Our Verdict
Pros
- At $229, it's among the most affordable X870E boards
- Strong VRM and SSD cooling
- 5G LAN + Wi-Fi 7 + USB4
- Minimalist, yet attractive looks
- AM5 upgrade path
Cons
- The BIOS desperately needs an overhaul
Should you buy it?
Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing
ASRock's Challenger series of motherboards is establishing itself as a compelling sub-brand that skips the bling in favor of a strong core feature set and impressive value for money. Gosh, the PC market is sorely lacking bang for your buck. If memory, storage, and GPU prices are making you pull your hair out, it's good to know there are still real bargains to be found in the motherboard market.
The ASRock X870E Challenger Wi-Fi White is a perfect example. At $229, it offers outstanding value. Apart from the odd discounted board, it is among the most affordable X870E boards. That means it can run a fully populated multi-SSD system plus expansion cards without lane-sharing compromises.
The X870E Challenger Wi-Fi White hasn't been on the market for long. It doesn't have a direct predecessor, but it can be considered a refresh board, with a 64MB BIOS ROM - ready for next-generation processors. It has Wi-Fi 7, 5G LAN, USB4, a powerful VRM, and four M.2 slots. In other words, it has all the foundational features for a high-end build in 2026 and beyond.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Model | ASRock X870E Challenger Wi-Fi White |
| CPU Socket | AM5 |
| Chipset | AMD X870E |
| CPU Support | AMD 7000, 8000 & 9000 series |
| Memory | 4 x DDR5 DIMM slots, up to 256GB, up to 8200+ MT/s (OC) |
| Expansion slots | 1x PCIe 5.0 x16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x2) 1x PCIe 3.0 x1 |
| Storage | 4x M.2, 2x SATA |
| Ethernet | 1x Realtek RTL8126 5GbE |
| Wireless & Bluetooth | Azurewave (Realtek RTL8922AE) Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
| USB | Up to 2x USB4, 1x USB 20Gbps, 5x USB 10Gbps, 7x USB 5Gbps, 6x USB 2.0 |
| Audio | Realtek ALC4082 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| MSRP | $229 |
The board supports AMD AM5 Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 series CPUs. It supports up to 256GB of memory, comes with three expansion slots, a front USB 20Gbps port, and, of course, a white-and-grey color scheme that's minimalistic and, in my opinion, very appealing. A black version is available if you prefer.
The X870E Challenger White is available for $229. Though some X870E boards get periodic discounts, a quick check reveals only one other full-priced board around that price point: the MSI Pro X870E-S Evo Wi-Fi. Otherwise, its closest competitors are B850 models. At this price, they either lack the features of the X870E Challenger or are forced into lane-sharing compromises because they use a single Promontory 21 chipset.
Packaging, Accessories, and Overview
Packaging and Accessories
Best Deals: ASRock X870E Challenger WiFi White AM5 Motherboard
Prices last scanned 21 hours and 27 minutes ago
7 days ago: $229.99 USD
7 days ago: $229.99 USD
7 days ago: $319.99 CAD
7 days ago: $344.97 CAD
The board's box is minimalist, reflecting the board's design.
The rear highlights all the board's key features and specifications.
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The X870E Challenger Wi-Fi White comes with a minimal set of accessories. You get a quick setup guide, regulatory notices, stickers, a case badge, a pair of SATA cables, and screw-in Wi-Fi antennas. It would be nice to see an antenna with a cable you can place freely, but you can't have everything at $229.
Frequently Asked Questions
Open a question for an answer from TweakTown's coverage of this review, or ask your own below.
Which AM5 Ryzen CPUs does the ASRock X870E Challenger Wi-Fi White support out of the box?
How do the four M.2 slots and PCIe slots share bandwidth on this X870E board?
Does the board’s USB4 implementation work with front-panel USB-C headers and high-speed external SSDs?
What kind of Wi-Fi 7 support does the included Realtek controller offer, and is it limited in any way?
Have a question that isn't listed here? Ask below, and TweakBot will answer it.
Motherboard Overview
The ASRock X870E Challenger Wi-Fi White is an ATX board with a subtle and attractive design. It's mostly free of design flourishes and silk-screening. I really like minimalist design. Excessive branding and RGB logos feel a bit on-the-nose to me. But opinions are in the eye of the beholder. Some may say it looks plain, and that's fair enough.
The board doesn't come with integrated RGB, but it has three ARGB headers and a single 12V RGB header. As with most white boards, it'll be easy to blend in with a wide variety of lighting themes, and a board with minimal flourishes will help accentuate that.
There's not much to note on the rear of the board. It's an all-grey affair. The metal attachment below the rear I/O doesn't make contact with any rear components. Its only purpose is to add a little extra rigidity for the main VRM heatsink.
Four DIMM slots support up to 256GB of memory and speeds of up to 8200+ MT/s. I can't imagine anyone buying high-speed or high-capacity kits for a budget board in the current climate. Since the launch of AM5, AMD has consistently recommended memory speeds in the 6000-6400 MT/s range in 1:1 mode for the best balance of speed, latency, and compatibility. As Zen 6 is expected to support CUDIMMs, higher speeds may be officially supported later.
The X870E Challenger includes a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot. The lower x16 slot is wired to the chipset and supports PCIe 3.0 x2 electrically. The final slot is PCIe 3.0 x1.
The board includes four M.2 slots. The primary slot supports PCIe 5.0 and includes an underside thermal pad and an impressively beefy heatsink. The other three slots are connected to the chipset and support PCIe 4.0. A screw-in plate cools two, while the final slot sits next to the SATA ports and includes its own screw-in heatsink.
This set of slots can all run simultaneously thanks to ASRock's choice to use the dual X870E chipset. A B850 board can't run four SSDs at PCIe 4.0 at least, plus expansion cards, and USB4 all at the same time without some compromises.
Two SATA ports join the four M.2 slots. Boards with six or more SATA ports are a thing of the past.
PCIe 5.0 SSDs can get toasty if you thrash them for extended periods, and it's great to see ASRock didn't cheap out with its primary SSD heatsink. Some boards costing a lot more would benefit from this heatsink's large surface area. A load temperature of 54 degrees is enough to beat out some boards that cost twice as much - and more. Well done, ASRock. It's also easy to remove and reattach.
The larger plate cools the other two SSDs, and a second smaller plate cools another slot. I like the positioning of this slot. It's a little away from a heat-dumping GPU. If using a system with two drives, I'd place a second drive in this slot.
ASRock went above and beyond with the X870E Challenger Wi-Fi White's VRM. It features a 20+2+1 phase design with 110A stages. That's more than enough to power an overclocked 9950X and will have enough headroom for high-core-count Zen 6 processors too, even if they come with a dramatic uptick in TDP. That's a nice confidence booster for buyers planning a future upgrade.
The board's heatsinks have reasonable surface area, though there is quite a bit of space underneath the primary heatsink near the rear I/O. A load temperature of 57 degrees is still solid, especially considering the board costs just $229.
The rear I/O of the X870E Challenger White is very good for a board in its price range. The dual USB4 Type-C ports are joined by five 10Gbps ports, three 5Gbps ports, and two USB 2.0 ports, for a total of 12 ports. ASRock calls the yellow USB ports Lightning Gaming ports. These have their own interfaces, which aim to reduce latency and jitter. The Ultra USB Power ports draw power from the 12V PSU rail and are designed to suit electrically sensitive devices such as a DAC or headphones.
A Realtek RTL8126 controller adds a single 5G LAN port. This controller has really dropped in price. An Azurewave Wi-Fi controller with a Realtek RTL8922 chip adds Wi-Fi 7, supporting 160MHz connections only.
Next are the audio ports, which consist of 3.5mm line-in and line-out ports and S/PDIF. A Realtek ALC4082 codec drives these. I'm pleased to see ASRock has relegated ALC897 to the entry level only.
Finally, there's a single HDMI port, CMOS clear, and BIOS flashback buttons. Again, for a $229 board, this is a great I/O set.
UEFI and Test System
UEFI
The X870E chipset is now two years old, yet ASRock hasn't used the interim to update its aging UEFI interface. It's really showing its age. The grey-on-white color scheme just doesn't look good, and I've said many times that its fan control page looks like it belongs in a 1990s office PC. I really hope ASRock is cooking something up for next-gen boards. Its competitors have pulled ahead.
That said, the underlying microcode is mature, and the core functionality is good. It would benefit from some additional functionality on the Easy Mode page. If you do need to navigate to the advanced pages, at least they're adequate, even if the layout and design are uninspiring.
Motherboard software suites are excessively bloated. I'd avoid installing a full suite, and instead, download only the components you need. The ASRock motherboard control utility and Polychrome RGB control software are likely picks.
All the relevant drivers are available too.
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 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.
It's a little lower on this list, but the X870E Challenger White is only about 40-odd points behind, and the single-thread result is right where it should be.
Blender
A rendering application like Blender is just one of many reasons a user might consider a high-core-count CPU, such as the Ryzen 9 9950X. We use the Whitelands demo file and record how long it takes to render the image.
A couple of seconds over a seven-minute test is negligible.
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. A higher result indicates the task will take less time to complete.
It's a mid-pack result for the X870E Challenger White.
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 HandBrake and 7zip results are right in the middle. Given both are sensitive to memory speed and latency, the next result will be interesting.
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.
That may explain it. The X870E Challenger White lags slightly on memory latency. It's nothing to worry about, though. It's just a 3% difference.
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.
4,101 isn't a bad result.
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.
The differences between the boards are minor, with only a few hundred points separating them in CPU score.
Benchmarks - Gaming
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 is brutal on graphics cards, but without features like ray tracing, it becomes more sensitive to CPU and memory performance differences.
It's no surprise that the motherboard makes little difference in graphically limited scenarios.
Horizon Zero Dawn
With the 'favor performance' preset, Horizon Zero Dawn can hit high frame rates on powerful graphics cards.
The differences are small, but it's still a good result for the X870E Challenger White. Of course, a faster GPU is where the real gains come from.
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.
Just four frames per second cover the entire field in this test.
VRM and SSD Temperatures
These tests show the differences between 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.
A peak VRM temperature of 57 degrees is a great result for a $229 board. Many boards ahead of it cost a lot more.
This result really impressed me. ASRock did a great job here.
Final Thoughts
One of the biggest benefits of an X870E motherboard is its ongoing upgrade path. Zen 6 support is guaranteed, and Zen 7 support is likely too, so buying an AM5 board now still makes a lot of sense. Next-generation boards won't shift the needle much, since generational features such as DDR6 and PCIe 6.0 aren't coming anytime soon. USB 4 2.0 is likely to appear on high-end boards only at first. That means buying an affordable board like the ASRock X870E Challenger Wi-Fi White is a good investment for a system expected to last for several years.
It's got the key features expected to last for years. A huge 20-phase VRM with good cooling is ready to handle a high-core-count Zen 6 chip, while USB4, support for four SSDs, Wi-Fi 7, and 5G LAN are core features for the long term.
At $229, it offers outstanding value for money. It's a great option if you plan to run a lot of devices, including expansion cards, without lane-sharing compromises. That's a key point if you're looking at a competing B850 or X870 board at this price.
I really like the board's look. It's refreshing to see a board that isn't dominated by RGB-lit branding (advertising!). It's the kind of board that will look good with a wide range of RGB lighting.
The primary SSD cooler also deserves a plug. Its retention mechanism works well, and its large surface area means it can easily compete with coolers on boards costing two or three times as much.
It's not perfect though. I really wish ASRock would update its aging UEFI design, and the fan control page looks terrible. It won't matter much to a set-and-forget type of user, but for enthusiasts used to tweaking and tinkering, ASRock's competitors have left it behind.
But in the end, the X870E Challenger Wi-Fi White is just $229, and for that price it offers so much, with an upgrade path, too. Place it in a white case with accompanying hardware, and it'll look great. Cheaper boards exist, but few offer a feature set as comprehensive as the X870E Challenger. It's also available in black if you prefer. This one's easy to recommend for buyers who want a lot without spending a lot.
