The ASUS PRIME B760M-A WIFI D4 is priced at the higher-end of the budget Intel B760 motherboard spectrum, but is it worth its asking price?
Editor's note (January 2024): The PRIME B760M-A WIFI D4 now supports 14th Gen "Raptor Lake Refresh" processors with a BIOS update that is available for download from ASUS's official website.
There's no better time than now to be building a new PC, what with the likes of AMD and Intel squaring it off with their Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 series and 13th Generation Raptor Lake processor offerings respectively. On Team Blue's end, the brand's 13th generation line-up was initially launched with the "K" series of CPU offerings (such as the Core i9-13900K and Core i5-13600K) alongside motherboards powered by the range-topping Z790 chipset back in October 2022. Fast forward to January 2023, Intel has finally released the rest of its Raptor Lake CPU and chipset stack, in the form of products such as the Core i5-13400 CPU, to chipsets such as the Intel B760 and H770. For today's article, we'll be taking a look at an entry-level Intel B760 motherboard offering targeted at consumers on a budget - the ASUS PRIME B760M-A WIFI D4.
Summary of Specifications
- Processor Support: Intel 13th Gen Core processors & 12th Gen Core, Pentium Gold and Celeron processors
- Chipset: Intel B760
- Memory: 4x DDR4 slots, max 128GB, up to DDR4 5333 (OC) support
- Audio: Realtek ALC897 audio codec
- LAN: Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet
- WIFI: Intel AX201NGW WIFI 6 with Bluetooth 5.2
- Expansion Slots: 1x PCIe 4.0 x16, 1x PCIe 4.0 x16 (operates at x4 mode), 1x PCIe 4.0 x16 (operates at x1 mode)
- Storage: 4x SATA III, 2x PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 (NVMe mode only)
- Form Factor: Micro ATX
Packaging & Contents
The PRIME series of motherboard offerings is targeted at the business and value-oriented consumer demographics, where it places beneath the TUF Gaming series of products targeted at mainstream gamers, and the Republic of Gamers (ROG) line-up of enthusiast-class motherboard offerings. In keeping with the design language of the PRIME series of motherboards, the B760M-A WIFI D4 comes in a conservatively-styled grey and white box.
The board comes with the following accessories:
- WIFI antenna
- 2x SATA III cables
- 1x pack of M.2 drive screws and standoffs
- 1x M.2 rubber pad (adds height clearance for single-sided M.2 SSDs)
- I/O shield
- User manual
- DVD driver disc
- Quick start guide
- ASUS WebStorage promotional leaflet
Board Aesthetics
In terms of aesthetics, the board sports a black, silver and white colour scheme, with white motifs printed onto the PCB. It'd appear that ASUS has gone for a space theme for its PRIME series of product offerings, where as can be seen above, the B760M-A WIFI D4 sports a solar system motif on its PCB that does add some character to the board's overall appearance - other PRIME motherboard offerings of late have come with similar space-themed design elements as well.
That said, the board does not come with an integrated I/O shield design, and comes with a smattering of silver heatsinks, where the VRM heatsinks are pretty sizeable.
To cool the Intel B760 chipset, ASUS has included a small-ish passive heatsink.
An indication of the board's value-oriented pedigree is the fact that ASUS has included just a single heatsink for one out of the two M.2 drive slots that this board comes with.
VRM & Memory Support
In terms of power delivery, ASUS has included 8+1+1 power phases for the motherboard...
...while memory support is by means of four DDR4 slots that support a maximum of 128GBs of RAM and the DDR4 5333 standard when overclocked. The RAM slots feature a single-tab design called Q-DIMM, which helps with RAM installation and removal especially for completed builds.
Front Panel USB Connectivity
Moving on to front panel USB connectivity, the board comes with two front panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A headers, with one located near the RAM slots and another near the bottom edge of the board. Both headers support up to two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports each. I would have preferred that ASUS had included more USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports on the rear I/O instead, as the PC cases of today rarely come with more than two front panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, making it highly likely that one of these headers would be a white elephant in a completed PC build.
That said, USB 2.0 front panel headers are in no short supply too, where the bottom edge of the board houses three front panel USB 2.0 Type-A headers that provide support for up to five front panel USB 2.0 Type-A ports in total.
Expansion Slots & Storage Options
The PRIME B760M-A WIFI D4 comes with a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot meant for a graphics card - the said slot boasts the SafeSlot Core+ feature that reinforces the slot against heavy graphics cards. In addition, two full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slots are included as well, with one slot operating at x4 mode and the other slot at x1 mode.
For your internal storage drives, the board comes with four SATA III ports, with two ports in a right-angled configuration, and two ports in a straight-angled configuration.
The board also comes with two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots. Do note that these slots support NVMe SSDs only - SATA M.2 drives are not supported.
Audio & Internet Connectivity
As an entry-level motherboard offering, ASUS has included a Realtek ALC897 audio codec to power the board's audio experience.
Wired internet connectivity is courtesy of another Realtek part - the RTL8125BG chipset that serves up support for 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, while the board's wireless capabilities are powered by an Intel AX201NGW WIFI module that is compliant to the WIFI 6 spec and also comes with Bluetooth 5.2 support.
Fan & RGB Headers
The B760M-A WIFI D4 comes with a total of four fan headers:
- 1x CPU_FAN
- 1x CPU_OPT
- 2x CHA_FAN
Also included are three addressable RGB headers, and a single 12V standard RGB header.
Other Features
The B760M-A WIFI D4 comes with a serial port header as well as a parallel port header - features that would sit well with business situations that call for the use of legacy PC hardware.
Also included is a TPM header near the board's SATA ports that allows for the installation of a third-party TPM module.
Rear I/O
The B760M-A WIFI D4 comes with the following ports on the rear I/O:
- 1x DisplayPort 1.4 (supports display output of up to 4K resolution at 60 Hz)
- 2x HDMI 2.1 (supports display output of up to 4K resolution at 60 Hz)
- 1x PS/2 mouse or keyboard combo port
- 4x USB 2.0 Type-A
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (10 Gbps)
- 1x 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port
- WIFI antenna connectors
- Audio jacks
Conclusion & Pricing
On the whole, the ASUS PRIME B760M-A WIFI D4 sports enough modern features such as a decent VRM setup, PCIe Gen 4 connectivity for a graphics card and two M.2 drives, as well as 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet for value-oriented consumers to get by. That said, the entry-level segment is a competitive space, and the fact that this board comes with WIFI 6 and is for the most part, pricier as compared to other competitor motherboard offerings at the entry-level does dull the B760M-A WIFI D4's shine somewhat - it's worth noting that WIFI 6E can be found on entry-level Intel B760 motherboard offerings from other competitor brands.
As of February 2023, the PRIME B760M-A WIFI D4 is currently available for a price of around $303 Singapore dollars through online and physical retailers in Singapore - for international readers, this figure which converts to roughly $228 US dollars.
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The motherboard featured in this article was a review unit provided on loan from ASUS Singapore.