The AMD X570 Motherboard Overview: Over 35+ Motherboards Analyzed
by Gavin Bonshor on July 9, 2019 8:00 AM ESTASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula
The ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Formula represents its flagship X570 entry onto the market with some very notable features, including a revamped design with a strong focus on performance, and ROG themed aesthetics. First of all, the ROG Crosshair VIII Formula uses EKWB heatsinks which can be connected to a custom water cooling loop for better power delivery temperatures, or as passive cooled. This has been seen on numerous iterations of its Maximus Formula boards created for Intel chipsets. This marks a shifting tide where ASUS seem to have confidence in AMD and the ability of its 7nm Ryzen 3000 processors, by opting for such a premium model for the X570 chipset.
One of the main focal points of the X570 chipset is its native PCIe 4.0 support. The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula has three-full length PCIe 4.0 slots operating at x16, x8/x8, and x8/x8/x4, with the final x4 coming from the chipset. This allows users to use two-way NVIDIA SLI and two-way AMD Crossfire multi-graphics card configurations. For add-on cards, a single PCIe 4.0 x1 slot is also present. There are also four DDR4 memory slots with a maximum supported capacity of up to 128 GB. Also included are a LiveDash OLED screen, a full metal backplate for a more rigid frame, and ROG armor across the majority of the PCB; not to forget about the swathe of RGB LED zones and the integrated fan within the chipset heatsink. On the rear of the board is a metal backplate which adds reinforcement to keep the board's structure intact.
On the componentry, the Crosshair VIII Formula uses a premium controller set with the most notable inclusions coming on the networking side. An Aquantia AQC111 5 GbE controller with a secondary Intel I211AT gigabit chip offers users dual LAN, but more impressively, ASUS has jumped onto the Wi-Fi 6 bandwagon by including the new Intel AX200 2x2 Wi-Fi adapter. The onboard audio is controlled by the Realtek SupremeFX S1220 HD audio codec. On the rear panel is a wide array of connections including seven USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, and four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports. Users can add to this with one USB 3.1 G2, two USB 3.1 G1 and two USB 2.0 front panel headers, with the USB 3.1 G2 offering one additional port, and the rest each offering an additional two ports per header.
The ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Formula is a mixture of premium controllers, quality features, and classic Formula aesthetics due to the implementation of an EKWB water block to keep the power delivery cool. This not only adds extra weight to the board but also cost and that is represented with an MSRP of $700.
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DigitalFreak - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
I think the only advantage of using a 2000 series CPU with an X570 board will be PCIe 3.0/4.0 support. The X370/X470 only supported PCIe 2.0. In theory, the connection from the 2000 processor to the X570 chipset should run at PCIe 3.0 speeds.FreckledTrout - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
The x370 chipset and x470 both supported PCIe 3.0 with either a 1xxx or 2xxx Ryzen CPU. If you are not running a 3xxx CPU in the x570 board there isn't any major feature that should cause one to want to upgrade.DigitalFreak - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
@FreckledTrout - Yes and no. The interconnect between the CPU and the chipset is PCIe 3.0 on X370 / X470, but all the PCIe lanes that come off the chipset are 2.0. Running a 2000 series CPU in an X570 board would give you a PCIe 3.0 link between the CPU and the chipset, with either PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 lanes coming off the chipset (depends on if AMD drops everything to PCIe 3.0 with a 2000 series processor).extide - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
It looks like they still allow the chipset lanes to be 4.0. So you'd have 3.0 link to cpu, but 4.0 from chipset to devices.Targon - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
Since you have at least one or two PCI Express slots that are connected to the CPU, not chipset, that almost becomes a non-issue. On my Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero(X370), you have PCI Express 3.0 x16 for the first slot, or x8/x8. The third PCI Express x16 slot is a 2.0 I believe, which is still enough to get the job done for many devices. Even with the X570 board with a first or second generation Ryzen processor, the most you end up with is an extra 3.0 supporting slot. Note that many boards may have x16 slots, but they are x8 electrically, so you won't see the full bandwidth anyway in those slots.sorten - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Thanks Gavin! This is a great resource and is exactly what I needed to help build my new system.willis936 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
The return of the 40mm fan! Those are the most obnoxious components ever. No one has missed them in the past ten years.Kastriot - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Buy Asrock aqua and problem solved.FreckledTrout - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
I'm waiting for the next iteration of board for this reason. I'm speculating the next round the chipset will be on 7nm.abufrejoval - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
The genious about that chiplet design is that the chipset doesn't actually benefit nearly as much from the shrink, as pure logic or SLC caches: The monolithic guys pay the 7nm overhead (e.g. EUV) for I/O while the geometry of the transistors in the I/O area is mostly determined by the need to power long motherbord or even slot traces.So while waiting is never a bad idea when your need clearly isn't overwhelming you, waiting for that shrink could turn out rather long. These days I/O heave chips might never be done in smaller geometries, because of that and because packaging has matured.