Not way back, we checked out ASRock’s Z790 Metal Legend, which was among the best choices in that finances house and earned our Editor’s Alternative award. Now up on the take a look at bench is its little brother, the B760M Metal Legend. This Legend affords customers a well-rounded resolution on a Micro ATX body. You get ample storage, quick networking together with Wi-Fi, succesful energy supply, ASRock’s eDP port (for connecting an inside show), and the Metal Legend seems. For beneath $160, it’s one of many higher choices for these trying to put collectively a mid-range or finances Intel system.
At present out there for $159.99 on Newegg, the B760M Metal Legend delivers three M.2 sockets (all PCIe 4.0 x4) and 4 SATA ports for storage. You additionally get 2.5 GbE and built-in Wi-Fi 6E, DrMOS MOSFETs to assist flagship-class processors, and the signature Metal Legend black-and-silver look, which incorporates RGB LEDs in two areas. That stated, the board shouldn’t be with out some drawbacks. Out of the field, it follows Intel energy specs, so efficiency varies relying on the take a look at size. To that finish, it was slower than common throughout a number of long-running productiveness assessments. Nevertheless, it proved to be a more-than-competent gaming board.
Under, we’ll dig into the main points of this Metal Legend and see how shrinking it to Micro ATX dimension adjustments issues. You received’t discover EZ latches or premium conveniences of that kind, nevertheless it nonetheless has an opportunity to make the Finest Motherboards listing with all it has going for it. Earlier than we get into our testing and board particulars, we’ll begin by itemizing the specs from ASRock.
Specs: ASRock B760M Metal Legend Wi-Fi
| Socket | LGA1700 |
| Chipset | B760 |
| Kind Issue | Micro ATX |
| Voltage Regulator | 14 Part (12x 50A SPS MOSFETs for Vcore) |
| Video Ports | (1) HDMI (v2.1) |
| Row 5 – Cell 0 | (1) DisplayPort (v1.4) |
| Row 6 – Cell 0 | (1) eDP (v1.4) |
| USB Ports | (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) Sort-C |
| Row 8 – Cell 0 | (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) |
| Row 9 – Cell 0 | (4) USB 3.2 Gen 1 (10 Gbps) |
| Row 10 – Cell 0 | (2) USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) |
| Community Jacks | (1) 2.5 GbE |
| Audio Jacks | (3) Analog |
| Legacy Ports/Jacks | PS/2 |
| Different Ports/Jack | ✗ |
| PCIe x16 | (1) v5.0 (x16) |
| PCIe x8 | ✗ |
| PCIe x4 | ✗ |
| PCIe x1 | (1) v4.0 (x4) |
| CrossFire/SLI | ✗ |
| DIMM Slots | (4) DDR5 7200+(OC)*, 192GB Capability |
| Row 21 – Cell 0 | 1DPC 1R As much as 7200+ MHz (OC), 4800 MHz Natively. |
| Row 22 – Cell 0 | 1DPC 2R As much as 6000+ MHz (OC), 4400 MHz Natively. |
| Row 23 – Cell 0 | 2DPC 1R As much as 5600+ MHz (OC), 4000 MHz Natively. |
| Row 24 – Cell 0 | 2DPC 2R As much as 4800+ MHz (OC), 3600 MHz Natively. |
| M.2 Sockets | (3) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) / PCIe (as much as 80mm) |
| SATA Ports | (4) SATA3 6 Gbps (Helps RAID 0/1/5/10) |
| USB Headers | (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2×2, Sort-C (20 Gbps) |
| Row 28 – Cell 0 | (1) USB v3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) |
| Row 29 – Cell 0 | (2) USB v2.0 (480 Mbps) |
| Fan/Pump Headers | (8) 4-Pin (CPU, CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/water pump) |
| RGB Headers | (3) aRGB (3-pin) |
| Row 32 – Cell 0 | (1) RGB (4-pin) |
| Diagnostics Panel | (1) Publish Standing Checker (4 LEDs) |
| Row 34 – Cell 0 | (1) Debug LEDs |
| Inside Button/Change | ✗ |
| SATA Controllers | ✗ |
| Ethernet Controller(s) | (1) Realtek Dragon RTL8125BG (2.5 GbE) |
| Wi-Fi / Bluetooth | Intel Wi-Fi 6E (2×2, MU-MIMO, ax, BT5.3) |
| USB Controllers | ASMedia ASM1074 |
| HD Audio Codec | Realtek ALC897 |
| DDL/DTS | ✗ / ✗ |
| Guarantee | 3 Years |
Contained in the Field of the ASRock B760M Metal Legend Wi-Fi
Contained in the field, together with the motherboard, is a small set of equipment. ASRock consists of the fundamentals to get you began however not way more. Under is the entire listing.
- Person Handbook
- Three SATA cables
- ASRock WiFi 2.4/5/6 GHz antenna
- Three Screws and standoffs for M.2 Sockets
Design of the Metal Legend
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Wanting on the board as a complete, the Metal Legend theme with its silver and black/white look seems good on the smaller board. Geared toward common customers and mainstream lovers, the brushed aluminum end and the camouflage-like sample on some heatsinks give off a mid-range vibe, and the general look is akin to different boards in its class – if perhaps not the best-looking choice. It additionally has two RGB LED areas (the upper-right nook and beneath the underside M.2 socket) which might be colourful and brilliant, yielding a vivid glow inside your chassis.
Beginning our journey within the left nook, hiding among the many VRM heatsinks are two 8-pin EPS connectors (one required) to energy the CPU. The heatsinks surrounding them are massive sufficient and look to have loads of floor space to be efficient. They did an incredible job conserving the MOSFETs beneath working cool with the board utilizing the default Intel specs. When you bypass that and lift the PL1 worth to 253W (versus the ~125W default), they get scorching, so make sure you have good airflow inside your case in case you do this.
Shifting previous the socket space, we run into the 4 unreinforced DRAM slots, which lock on each side. ASRock lists capability as much as 192GB (with 4 48GB DIMMs) and speeds as much as DDR5-7200. Our two slower kits labored. Nevertheless, our quickest DDR5-7200 package wasn’t steady. For the document, our Teamgroup package isn’t on the board’s QVL listing, so we shouldn’t anticipate them to within the first place. That stated, there are DDR5-7200 kits listed on the reminiscence QVL (even from Teamgroup) if you wish to push the reminiscence speeds.
Simply previous the DRAM slots in the best nook, we run into our first two (of 5) 4-pin fan headers. Every header helps DC- and PWM-controlled units. CPU_FAN1 helps as much as 1A/12W, whereas CPU_FAN2/WP and the Chassis fan headers all assist as much as 2A/24W. The headers have sufficient energy to piggyback followers or a heavy-duty pump for a customized water loop. Use both A-Tune software program or the BIOS to manage these headers.
Shifting down the best edge, we spy the four-LED Publish Standing Checker. Every LED (Boot, VGA, DRAM, and CPU) lights up in the course of the POST course of. If there’s an issue in considered one of these areas, the offending half’s LED stays lit, exposing the place the issue lies. Subsequent, we discover the 24-pin ATX connector to energy the board, a front-panel 19-pin USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) connector, and a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20 Gbps) Sort-C header. Final however not least, there’s a 3rd 4-pin fan header right here.
For energy supply, electrical energy comes from the EPS connector(s) and onto an 8-phase Richtek RT3628AE controller utilizing a teamed configuration. For Vcore, energy strikes to the 12x 50A Vishay Sic654 DrMOS MOSFETS for a paltry 600A out there to the processor. Bear in mind which you can’t overclock processors on this chipset. And by default, the board follows Intel specs, so that you’re solely boosting as much as 253W for a short while earlier than dropping to 125W. The system proved it might simply deal with our Intel Core i9-13900K with these settings. When pushed to steady-state 253W in stress assessments (learn: closely multi-threaded and long-running masses), the VRMs did get scorching. So that you’ll need good case airflow in case you plan on pushing this board past its out-of-box settings.
On the underside half of the board are two PCIe slots, three M.2 sockets, and the audio resolution. Beginning on the left, the Metal Legend makes use of the finances Realtek ALC897 codec together with a few yellow capacitors devoted to audio output. You’ll discover the audio separation line, nevertheless it’s in any other case freed from any EMI mitigation. Many customers will discover this resolution acceptable, although crucial listeners might want one thing higher, or might use audio system with their very own built-in audio {hardware}.
A full-length PCIe slot and an open-ended x1 slot are in the course of the board. The complete-length slot (PCIE1) connects by way of the CPU to run as much as PCIe 5.0 x16, whereas the x1 slot (PCIE2) connects by way of the chipset and runs as much as PCIe 4.0 x1 speeds. Not numerous room for enlargement playing cards, however in case you’re shopping for a smaller type issue, this is likely one of the inevitable drawbacks of getting much less actual property to work with. Additionally on this space is the uncovered Intel Wi-Fi 6E card occupying the Key-E socket.
Combined in among the many PCIe slots are three M.2 sockets for storage. Two sockets (M2_1/2) have their very own skinny heatsink, whereas one (M2_3) doesn’t. All three sockets run as much as PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) and assist as much as 80mm modules. On different boards round this worth and dimension, you’ll discover two M.2 sockets extra frequent, so the third on the Metal Legend units it aside from a few of its friends.
Shifting previous the small chipset heatsink, we hit the best fringe of the board and the 4 SATA ports. If you wish to use a RAID configuration, the SATA ports assist RAID0/1/5/10 modes. Observe that no RAID modes are listed for the M.2 sockets. Additionally, all storage runs concurrently (no lane sharing) irrespective of the configuration.
Throughout the underside of the board are a number of uncovered headers. You’ll discover the standard stuff right here, together with further USB ports, RGB headers, and fan headers. Under is a whole listing, from left to proper.
- Entrance panel audio
- Clear CMOS header
- 3-pin RGB header
- 4-pin ARGB header
- (2) System Fan headers
- (2) USB 2.0 headers
- SPI TPM header
- System panel header
The rear IO plate comes preinstalled on the motherboard and sports activities the identical white, black, and grey camouflage-like theme. There are eight whole USB ports out again. The ten Gbps Sort-C and 10 Gbps Sort-A ports (considered one of every) are the sooner connections, supported by 4 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports and two USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) ports. The DisplayPort and HDMI video outputs are on the left, and the Wi-Fi antenna connections are simply above. There’s additionally a PS/2 port for legacy connections for a keyboard or mouse. Lastly, alongside the best edge, the audio stack consists of three analog ports (no SPDIF). What’s right here is fairly typical for a board of this class, however simply be sure that the seven out there Sort-A ports are sufficient.
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