The AMD X570 Motherboard Overview: Over 35+ Motherboards Analyzed
by Gavin Bonshor on July 9, 2019 8:00 AM ESTASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact
One of the biggest surprises during Computex as far as the announcement of the X570 went was the unveiling of the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact. Based on the uncommon mini-DTX form factor which is similar to mini-ITX, but with a slightly longer frame, allows ASUS to add an extra expansion slot onto the PCB without sacrificing too much on the overall size of the board. The ROG Crosshair VIII Impact is focused on performance but still offers gaming-focused features along with the rest of ROG/Strix X570 branded product stack.
Included on the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact is a SO-DIMM.2 slot for PCIe 4.0 M.2 drives, with enough space to spare to add a heatsink too. Featured is a full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot which is coated with ASUS Steelslot armor reinforcement. Also featured in addition to the dual PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots are four SATA ports. The same case with the memory as the Crosshair VIII Impact has two memory slots with support for up to 64 GB of DDR4 memory. The design itself follows a more subtle ROG theme with an-all black PCB, black heatsinks and a mesh rear panel cover which features three cooling fans to keep the X570 chipset cool within the rear panel cover. There are also multiple RGB LED lighting zones which users can customize via the ROG Aura Sync software.
Apologies about the blurry image, we will update when we receive a better one
The rear panel of the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact includes five USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, a single USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, and two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports. There are two antenna ports for the Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax wireless interface, while the single Ethernet port is powered by an Intel I211-AT Gigabit NIC. Also featured is a reset CMOS switch, an LED debug, and a BIOS Flashback button. On the networking side is an Intel I122-AT Gigabit powered Ethernet port, and also includes the new Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 enabled wireless interface which features support for BT 5 devices. A Realtek SupremeFX S1220 HD 8-channel audio codec offers three 3.5 mm audio jacks and is assisted by an ESS ES9023P HD DAC which is one of the better spec onboard audio setups on the X570 chipset.
ASUS looks to have put a lot of faith in AMD's new Ryzen 3000 series processors by reintroducing a series that held so much weight in the mini-ITX desktop space. The Crosshair VIII Impact isn't likely to be cheap, however, but as it stands, there is no current MSRP at time of writing.
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The_Assimilator - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
Nope, I really do need that many USB ports! In the past I've used various add-in cards and hubs to achieve this, but my experiences with these devices, and their drivers, and compatibility has been spotty at best, and they also take up space or PCIe slots - hence why I'd much prefer if it was all just integrated on the board.Just to be clear, I don't need 10 USB 3 ports - 8 USB 3 and a pair of 2.0 would be perfect. Considering almost all of these boards have a pair of USB 2.0 headers for 4 ports in total, but cases today don't offer more than a single USB 2.0 front-panel connector - plus that these boards' IO panels have plenty of extra room - I don't see why manufacturers can't drop one of those headers and just give us an extra two rear 2.0 ports as standard.
Qasar - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
why not pick up a usb header to slot plate adapter, im sure you have unused card openings on the back of your case under the video cardDanNeely - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
More ports on the back mean fewer available headers for internal connections. x570 has 12 total USB 3.x ports; so most boards maxing out at 8 on the back and 2 headers (2 ports/header) internal seems about right. Going higher means adding either USB3 controller chips (eats PCIe lanes but gives independent ports for greater total system throughput) or on board USB3 hubs; both of which drive up costs. With making the boards PCIe4 capable already driving up costs a lot the board makers are looking to economize elsewhere.shabby - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
I noticed the cheap asrock boards have 8 usb3 ports in the back.plonk420 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
THANK YOU SO MUCH for the VRM information! i don't even OC but i like to keep an eye on what VRMs boards are using... hopefully will help with longevity if i'm going to thrash either Vcore or SoC (keeping components like caps cooler)thomasg - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
In my opinion, all those boards are just silly.All they bring over the 2 years old X370 platform is PCIe 4.0 support, a bit more USB 3 Gen2 as well as often a second m.2 slot.
On the other hand, the southbridge fan is a ridiculous idea, especially consindering all the silly enormous heatsinks they mount to everything BUT the chipset.
And for that, they go for a premium of about 60% over X370 when it was fresh.
I paid 170 dollars for my PRIME X370-Pro day 1 (over 2 years ago), now the successor is 270 dollars.
The WS is the only board looking buyable, but then again, it also is actively cooled and doesn't even bring NBase-T.
I could forgive that, wouldn't they charge well above 300 dollars for it (while the other boards are close to MSRP in germany, the WS is already far below its MSPR).
Nope, thanks, I'm skipping X570.
Death666Angel - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
"I paid 170 dollars for my PRIME X370-Pro day 1 (over 2 years ago), now the successor is 270 dollars."Take that up with ASUS. I can get the X570 Phantom 4 from AsRock with (4x2) power stages (which means easier 3950X oc vs your x370 Pro) for 170€.
And for me, I'm starting to think that having 3 whole x4 slots (2 M.2, one x16) of 4.0 speeds is a nice addition versus the one 3.0 x4 M.2 and one 3.0 x2 or 2.0 x4 slot with another 2.0 x4 slot all the 4xx and 3xx mainboards offer. If I'm spending ~500€ anyway (32GB and 8 core), I might as well just spend another 170 on the mainboard vs 100 on a B450 (I need mATX, so only the MSI Mortar and AsRock Pro4 suite my needs).
And if you need Thunderbolt or over GbE speeds, these boards are the only way to go, frankly, since the 2.0 chipset lanes of the older chipsets are just terrible for this.
This doesn't satisfy your niche? Great, move along. That's the incredible thing about AMD supporting AM4 for this long. But no need to shit over a product that is pretty great overall, just because you don't need it's features.
thomasg - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
Indeed, it doesn't satisfy my niche, I'm just complaining about the new downsides of the new X570 platform, and specifically the available implementations.I'm not telling anyone not to get one, anyone who wants to take advantage of the extras is of course free to adopt the new boards.
I think I should be able to freely "shit over a product" as I wish without you having to take personal offense.
fearby - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Being in a hot climate I'd love to know what one has the best chipset cooling.gavbon - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
We are doing X570 chipset thermal analysis in our motherboard testing ;)