The AMD X570 Motherboard Overview: Over 35+ Motherboards Analyzed
by Gavin Bonshor on July 9, 2019 8:00 AM ESTASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero WIFI
Both the ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi and ROG Crosshair VIII Hero are both targeted at gamers with a strong balance between enthusiast, and gaming features. First of all, both models are identical with the exception of the Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 wireless adapter. The design follows the traditional ROG style with a similar ROG armor covering that the Crosshair VIII Formula does, but not as extensive. The chipset heatsink includes a fan to keep the X570 chipset running cool, and also includes plenty of customizable RGB with the Hero logo, and ROG logo.
Similar to the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula, the Crosshair VI Hero features dual PCIe 4.0 M.2 and also has three full-length PCIe 4.0 slots with x16, x8/x8, and x8/x8/x4; this allows for both two-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD Crossfire multi-graphics card setups to be used. A single PCIe 4.0 x1 slot is present and storage capabilities are provided by two PCIe 4.0 M.2, and eight SATA ports. This model also supports up to 128 GB of RAM across a total of four memory slots.
The newest inclusion for ASUS is the use of the Realtek RTL8125AG Dragon 2.5 GbE gaming LAN. Onboard audio is taken care of by a Realtek SupremeFX S1220 HD audio codec and as a result, adds five 3.5 mm audio jacks, and a single S/PDIF optical output on the rear panel. There are a whopping seven USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, as well as a single USB 3.1 G2 Type-C port on the rear panel. A single front panel USB 3.1 G2 port is also available for users to expand upon, with two USB 2.0 ports providing an additional four ports, and two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A headers for a total of four ports. Add more
The ROG Crosshair VIII Hero offers users a similar feature set to that of its current X570 flagship, the Crosshair VIII Formula, but without the OLED panel and water block with a more competitive MSRP of $380 for the Wi-Fi enabled version with an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax wireless interface. The non-Wifi variant is likely to be slightly cheaper, but no MSRP is currently available for this model.
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TheUnhandledException - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
Why on the last page would you label a section "3 or MORE M.2 Slots". I looked up all the boards in the section to find the one with four slots. All of the boards listed have exactly three m.2 slots. It isn't 3 or more m.2 slots. It is three m.2 slots.Sychonut - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
Great job Gavin!! This is impressive.umano - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
Can't wait for the new threadripper platformbinkleym - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
Given that several motherboards are having to remove features (RAID, graphical BIOS, user profiles) from the BIOS in order to fit the AGESA for Zen 2, it would be nice if motherboard reviews would start mentioning the size of the BIOS, so we can easily discern which motherboards are designed to be future-proof, and which ones are nickel'd and dime'd into early obsolescence.ballsystemlord - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
Spelling and grammar corrections (I did not read the descriptions of all the MBs):"...with that link consuming 4 dedicated anes from each chip."
Missing "l":
"...with that link consuming 4 dedicated lanes from each chip."
"Notably motherboard vendors have said that the upcoming 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X was the baseline for which the new VRM designs were validated against."
Missing comma:
"Notably, motherboard vendors have said that the upcoming 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X was the baseline for which the new VRM designs were validated against."
ballsystemlord - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
@Gavin Could you guys start adding a column of boards that have 6 or more PCI(e) slots, it seems that they've been getting fewer and fewer since M.2 came out?Thanks!
ballsystemlord - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
I mean total slots. Not any particular size.stux - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
In your “if you want thunderbolt 3” section, you really should mention the ASRock Creator. Otherwise the choices are water cooling specialist limited edition or ITX.peevee - Friday, July 12, 2019 - link
Why "DDR4 support" and "memory channels" are listed in the chipset table? These are CPU features, not chipset features.BerserkZodd - Saturday, July 13, 2019 - link
I ordered an X570 Steel Legend and a MP600 Gen4 PCIe M2 drive. My motherboard is still being shipped but it looks like the heatsink that goes over top of the M2 slots is one big piece, meaning my very expensive m2 drive wouldnt fit under that. Can anyone confirm if that is in fact one giant heat sink or does the M2 part come off separate.