ROG Strix B-760-A D4:
The bundle:
A little tour through the bundle of this ROG Strix B760-A Gaming Wifi D4 to see if it benefits from “special items”. Overall, we find a fairly standard bundle with the traditional SATA cables, the Wi-Fi antenna, stickers, the motherboard manual, the various screws, etc.
The only goodies that stand out from the crowd is a black and white ROG key ring. It’s a logical bundle and quite comparable to what we’ll find in the competition and in the same price range.
Architecture:
As we said in the introduction, this ROG Strix B760-A Gaming Wifi D4 motherboard is built around Intel’s new B760 chipset, which is a mid-range chipset and retains Intel’s latest socket, the LGA-1700. The LGA-1700 socket has 1700 pins and is compatible with Alder Lake (12xxx) and Raptor Lake (13xxx) processors.
The B760 chipset officially supports PCIe 5.0 but is content with PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD slots. Note, however, that there are DDR4-compatible B760 motherboards and DDR5 versions, just like the Z790 chipset. Beware, Intel has announced that these will be the last chipsets to support DDR4.
The different heat sinks:
The dimensions of the board are 305 mm x 244 mm, which corresponds to the ATX format. The color of the PCB is black but the radiators are white and gray on this DDR4 version. We are on a more refined design but which keeps common points with that of the ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming Wifi D4 version.
The design is easily identifiable as a product of Asus using the codes of the brand. It also has a slight resemblance to the previous generation Strix, even though it is a series that has created its own identity over the years.
Let’s start the tour with the radiators, of which there are three!
First of all, the two radiators located on the top of the motherboard and which cover the power supply stage. These two radiators are independent and are not connected together by a heat pipe. The plastic cover, with a very very light RGB backlight. We are here on a completely passive system.
The third one covers the chipset and has a fairly large surface but low height to allow easy placement of graphics cards. The ROG logo and the name of the Strix series can be found there.
Three SSD 4.0 x4 slots:
Two aluminum plates cover the three M.2 SSD slots on the PCB. This gives you a very large storage area. The first slot is 22110 and wired in PCIe 4.0 x4 and the next two are 2280 and also in PCIe 4.0 x4.
Each of these plates has a thermal pad to optimize the dissipation of the heat emitted by the SSD. Don’t forget to remove the protective plastic film before installing your SSD. Asus offers on this mid-range model the same quick release system for SSDs as on the Z690. No need to come and fix a screw, just rotate the latch to lock the SSD.
The socket and PCIe:
The space around the socket is quite clear and good news since we find the mounting holes of the LGA-1700 socket but also those of the LGA-1200.
The ROG B760 Strix-A D4 Gaming Wifi can accommodate a maximum of four DDR4 memory modules and supports dual channel memory kits up to 5333 MHz (OC) for a maximum quantity of 128 GB.
On our two motherboards we find a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, a PCIe 3.0 x16 and two PCIe 3.0 x1. To power all this little world, the card has a 24 pins connector and an 8 pins + 4 pins located next to the power supply stages.
We now systematically find the Q-Release button. When a card is inserted in the first PCIe slot, pressing this button opens the retention system and releases your graphics card. This was a concern we had with the previous generation when a heat sink was too close to the first PCIe slot.
RGB or not RGB?
As it is the case for a large part of the ROG range, it has the AURA system. But on this model, the RGB backlighting is reduced to a strict minimum with only the backlighting on one of the heat sinks that cover the power supply stages. Please note that the card also has three ARGB connectors and one RGB connector on the PCB.
