Letโs start with the positives โ somewhat of a mixed bag this time around: Data Processing โ Being a ProArt, itโs a motherboard attuned to different software meant for artwork โ Photoshop, Blender, Krita, Procreate, Corel Painter, GIMP, Fresco, and so on. Despite its purpose, you could probably settle with it pretty comfortably for gaming and basic editing as well. Itโs a bit confusing, the way itโs advertised. 7000 MHz is perhaps a little higher than my 32GB RAM, so I donโt quite get all that I can out of it โ being that my RAM can take about 6000 MHz at full capacity. Regardless, itโs advertised as PCIe 5.0, and thatโs correct โ I get about 192 GB out of the 24 lanes it has. Yet, itโs incorrectly labelled PCIe 4.0 in the specifications of the product โ a small error, but hopefully this clears things up for people. Artificial Intelligence โ This motherboard has two features based on artificial intelligence: AI Noise Cancellation and AI Overclocking โ one that works well, and the other that works too well. So far as AI Overclocking, itโs pretty measured as to when it feels is necessary to overclock the PC for the sake of performance, so itโs not likely to overheat your PC because you lost a couple of frames โ certainly no complaints there. My issues arise concerning the AI Noise Cancellation features, which โ for the most part โ tend to be pretty accurate. However, itโs quite sensitive at times and often cuts me off mid-sentence, regardless of how average or quiet the volume โ it just seems to get confused more often than not, and it makes conversation sometimes a bit difficult. Support โ Thereโs a wide variety of handy support options with regards to this motherboard. Itโs fitted with both a 1GB and a 2.5GB Ethernet port โ though admittedly, either only averages about 400MB โ three medium PCIe 5.0 ports โ which are interlinked, so if you plan to use more than one port, the lanes will be split โ one small PCIe 5.0 port, USB 3.0, USB 4.0, Display Port, and USB C. All pretty useful for different devices and extra bits, but with the way in which the motherboard acts, adding devices means separating its processing power evenly โ so if youโre planning to push what you can out of multiple devices, youโll only ever get a fraction of what youโd expect. Overall, the motherboard can support a variety of devices but lacks the ability to hold them all. For the negatives, Iโve only really had one issue thus far: Dispersion โ Itโs only ever happened twice so far, but this motherboard isnโt very good at dispersing electricity. During busy periods, it can get gridlocked and retain energy. Not enough to cause sparks or anything, but what it will do is put pressure on the display and cause the monitor to black out. It doesnโt cut the audio โ so I know it's still on โ but while things happen in the background, nothing feeds to display, and youโll have to shut it off. The best method Iโve found so far is: Shutting off the monitor, pushing the power button, flipping the PSU, and then turning everything off at the wall. Give it a while and repeat everything in the reverse order. It should fix the issue without bricking or burning your PC. Overall, pretty decent motherboard for the money with a lot of value in the PCIe ports - you'd be hard pressed to find one that isn't as practical as this one. Though I'd wait for it to go on sale again - I saved about ยฃ80 and kept my budget under ยฃ1,500.
