An unassuming but well-designed budget motherboard for "Alder Lake" and beyond
It's neither the best-equipped nor the cheapest motherboard in ASRock’s stable, but the H670 PG Riptide strikes an excellent balance of features and price for Intel "Alder Lake" upgraders.
Not every consumer needs or wants all the latest bells and whistles on a motherboard, and they certainly don’t like paying for such things if they’ll go unused. At only $129.99, ASRock pitches the H670 PG Riptide as a featherweight contender for your custom PC. Cutting back on the extras, if done in the right way, produces a board that can operate well in the most common tasks but doesn’t require a small inheritance to purchase. The PG stands for Phantom Gaming, which ASRock says is supposed to be “Fast, Mysterious, and Unbeatable.” We don’t see much mystery here, but this is a good-value board for budget-minded upgraders to Intel’s 12th Gen “Alder Lake” CPUs.
Those unfamiliar with the differences between Intel’s 600-series chipsets can read our detailed breakdown here. The most notable drawback of H670 compared to Z690 is its lack of processor and BCLK overclocking support; that remains solely with the Z boards, as has been the case for many years now. The rest comes down to fewer connectivity lanes compared to Z690.
The H670 has nearly half the USB 3.2 ports Z690 does, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. H670 still has two 20Gbps ports, four 10Gbps ports, and eight 5Gbps ports. H670 has the same networking (integrated Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6E controllers) and storage features (eight SATA ports, RAID support) as Z690, and also the same 12 maximum PCIe 4.0 lanes to support multiple NVMe drives.
Apart from overclocking, there’s a good chance you’d never notice the difference between the two in daily use.
In a wild departure from the Z690 boards reviewed prior to this, the H670 PG Riptide is quite plain. No RGB lighting, no garish plastic heat shrouds. The PCB is matte black, and the rear I/O is completely uncovered.
Despite being in the Phantom Gaming product line, it doesn’t have any PG logos or branding anywhere on the board itself. Only the brushed black heatsinks and barely contrasting silkscreened ripple design give any clue to an intentional design motif.
Otherwise, the black-on-black-on-black scheme is broken up only by the board’s exposed circuitry components, though I’m pretty sure fresh colors, like “CMOS battery silver” and “capacitor aluminum,” aren’t on this year’s spring palette.
PC fashionistas may see this as dull and uninspiring. Those who don’t care about showing off their system through tempered glass, and those on tight budgets, will likely see it as less wasted production cost for a better price.
As Intel’s H670 chipset has limited overclocking support, high CPU power draw isn’t a concern for this board. The Riptide reflects this in the chosen VRM design. The Riptide uses one eight-pin (4+4) and one four-pin EPS connector to feed the CPU, compared to the twin eight-pin connectors found on most overclocking-centric Z690 boards.
Power regulation is handled by a modest nine-phase design topped by two small aluminum heatsinks. It’s a meager setup, but perfectly adequate for the board’s intended purpose. Running a Core i9-12900KS and its 150-watt thermal design power, or TDP, at full tilt would probably get the VRM pretty toasty, but most people don’t spend five times more money on their CPU than their motherboard.
For system memory, ASRock elected to keep the older DDR4 standard. From a performance standpoint, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While DDR5 has higher maximum bandwidth than DDR4, it also has much higher latency in access time.
Memory-heavy workloads that transfer large amounts of data into and out of memory see appreciable performance gains when using DDR5 modules, like compressing massive file folders or rendering high-resolution video. However, most computing for general daily use consists of lots and lots of smaller data transfers. In these situations, DDR4’s lower latency allows it to match, and sometimes even beat, DDR5.
As DDR5 manufacturing improves, prices will drop, and faster timed modules will become available, which should eventually swing the balance in favor of DDR5. But for now, DDR4 modules are cheaper and more available than DDR5, possibly even “free.” Many consumers upgrading to Alder Lake can simply use the RAM sticks from their current system if they opt for a DDR4 board.
Like on most 600-series motherboards, the top PCIe slot connects directly to the CPU at PCIe 5.0×16 rates. It’s also reinforced to support heavy graphics cards. Four more PCIe slots fill out the rest of the lower board, one full length and three open-ended 3.0×1 slots. The third card slot, despite being x16 in length, is wired only for PCIe 4.0 x4. Though the board is CrossFire certified and can run a second GPU, that slot is primarily meant for a Thunderbolt add-in card (more on that later).
The Riptide has three M.2 slots for NVMe storage, all of which can operate in 4.0 x4 mode and fit 60mm and 80mm drives. The primary M.2 slot features a small aluminum heatsink, but the heatsink screws are non-captive. (Be careful not to lose them when mounting drives.) The second and third M.2 slots are located below the two full-length card slots, meaning they’re directly under a GPU cooler without any kind of heat shield.
As excess heat has significantly detrimental effects on flash performance and longevity, this isn’t ideal placement. Granted, it’s quite unlikely a lower-cost motherboard like this would be used for a dual-GPU setup, so this concern really only applies to the middle M.2 slot.
Four forward-facing SATA 6.0Gbps ports are toward the bottom of the board’s leading edge, and the third M.2 slot can also operate in SATA mode. No lanes are shared among the seven storage connections, so they can all be used simultaneously.
The rear I/O panel is what we would expect on a low-cost board. Eight USB ports are available for peripherals. From left to right (or top to bottom): four 5Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports in dark blue, two 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports in light blue (one Type-A, one Type-C), and two USB 2.0 ports under the network connection.
The second pair of 5Gbps ports, called Lightning Gaming Ports, each use separate interface controllers and are intended for high-speed mice and keyboards. According to ASRock, this lowers jitter latency by giving both the keyboard and mouse, with their high poll rates, priority on their own channels instead of potentially competing against each other. However, it’s important to note that this feature will likely only be noticed by truly competitive gamers.
For those using integrated graphics, there is a DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 output. Audio output jacks are limited to line-in, speaker out, and mic-in only, with no S/PDIF connector. Network duties are handled by the integrated Intel Gigabit controller.
The rear I/O shield has three pre-cut holes for mounting wireless antennas, but the Riptide doesn’t have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Instead, the board has a dedicated M.2 connector for Wi-Fi and CNVi cards near the expansion card slots. You’ll have to supply the card. As all 600-series chipsets have support for integrated Wi-Fi, normally this is seen as manufacturers needlessly pinching pennies. An exception can be made for the Riptide as it’s competing in a much lower price range.
Last, the Riptide has a “smart” button on the back for quickly and easily flashing the BIOS. This Flashback ability allows the BIOS to be updated without booting the system, and it doesn’t even need RAM or a CPU installed. Just connect the board to a power supply, plug a USB drive with the updated BIOS file into the proper USB port, and hit the button.
This is especially helpful for upcoming 13th Generation Core (“Raptor Lake”) CPUs, as they all require an updated BIOS version. Since you never know which version of BIOS a board has when you buy it, if you were to build a new system using a 600-series board and a Raptor Lake CPU, you would end up with a board on an old BIOS that doesn’t support your new CPU. Without the Flashback ability, you’d need access to an Alder Lake CPU in order to update your motherboard’s BIOS.
Six fan headers are available for cooling use, one just above the CPU socket, one by the primary M.2 slot, and the rest scattered down the front edge of the board. Going down the front edge you’ll find two addressable RGB headers, a POST status LED cluster, the 24-pin ATX power connector, and an odd arrangement of USB 3.2 headers. The Riptide has the expected 3.2 Gen 1 header, and even a 2×2 20Gbps connector, but the second Gen 1 header is surprising, even more that it’s forward facing.
The rest of the internal connectors along the bottom edge are pretty standard fare: HD audio, two more RGB light headers (one generic addressable RGB, one for ASRock’s Polychrome Sync), USB 2.0, a clear CMOS jumper, a TPM header, and a front-panel connection cluster. A five-pin Thunderbolt header is next to the third PCIe slot, specifically to support ASRock’s separate Thunderbolt 4 add-in card.
The layout of the H670 PG Riptide shows that it was done by people who’ve assembled more than a couple of home-built systems, not just engineers looking for the most efficient PCB traces. The SATA ports have been moved down the front edge, rather than left in line with the main PCIe slot as so many other boards do.
If you’ve ever swapped or added storage drives to your computer after the initial build, you know it’s not fun to fiddle with SATA connectors under a GPU heatsink (if you didn’t pull out the GPU altogether). Those who love good internal cable management know that thick and stiff front-panel USB 3.x cables can be a nightmare. Having two headers in different orientations gives you more options, one of which might be the perfect thing for your PC case of choice.
Cooling enthusiasts are sure to appreciate the fan-header layout because it makes easy wiring for nearly any cooling setup. Not only are there fan headers at both corners in the front, but ASRock wisely added another in the middle of the front edge.
Are you using a beefy dual-fan CPU cooler? No problem. Got a multi-fan top mounted radiator? Three fan headers are on the top edge. Is your case front panel loaded down with fans? Four fan headers are spaced down the front edge. Need a rear exhaust fan above your rear I/O panel? There’s a header right behind the audio jack riser. All but the main CPU fan header can be designated for water pump use, which increases the supported current to 2A.
One small complaint is on the Lightning Gaming Ports’ location. They’re clearly marked on the rear panel shield, but rarely will you be looking right at it. Once the computer is built and on your desk, it’s much more common to reach behind the case and (un)plug cables by feel, rather than turning the case around to see the rear panel.
The PS/2 port for legacy keyboards is already at the top, and it has two USB ports underneath it. Had those been the Lightning ports, the whole top riser would be dedicated to keyboard and mouse, making it more intuitive to remember, and easier to find by feel. As it is, you’re left walking your fingers down the I/O panel, counting ports to find the correct ones.
Despite having no Phantom Gaming logos or badging on the board itself, the UEFI uses the traditional red-and-black PG color scheme. Entering the UEFI defaults to the Easy page, which gives all the info and functions the most users will need. You can set the memory XMP, boot order, and fan profiles; monitor temps and voltage; change the RGB; and flash the BIOS.
You can switch to the Advanced Mode if you want to delve into more details, or perhaps the tabbed section layout is more familiar to you. Different sections are tabbed across the top and group relevant functions and settings together.
ASRock hasn’t changed much, if anything, in its UEFI navigation in more than 10 years. The Main tab displays basic system information, such as CPU model and memory configuration, and a user-customizable My Favorites list. OC Tweaker holds the overclocking and power-management configuration.
The Advanced tab has motherboard subsystem settings. Various utilities and motherboard tools are under the, well, Tool section. Detailed information about component temperature, voltages, and fan speeds are under the H/W Monitor section, which also contains the fan speed controls.
Despite the H670’s limited overclocking capabilities, the options under the OC Tweaker tab remain pretty robust. The Riptide has five profile slots for storing presets. These presets can also be exported to and imported from other storage drives. Detailed voltage and power controls are all available, and you can even tweak the CPU a little.
The H670’s limitation won’t allow the CPU to be set above its maximum stock multiplier. However, the Riptide will allow the per-core profile to be changed. If cooling and power are sufficient, you can set the CPU to stay at its highest multiplier even under heavy workloads with multiple cores active.
Memory overclocking remains the same as a typical Z690 board. Frequency, voltage, and timing settings for RAM are all still here.
Under the Advanced tab you can select whether the UEFI starts in Easy or Advanced mode, and which tab is the home page in Advanced mode. ASRock also adds a nice touch to its UEFIs by supporting full 1,920-by-1,080-pixel resolutions. Navigating the UEFI without the text and graphics being stretched to fit a modern monitor may be a small thing, but that is one of those subtle creature comforts most people appreciate.
The H/W Monitoring tab has a fan auto-tuning utility that will detect the mode and minimum speed of all fans connected to the motherboard. You can also set your own custom fan profiles should you want. Each fan can have a five-point curve.
When exiting the UEFI, you’re presented with a summary of changes you’ve made before saving. It can be helpful when you’ve played with multiple settings and don’t remember if you changed things back the way you wanted them.
Instead of a single unified application for driver updates and tuning, ASRock uses multiple specialized applications. The App Shop acts as the download center, showing additional applications and utilities available for the Riptide. For some, it may be less convenient using different motherboard applications for different tasks, but on the up side it does let you decide what to install and what not to, rather than requiring one massive, potentially bloated program.
The App Shop also acts as a driver-download front, showing the latest available drivers for your motherboard, and whether you should upgrade them.
The Motherboard Utility, formerly called A-tuning, is used for performance modding and overclocking within Windows. As the Riptide is in the Phantom Gaming line, the normal green color scheme is replaced with a red and black one. It gives you the same CPU options as found in the UEFI and slightly simplified power and voltage controls. For tweaking newbies not quite comfortable to risk bad settings in the UEFI, it’s a useful addition.
In addition to the overclocking controls are system monitoring information and fan speed settings.
Other Windows applications include the Polychrome RGB editor, Nahimic Audio app, and ASRock’s nifty Restart to UEFI utility.
At first glance, the ASRock H670 PG Riptide seems rather plain and uninspired. But the more you examine it, the more you see the careful thought and planning that went into the board. The best way to look at it is not as a low-end performance board, but as a solid middle-of-the-road option that offers features that other low-budget boards lack.
The decision to hold it back on DDR4 is a potentially poor idea. Without DDR5, the Riptide lacks some future-proofing that may disappoint more performance-oriented consumers. However, those very consumers are the ones less likely to opt for a board that can’t overclock a CPU in the first place.
This board’s ALC897 audio may be dated, but it’s perfectly adequate to the average headphone user. It lacks an exposed 20Gbps USB port (it has an internal header for one, but that relies on whether your case supports it), but devices and drives that can utilize that bandwidth are still scarce. These are all arguably cut corners, but the bottlenecks they induce are quite unlikely to be encountered by the target audience for this board. The lack of Wi-Fi is perhaps the biggest downside.
ASRock has managed to maintain a careful balance of keeping the critical parts for solid performance while ridding unnecessary frivolities, but not at the expense of a completely stripped-down product. For upgraders on a strict budget who don’t need or demand maximum performance capabilities, this is a compelling choice for LGA 1700.
It's neither the best-equipped nor the cheapest motherboard in ASRock’s stable, but the H670 PG Riptide strikes an excellent balance of features and price for Intel "Alder Lake" upgraders.
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From an early age I was destined for a career in technology and testing. As a young child, my mother worked as the administrative assistant to the Senior VP of Hardware and Peripherals at a little startup called Microsoft, long before they went public. The test and design engineers invited me often to the office, because if anything can break a computer peripheral, it’s a 3-year-old toddler. They let me use a heavily modified IBM PCjr running MS Flight Simulator, that could also run Pac-Man at near superluminal speeds.
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