ASRock B560 Steel Legend

amazon ASRock B560 Steel Legend reviews

Intel announced the 11th generation Rocket Lake processor family with the Z590/H570/B560 chipset a little while ago with many valuable improvements. Along with the introduction of the flagship i9-11900K processor family with significant IPC increases, Intel also announced the PCIe 4.0 technology applied to these new Rocket Lake processors. The Z590 chipset has many advantages over its predecessor when it doubles the bandwidth for the CPU, allowing it to support more hardware components to get the most out of the performance. The supported RAM clock level also increased to 3200MHz compared to 2933Mhz on the Comet Lake generation. At the same time, the backward compatibility of the Z590 Chipset is also supported by Intel when it can be compatible with previous Comet Lake processors.

But above all, the biggest advantage in the Z590/H570/B560 chipset generation that is the most necessary, and worth seeing, is the fact that Intel unlocked the RAM overclocking on motherboards using the chipset H570/B560. Unlocking for overclocking RAM is a good sign, users can increase performance with just a few steps, if you don’t know how to overclock, you can use the built-in XMP Profile feature to run the memory at high clock speed. If you know how to overclock, this is great, can increase the memory clock to the highest level, the latency reaches the lowest level, and the performance at this time is great in-game or graphics applications.

As usual, motherboard manufacturers will also be ready to launch a wide range of their motherboards from the entry-level to high-end segments, with many different specifications for users to choose from for their own needs. Today, let’s explore the popular motherboard with Biareview in the mainstream segment, which is the B560 Steel Legend from ASRock.

ASRock’s steel legend, which became famous after its introduction, is a product line that adheres to the philosophy of “performance and price” because ASRock has used components of outstanding quality compared to motherboards from other competing manufacturers in the same price range.

In terms of appearance, B560 Steel Legend also has some changes both inside and out. Outside, the box is designed more beautiful, more luxurious, and more colorful. Compared to its predecessors, the B560 Steel Legend looks much more sturdy, carrying many steel-style design languages. The VRM circuit cluster is arranged to cool with two large heatsink blocks, the left-hand heatsink protrudes wider, both to cool the VRM and to do the I/O task to increase aesthetics. However, we will not see the RGB LED-equipped in this I/O part.

Intel’s 10th generation processors have a high clock speed of up to 5.3GHz, the multiplier also increases from 8 to 10 compared to the old generation, TDP is 125W. As for the 11th generation processors, Intel has reduced the number of cores from 10 to 8, but the increase in clock speed is very high (IPC increased to 19% compared to the old generation). Therefore, the ability of these processors to eat electricity as well as generate a lot of heat, so the VRM circuit of the B560 Steel Legend is also better designed than its predecessor to support running 10 and 11-generation processors well. Before diving into the analysis of the VRM circuit of the B560 Steel Legend, please recall the basic knowledge of the 4 voltages of the VRM circuit that we need to care about, including:

vCore CPU: The voltage supplied to the CPU.

vCCGT: Supply voltage for iGPU.

VCCSA: Applied since Sandy Bridge, Intel renamed VTT voltage to VCCSA or known as System Agent. This component provides an integrated PCI Express controller, a memory controller, and a few other things.

VCCIO: Also been applied since the Sandy Bridge era. This voltage is used to power all CPU I/O-related pins (except memory-related pins). On CPUs with this voltage, VCCIO is also used to feed the thermal control bus (PECI).

Intel introduced the Serial Voltage Identification (SVID) protocol in several generations of microprocessors, which is used to interface with the PWM controller to control the CPU voltage regulation. This allows the CPUs to have their optimal voltage depending on current usage conditions (temperature, clock, load, etc.). Overclockers can use a combination of SVID and LLC (Load Line Calibration is the CPU’s Vdroop reduction feature) to get an optimal vCore.

The Rocket Lake S-like Comet Lake S’s maximum VCC current requirements are both at 245A, and the voltage level requirements for the other components have all increased. For example, VCCGT is increased from 35A to 55A, VCCSA is increased from 11.1A to 22.1A (Rocket Lake S requires this for SVID control, but not for Comet Lake S), VCCIO_0 is increased from 6.4A to 8.3A, VCCIO_1 / VCCIO_2 is DDR 3.4A / PCIe 6.2A, even the power supply for V DDQ, VCCPLL_OC memory has also increased. As a result, these generation motherboards feature a refreshed VRM circuit with a better design than their predecessors.

Going into more detail, the VRM circuit of the B560 Steel Legend is equipped with the RT3609BE PWM controller, which is a 6 + 2 phase PWM controller commonly found on Z series motherboards of some brands. With an 8+2 phase configuration, VCORE and VCCGT components will use Vishay SiC654 50A based on parallel power cascade design, so the corresponding current level for these two components will be 400A/100A. It is worth mentioning that Intel’s 11th generation processors have changed the VCCSA power supply mode from Fix to SVID, so Intel 500 series motherboards need to ensure that VCCSA PWM supports two compliant power supply modes according to IMVP8 to ensure compatibility with two generations of CPUs. So the VCCSA component is equipped by ASRock with low impedance MOSFET SM4508NH (High Side and Low Side) with 48A current. Due to the addition of support for PCIe 4.0 in 11th Gen processors, Intel needed to add a set of VCCIOs to the IO section to provide different standard voltages for PCIe 4.0, for a total of two. That’s why Rocket Lake S adds VCCIO_1 and VCCIO_2 to support DDR and PCIe and requires the motherboard manufacturer to pre-install a power adapter (not used by Comet Lake S). Thus, the VCCIO on the B560 Steel Legend is also equipped with 2 phases, with the same components as VCCSA following the specifications of the 11th-generation processors.

Changing VCCSA and VCCIO on Rocket Lake resulted in the need for a PWM controller that conforms to the specification, resulting in motherboards not being equipped with these components and becoming incompatible with Rocket Lake. That is why, in some mainstream motherboards, Rocket Lake is not supported, so there will be no BIOS version supported on the homepage.

Another significant change of the B560 Steel Legend is that it is equipped with a 6-layer 3oz copper side PCB, providing stable signal transmission, reducing latency, and increasing energy efficiency, thereby reducing the temperature when running with CPUs with high TDP and better memory overclocking.

Unlocking memory overclocking for mainstream motherboards using the B560/H570 chipset is a new and great feature in the Rocket Lake S series, so the B560 Steel Legend is equipped with 4 plated RAM slots anti-oxidation and interference gold, and supports RAM clock levels when overclocking OC to DDR4 4800MHz. To do this, Intel requires users to install a Core i5 or higher processor. The increased RAM clock level will help users get more performance in games or graphics applications. Therefore, the overclock unlock feature this time is a “revolution” from Intel for users.

Because the B560 chipset supports PCIe Gen 4, the B560 Steel Legend supports and supports NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSDs with high performance and speed, but larger with the popular SSD M 2 2280 format. Accordingly, the M2_1 slot supports the PCIe Gen4 x 4 protocol and is equipped with a heatsink to dissipate heat by Gen 4 SSDs when operating very hot. The M2_2 and M2_3 slots only support the PCIe Gen3 x 4 protocol, and SATA3 is not equipped with a cooling heatsink, which is completely normal. With 6 SATA 3 ports equipped, users will comfortably install storage devices without worrying about missing ports.

ASRock equips the PCIe Steel Slot feature, which is armor, to further strengthen the PCIe 4.0x 16 slots, in addition to increasing the aesthetics of the board. Of course, to use PCIe 4.0, users are required to install an 11th-generation Rocket Lake S processor instead of the 10th-generation.

ASRock B560 Steel Legend follows Intel’s support spec, so instead of using Lan 1Gb / s, the company has equipped a LAN port using Dragon RTL8125BG with 2.5Gb / s bandwidth, this helps to increase transmission bandwidth, helping Experience online games or network data smoother. In addition, ASRock is also equipped with an M.2 Key E Wifi slot so that users can install additional Wifi cards if needed.

The rear I/O Panel, ASRock also equips a lot of features for a mainstream motherboard, including PS / 2 * 1 port, USB2.0 * 2, HDMI * 1, DisplayPort * 1, USB3.2 Gen1*5 (including Type-C*1), RJ45*1 wired network port and 7.1 audio jack.

Using a set of computers with many LED lighting effects is a trend among users, which is more attractive than ever. To keep up with the trend and stay ahead, ASRock has also equipped its motherboards with the latest LED features by adding 2 additional 5V ARGB ports. This new generation of LED allows users to easily create their own unique personal lighting effects. In addition, in the right corner of the motherboard, the words B560 Steel Legend are also equipped with LED when operating, looking more shimmering.

The sound area of B560 Steel Legend is only ASRock equipped with an ALC897 audio control chip with 4 Nichicon high-end Capacitors, of course, still providing natural warm sound with clearer sound.

Featured on many ASRock Non-Z series motherboards is Base Frequency Boost (BFB) technology that increases the base clock of non-K series CPUs beyond the default standard, allowing users to enjoy an instant performance with just 1 mouse click. Compared to its predecessor, which is only allowed by ASRock, the maximum BFB value in the BIOS is 125W, in B560 Steel Legend, this value is increased very high up to 200W. This is possible thanks to the vast improvement of the VRM circuit and the PCB layer.

where can you get a ASRock B560 Steel Legend online

Asrock B560 Steel Legend Intel SOCKET1200 for Intel 10TH/11TH GEN CORE: Buy it now