ASRock X870 LiveMixer Motherboard With 25 USB Ports Is A Content Creator's Dream

'Tis the season for souped-up Ryzen motherboards, it seems. Hot on the heels of ASUS' Strix 870E-H WiFi, we have a fresh new offering, the ASRock X870 LiveMixer WiFi. The company claims this mobo is squarely aimed at content creators thanks to its cornucopia of USB ports: 25 total, with 16 of those in the back panel and nine on additional internal headers.

The X870 LiveMixer WiFi uses a 16+2+1 power stage layout, all DrMOS stages capable of handling 80 A of current. The X870 chipset enables this board to provide builders with a main PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, along with four M.2 sockets: two in PCIe 5.0 flavor, and two PCIe 4.0. All of those M.2 connectors rest underneath toolless heatsinks. The I/O shield is integrated, and there are generously sized heatsinks for the VRM and chipset.


The LiveMixer's 16 USB ports on the I/O shield count as follows: two USB4 40 Gbps, plus an additional USB-C connector at 10 Gbps; two 5 Gbps "Lightning" Type-A ports each wired to a different controller for input devices; two 5 Gbps "Ultra USB Power" Type-A plugs that promise more stable voltage due to being powered by motherboard conversion from the 12V rail; three more Type-A USB 5 Gbps ports; and six USB 2.0 connectors. You can add a total of nine ports to the total using front panel and/or rear brackets via the copious internal headers: six USB 2.0 ports, four 5 Gbps ports, and one 20 Gbps Type-C port.


ASRock claims it has test this motherboard's compatibility with multiple streaming devices from Elgato, Yamaha, and AverMedia, easing potential streamers' concerns when plugging in loads of USB hardware. For network duties, ASRock leveraged a Realtek RTL8126 5 Gbps Ethernet port, along with WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity.

You can grab this fully featured board right away for only $229.99 at Amazon, an amount that we consider excellent value for an X870E motherboard with such a complement of features.