Biostar’s latest entry in the motherboard space has a household name in the X670E Valkryie. Valkyrie is his Biostar flagship, and unlike his partners on other boards, the company currently only offers this one board of his with the X670E chipset. On paper, the Valkyrie comes with just about everything you could be looking for in an X670E platform. You get multiple PCIe 5.0 slots, multiple M.2 sockets, a robust power delivery that supports any AM5 processor, and a high-quality audio codec. Strictly speaking about specs and features, it rivals all other similarly priced boards.
In terms of performance, the X670E Valkyrie also performed well, catching up with other tested boards in most of our tests. He was forced to run DDR5-4800 for testing instead of DDR5-5600, which he normally uses, so I was a little surprised by the overall performance. Unfortunately, our GSkill memory kit didn’t work in the XMP/EXPO settings, neither completed the full test suite nor worked during the stress test. The company provided an updated BIOS of his that worked on the kit after testing, but it didn’t fix all the issues with many of his DDR5 kits on the market today. The Valkyrie doesn’t make it onto the best motherboards list as memory compatibility is still a concern (previous reviews had similar issues), but it’s still capable at JEDEC memory speeds.
Valkyrie is generally well equipped, aside from memory limitations imposed by current BIOS. From two PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 sockets to 105A SPS MOSFETs, you’ve come to play with the big guys. No USB4 (40 Gbps) port and no Wi-Fi included. If you need these features, you can add expansion cards, but of course the board currently has a real price of $499.99 (although the MSRP is “about $400 USD”). While the memory speed was severely lacking in our tests, the performance compared to other boards was mostly even, with this board having the fastest results in some of our tests.
If you’re interested in platform differences between the B650E/B650 and X670E/X670, check out our X670 Motherboards Overview article. Before we get into all the details, here’s the complete list of specifications for the X670E Valkyrie, straight from Biostar.
Specifications: Biostar X670E Valkyrie
| socket | AM5 |
| chipset | X670E |
| form factor | ATX |
| voltage regulator | 22 phases (18x 105A SPS MOSFET for Vcore) |
| video port | (1) DisplayPort (v1.4) |
| row 5 – cell 0 | (1) HDMI (v2.1) |
| USB port | (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps) Type-C |
| row 7 – cell 0 | (9) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) |
| network jack | (1) 2.5GbE |
| audio jack | (5) Analog + SPDIF |
| Legacy Port/Jack | ✗ |
| Other Ports/Jacks | ✗ |
| PCIe x16 | (2) v5.0 (x16/x0, x8/x8) |
| Row 13 – Cell 0 | (1) v4.0 (x4) |
| PCIe x8 | ✗ |
| PCIe x4 | ✗ |
| PCIe x 1 | ✗ |
| Crossfire/SLI | ✗ |
| DIMM slots | (4) DDR5 6000+(OC), 128GB capacity |
| M.2 socket | (1) PCIe 5.0 x4 (128Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) |
| row 20 – cell 0 | (1) PCIe 5.0 x4 (128Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) |
| Row 21 – Cell 0 | (2) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) |
| U.2 port | ✗ |
| SATA port | (6) SATA3 6Gbps (supports RAID 0/1/10) |
| USB header | (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2×2, Type-C (20Gbps) |
| Row 25 – Cell 0 | (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) |
| Row 26 – Cell 0 | (2) USB v2.0 (480Mbps) |
| fan/pump header | (6) 4-pin (CPU, CPU water cooling system fan) |
| RGB header | (2) aRGB (3 pin) |
| Row 29 – Cell 0 | (1) RGB (4 pin) |
| diagnostic panel | (1) 2-digit debug LED |
| Internal button/switch | Power, reset, clear CMOS button, LN2 switch |
| SATA controller | ✗ |
| ethernet controller | (1) Intel I225-V |
| Wi-Fi/Bluetooth | ✗ |
| USB controller | ✗ |
| HD audio codec | Realtek ALC1220 |
| DDL/DTS | ✗ / ✗ |
| guarantee | 3 years |
Inside the box of the Biostar X670E Valkyrie
Valkyrie’s accessory stack includes just the basics and nothing extra. Below is a complete list of included accessories.
- (4) SATA cable
- driver disk
- user manual
- smart connector
Biostar X670E Valkyrie design
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The X670E Valkyrie uses a matte black 8-layer PCB design, with a black heatsink and shroud covering most of the board. The shroud above the IO bits has an RGB LED feature that shows the Valkyrie branding and some gold accent lines. Additional RGB is hidden under the chipset heatsink. Together, they give off a nice RGB glow that brightens the interior of the chassis. The Valkyrie looks great, but other boards in a similar price range give off a more premium feel with higher-end finishes.
Focusing on the top half of the board, we get a good look at the large VRM heatsink connected to the heatpipe and the Valkyrie branding on the IO cover. The VRM heatsink features wide mitered cutouts for increased surface area and performance. Spoiler alert: These do a great job of keeping the powerbits running well within spec. is needed.
Past the socket area are four hardened DDR5 DRAM slots with locking mechanisms on each side. The Biostar list supports up to DDR5-6000, but is relatively low as many other boards support up to DDR5-6400 and above. That said, the first configuration had many problems in that both memory kits could only run his stable JEDEC specs. This had no performance impact in most of our tests. Hopefully a BIOS update will alleviate the problem. For now, buying a set of sticks on their memory QVL list should be fine, but that’s a short list too.
Once past the DRAM slots, you’ll see the first three (out of six) 4-pin fan headers. All headers support PWM and DC controlled fans, with tuning done through his BIOS or Aurora software. The website and manual don’t mention the output, so it’s best to assume a minimum of 1A/12W. This is a low value compared to other boards confirmed with 2A/3A 24W/36W output. At least in some headers.
Move the right edge down to reveal three RGB headers. The top connector is 4-pin RGB and the bottom two are 3-pin ARGB. Control of these headers is also in the BIOS or Aurora software. Then you come across the power and reset buttons that light up the “P” for power and the “R” for reset. Below are the 24-pin ATX connector that powers the motherboard, the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) connector on the front panel, and the system fan header. Unlike many other boards in this generation, Valkyrie does not list support for high power/fast PD charging via the front header. To the left of the DRAM sockets and above the top PCIe slots are the BIOS switches.
The X670E Valkyrie’s VRM is more robust and capable than seen on the X670. Vcore has a total of 18 phases. Power is supplied to the Renesas RAA229628 controller through an 8-pin EPS connector. The power is then transferred to eighteen 105A Renesas RAA22010540 SPS MOSFETs. The 1,890A available in Vcore is enough to handle the flagship AMD Ryzen 9 7950X in stock and overclocked.
Moving to the bottom of the board, hidden under a metal shroud/heatsink on the left is a Realtek ALC1220 codec with some exclusive gold audio caps visible. Many boards close to this price offer the latest generation Realtek codecs (ALC4080/4082), so we’d love to see this for Valkyrie as well. That said, most users will find the latest generation flagship codecs to be sufficient for their audio needs.
In the middle of the board are three reinforced full-length PCIe slots mixed with four M.2 sockets in and around the same area. The top two slots feed lanes from the CPU and operate with PCIe x16/x0 or x8/x8. The bottom slot sources lanes from the chipset and runs at PCIe 4.0 x4.
For M.2 type storage, the top two sockets connected to the CPU are hidden between the first two PCIe slots. Both sockets support PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) speed, the top socket (M2M_CPU_1) supports up to 80mm modules and the second socket (M2M_CPU_2) supports drives up to 110mm. The last two M2 sockets (M2M_SB_1/_2) are connected via the chipset and both run at PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) and handle up to 80mm devices. RAID support is not mentioned for NVMe storage, but not for SATA ports (RAID0/1/10).
Continuing our journey to the far right of the board, we come across six SATA ports for traditional/slower storage needs. There is also an LN2 switch, a clear CMOS jumper, and a clear CMOS button here. At the bottom of the board are some additional exposed headers. Here you can find a typical selection of more USB ports, RGB headers and 4-pin fan headers. Below is the complete list from left to right.
- front panel audio
- (2) 4-pin system fan headers
- camport
- thunderbolt header
- (2) USB 2.0 headers
- USB 3.2 Gen 1 header
- Debug LED
- front panel
- speaker header
The rear IO on the X670E Valkyrie ships pre-installed on the motherboard. It features a black background with white labels on the ports for easy readability. There are a total of 10 USB ports. Nine 10 Gbps Type-A ports and one 20 Gbps Type-C port. Unfortunately there are no 40 Gbps ports. On the left are two video outputs (DisplayPort and HDMI) and a Smart BIOS update button. Note that the board does not come with Wi-Fi, although there is a Wi-Fi antenna connection above the USB port. You need to purchase it yourself and install it in the Key-E slot. On the right is a 5-plug analog and SPDIF audio stack and finally a 2.5 GbE port.
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