ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI review: For content creators!

The options for building a new computer based on the latest AMD Ryzen 9000, 8000, and 7000 Series processors are quite generous, with professionals having plenty of motherboards and chipsets to choose from. One of the most interesting is the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI, a motherboard featuring the high-end X870E chipset, capable of delivering extreme performance and offering a wealth of expansion options and high-quality components. If you’re a content creator looking for top-tier performance and features, this motherboard might be the perfect choice for you. Do you want to know more about it? Then read this review:

ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI: Who is it good for?

This is the motherboard you should get if:

• You’re a professional content creator who aims for top-notch performance and extensive connectivity
• You want PCI Express 5.0, DDR5 support, and multiple x16 and M.2 slots
• You’re looking for a motherboard based on the high-end X870E chipset for AMD Ryzen processors

Pros and cons

Here are the main positive aspects of this motherboard:

• All-black design with high-quality components
• PCI Express 5.0 support and two x16 slots
• Works with fast DDR5 memory (up to 8000 MT/s)
• Dual Ethernet ports: 10 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps
• Wi-Fi 7 for high-speed wireless connectivity
• Solid Voltage Regulator Modules (VRMs) and large heatsinks
• Dual USB4 ports and USB 20Gbps Type-C front-panel connector with Quick Charge 4+

The main downsides to this motherboard are:

• Its premium price point
• The absence of onboard RGB lighting might not appeal to some users

Verdict

Leaving aside the fact that it’s quite expensive, the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI is an exceptional motherboard. If you’re a content creator or a professional looking to build a new desktop computer based on a high-end AMD Ryzen processor, want extremely fast wired and wireless connectivity, and need access to a lot of expansion options (both x16 slots and M.2 slots), then you’ll certainly like the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI. In my opinion, the board deserves a 4.5 stars rating and because I personally like it a lot, the Editor’s Pick badge.🙂

Unboxing the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI

ASUS packaged the ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI motherboard in a premium cardboard box. The top cover features a minimalist design with the name of the motherboard and some of its main features. The packaging for ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI looks pretty good Inside the box, besides the motherboard itself, there’s a generous bundle of accessories: a DisplayPort cable, a thermal pad for M.2 22110, an ASUS WiFi Q-Antenna, a Q-connector, an M.2 Q-Latch package, two M.2 Q-Latch Q-Slide packages for M.2 backplates, and two rubber packages for M.2. Additionally, you find a ProArt ruler, a user guide, and one ASUS Control Center Express Activation Key Card (check the last section of this review for a couple of details about this). ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI bundles many accessories The packaging of the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI is well-designed, and the number of accessories accompanying the motherboard make the unboxing experience quite satisfying.

Hardware specifications and design

The ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI is an ATX motherboard, measuring 30.5 cm (12 inches) in length and 24.4 cm (9.6 inches) in width. At its core is the high-end AMD X870E chipset, designed to deliver maximum performance for AMD Ryzen 9000, 8000, and 7000 Series desktop processors. The X870E chipset includes support for PCI Express 5.0 on both the graphics and storage interfaces, ensuring future-proof connectivity. In terms of memory, the motherboard is designed to work with DDR5 memory running at speeds from 4800 MT/s up to 8000 MT/s (OC). The ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI has an ATX format The design of the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI motherboard is professional and understated. The all-black aesthetic is complemented by subtle gold accents and minimalistic branding. There are no RGB lights, aligning with the ProArt series’ focus on a professional look. The motherboard features large heatsinks and shrouds covering key components like the VRMs and M.2 slots, ensuring optimal thermal performance. The motherboard looks robust It offers a robust 16+2+2 teamed power stage design (rated for 80 Amperes), and the CPU VRMs are covered by massive heatsinks. This design ensures you can extract the highest performance from your AMD Ryzen processor, with excellent stability even during overclocking. You need to plug in two 8-pin EPS power connectors in the top-left corner of the motherboard to provide the necessary power for the processor. The VRMs are large As mentioned earlier, the motherboard supports DDR5 RAM: the DIMM slots are located towards the top-right area and can accommodate up to four memory modules with a total capacity of 192 GB. Next to them, there’s the main 24-pin ATX power connector. The board supports DDR5 memory The features of this motherboard depend on the AMD Ryzen processor used. With high-end Ryzen 9000 and 7000 series CPUs, you get full access to two PCIe 5.0 x16 slots (operating at x16, x8/x8, or x8/x4/x4 modes) and support for two PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 SSDs, offering the fastest storage options. Mid-range Ryzen 8700, 8600, and 8400 CPUs activate one PCIe 4.0 x16 slot at x8 speed, while the second slot is disabled. Lower-end Ryzen 8500 and 8300 series reduce the PCIe 4.0 x16 slot to x4 speed, with the second slot also disabled. ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI features plenty of PCIe and NVMe slots The AMD X870E chipset provides two more M.2 slots that support PCIe 4.0 SSDs, plus four SATA ports for traditional drives. Be aware that the second PCIe x16 slot shares bandwidth with the M.2_2 solid-state drive slot, so using one can affect the other one’s performance. The board offers PCIe 5 for graphics and SSDs This motherboard also comes equipped with top-of-the-line connectivity features. For wired networking, it offers two Ethernet ports: a Marvell AQtion port that supports ultra-fast 10Gbps speeds for lightning-fast network connections, and an Intel port that supports 2.5Gbps for high-speed LAN connectivity. For wireless networking, it includes an Intel Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) module with a 2x2 antenna setup, supporting the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands. This Wi-Fi 7 module provides up to 6.5 Gbps transfer rates on a 320 MHz bandwidth, delivering faster wireless speeds and lower latency. Additionally, the motherboard features Bluetooth 5.4 for connecting wireless peripherals. This motherboard features a high-quality Realtek ALC1220P audio codec that supports 7.1 surround sound with a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 120 dB for stereo playback and 113 dB for recording (line-in), which translates into clear and detailed sound. It’s also worth noting that it supports audio playback up to 32-bit/192 kHz, though due to bandwidth limitations, this high-resolution audio isn’t available in 7.1 surround mode. Additional features include audio shielding, premium audio capacitors, dedicated audio PCB layers, and a unique de-pop circuit to minimize unwanted noises. The motherboard offers high-quality audio ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI features a generous array of ports on its back panel. It includes two USB4 Type-C ports capable of super-fast 40 Gbps data transfer speeds, one USB Type-C port at 20 Gbps, and seven USB Type-A ports at 10 Gbps for high-speed peripheral connections. There’s also one USB 2.0 Type-A port for older devices and BIOS updates. For video output, you get one HDMI 2.1 port and a DisplayPort (input only). I’ve covered networking options earlier, but it’s worth noting that the panel has two RJ45 ports for LAN networks and two ports for the bundled Wi-Fi antenna. Audio connectivity is available through three audio jacks. Last but not least, the back panel includes a BIOS FlashBack button, which lets you update the motherboard’s UEFI firmware without booting into the operating system, and a Clear CMOS button to reset the BIOS settings to default, which is useful if overclocking or other changes cause issues. The input/output back panel On the board, you’ll also find additional connectors for cooling, power, and peripherals, including headers for fans, AIO pumps, USB, RGB lighting, chassis intrusion, front panel, and thermal sensors. If you want to see all the details on that and everything else this motherboard has to offer, visit its official webpage: ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI. The board has many internal ports and headers ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI is a high-end motherboard packed with features and options. Designed for AMD Ryzen 9000, 8000, and 7000 Series processors, it includes everything you might want from a modern and powerful computer, including PCI Express 5.0, support for DDR5 memory, 10Gb Ethernet, Wi-Fi 7, and USB4.

Using the ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator WiFi motherboard

Building a PC with the ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator WiFi is simple, even for beginners. The motherboard’s clear labels and design make it easy to know where everything goes. There’s plenty of space around the CPU area, so installing my all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler was not difficult. These are the hardware components I used to assemble the test computer:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
• Cooler: ASUS ROG Ryuo III 240 ARGB
• Memory: Kingston FURY Renegade DDR5-7200 32GB
• Graphics Card: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
• Storage: CORSAIR MP700 Pro 2TB
• Monitor: ASUS ROG Strix XG32UQ (4K UHD)
• PSU: Seasonic Focus GX-1000

The computer I built upon this motherboard offered, as you’d expect, a smooth experience both when I had to work and when I relaxed playing games. 🙂 Details about the test system In everyday use, the PC I built with this motherboard delivers impressively fast boot times and quick app launches, thanks to its support for high-speed SSDs. Even as I write this, I can multitask effortlessly: browsing the web across multiple tabs, working in Microsoft Office, listening to music, and chatting simultaneously. Everything runs great, the computer remains responsive and completely free of lag. Working on the test system was great As a gamer, I’m super satisfied with its performance. Pair it with a fast graphics card, DDR5, and solid-state drive, and the motherboard can ensure smooth gameplay and excellent frame rates in any modern game. Considering that content creators’ needs are more or less similar with those of gamers, it’s safe to say that the motherboard will do great in any demanding task (like video editing, for instance), not just in games. The motherboard is great for gaming, too Overall, the ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator WiFi is a great choice for gamers, content creators, and everyday users, offering excellent features and performance. On the next page, I’ll go over benchmark results to see how the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI compares with two other motherboards designed to work with the latest AMD Ryzen processors, the ASRock X870E Taichi and the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi.

ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI - Benchmark results

In the CPU-Z Single Thread benchmark, the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI scored 869 points, which is only 0.1% more than the ASRock X870E Taichi and 0.3% more than the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi. All boards deliver nearly identical single-thread performance. Benchmark results in CPU-Z Single Thread In CPU-Z Multi Thread, the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI scored 12660 points, outperforming the ASRock X870E Taichi by 0.9% but trailing behind the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi by 1.4%. Although very close, the ProArt looks like it’s narrowly outperformed by the ROG Strix in heavy workloads. Benchmark results in CPU-Z Multi Thread In the Cinebench 2024 benchmark, the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI outperformed the ASRock X870E Taichi by 1.8% but was 1.4% behind the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi. There’s no question about it: the ProArt delivers competitive multi-threaded performance for demanding tasks like 3D rendering and content creation. Benchmark results in Cinebench 2024 In Blender 4.2.0, the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI narrowly beat the ASRock X870E Taichi by 0.2%, yet it fell behind the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi by 0.7%. These are minor differences that can be attributed to the testing process’ margin of error. The ProArt clearly offers great performance in tasks that involve 3D modeling and animation. Benchmark results in Blender In the PCMark 10 benchmark, the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI scored 10,715, leading the ASRock X870E Taichi by 0.7% and the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi by 0.3%. This proves that the ProArt board is excellent for productivity and daily tasks. Benchmark results in PCMark 10 In JetStream 2.2, the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI scored 450, which is a little less than the ASRock X870E Taichi (by 0.9%) and the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi (by 0.2%). Even so, the ProArt motherboard offers top-notch web browsing performance. Benchmark results in JetStream The ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI achieved a compression speed of 156 MB/s in 7-Zip’s benchmark tool, outperforming the ASRock X870E Taichi by 5.4% and the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi by 0.6%. This result showcases this motherboard’s efficiency in file compression tasks. Benchmark results in 7-Zip compression In the decompression test, the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI performed 1.9% better than the ASRock X870E Taichi but was 0.4% slower than the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi. Still, the ProArt motherboard is obviously very efficient in decompression tasks. Benchmark results in 7-Zip decompression Next, I tested a few games in 1080p resolution, with the graphics quality set to the lowest, in order to prevent my AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT video card from becoming a bottleneck. In Cyberpunk 2077, the computer based on the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI averaged 233 FPS, leading the ASRock X870E Taichi by 1.3% and the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi by 2.6%. This places the ProArt at the top of the gaming performance ladder, at least among the competitors I’ve chosen for it. Benchmark results in Cyberpunk 2077 In Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s benchmark, the PC using the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI averaged 264 FPS, beating both the ASRock X870E Taichi (by 1.9%) and the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi (by 2.7%). Benchmark results in Assassin's Creed Mirage In Remnant II, the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI averaged 197 FPS, which is a little bit less than what I got with the ASRock X870E Taichi (by 2.5%) and the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi (by 1%). Benchmark results in Remnant II When benchmarking Horizon Forbidden West, the computer with the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI averaged 145 FPS, outperforming the ASRock X870E Taichi by 4.3% and the ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi by 3.6%. Benchmark results in Horizon Forbidden West In conclusion, the benchmarks show that the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI is a powerhouse that offers top-tier performance in any creative, productivity, or gaming task.

Software bundled with the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI

In terms of software, it’s worth mentioning that ASUS doesn’t force you to install anything on your computer. However, there are things you can download and install if you want to, including a couple of useful utilities that I recommend you do get:

• ASUS DriverHub is a tool for managing and updating ASUS hardware drivers and utilities. It detects your hardware, lists available updates, and allows easy installation of drivers individually or in bulk. It keeps evidence of System Installation History, it gives you device and driver details, UEFI/BIOS and OS information, and access to other software that you can download. It’s good for keeping your computer updated and running well, but I don’t like the fact that it automatically selects software that you may not want to install, like Norton 360, USB Wattage Watcher, WinRAR, or CPU-Z. Make sure to manually choose what gets downloaded and installed on your computer.

ASUS DriverHub helps you get the required drivers

• The main application for professional creators is ASUS’ ProArt Creator Hub, which lets you monitor your system, manage resources, and optimize it for content creation. It also includes some Pantone color management utilities, helping you maintain color accuracy in your projects.

ASUS Pro Art Creator Hub

• ASUS Control Center Express is a software tool that helps businesses monitor and manage their ASUS devices in real-time. It offers features like hardware and software monitoring, security controls, and remote management. This tool is aimed at improving productivity and security by allowing IT administrators to oversee multiple devices in order to make sure they all run smoothly and securely. To get access to all the features, you’ll need to use the activation card bundled with the motherboard.

ASUS Control Center Express I recommend installing ASUS DriverHub if you want an easy way to download and install the required drivers for the motherboard. The other software available from ASUS may or may not be useful to you, depending on how you’re using your computer and what you want to do with it. The good news is that nothing’s forced down your throat, so you can choose.

What’s your opinion about the ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI?

The ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI is an excellent high-end motherboard that, as you know by now, I like quite a lot. Besides top-notch performance, it offers a large amount of features and expansion options, as well as high-quality and powerful components. What’s your opinion about it? Do you intend to buy an ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI? What convinced you? Let me know in the comments section below.