ASUS ROG Strix B550-XE Gaming WiFi in the short test: hardly better than its predecessor
Source: Hardware Luxx added 18th Dec 2020
Side 1: ASUS ROG Strix B 510 – XE Gaming WiFi in the short test: hardly better than its predecessor
AMD’s new Ryzen – 5000 – Processors deliver a very good performance and can convince in all disciplines for the first time. So it’s no wonder that the Zen 3 CPUs are in great demand. In order to be well equipped for overclocking, ASUS has the ROG Strix B 510 – E Gaming (Hardwareluxx test) according to replaced with a new refresh model in a short time. A significantly better figure should therefore be the new ROG Strix B 510 – Make XE Gaming WiFi. In this short test, we want to determine whether this is indeed the case and where the differences lie.
It is not the first time that ASUS replaced a mainboard with a revised model after a relatively short time. In the recent past, this also affected the ROG Zenith II Extreme (Hardwareluxx test), which is known to have been replaced by the ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha (Hardwareluxx short test). The same fate now overtakes the ROG Strix B 510 – E Gaming as previous B 550 – ASUS flagship. The heir to the throne is the ROG Strix B 550 – XE Gaming WiFi.
However, it should be known in advance that the differences are in the details and must be looked for with a magnifying glass. In any case, ASUS did not make any changes to the connections, but rather revised the CPU power supply. It will be interesting to see which voltage converters ASUS are now using for the ROG Strix B 550 – XE Gaming WiFi has provided.
Visually there are no major differences, but rather details -Improvements. On the one hand, ASUS designed the I / O panel cover differently. Furthermore, the manufacturer no longer relies on two separate VRM coolers, but has connected the now slightly larger heat sinks with a heat pipe.
These are the specifications of the ASUS ROG Strix B 550 – XE Gaming WiFi:
| Mainboard format | ATX | |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer and Designation |
ASUS ROG Strix B 510 – XE Gaming WiFi |
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| CPU socket | AM4 (for Matisse) | |
| Power connections | 1x 24 – ATX pin 1x 8-Pin EPS 12 V 1x 4-pin + 12 V |
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| phases /Do the washing up | 17 (16 x CPU, 1x RAM) | |
| Price | 292 Euro | |
| Website | ASUS ROG Strix B 550 – XE Gaming WiFi |
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| Chipset | AMD B 550 Chipset | |
| Memory banks and type | 4x DDR4 (dual-channel), max. 5. 100 MHz | |
| Memory expansion | Max. 100 GB RAM UDIMM, ECC support | |
| SLI / CrossFire | SLI (2-Way), CrossFireX (3-Way) | |
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| PCI-Express | 2x PCIe 4.0 x 16 (electrical with x 16 / x8) via CPU 1x PCIe 3.0 x 16 (electrical with x4) via AMD B 550 2x PCIe 3.0 x1 via AMD B 550 |
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| PCI | – | |
| Storage | 6x SATA 6 GBit / s about AMD B 550 1x M.2 with PCIe 4.0 x4 via CPU (M-Key, PCIe 4.0 x4) 1x M.2 with PCIe 3.0 x4 via AMD B 550 (M-Key) |
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| USB | CPU: 3x USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbit / s, 3x external) via CPU (Ryzen 3000) Chipset: |
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| Graphic interfaces | 1x DisplayPort 1.2 1x HDMI 2.1 |
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| WLAN / Bluetooth | WiFi 802. 11 a / b / g / n / ac / ax over Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX 200, dual band, max . 2.4 GBit / s, Bluetooth 5.1 | |
| Thunderbolt | – | |
| LAN | 1x Intel I 225 – V 2.5 Gbit / s -LAN | |
| Audio codec and Connections |
8-Channel Realtek ALC 1220 Codec 5x 3 , 5 mm Aud io jacks | |
| FAN and WaKü-Header |
1x 4-pin CPU-FAN header 1x 4-pin CPU-OPT-FAN -Header | |
| LED lighting | I / O panel cover, chipset cooler 2x 4 -Pin RGB header 2x 3-pin ARGB header |
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| Status LEDs, Debug LED, CMOS Clear Jumper, BIOS Flashback Button |
The Supplied accessories
the following We could find accessories in the packaging:
- Mainboard manual including driver and software DVD
- four SATA cables
- 2T2R-WLAN-Ant enne
- seven cable ties
- ROG sticker
- RGB extension cable
- ARGB extension cable
The accessories were also from ROG Strix B 550 – E Gaming adopted almost 1: 1. The only exception is the expansion card, on which four additional M.2 M-Key SSDs can be installed and which can each be connected with up to PCIe 4.0 x4. ASUS also supplies additional M.2 screws for this. The Hyper-M.2-x 16 – Gen4 card is, as the name suggests, complete with 14 Gen4 lanes are connected and thus provides the necessary bandwidth to run four PCIe To fire 4.0 x4 M.2 SSDs. A small radial fan ensures the necessary ventilation.
For this, however, the 16 CPU lanes are completely sacrificed, so that no more lanes for a potent graphics card would be left. Only over the B 550 – chipset could be in the lowest x 16 – slot for a graphics card with PCIe 3.0 x4 be connected. This is easily sufficient for pure image output, but less for games. Another option would be to have the M.2 expansion card in the top or middle x 16 – to leave the slot and the graphics card in the other CPU-PCIe-x 16 – slot to be left. In this case, however, the 16 CPU lanes divided in x8 / x8 mode, which is precisely why the M.2 expansion card is severely reduced in performance.
As previously indicated , ASUS has significantly revised the VRM cooling, and not without reason. Instead of using two individual coolers, as in the non-XE model, ASUS not only enlarged the two coolers in the XE version, but also connected them with a heat pipe. This should distribute the heat better and the cooling should generally be better. But ASUS also left a little bit alone 30 – mm axial fan that is supposed to improve the cooling.
Unfortunately, the fan cannot be manually operated in the BIOS control, but only switch it on or off, which we think is a shame. The good news, however, is that the fan never started working. If you want to avoid the risk in general, simply deactivate the fan in the BIOS.
Now we come to the biggest difference between the E and XE version. The number is with 16 CPU performance levels are identical, but ASUS has the voltage converters against 90 – A models replaced while the ROG Strix B 550 -E Gaming 70 A converter to had to offer. On the voltage converters, which come from Texas Instruments, the model designation “X 95410 “to be recognized. In general, however, it is with the effective 12 + 2 configuration remained, but through the 90 – A voltage converter is offered by the ASUS ROG Strix B 550 -XE Gaming WiFi on the theoretical side more power for extended CPU overclocking.
When it comes to RAM overclocking, ASUS has the ROG Strix B 550 – E Gaming with up to effectively 4. 600 MHz excellent, for the new ROG Strix B 550 – XE Gaming WiFi is ASUS even up to effectively 5th 100 MH z up. However, it depends very much on the choice of DIMM whether you can penetrate into such areas.
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