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The Asus Prime X870-P WiFi is an entry-level design based on the high-end chipset from Team Red. The board is an interesting entry, as it bundles ample hardware support, far surpassing that of the ROG Strix X870-A WiFi, while costing way less. The manufacturer has cut costs in places. However, does that erode any of the high-end experience?
I spent a few weeks with the motherboard, testing it across workloads from gaming to productivity and AI. Here's my review of the X870-P and where it stands when it comes to serving gamers.
The Asus Prime X870-P WiFi targets professionals and creators
Unlike the ROG lineup, which is specifically geared towards the gaming audience, Prime is meant for a different class of users. Think office PCs, labs, and media consumption systems. You don't need flashy RGB and shiny hardware here – what matters is raw performance.
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Given the widely different workloads such computers handle, some gamer-ready features, such as high-end audio and aesthetics, can be culled. New standards emerge: ECC memory, support for multiple GPUs, and more. This is where the Prime X870-P shines.
On paper, you get the X870 chipset, which sits a tier below the flagship X870-E (the only difference being PCIe 5.0 support), a full ATX design, and an 8-layer board design with a 17-stage power design. The VRM heatsinks on the motherboard are sizeable, enough to handle up to a Ryzen 9 9950X3D (which was the test chip for this review).
The board also supports WiFi and Bluetooth out of the box, with a Q-antenna bundled in the box (it's the same you would find on the higher-end Strix boards).
The detailed specs sheet is as follows:
At the time of writing, the Prime X870-P sells for $240 brand new, making it considerably cheaper than competing designs on the same chipset. It's about as expensive as some high-end B850 motherboards, which puts gamers in a dilemma. Let's dissect the board and its performance.
Unboxing experience
The Prime X870-P doesn't overdo its packaging. It comes in a standard single-layer box with the motherboard wrapped in an anti-static bag. We get some cables, screws, the Q-antenna, and some paper work in the box. Overall, the unboxing is simple, which is fine given the calibre of the board.
Components
At first glance, the Prime X870-P might look slightly lower-tier than an ROG Strix B850/X870. That's primarily because Asus has cut corners on the heatsink coverage to hit the price target. You still get chonky VRM and I/O cover heatsinks with two M.2 covers and a sizable Southbridge block, but that's it.
Unlike higher-end B850s, which likely offer significant coverage from the PCIe x16 slot, you get a more barebones solution.
However, this doesn't mean you should take the X870-P lightly. The board does get the essentials correct: a 17-stage power design with ample heatsink coverage to handle high-end CPUs like the Ryzen 9 9900X and 9950X3D. For the motherboard, this is half the game, with added coverage only serving aesthetics and slightly lower Southbridge temperatures.
The X870 is a single-chip design, which helps keep the auxiliary chipset heatsink modest. However, don't expect superb temperatures on the second chipset given the cut-down cooling solution.
Another important feature for some gamers is audio. While most high-end motherboards in 2025 are now bundling the Realtek ALC4080 chip, which is new and bundles all USB 2.0 audio, multi-ADC capabilities with independent audio streams, the Prime X870-P cuts corners here. You get the old ALC897 from 2008, which is a fairly basic high-definition chip.
The 897 comes with a much lower signal-to-noise ratio, which can result in output noise; however, perceived quality depends on the motherboard design and the quality of the audio hardware you're using.
On most mid-range audio devices, the difference between the 897 and 4080 is virtually non-existent. Moreover, Asus pairs the board with a noise separator (the orange line tracing the board in the image above), and you still get support for 7.1 audio channels, making the 897 an okay-ish deal for most users.
Another important feature of the motherboard is the PCIe slots. The board ships with four x16 slots, with a theoretical capacity of handling them all simultaneously. However, there are some caveats.
If you have an M.2 SSD installed in the first slot (right below the CPU socket), the second x16 slot becomes inactive. Moreover, PCIEX16(G4)_1 and PCIEX16(G4)_2 share bandwidth with M.2_3. If you have an SSD in the third or fourth M.2 slots, the PCIe slots are turned off.
You can use all four x16 slots only if your system boots from a SATA SSD. Moreover, they are connected to the X870 chipset, not the CPU. This means they operate at X1 mode, offering much lower bandwidth than the full X16 Gen 5 slot. Check out the bifurcation table on the ASUS website before buying the board for any specific hardware combo you have on hand.
Adding to this, the PCIEX16(G4)_1 and PCIEX16(G4)_2 slots are too close to each other for installing a second GPU. We tested compatibility with the PCIEX16(G4)_2, PCIEX16(G4)_3, and PCIEX16(G5) slots.
However, due to power supply concerns, we only booted a dual-GPU setup with the first and third slots. Two SSDs were installed in M.2_1 and M.2_2 slots. The system booted and worked well for the most part.
With hardware support out of the way, let's talk about the build quality of the board. The Prime X870-P bundles some high-quality headers and components, with standard options found on high-end boards in this budget offering as well. It comes with four ARGB headers. With Armory Crate, you can fully control all lighting in your build. This maintains the board's appeal towards gamers.
That said, the Southbridge chipset heatsink is a massive cut-down. This has been done to accommodate the $240 price target. However, it does raise concerns regarding performance under load (specifically when multiple GPUs and the rear I/O push usage on the X870 chip).
Lastly, the rear I/O is modern and pretty standard. You get eight USB Type-A and two Type-C headers. There's a BIOS flash button, support for 2.5G LAN, WiFi headers, HDMI, and legacy audio connectors as well. Both Type-C headers are 40G ports. However, only one supports Display Port capabilities. The board also packs Fast Charging through the other USB-C.
Motherboard operating temperatures
We tested the motherboard with a fairly high-end setup to stretchits limits. A Ryzen 9 9950X3D chip was used, coupled with an RX 9070 XT GPU. Here are the details of our rig:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- Motherboard: Asus Prime X870-P WiFi
- RAM: 2x G.Skill Trident Z DDR5-6000 16 GB
- Storage: 1x Gigabyte Gen 4 NVMe 1 TB, 1x Patriot P300 M.2 PCIe Gen 3 x4 128GB
- Cooler: Cooler Master Atmos 240mm liquid cooler
- Storage: Cooler Master MWE 1050W 80+ Gold
- GPU: Asus TUF Gaming RX 9070 XT 16 GB OC
Our first test measures the southbridge and motherboard temperatures when the CPU is stressed. We present numbers on the high-end ROG Strix X870-A that bundles more heatsink mass and higher-end components for a comparison.
The X870-P features the same Southbridge chip as the X870-A. We see a staggering 15°C difference between the chips in this test. More importantly, the Prime kept heating throughout, suggesting that the heatsink couldn't keep it sufficiently cool, unlike the X870-A, which constantly maintained similar temperatures.
When the GPU was stressed (the 9070 XT was installed on PCIEX16(G5), which connects directly to the CPU), the chipset temperatures stabilized around 60°C, which is 14°C more than the X870-A. Motherboard temps represent a 6°C delta.
Value and conclusion
Overall, the Prime X870-P can be the ideal choice for users who want features like ECC support and multi-GPU capabilities on a budget. It's perfect for AI labs and creative professionals who wish to have professional-grade audio setups independently. Moreover, the board could be a good option for gamers looking for the X870 on a budget.
However, I'd recommend a high-end B850 instead since they pack more features relevant to consumer PCs. They also offer better cooling solutions and, at times, cheaper price tags.
