We have plenty more from AMD and Intel in the pipeline and with that in mind we chose the ASRock X670E Steel Legend as an ideal baseline for AMD’s high performance chipset and the next generation of motherboards as a whole.

First however we must comment on the price. UK pricing is distorted compared to the US due to poor exchange rates during the Ryzen 7000-series, but it may come into line further into the platform’s life cycle. Regardless, £350 is a large investment, especially for a motherboard with the Steel Legend’s frugal feature set; potential users on a more restricted budget should consider looking at other chipset options. That’s especially the case if you’re not planning to invest in a PCIe 5.0 GPU and/or don’t need the additional connectivity that X670/X670E provides over B650E.

Transitioning to performance, the ASRock Steel Legend definitely has one major issue. While the PCMark10 result is distinctly middle of the pack, SiSoft SANDRA M.2 Read/Write results are significantly below that of the reset of the 600-series range. This may be due to some immaturity in the BIOS that can be ironed rather than a design flaw, but it is a little disappointing to say the least.


The other notable result was in the arena of VRM temperature. The Steel Legend was toasty, not to a worrying extent but nonetheless hotter than some competitors. It shouldn’t be a problem in cases with reasonable air flow but we’d be concerned in hot boxes that are a little sparse with fan coverage.

The build quality and aesthetics of the X670E Steel Legend are solid, although the camo look of the motherboard heatspreaders will need the right case to really make it pop. You don’t get much lighting included, and that perhaps for the better as you have more control by opting for your own lighting peripherals. The inclusion of the GPU bracket meanwhile is a nice idea that’s a little more integrated than some support stands we’ve seen included in GPU and mobo accessory kits.

Fundamentally, ASRock’s X670E Steel Legend is a fair mainstream motherboard with pricing scaled up to X670E norms. It won’t blow anyone away, but nor should it outrage consumers based on the X670E landscape as a whole. Recommendations are really based on whether you absolutely need X670E, in which case it’s a fine choice on the cheaper end, or whether you can be persuaded to a more full-fat model that’s based on AMD’s other chipsets.