NZXT N7 B650E Motherboard Review

The AMD B650E motherboard series landed a little while ago now, but it still offers a good mid-range option for those wanting to use the entire AMD Ryzen 7000 series of processors, from the humble APUs to the flagship gaming processors, there’s a little something for everyone here, and with the NZXT N7 B650E Motherboard coming in at £319.99 it is obviously above the budget options, but a far cry from the prices of the flagship motherboards on the market, but still offers more than enough features to appeal to typical high-end gaming PC builders and enthusiasts alike.

NZXT N7 B650E

Leverage the full value of your AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPU with the AMD B650 chipset. The N7 B650E features upgraded compatibility as well as N7 favourites, such as digital RGB and fan control, Wi-Fi 6e, and more.

• Maximum Control: Easily customize lighting and cooling modes via NZXT CAM, with access to six RGB lighting channels. Configure lights and fans from any manufacturer.
• Finishing Touch: A white or black metal cover conceals the inner workings, blending seamlessly with your case. The heat fins have been expanded to cool the PCIe Gen 5 enabled NVMe drive slot.
• Ready To Rock: Integrated Wi-Fi 6E, rear I/O shield, and clever port placement makes the build process easy—plenty of room on board for upgrades down the line.
• Stunning Craftsmanship: Build your dream system with a full metal cover that blends aesthetically with black or white cases for a seamless backdrop for your components.
• CPU and Socket: Supports AMD Ryzen 7000 Series Processors.

Features

• 16+2+1 Power phase design with 90A Smart Power Stage
• Seamless cover with integrated heat spreader
• Digital RGB lighting control through CAM
• Digital fan control for convenient fan profiles with seven independent fan channels

A Closer Look

NZXT has been surprisingly consistent with their motherboard designs, and their latest ones look broadly similar to their first-ever release a few years back. That is to say that their latest efforts still feature that stunning fully-armoured design that provides one of the cleanest looking motherboard configurations on the market today, with a beautiful black or white minimalist aesthetic that’s sure to compliment the latest NZXT cases or any other brand of case for that matter.

It features a competitive 16+2+1 Power Phase design with 90A Smart Power Stage, so getting the most out of the more powerful CPUs and their boost clocks or overclocking features shouldn’t be an issue, especially with the larger heatsinks and metal shrouds that complement the power hardware.

The CPU is fed from an 8-pin EPS connector, with an optional additional 4-pin to provide further power and additional voltage stability for more high-end processors.

The socket is the latest AM5 design and supports all of the AMD Ryzen 7000 series of processors.

There are four DIMM slots for up to 128GB of DDR5 memory, with support for speeds of 6000+ MHz (OC).

On the lower half of the board, you’ll find the latest PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, which comes with additional reinforcement on the slot, as well as the stunning white shrouds that surround it.

There’s quite a bit going on under all that armour too, with a finned heatsink covering the primary chipset, and a pre-installed add-on card for the WiFi 6E connectivity.

There are three M.2 slots here, with all three supporting 2242/2260/2280 M.2 drives, but the topmost slot is PCIe 5.0 ×4, the second down is PCIE 4.0 x4, and the bottom one is PCIe 4.0 x2, giving you plenty of flexibility for fast storage.

Removing the armour surrounding the CPU socket, you can see that the 16+2+1 Power Phase Design is pretty robust, with good quality 10K black capacitors used throughout its design, and premium quality chokes that should ensure a clean power delivery for any processor you choose to use.

The included heatsink is a single piece that bridges both the top and left of the socket, with four contact surfaces and thick thermal material ensuring the VRM hardware is all equally cooled by the heatsink.

All the other hardware is pretty modular, with a larger heatsink for the PCIe 5.0 slot, armour covers for the 4.0 slots, as well as some ventilation for the chipset area.