Best Budget · Motherboards

ASRock B850M Pro RS WiFi

The ASRock B850M Pro RS WiFi is one of the cheapest ways onto AM5 without cutting important corners. It has PCIe 5.0 storage, three M.2 slots, Wi-Fi 6E and enough power for mainstream Ryzen chips in a compact Micro-ATX size.

Brand: ASRock
Best for: Budget AM5 gaming builds
Price range: Budget
Our score: 8.0/10

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Our take

The ASRock B850M Pro RS WiFi is one of the cheapest ways onto AMD's AM5 platform without cutting the corners that matter. It's a compact Micro-ATX board with PCIe 5.0, three M.2 slots and built-in Wi-Fi.

Power and performance

The Pro RS uses an 8+2+1 phase power design with Dr.MOS power stages. That's lighter than mid-range boards, but plenty for six- and eight-core Ryzen processors such as the Ryzen 5 7600, Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9800X3D. For a 16-core Ryzen 9 running heavy workloads for hours, a board with stronger power delivery is a better match.

At stock settings, gaming performance is the same as on far more expensive boards.

Storage and expansion

There are three M.2 slots, with the main slot supporting PCIe 5.0 SSDs, and a PCIe 5.0 x16 graphics card slot. Note that using the third M.2 slot disables the second PCIe expansion slot, which matters only if you plan to add a capture card or similar.

Connectivity

You get 2.5Gb Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6E with Bluetooth 5.2. Wi-Fi 6E is a generation behind Wi-Fi 7 but plenty fast for most home networks. There are video outputs for Ryzen's built-in graphics and a reasonable selection of USB ports.

The board comes in black or white.

Platform

AMD has committed to supporting the AM5 socket until at least 2027, so the board can take a faster Ryzen processor later. Boards made before Ryzen 9000 launched may need a BIOS update first; this one supports BIOS Flashback, which updates the BIOS from a USB stick without a processor installed.

Who should buy it

Buy the B850M Pro RS WiFi for a budget AM5 gaming PC with a Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7, especially in a smaller Micro-ATX case. If you plan to use a Ryzen 9 or want more features, step up to the Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite WiFi7.

Key specifications

Socket	AMD AM5
Chipset	AMD B850
Form factor	Micro-ATX
Memory	4x DDR5, up to 8,000MT/s (OC)
Power delivery	8+2+1 phases, Dr.MOS
Expansion slots	PCIe 5.0 x16, PCIe 4.0 x4
M.2 slots	3 (main slot PCIe 5.0)
Networking	2.5Gb Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
Colours	Black or white