The ASUS ROG Strix B850-A Gaming Wi-Fi7 Neo brings a cleaner white design, cooler VRM temps, and useful improvements like tool-free M.2 heatsinks and a smarter GPU release. It also adds Wi-Fi 7, 5 Gbps Ethernet, and a 20 Gbps USB-C header for modern AM5 builds.

ASUS has been steadily updating its ROG Strix range of Socket AM5 motherboards, refining the designs and features to bring in modern tweaks and enhancements. The ROG Strix B850-A Gaming Wi-Fi7 Neo sits at the lower end of the ROG Strix range and at the moment, leaves you with plenty of change from $300, too. In many ways, it's more appealing than motherboards that sat much higher in the ROG Strix range last generation. Most of its M.2 heatsinks are tool-free, and it has a better GPU release mechanism plus a faster USB Type-C header for your case. For those building a white PC, ASUS has replaced most of the black slots and headers with white ones too.

Competition is fierce of course, and like most refreshed motherboards, the previous model is also still available and for a considerable amount less. The question is: does the ROG Strix B850-A Gaming Wi-Fi7 Neo bring enough new bits to the table to make it the better buy?