Design of the Motherboard, CPU, and Memory
The Colorful CVN B760I Frozen motherboard features a unique design that sets it apart from its competitors. The board has a multi-layer circuit board in white with black lines running vertically. The power delivery unit is cooled by a large heatsink that extends over the rear I/O interface. At the top of the board is a polygonal design (although it is actually flat) along with the slogan “Love what you play” and some additional military branding. (CVN is a classification for warships in the U.S. Navy).
There is a heatsink for the M.2 storage on the front, but it is the smallest among direct competitors. All connectors are black, which pairs nicely with the white base of the board. RGB lighting enthusiasts will have to add their own lighting, but with only one 3-pin ARGB lighting connector, there is limited flexibility unless lighting devices are daisy-chained. However, if black is not your preference, the CVN B760I Frozen motherboard will look great as a centerpiece in your PC build.
The motherboard supports Intel processors from the 12th, 13th, and 14th generations, with an 8-phase power design that uses seven robust 110A MOSFETs dedicated to Vcore. The total available power is 770A, which is not a large number, but it handles the Core i9-14900K effortlessly during testing and gaming. The VRM heatsinks do a good job of maintaining power delivery within specifications, even under continuous heavy loads. It’s worth noting that the power delivery unit is cooled by a small fan, and the good news is that it cannot be heard over our system fan. While you cannot overclock the CPU on this platform (there are exceptions, like boards with BCLK generators), you can overclock the memory.
The memory supports ultra-fast DDR5-8000+ (OC) speeds, which is above average for this Intel platform. The capacity using non-dual rank kits (24GB and 48GB sticks) goes up to 96GB, which is enough for most users except the heaviest power users. The speed of 8000MHz matches the fastest comparable B760 platform and even some Z790 ITX motherboards.
If you are determined to squeeze out an extra percentage or two in performance by overclocking the memory, you can do so. Although Colorful’s BIOS doesn’t have the flashy look of offerings from other motherboard partners, it provides many options for system tuning, including memory voltage and primary, secondary, and tertiary timings. Both our DDR5-5600 and DDR5-7200 memory kits worked well through internal profile adjustment (XMP for one kit, EXPO for the other), although our DDR5-8000 kit from Klevv – which was not on the compatibility list – did not perform well.
Design of the Motherboard, CPU, and Memory
Starting from the top left corner, we find the 8-pin EPS connector for powering the CPU. The VRM heatsinks and the small fan hidden beneath them adequately cool the power delivery units feeding the processor. The next connector is the only RGB lighting connector, which is a 3-pin ARGB connector as mentioned earlier. You can control the connected lighting through the iGame software, which provides several preset lighting modes as well as the ability to adjust the speed, brightness, and color of each lighting system.
In
the upper part of the socket, there are two DRAM memory slots without a locking mechanism at the top. Again, Colorful specifies support for up to 96 GB (two 48 GB sticks) of DDR5-8000. If you need more than 96 GB, you will need to find a board with four memory slots – any Mini-ITX board!
On the right edge, there is a 24-pin ATX power connector to connect power to the board, along with USB 2.0 and 3.2 Gen 1 connectors for the front panel, four vertically mounted SATA 3 (6Gbps) ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) port for the front panel, and finally the front panel connector. The board lacks the usual diagnostic lights that help you find an issue during the POST process. On the bottom edge of the board is the fully exposed Realtek ALC897 audio chip, along with some audio capacitors and the front panel connector. This is a basic 5.1 channel audio chip, but most users should find it acceptable.
Expansion, Storage, and Rear I/O Interface
Our review segment on expansion slots will be brief: there is only one slot, which is a full-sized PCI Express 5.0 x16 slot that connects directly to the processor. Like other ITX boards in this category, the slot does not share lanes or divide with anything else, as is common in motherboards with more slots, sockets, and ports.
Above the PCIe slot under a small heatsink are the first two M.2 connectors. The connector on the front side of the board connects to the processor and supports devices up to 80 mm in size at speeds up to PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps); the second connector on the back side of the board connects via the chip and supports PCIe modules sized at 80 mm. Four vertically mounted SATA ports (capable of RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10) complete the storage options, but if you want to set up RAID for the M.2 connectors, you’re out of luck.
The rear I/O interface has a pre-installed silver shield with black port labels, some openings to help ventilate warm air from the VRM, and a CVN branding with an image of a naval ship in yellow. There isn’t much else here, with only seven USB ports – four USB 2.0 (480Mbps), two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type A, and one USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type C. Most users should be fine with this configuration, but remember that the fastest port is the 10Gbps USB-C connector on the front panel. Other motherboards in this category have at least two 10Gbps ports on the rear I/O interface.
Video output is managed using the integrated graphics of the processor via DisplayPort and HDMI ports, while audio consists of three analog ports (microphone, line in/out). A 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port from Realtek and background Wi-Fi 6 connections complete the setup, with a convenient CMOS clear button on the far left. A quick look at the BIOS and tools
A Quick Look at BIOS and Tools
The Colorful BIOS features a unique appearance compared to the other motherboards we have reviewed. Its black and red design with white text is easy to read, but it lacks the slick look of the software interfaces from other motherboard manufacturers like Asus, MSI, ASRock, and Gigabyte. Despite this simple reservation, the Easy Mode in the BIOS functions like its competitors, sharing high-level system information including temperature (CPU and motherboard), voltage, memory and storage status, and fan speeds. There is even an EZ OC section for one-touch performance boosts or power savings, enabling XMP profiles, or setting up RAID for storage.
It has
The advanced menu at the top (OC, Advanced, BIOS Settings, Boot, and Exit) is displayed in boxes for easy selection. On the left, there is system information including the processor, memory, and voltage, with selectable sub-sections in the center and various options on the right. It’s an easy-to-use layout, even if it appears simpler than most.
The OC section displayed below shows frequency, memory, and voltage settings with detailed options on the right. It offers plenty of options for memory overclocking, but with a locked chip, overclocking is limited to memory speeds. The B760I Frozen board has all the memory tuning options you need to get the most out of any kit you use.
The Advanced section is where you can find configuration settings for the chip and power. This includes the usual array of settings to adjust the CPU, SATA, USB, Super I/O, NVMe, CSM, and more, including a hardware monitoring section where you can configure fan speeds.
The last BIOS screen we captured is for updating and saving the BIOS; in the picture, our USB drive and the latest BIOS file from the motherboard manufacturer’s Colorful website are found. The boot section (not shown) is self-explanatory, as it provides options for boot order and enabling boot from a specific storage drive. The Exit option retains and retrieves BIOS profiles.
Although Colorful’s BIOS may not win any design awards and is more functional than aesthetic, it is easy to navigate and contains all the options you need to control and tweak your computer.
A Quick Look at BIOS and Software
For Windows-specific software for the motherboard, Colorful’s iGame application covers hardware monitoring, RGB lighting control, system tweaking, and more. It starts as an information hub in the “My Device” section, displaying connected devices, temperatures, and status on a black background with red highlights. It resembles a BIOS theme but is much more advanced.
In the hardware section, the first option (clicking the chassis icon) controls RGB lighting. The iGame software offers several modes in addition to frequency, brightness, and color control for each lighting system. The application manages RGB memory and graphics cards without any issues.
Selecting the graphics card or motherboard icon allows you to tweak those devices. For the graphics card, you can adjust core and memory clocks, voltage, power limits, and thermal limits – everything you need. There are also voltage and core multiplier options for the processor, among other things, but since this board uses a B760 chip, boosting the base core clock multiplier is not possible.
The monitoring section is the most ideal for the on-screen configuration menu. The summary version displays frame rates and relevant CPU and graphics information. It’s a nice valuable addition if you’re into monitoring your system, which is typically provided by third-party software like MSI Afterburner.
Overall, we like what the iGame software has to offer. It looks good, works effectively, and is user-friendly without being clunky or annoying.
Conclusion: A few too few USB ports, but a generally viable option
Although the motherboard market offers many attractive options from the big four (Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte, and MSI), it’s always good to see another option, especially when it’s a product worth considering. The Colorful CVN B760I Frozen Wi-Fi D5 V20 motherboard is one of these boards, though it is a bit pricey at $249.99 (the DDR4 version is $20 cheaper). You get native support for the 14th generation, M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 slots, and four SATA ports, Wi-Fi 6 and 2.5 Gigabit networking, strong power delivery, and overall decent performance with a unique tri-color appearance that blends well with most builds.
And with
The competition among B760 Mini-ITX motherboards is fierce. The Asus ROG Strix B760-I Gaming Wi-Fi ($198.99) offers a premium look and the best audio solution in the group, while the MSI MPG B760I Edge Wi-Fi ($217.99) provides a similar contrasting appearance and a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps) Type-C port (as with the other alternatives here). The Gigabyte B760I Aorus Pro ($209.99) delivers a luxurious impression and is the only option with integrated RGB lighting. (ASRock sells a Mini-ITX B760 board, but its price point is much lower, and its features – M.2 socket and 1Gbps Ethernet – do not compare well).
However, if you can live with only seven USB ports on the back and no USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 at 20Gbps, Colorful is a brand worth considering, although the CVN B760I Frozen board would look better at a price closer to $200.
Source: https://me.pcmag.com/en/motherboards/21232/colorful-cvn-b760i-frozen-wi-fi-d5-v20
Leave a Reply