Priced at $229.99 however accessible for beneath $200 in the event you hunt on-line retailers, ASRock’s B650 LiveMixer is a uniquely styled ATX motherboard that the corporate goals at “current-gen content material creators who want nice connectivity for streaming and different auxiliary objects.” This reasonably priced AMD Ryzen platform affords a shiny orange graffiti or splattered-paint look that stands out, together with extra USB ports on the rear I/O than we have seen even on flagship or halo boards—a staggering 14 in all. Obtained microphones, headphones, cameras, macro pads, mice, and keyboards? Carry ’em on. You additionally get three M.2 sockets, one with PCI Expresss 5.0 help, plus Realtek 2.5Gbps Ethernet, adequate energy supply, and a funds audio codec. Ultimately, we like what the LiveMixer delivers, however its polarizing look and solely two SATA ports may very well be a turnoff for some. When you admire the streetwise look, although, this can be a board like no different.
Board Design, CPU, and Reminiscence
Shrinking violets (and windowless instances) needn’t apply, because the colourful LiveMixer jogs my memory of the DFI LanParty boards again within the day. The oversize VRM heatsinks and different elements sport shiny orange and crimson hues that spill over onto the 8-layer PCB, giving off a celebration vibe accentuated by graffiti-font LiveMixer labeling. ASRock says the artistic focus isn’t any jive, as the corporate examined totally different seize units from AverMedia and Elgato to make sure compatibility. The PCIe 5.0 M.2 socket has a bigger heatsink than the remainder, which we prefer to see on these hot-running drives. The one bolstered PCI Categorical slot is the first one, however that is the one slot more likely to want the assistance reinforcement supplies.
So as to add much more bling to the vividly coloured board, a number of RGB LEDs are hidden beneath the SATA ports and front-panel USB header. Their glow is shiny with saturated colours, serving to cement the motherboard’s love/hate look—both you may dig the eye it brings, otherwise you will not.
The B650 LiveMixer helps AMD’s Ryzen AM5 processors with 17-phase energy supply and 60A MOSFETs. The 840 amps accessible to the CPU (14 phases devoted to Vcore) proved to be a lot to deal with our Ryzen 9 7950X at each inventory and overclocked speeds. The large VRM heatsinks do a superb job of preserving energy supply working inside spec. Overclocking potential is restricted solely by your cooling.
Reminiscence help tops out at DDR5-6400+(OC), which is about common amongst B650-class boards. A lot previous 6,400MHz, you are past what works persistently on the platform. The motherboard can maintain 128GB of RAM by way of 4 slots with locking mechanisms on each side, which must be ample even for content material creators.
Our DDR5-5600 and DDR5-6000 kits ran wonderful after setting the interior profile (XMP on one equipment, EXPO on the opposite). If overclocking reminiscence is in your want listing, you’ll be able to simply extract the final couple of share factors of efficiency out of your rig, because the BIOS affords reminiscence timings to tweak to your coronary heart’s want.
Structure and Inner Connectors
Beginning on the prime left nook, we see two 8-pin EPS connectors (one required) to energy the CPU. Surrounding these are two massive VRM heatsinks to chill the ability supply under. Subsequent, we discover the 4 black DRAM slots and the primary two of six fan headers. Every header helps PWM and DC-controlled units; the CPU_FAN1 header places out 1A/12W whereas the others double that to 2A/24W. Fan management is dealt with by the BIOS or ASRock’s A-Tuning app.
Transferring down the appropriate edge, we spy the EZ Debug LEDs for troubleshooting POST points and the primary two RGB headers—on this case, two 3-pin ARGB (the others are positioned throughout the underside fringe of the board). You may management the headers and built-in RGBs by the Polychrome RGB utility, which affords a number of totally different preset lighting schemes and brightness management.
Lastly, we run into the 24-pin ATX to energy the board, a front-panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 connector, and a front-panel USB Kind-C 3.2 Gen 2×2 header.
Growth, Storage, and Rear I/O
There are three full-length enlargement slots in the midst of the motherboard. The highest slot is bolstered and designated as the first graphics slot. It is related by the CPU and is the one PCIe 5.0 x16-capable providing. The center slot additionally connects by the CPU and runs at PCIe 4.0 x4 speeds, whereas the underside slot can also be PCIe 4.0 x4 however sources its bandwidth by the chipset. That backside slot, PCIE3, disables if the M2_3 M.2 slot is occupied.
Combined in among the many PCIe slots are three M.2 sockets. The highest socket beneath the bigger heatsink connects by the CPU and is the one PCI Categorical 5.0 x4 (128Gbps) outlet. The opposite two M.2 sockets get their PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps) bandwidth by the chipset. ASRock lists RAID 0, 1, and 10 help for M.2 units and RAID 0 and 1 for the SATA ports. As talked about, this board has simply two SATA ports (the opposite bandwidth went to USB ports), so in case your storage continues to be SATA-heavy you may want to think about upgrading to M.2 drives as wanted.
Alongside the underside fringe of the board are a number of headers together with further USB 2.0 ports, fan headers, entrance panel audio, a Thunderbolt AIC header, and the 2 remaining RGB headers.
Welcome to USB Metropolis: On the rear is a preinstalled I/O plate within the colourful LiveMixer theme. A lot of the port labels are white, which makes them straightforward to learn. There are not any fewer than 14 USB ports, led by one Kind-A and one Kind-C at 10Gbps every. There are 4 5Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports—two are the Lightning Gaming headers and the others Extremely USB energy headers. The eight black ports are 480Mbps USB 2.0 connectors. Additionally out again are the audio stack (two-plug, plus SPDIF), the LAN jack, a BIOS flashback button, and DisplayPort and HDMI video outputs. ASRock supplies antenna cutouts for these including Wi-Fi to the board.
UEFI BIOS and Utilities
The BIOS of the LiveMixer is simply as shiny because the board, with an orange and crimson background with white labels that makes it rather a lot to absorb (and never fairly as straightforward to learn as others). Not like most, it begins in Superior Mode, however there may be an EZ Mode accessible. The latter affords information concerning the processor, RAM, storage, followers, and extra, in addition to letting you allow XMP profiles and PBO and modify thermal throttling limits.
The superior BIOS has a extra normal configuration with main headings throughout the highest together with Fundamental, OC Tweaker, Superior, Instrument, H/W Monitor, and Boot. The Fundamental web page is informational, largely repeating the My Favourite part, although customers could make their very own BIOS web page itemizing their most steadily used objects.
The OC Tweaker part holds the keys to tweaking your system. Right here you’ll be able to modify voltages, RAM, and the CPU and save profiles for recall later.
The Superior heading is the place to entry CPU, chipset, storage, NVMe, ACPI, and USB configurations, amongst different objects like Trusted Computing. You can even modify the UEFI’s look and beginning web page (EZ Mode or a specific web page in Superior).
The Instruments part (not pictured) supplies entry to ASRock’s Polychrome RGB for lighting management and SSD and NVMe sanitation or secure-erase instruments, in addition to the Prompt Flash utility to flash your BIOS. H/W Monitor shows related system knowledge starting from CPU and motherboard temperatures to fan speeds and voltages. Right here you’ll be able to modify the fan speeds of all of the onboard 4-pin fan headers.
Aesthetics apart, the BIOS is as straightforward to navigate and full-featured as its rivals, with loads of performance to overclock the processor and reminiscence. With the flexibility to manage RGB lighting and followers and even wipe drives clear, it supplies loads of usefulness, and the newest model proved secure in our restricted testing.
As for software program, the ASRock Appshop helps you to obtain and replace drivers whereas the A-Tuning software program tweaks your system (the board additionally helps the Blazing OC Tuner now in beta). The Appshop is useful for downloading ASRock utilities resembling Polychrome RGB and Nahimic3 audio. It additionally checks for drivers and lets you replace them straight from the utility, a useful different for builders not used to grabbing the newest drivers from element distributors’ web sites. Together with auto driver set up, this makes it straightforward to get all the newest and biggest software program in your PC.
When you prefer to play along with your system, ASRock’s supplied A-Tuning software program is an all-inclusive tweaking app that allows you to modify fan speeds, tweak the CPU, and see detailed system information together with temperatures, voltages, and clock speeds and ratios.
Verdict: A Mobo With Avenue Cred
The ASRock B650 LiveMixer is likely one of the most striking-looking motherboards round; its distinctive graffiti fashion, shiny orange highlights, and built-in RGB lighting make it stand out inside your chassis. The made-for-content-creators board additionally packs sufficient USB ports to help all of the peripherals crucial for streaming and different artistic actions, in addition to three M.2 sockets (one PCIe 5.0 x4) and two SATA ports for storage, flagship-class energy supply, a funds audio answer, and extra. It is a well-rounded board for the value, although its look might need you on the lookout for one thing extra conservative.
There may be loads of competitors round this worth level, although nothing matches the LiveMixer’s array of USB ports (Gigabyte’s $219.99 B650 Aorus Elite AX is subsequent with 12). Different choices embrace the Asus B650 TUF Gaming Plus ($229.99) and MSI Professional B650-P Wi-Fi ($215). These rivals embrace the Wi-Fi the LiveMixer lacks and have at the very least 4 SATA ports apiece (the MSI has six), however in the event you like its look and do not want built-in wi-fi networking, the ASRock is arguably the most suitable choice accessible for beneath $200. It is undoubtedly the splashiest.
