{"id":1243299,"date":"2026-02-28T02:42:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fy8dbRbHLA28UJxPWxPppM"},"modified":"2026-02-28T02:42:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:42:05","slug":"nzxt-n9-x870e-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/nzxt-n9-x870e-review\/","title":{"rendered":"NZXT N9 X870E review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Like a number of manufacturers, NZXT opted to put its weight behind Intel with last year\u2019s new processor and chipset launches. Even though it\u2019s very late to the party and only just launching a trio of new motherboards co-designed with ASRock, it still went with two LGA1851 motherboards and just a single AM5 board, in the form of the N9 X870E that we\u2019re looking at today.<\/p>\n

That might seem illogical given AMD has long been seen as the better option with Intel\u2019s Arrow Lake CPUs not faring well, at least so far. Sales for the latter pale compared to AMD\u2019s hardware, especially when it comes to pairing up 3D V-Cache CPUs. It\u2019s a shame then we don\u2019t have an AMD B850 chipset option with AMD this time around, but instead a monstrous $500 X870E model.<\/p>\n

Despite a similar price to the N9 Z890 option, this one doesn\u2019t appear to be quite as lavish in terms of aesthetics, lacking the extensive RGB lighting that flows across the M.2 heatsinks. This is partly due to the X870E board having two chipsets that need cooling so is more of a case of function over form. If I were to pick, I\u2019d still chose the N9 Z890, though, just as it\u2019s more of a head turner, but there\u2019s still an impressive array of features.<\/p>\n

If you want to use multiple M.2 SSDs then the N9 X870E has four in total with one of those supporting up to PCIe 5.0 SSDs and includes underside cooling too\u2014something the N9 Z890 does not, although it had a larger heatsink. There\u2019s enough bandwidth available for all slots and ports to be occupied with no devices needing to share bandwidth, which is one of the perks you expect spending more on X807E.<\/p>\n

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NZXT N9 X870E specs<\/div>\n
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Socket:<\/strong> AMD Socket AM5
Chipset<\/strong>: AMD X870E
CPU compatibility:<\/strong> AMD Ryzen 7000\/8000\/9000 desktop
Form factor<\/strong>: ATX
Memory support:<\/strong> DDR5-4800 to DDR5-8200+(OC), up to 256 GB
Storage:<\/strong> 4x M.2, 4x SATA
USB (rear)<\/strong>: 2x USB4 Type-C 40 Gbps, 5 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A 10 Gbps, 3x USB 3.0 Type-A 5 Gbps, 2 x USB 2.0
Display:<\/strong> 2 x USB\/DisplayPort, 1x HDMI
Networking:<\/strong> Realtek 5G LAN, Wi-Fi 7
Audio:<\/strong> Realtek ALC4080
Price:<\/strong> $500<\/a> | \u00a3410<\/a> | AU$848<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

There are three more M.2 ports lower down with a single large heatsink cooling them. Here the heatsink is tool-free unlike the top one that will need a screwdriver, but these ports lack underside SSD cooling. This shouldn\u2019t be an issue with cooler-running PCIe 4.0 SSDs though. There\u2019s Wi-Fi 7, 5G LAN and Realtek ALC4080 audio and the rear panel offers two USB4 Type-C ports too, so that\u2019s the modern technology boxes ticked. If you still have older SATA devices you want to add to your new system then there are four SATA ports here too and these are angled to improve cable tidying.<\/p>\n

There are lots of shrouds on the PCB that neatly surround features such as power and reset buttons and the various ports so there\u2019s a minimum of ugly PCB visible. This means the black version is especially stealthy-looking, but the white version still has a black PCB and components such as ports and memory slots, so Gigabyte does a better job here<\/a> if you\u2019re looking for a motherboard that\u2019s as white as possible.<\/p>\n

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Being NZXT, cooling is tweaked mostly using its freely available CAM software, with the EFI remaining basic with no modern graphical interface for playing with fan curves. This does make adjusting your PC\u2019s fans and lighting simple, but one issue we did have is the pair of VRM fans hidden under the large heatsink over the I\/O panel cooling the 20+2+1 phase power delivery. These are linked to the CPU temperature, not the VRMs and the latter take much longer to warm up.<\/p>\n

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As a result, the tiny VRM fans are often noisy under medium to heavy CPU loads. Thankfully the software allows you to tune these down to acceptable levels, but as there\u2019s no VRM temperature reading, you\u2019re left guessing somewhat. HWiNFO revealed an auxiliary temperature that matched a reading for the VRMs in the EFI, so we went with that for our results, but again the VRMs fans aren\u2019t linked to this as standard which is odd.<\/p>\n

The rear panel has a generous amount of USB ports with 10 Type-A in total with half of these being USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A 10 Gbps, in addition to the two Type-C USB4 ports. You also get CMOS Clear and USB BIOS Flashback here too, while the small holes in the I\/O shield allow ventilation through to the small fans. Speaking of fans, as well as normal fan headers, there are 8-pin NZXT connectors too, that support its RGB accessories. There are adaptors in the box that convert these to standard fan headers and NZXT 4-pin RGB connectors, though.<\/p>\n