Packaging and Accessories
When it comes to packaging styling, Asus has always been consistent. That is especially true with anything from the ROG line. The box for the Strix X870E-E Gaming Wifi of course has the red background and the red ROG logo up in the top left corner. Asus puts the model name across the front in a flashy reflective finish as well but my favorite part is that they use actual pictures of the board on the front. I don’t shop in retail often for PC parts, but who would want to not see what you are getting? In this case, though, you know Asus is proud of what they made and want to show it off. The rest of the background has the different ROG logos all lightly visible on the black part of the background. Then down at the bottom, they highlight that this board has Wifi 7, Dolby Atmos, and of course Asus’s Aura Sync lighting. Then in the bottom right corner, you have the AMD required branding which includes the chipset name and shows that this is an AMD Ryzen AM5 motherboard and that it is PCIe 5.0 ready. On the back, there are a lot more pictures including a full shot of the Strix X870E-E Gaming Wifi along with one that shows part of the back of the board as well. They also touch on a few features with four more pictures and have a picture of the rear I/O. Alongside that, you get a basic specification listing which most importantly does have the board dimensions along with important things to note if shopping in retail like the M.2 slots, memory support, and CPU supported.
When you open up the box, the Strix X870E-E Gaming Wifi comes wrapped in its static protective bag and it sits in a cardboard tray. It isn’t hidden behind any other cardboard inserts, however. Under that main tray, you will find two covered compartments and in the center a spot for the documentation and also an ROG keychain. For documentation, you get a full-color quick start guide that is specific to the Strix X870E-E Gaming Wifi. I hate that I have to say that, but a lot of boards come with a universal guide or sometimes one that covers a list of boards. You get a paper telling you about Asus Webstorage and then a foiled sticker sheet with a variety of ROG-themed stickers.
Premium boards like the Strix X870E-E Gaming Wifi stand out against the crowd when you start to get into the different accessories that they come with. Even the previously mentioned keychain isn’t something you would get with all boards. You get a few more things here than we saw on the TUF board but you do get the same wireless antenna. This design is used for all of the Asus boards and has a black plastic finish and a flip-out design. The base has rubber on it and a magnet inside that lets you stick it onto your case or desk if they are steel to get the antenna up and get the best possible signal. This design does have the new snap on connections versus the screw-on design that has been around forever and it’s a small detail but it does make installation a lot easier. What else do you get? There are a few small baggies, that have the M.2 rubbermounting pads and extra screws. There is a thermal pad for longer M.2 drives in its own bag, that one has a note explaining what it is and a picture showing where it goes which is nice. You get a bag of black zip ties which we don’t normally see with a motherboard but is a nice addition and a bag with two black SATA cables. The one thing that most people won’t know about however is the bag with the M.2 Q-Slides. These work with the slide railing on the M.2 1/2/3 slots and are a toolless way to install M.2 drives of any size where often a toolless design requires a tool to remove and move if you are using anything but the standard 2280 length M.2 drive.
