than the motherboard. Just seven seconds covers the whole field in this nearly seven-minute test.
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. Higher values mean the task takes less time to complete.
This is right where we expect a 270K Plus to perform.
Benchmarks - File Compression and Memory Latency
7Zip
7Zip is a commonly used free file compression and decompression app. It's very sensitive to changes in memory speed and latency, and scales with the number of CPU threads.
The B860 Challenger is ahead of the much more expensive Taichi Aqua in this test.
AIDA64 Memory Latency
Memory latency has been an area where Intel has traditionally held an advantage. Chiplet architectures inevitably add some latency compared to monolithic chips. The real-world benefits aren't that important, though.
Interestingly, the 270K results destroy the 285K. The Arrow Lake Refresh definitely has some special sauce improvements!
Benchmarks - 3DMark
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 is a strong result for the B860 Challenger.
3DMark Time Spy Extreme
Time Spy Extreme has lost favor as a graphics benchmark to Speed Way and Steel Nomad, but its CPU test is still a good measure of multi-core performance.
These margins are small, with only a couple of hundred points separating the boards when measured by CPU score. Again, the 285K lags. There's really no reason to buy it.
Benchmarks - Gaming
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 is brutal on graphics cards, but when features like ray tracing are disabled, it becomes more sensitive to differences in CPU and memory performance.
It's impressive to see the uplift the 270K Plus achieves over the supposedly faster 285K, especially in minimum FPS. Also, it's no surprise that the motherboard makes little difference in graphically limited scenarios.
Horizon Zero Dawn
When using the 'favor performance' preset, Horizon Zero Dawn can achieve high frame rates with powerful graphics cards.
The differences here are negligible. With a capable graphics card, the B860 Challenger won't hold your gaming performance back.
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.
The margins are small again, but the B860 Challenger proves it's no gaming slouch.
VRM and SSD Temperatures
These tests highlight the differences among each motherboard's cooling assemblies. Each board is subjected to a 20-minute Cinebench loop, while the SSD test records the peak temperature during the lengthy 3DMark Storage test.
This is a stellar result for a board that costs just $129. I'm glad ASRock didn't opt for a basement-cheap cooling solution for the B860 Challenger. Some budget boards have truly rubbish VRM cooling. That's if they have heatsinks at all.
It's another excellent result. The B860 Challenger may be a budget board, but when it comes to cooling, it easily competes with more expensive boards.
Final Thoughts
It's easy for us tech journos to get carried away with the latest and greatest motherboards. The budget end of the market just isn't sexy, but it's where the volume is. Boards like the ASRock B860 Challenger Wi-Fi sell because they're cheap, not because they have a long list of bells and whistles.
For $129, you can't expect the feature sets of boards costing $200, let alone $500 or more. I think ASRock hit a good balance of price, features, performance, cooling, and aesthetics. There are very few competitors at this price, though it's worth checking for discounts on other B860 boards, particularly as we approach the end-of-year sales.
Its highlight is Wi-Fi 7 support. Along with 2.5G LAN, it will be easy to integrate into home networks for years to come. 5G is a step too far at this price, and Wi-Fi 8 is not going to be available on a $129 board for several years.
It would be nice to have a 10Gbps USB port or two, but ASRock is dealing with margins measured in cents, and its focus on Wi-Fi 7 support and high-quality cooling is a perfectly acceptable trade-off. You still get up to 10 5Gbps ports, so aside from support for high-speed external storage devices, it has enough ports to handle most USB peripherals.
The B860's UEFI is functional, but it's falling behind its competitors' designs. The fan control page in particular looks very dated. Thankfully, it performs well, as the underlying microcode is mature.
For just $129, the ASRock B860 Challenger Wi-Fi will be one of the cheapest components of a build today. It's the kind of board that will match well with a CPU like the impressive Core Ultra 5 250K Plus. If you're fortunate enough to own a DDR5 memory kit already, and you want a good amount of multi-threading performance, such a build will last you for years to come. It's too bad Intel is dropping support for LGA 1851 after just one generation. AMD's B850 upgrade path is a major selling point.
If you're on a tight budget, the ASRock B860 Challenger Wi-Fi is well worth considering. If nothing else, it'll let you allocate more money toward a rip-off memory kit or SSD. If you can live without high-speed USB support but want a board that'll serve as a solid foundation for a budget build, then the B860 Challenger Wi-Fi is recommended.
