Conclusion
The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 is SAPPHIRE’s push forward into the motherboard market, based on AMD’s B850 chipset AM5 socketed platform. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 carries over the NITRO+ branding we have come to know from SAPPHIRE’s video card lineup, which has always offered the best of the best in terms of GPU features and performance. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 comes in at an exciting and affordable MSRP of $189.99, geared to offer PCIe 5.0 x16 GPU support, PCIe 5.0 x4 (Gen5 NVMe) SSD support, WIFI 7, and DDR5 8000MT/s support for enthusiasts, gamers, and professionals.
Installation and Use
Firing up the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7, we were greeted with one of the best UEFIs we’ve used, with a very easy-to-navigate, intuitive, and manageable interface. Configuring this motherboard to do what we wanted was very simple. While it had simplicity in form, it had plenty of function, with a great deal of enthusiast tweaking options for CPU and RAM. As we booted the motherboard, everything we turned on or threw at it just worked, including PBO and DDR5 8000MT/s RAM.
It also did not have any annoying or bloated OS-loading downloader software that wanted to install itself upon OS install, which was nice. We just had to go out to the SAPPHIRE website to grab the appropriate drivers and AMD for the chipset drivers. The one annoyance was the Bluetooth and WIFI driver, which did not have installer packages, but rather you had to do the old school navigate to hardware from Device Manager and tell it where the INF file was to find the drivers.
In installing the motherboard itself, it was easy enough to install the CPU and AIO, with plenty of space to work around. The only thing that really set us aback was the thick thermal foam pad just stuck onto the motherboard underneath the M.2 heatsink. We’ve seen better implementations of backside SSD cooling from modern motherboards; this one is a little odd. The biggest downside to the motherboard’s configuration is simply the fact that the primary M.2_1 slot is underneath the primary x16 GPU slot. As we stated in the introduction, it will be impossible to install PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDs with third-party heatsinks, which all of them come with.
PCIe Gen5 SSDs get hot, really hot, and most have robust heatsinks to manage the heat. With this motherboard, you will be forced to rip the SSD out of its heatsink and utilize the motherboard’s M.2 heatsink. Will this really be enough to keep your hot SSD cool? Consider that underneath your video card, heat will be trapped as well, and it will get extra hot in this zone.
It is an undesirable location for an SSD, especially your primary SSD. We did find, however, that the secondary M.2_2 slot can operate at PCIe 5.0 x4, but this was with no GPU installed and no other SSDs in place. Otherwise, the very bottom, third M.2_3 SSD maxes out at PCIe 4.0 x4, and so if you opt to put your single and only SSD here, you’ll be reduced to PCIe Gen4 speeds. It’s just an unfortunate situation.
We were very happy to see that all three M.2 slots have heatsinks; however, on a motherboard that is priced under $200, it is not common, so this is a big plus from SAPPHIRE to provide cooling on all slots. The way the heatsink also connects with the chipset heatsink spreads the heat out over a great surface area as well, and SAPPHIRE also provides thermal pads for all three slots. We were also happy to see three full x16-sized expansion slots, though wired for different speeds; still, this is uncommon, and a bold move. All three expansion slots also had metal housings, again, pretty nice at this price point.
Pros and Cons
Some of the downsides, or missing features, we would point to are as follows. There isn’t a quick-release option for the GPU expansion slot, though at this price point, it isn’t something we are surprised about, so that one gets a pass. The WIFI antenna connector also does not have a quick release, but it’s not a big issue, really.
The bigger issues that stand out to us are a lackluster configuration of USB ports on the rear. Yes, you get four USB 2.0 ports, but we have seen other motherboards at this price point offering more USB ports in total overall. There is also no support for USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20Gbps). We would have liked to have seen at least one USB 20Gbps connection. We would have also liked to have seen one more chassis FAN header; three is a bit on the low side.
Some of the upsides that we really like are as follows. The VRM configuration is robust for this price point, and so is power delivery with two 8-pin 12V EPS power connectors. The 12+2+1 VRM configuration is above average at this price point, and allows the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 to handle top-end CPUs like the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X without any throttling of clock speed. It is also cooled really well and handles PBO on the Radeon 9 9950X very well, with no trouble at all.
We also had a positive experience running DDR5 8000MT/s RAM on the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7. Our DDR5 8000MT/s RAM ran without any issue, no fuss, worked the first time, and was stable. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 also offers two different ways to configure RGB with both 5V ARGB and 12V legacy RGB, for options. We really, really liked the UEFI. We also like the fact that all M.2 slots have heatsinks.
Branding Editorialization
Let’s talk a little bit about the branding. This won’t be about the function, but we want to editorialize a little bit about the brand. If we think about what the NITRO+ branding means to SAPPHIRE’s video card lineup, then the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 doesn’t quite match that tone. By that we mean, it carries the NITRO+ branding, but in our opinion it doesn’t exude that same top-tier feature-set that we’ve come to know in the NITRO+ graphics card lineup, and we’ve reviewed quite a few NITRO+ GPUs: NITRO+ Radeon RX 9060 XT, NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT, NITRO+ Radeon RX 7900 GRE, NITRO+ Radeon RX 7800 XT, and NITRO+ Radeon RX 6950 XT.
SAPPHIRE’s NITRO+ graphics cards are some of the best in the industry, with a quality that is second to none in the AMD GPU space, offering features galore, with build quality that is unmatched. The NITRO+ GPUs are at the top of what SAPPHIRE offers in features and pricing. However, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 doesn’t quite match that same idea of being loaded with features, at a higher price point, that we are used to from the GPU lineup.
The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7, targeted at $189.99, means that it is going to be missing a few modern features that are possible on higher-end motherboards in the B850 chipset realm. This is all well and good, it is, after all, targeting a $189.99 price point, but does that really feel like what a NITRO+ branded product from SAPPHIRE should feel like? Maybe that leaves room for a TOXIC-branded motherboard in the future that’s loaded to the gills?
Final Points
The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 at $189.99 offers great functionality at this price point, and a great first effort from SAPPHIRE into the motherboard space. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 worked well in our testing and functioned without any issue at all. Its performance was right on the money; it handled the Ryzen 9 9950X well, and it means that it will pair well with lower-end CPUs. You’ll have a great time throwing an X3D CPU on this and building a value-oriented gaming system. It can handle PBO, and memory overclocking, and all M.2 slots and USB ports performed well.
We also really like the BIOS UI, SAPPHIRE CORE BIOS UI is one beautiful and easy-to-manage UEFI. In fact, we dare say it’s the easiest and most intuitive UEFI we’ve met yet, and that’s saying a lot. Truly, SAPPHIRE put work into the software, and it shows, so it gets huge props for that. The bones are there with the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7, SAPPHIRE is on the right track, and the hardware is robust for this price point.
We want to see SAPPHIRE continue down this path; there’s a lot of potential to offer a good value for enthusiasts, with solid hardware and an overall appealing experience. SAPPHIRE just needs to work on that M.2 slot placement and a bit of polish in the design and construction. We would love to see an X870/E series of motherboards from SAPPHIRE; we think they could really make those loaded with features. If SAPPHIRE offers a top-tier NITRO+ X870/E motherboard, there’s a chance and potential there to really provide something special, and we hope SAPPHIRE pushes into that space.
Overall, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ B850A WIFI 7 is a fine board, offering a bit more than some boards at this price point, and a bit less than some others, but at the right price, it will function as a solution for gamers that gets the job done, it won’t offer an astounding amount of extra features, there are some pros and cons for sure, but it will offer what you need to get a value-oriented gaming system up and going at $189.99, and that’s an excellent price that gets you into the AMD AM5 ecosystem and able to run any level of CPU.