With AMD’s new Zen 3-based Ryzen 5000 processors offering new levels of compute, gaming, and power efficiency performance to mainstream desktop users, it is a great time to be a Mini-ITX fan. In this review, we examine the ASUS ROG STRIX B550-I Gaming Mini-ITX motherboard and see how it handles the AMD Zen 3 flagship CPU.

Watch via our Vimeo channel (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE

Video Timestamps:

00:00 Start

00:15 Introduction / the board

01:53 Rear mounted M.2 connector

03:05 Memory support / CPU socket

03:56 Top edge connectors

05:22 Right side of board / front panel connectors

05:57 PCI expansion slot area / M.2 daughterboard details

07:09 M.2 heatsink / right of M.2 connector

07:45 Front panel audio header / rear Type-C audio header

08:24 Rear I/O panel

09:34 Power delivery

10:57 VRM hardware components

14:17 Fan BIOS control

14:58 Test system / hardware

15:40 Test results

16:58 Thermal performance with M.2 SSDs

17:14 Audio test results

17:22 Manual overclocking and unusual sensor details

20:12 Overclocked results and power consumption

20:54 VRM and CPU temperatures

22:08 Luke’s closing thoughts – Pros and Cons

Coming in at around the £200 mark, this high-end B550 offering features an actively cooled 8+2 power stage design, dual M.2 sockets, plentiful quantities of 10Gbps USB on the rear and internally, and high-speed wired and wireless networking connectivity. ASUS also included a unique feature in its USB Type-C audio connector.

£200 is steep for a B550 motherboard, even in the typically more expensive Mini-ITX form factor. And with tough competition from the similarly priced ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/AX motherboard in particular, can ASUS’ ROG STRIX B550-I Gaming prove its worth? Let’s take a look.

Features (information taken from the ASUS webpage):

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