ASRock B850 Challenger WIFI Motherboard Review: Strong Value Option For AMD Ryzen Builders With 12 Phase VRM & WIFI 7 at $179

Conclusion - Great Entry-Level AM5 Board With WIFI7, Lots of USB, For $179

Since the arrival of B850 motherboards, AM5 builders have been getting good options for their new Ryzen 9000/7000 CPUs. While B650 motherboards have been decent, B850 options do an upgrade, & that's compelling enough to reconsider your choice if you're coming from an older AM4 board. Today, we tested one of ASRock's latest B850 offerings.

Once again, ASRock retains its PCB prowess by offering a 12+2+1 phase VRM design fitted with an 8-layer PCB and dual 8-pin connectors, something that we don't often see on other $179 priced B850 boards. The motherboard also features DDR5-8000 support with up to 256 GB capacities, keeping in line with the rest of its higher-end offerings. The VRMs are cooled by two heatsinks, which kept temperatures within the mid-60s range, a decent performance. Overclocking and Undervolting options are plenty on the motherboard, with the latest BIOS providing users with a lot of preset configurations, and even more if you want to go the manual route.

The motherboard features dual M.2 slots, both of which are cooled by large heatsinks, and the primary Gen5 slot even comes with a toolless design. The PCIe slots include two x16 and two x1 slots. The primary slot is a Gen5x16 design, which has an ideal 4-slot spacing. You won't have to remove the GPU to install or remove an M.2 device. The CMOS battery is located underneath it, so accessing it will require removing the GPU. There are 19 USB ports, which include:

• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (Rear)
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (Rear)
• 3 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (Rear (USB32_12 and USB32_3)) Chipset:
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C (Front)
• 5 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (1 Rear (USB32_4), 4 Front)
• 8 x USB 2.0 (4 Rear, 4 Front)

ASRock B850 Challenger WIFI Motherboard Pros/Cons:

• + Decent price at $179
• + Solid Ryzen 9000 CPU Performance
• + Dual M.2 slots with heatsink cooling
• + Up To 8000 MT/s memory support
• + WIFI 7 + BT5.4 + 2.5GbE LAN
• + 19 USB ports
• + Well-designed with 4-slot PCIex16 spacing
• + Available in All-Black and All-White colors
• - Audio based on older ALC897 codec
• - Higher-capacity memory has some compatibility issues

Another strong aspect of the B850 Challenger WIFI is that it supports WIFI 7 with Bluetooth 5.4; once again, the competing $179 US options only offer WIFI6E capabilities. The all-black design is great for AM5 builders going with that theme, but there are 4 RGB/ARGB headers for custom lighting.

ASRock's B850 Challenger WIFI is a great ATX AM5 option for entry-level builders within the $179 US price point. It offers a solid VRM with support for AMD's latest Ryzen 9000 CPUs, the latest WIFI 7 wireless capabilities, support for some fast DDR5-8000 memory, up to 19 USB ports, and a very intelligent design scheme. It's all-black theme looks great, and all those features mentioned above make it an instant recommendation from me. Do note that ASRock also offers a white variant of this motherboard, which is priced at $189.

Note: As of writing this post (9/6/2025), the latest BIOS (v3.40), is now available for ASRock's AM5 boards. This further addresses the compatibility and voltage issues associated with ASRock's AM5 lineup. It should also be pointed out that while ASRock's AM5 motherboards have seen issues with Ryzen CPUs, the company has gone an extra mile in tuning its BIOS to ensure that these issues are fixed. Always check the latest BIOS support for your ASRock boards for fixes and patches.

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