Unleashing Power: A Deep Dive into the Asus TUF Gaming B860M-Plus WiFi Motherboard

Until now, individuals looking to assemble a new gaming PC with an Intel Core Ultra 200S processor have been compelled to select a Z890 motherboard, the least expensive of which is priced just below $300. Intel’s latest B860 motherboard chipset, targeted at the mainstream segment, aims to remedy this situation by providing reduced features at a more affordable cost. The Asus TUF Gaming B860M-Plus WiFi is available for approximately $210; is it worthy of consideration?

To address this inquiry, we must first grasp the essential distinctions between the two chipsets, so let us dissect what each one can support.

A brief look at this table indicates that the B860 is a significantly less powerful chipset in comparison to the Z890; however, this mirrors the scenario presented with previous generations. Given that AMD permits CPU overclocking with its B850 chipset (and indeed, the naming conventions are confusingly similar), the persistence of Intel to restrict to memory-only overclocking with the B860 feels out of touch.

Though the B860 chipset lacks USB4 support, there is nothing that prevents a motherboard manufacturer from integrating such functionality into a mid-tier model. Nevertheless, accomplishing this would require four PCIe lanes out of the available 14 to enable 40 Gbps, meaning it’s improbable that many B860 motherboards will feature USB4, if any at all.

When it comes to the Asus TUF Gaming B860M-Plus WiFi, eight out of the total 14 PCIe 4.0 lanes are allocated for two of the M.2 ports (the main M.2 port connects to the CPU via PCIe 5.0), leaving merely six lanes for additional components. Four of those lanes are occupied by a single PCIe x4 port located at the base of the motherboard, which means that Asus had limited opportunities for further expansion.

However, this motherboard, like many other B860 models, features a Wi-Fi 7 module. After reviewing several recent boards equipped with the mentioned wireless technology, I can genuinely say that it is a feature that is very beneficial.

You don’t necessarily require a Wi-Fi 7 router to benefit from the enhanced system—I currently use a Wi-Fi 6 router, and the wireless connectivity and transfer rates are significantly improved with Wi-Fi 7 compared to older versions.

Additional appealing features include items such as the quick-release lever for the graphics card slot—no longer do you have to fumble around attempting to unlock the card; simply press the plastic bar above the chipset’s heatsink to easily remove the card.

The latest BIOS now operates in 1080p, making it much easier to read, while the Q-Dashboard option, which offers a summary of the motherboard’s sockets and slots, is a fantastic way to quickly verify proper connections at a glance.

It’s justifiable to state that the introduction of Arrow Lake, in October 2023, did not go as expected for Intel, and the efficacy of the Core Ultra 200S series processors fell short of anticipations altogether. Since that time, both Windows 11 and Z890 motherboards have undergone multiple updates, enhancing thread scheduling, power profiles, and memory latency.

This situation complicates the ability to thoroughly evaluate the performance of the Asus TUF Gaming B860M-Plus WiFi since it was launched with all these updates implemented, while prior Z890 benchmark results were all pre-patch data.

Nonetheless, we possess results for the Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice, and considering it retails at $270, it serves as a beneficial reference point in the benchmarks below. At the very least, one will gain insight into the current condition of Arrow Lake and assess how it has progressed.

Benchmarks and performance

PC Gamer test setup
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285K | Cooler: MSI MAG Coreliquid I360 | RAM: 332 GB Lexar Thor OC DDR5-6000 | Storage: 2 TB Corsair MP700 | PSU: Corsair RM850x Shift 850 W | OS: Windows 11 24H2 | Chassis: Open platform | Monitor: Acer XB280HK

The initial benchmark I conducted was our Factorio assessment, as I found during my early tests of Intel’s Core Ultra 200S processors, that it’s an excellent gauge of whether the BIOS is satisfactory. As it turned out, the one that the TUF Gaming B860M-Plus WiFi came with was lacking, so my first action was to upgrade to the 0805 BIOS—though it’s a beta release, it supports all of Intel’s newest performance enhancements for Arrow Lake.

However, it wasn’t exactly the first action I took. During the Windows 11 installation, I needed to procure drivers for the Wi-Fi module. While this can be circumvented if you lack a LAN connection (press Shift+F10 when you arrive at the point where the installation seeks a network, then enter oobebypassnro to reboot and have the option to set up a local account), I prefer to engage in an online setup as swiftly as possible, to obtain all significant updates.

Unfortunately, I was unable to do so because there are three Wi-Fi driver sets listed on the support page for this motherboard (Realtek, MediaTek, and an unbranded driver), and the box/manual does not specify which module is embedded on the board. After several attempts with all of them, as well as manually installing various other drivers, I ultimately succeeded with the MediaTek set.

In any case, you can observe that Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate 3, and our Factorio assessment all perform at a level that places the effectiveness of the Asus B860M-Plus roughly midway between the mean condition of Z890 motherboards in October 2023 (during the Arrow Lake launch and indicated with an asterisk) and the recently assessed Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice.

It’s not terrible, but it’s not exceptional, either. In theory, the B860 chipset should not influence the gaming performance of a CPU, as it merely manages USB ports, M.2 slots, etc. Therefore, the observed variance is attributable to how Asus has crafted the remaining aspects of the motherboard and configured the BIOS.

If productivity and content development are more crucial to you than gaming, there’s positive news on that front. In our standard CPU benchmarks for Cinebench 2024, Blender 4.2, and 7zip, the Asus TUF Gaming B860M-Plus WiFi operates much more like the Gigabyte Z890—the discrepancies you observe are within test variance margins.

Where the Asus B860M-Plus begins to falter is concerning heat management. The motherboard lacks any thermal sensor for its VRMs, making it impossible to accurately assess their temperature during a demanding CPU operation. I did use my fingertip to gauge the warmth of the heatsinks, but one can’t precisely record ‘Hmm, that’s slightly warm’ on a graph.

Additionally, there is the primary SSD heatsink. It’s a slim element of lightweight metal, with a rather inadequate thermal pad underneath, thus I didn’t anticipate it to handle a PCIe 5.0 SSD under heavy load. Suffice it to say, my lack of expectation was completely met as the drive consistently reached its thermal limit, throttling the write speed.

Conclusion

four PCIe slots and six SATA ports, and it’s just $27 pricier. The ASRock Z780M comes with a WiFi 6E module and a single PCIe slot, but along with the eight USB ports on the rear, it features two full-speed Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports. ten USB ports on the rear IO panel, with one of those being USB4. must have a microATX motherboard, and your PC case can accommodate a full-size board, you’ll undoubtedly benefit more with one of those, whether Z890 or B860, as they provide greater space for PCIe slots and additional features.