The ASRock X570S PG Riptide Motherboard Review: A Wave of PCIe 4.0 Support on A Budget

Conclusion

With many premium X570 and now X570S models on the market, not everyone wants to pay through the nose to benefit from an entire string of PCIe 4.0 support. One of the main benefits of X570 and X570S involves full support for PCIe 4.0, including PCIe slots and all the M.2 storage too. This makes X570/S and a Ryzen 5000  one of the best combinations in terms of future-proofing and features. 

I'm making the point that not every motherboard has to cost the earth, and the ASRock X570S PG Riptide slips right into the entry-level category as far as X570 and X570S go. It might still be an expensive board for some, at $185 which used to be the high-end pricing a decade ago! But with a lower than expected price compared to some of the more premium models, the PG Riptide spawns a new series for ASRock based on its already established Phantom Gaming series of models. 

Its most prominent features include three full-length PCIe 4.0 slots operating at x16/+4/+2, with three PCIe 4.0 x1 slots. Storage is also varied with two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, the second with support for SATA drives, with six SATA ports capable of running AMD RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays.

When looking for a motherboard at such an entry-level model as the X570S PG Riptide, certain sacrifices have to be made for it to be cost-effective for the vendors to manufacturer it. This includes the use of an aging Realtek ALC897 HD audio codec. However, ASRock uses a premium Killer E3100G 2.5 GbE controller and offers a Key E M.2 slot for users to add whatever wireless interfaces they wish, such as a Wi-Fi 6 or even one of the newer Wi-Fi 6E controllers. 

Connectivity isn't that bad for a sub $200 model such as this, as the ASRock includes one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel. Cooling support is also solid, with seven 4-pin headers. Although ASRock is advertising a 10-phase power delivery, it's more like a beefed-up 4+2 phase design - ASRock has tried to keep costs down by using two smart doublers. 

Focusing on performance, the X570S PG Riptide does very well considering, as it is competitive with other AM4 models we've tested, including some of the most premium X570 models currently on the market. Our DPC latency testing showed that the Riptide isn't as good as others in audio workloads, but it's certainly good enough compared to others in terms of compute and gaming performance.

The other performance element comes in overclocking, and ASRock displayed some solid grit and determination in terms of VDroop control on the CPU VCore. We tested from 3.8 GHz all-cores all the way to 4.4 GHz all-cores and saw relative increases in POV-Ray performance, heat, and power consumption to boot. With our Ryzen 7 3700X processor, we managed a maximum stable overclock of 4.3 GHz, which is very respectable for an entry-level board, as only one board so far to date has managed to achieve beyond this; impressive.

Testing out the VRM thermal performance also puts the ASRock X570S PG Riptide in good stead, too, with respectable thermals given the power delivery heatsink isn't the most comprehensive we've seen, along with its simplistic yet unsimplistic VRM design at the same time. The temperatures topped out at 63°C from our K-type thermocouple, and the board doesn't feature an integrated VRM sensor to compare with.

Final Thoughts: Solid Value

The ASRock X570S PG Riptide has an MSRP of $185, making it more affordable than some B550 boards currently on the market. The caveat there is similar priced B550 models do include better-integrated audio, and some even include Wi-Fi 6 for a smidgen more. Looking at the PG Riptide for what it is, it's a competitive ATX sized offering with all of the benefits of PCIe 4.0, although users looking to run 2-way NVIDIA SLI won't be able to use this, with a lot of X570 models omitting this level of support; not that multi-GPU setups are commonly used these days anyway.

ASRock has a solid and cost-effective motherboard via the ASRock X570S PG Riptide, and it ticks a lot of boxes in the sub $200 marketplace. We would have liked to have seen a better power delivery and software bundle supplied with the board, but users looking to overclock will appreciate the intuitive and easy-to-use BIOS, and AMD's Ryzen Master overclocking utility does the job better than most vendors overclocking software anyway.

At $185, the ASRock X570S PG Riptide looks an excellent buy for users on a budget without sacrificing PCIe 4.0 support throughout and a 2.5 GbE controller which provides premium wired working for a reasonable price.