Asrock Z790 Steel Legend WiFi
A mid-tier Z790 board without a high-end price.
$589 | www.asrock.com
Asrock’s Z790 Steel Legend may not have the most compelling name ever, but as long as it delivers good value and an attractive feature set, the name matters little. The Z790 Steel Legend is Asrock’s mid-tier sub brand, sitting above the PG and Pro ranges, and below the high end Taichi.
Fittingly, the Steel Legend comes with an attractive metallic theme. The heatsinks aren’t huge compared to high end boards, but they are perfectly functional. If you love RGB, the Steel Legend has a good amount onboard, even more than some so-called gaming motherboards.
The primary M.2 slot is cooled by a now commonly implemented oversized cooler. Unusually, Asrock has two opposing primary M.2 slots, one of which supports PCIe 5.0 and the other PCIe 4.0. Only one can be used at a time. It’s a good solution as either way you’ll still benefit from the board’s SSD cooling.
The board doesn’t have the most powerful VRM you’ll ever see. A 16+1+1 solution with 60A stages won’t suit the extreme overclockers as much as a high-end board, but for an air or AIO cooled 13900K, it’s more than enough, even though this is the kind of board that probably won’t be paired with such a CPU.
You still get dual 8-pin power connectors. The cooling is more than adequate, with the heatsinks never feeling hot to the touch, even with a 13900K humming along under a sustained all core load.
The rear I/O offers just about everything you would expect at this price point. 2.5G LAN and WiFi 6E are standard. A pair of USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (type-A and type-C) are welcome, plus you get another eight Gen 1 ports. The board has a header for a type-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 port. Not bad at all! However, Asrock opted to include an aging Realtek ALC892 audio codec.
The board features notably strong display support, with HDMI 2.1 and DP 1.4 ports at the back, however, the Steel Legend also includes an embedded Display Port header. This would be useful for mounting a side panel display.
Unlike the all new X670 platform, Z790 is an evolution of the now mature Z690, and a lot of its underlying BIOS code is mature. It’s not the fastest under all core loans but notably, its gaming performance was generally ahead of the others, though only by a frame or two here or there as usual. We’re also pleased with Asrock’s BIOS, which seemed impressively stable from our playing with the commonly adjusted settings, including the power and turbo settings.
The Z790 Steel Legend is a step above entry level Z790 boards. It offers an attractive feature set – particularly its M.2 complement. It’s hard to fault with the exception of the average audio implementation. Though unless you’re an audio purist, it will suffice. Its performance is within the range of the other board tested boards and its silver coloured heatsinks and considerable number of RGB LEDs will appeal to users bored by all black 2022 era designs.
At $589, it’s very affordable, especially when compared to almost all mid-range X670/E boards. If you’re after a Z790 board with DDR5 support and excellent connectivity options, the Steel Legend is well worth a look.
The Steel Legend is a strong option for users looking for something more than you’d get from entry level Z790.
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Asrock Z790 Steel Legend WiFi; LGA1700 socket; 1x PCIe 5.0 M.2, 4x PCIe 4.0 M.2; 8x SATA; Up to 1x USB 3.2 Gen2x2, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 12x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 3x USB 2.0; 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DP 1.4; Wi-Fi 6E; Realtek 2.5G LAN; Realtek ALC897 7.1 Channel HD Audio; ATX Form Factor.