The AMD X570 Motherboard Overview: Over 35+ Motherboards Analyzed
by Gavin Bonshor on July 9, 2019 8:00 AM ESTASUS ROG Strix X570-F Gaming
The ASUS ROG Strix X570-F Gaming is the slightly feature slimming ATX sibling of the ROG Strix X570-E Gaming with a very similar aesthetic shared between both models, with fewer premium components and is representative of the mid-range segment of its X570 product stack. The most notable features of the Strix X570-F Gaming include two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, eight SATA ports, and an HDMI 2.0b video output on the rear panel. On the design, ASUS has gone with a gaming-inspired which theme of black and grey, with ARGB LEDs implemented into the rear panel cover for a bit of extra flair. The actively cooled X570 chipset heatsink also includes a graffiti-inspired design which fits in with the rest of the board's theme.
On the PCB of the ASUS ROG Strix X570-F Gaming is three full-length PCIe 4.0 ports which are configured to run at x16, x8/x8, and x8/x8/x4. This allows users to run up to two-way NVIDIA SLI and three-way AMD CrossFire multi-graphics card setups. Storage capabilities onboard include two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots with a pair of M.2 heatsinks which the PCIe 4.0 x4 SSDs are certainly going to appreciate. The board also includes eight SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. The ASUS ROG Strix X570-F also has four memory slots with the capabilities to run up to 128 GB. Memory support isn't known at present, but more information should be available when this model launches, sometime after 7/7.
The ASUS ROG Strix X570-F uses a single Ethernet port controlled by an Intel I1211-AT Gigabit NIC, while the five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output are driven by a SupremeFX S1220 HD audio codec. Looking at rear panel USB, there's three USB 3.1 G2Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, and four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports. Also present on the rear panel is a pair of video outputs consisting of a DisplayPort and HDMI 2.0b, with a USB BIOS Flashback button that uses a dedicated USB Type-A port which is clearly highlighted on the IO shield.
Similar to the ASUS ROG X570-E Gaming in terms of stylings, the ROG X570-F Gaming drops some key features to offer users looking for the Strix style, but without the larger hit to the wallet. While a few of ASUS's X570 models are doubled up with Wi-Fi enabled and those without, the Strix-X570-F keeps the core layout, but without the cost-laden features such as Wi-Fi 6, and a 2.5 G NIC. The ASUS ROG Strix X570-F Gaming is almost certainly going to cost less than its better equipped X570-E Gaming sibling, but we currently don't have an MSRP at the time of writing, and this model won't be available at launch.
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sorten - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Good advice, and you get lower system power consumption as a bonus. The main reason to go with the more expensive x570 boards is PCIE 4.0, and you're not going to get that if you switch to Intel.Ratman6161 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Asrock has the x570 pro 4 listed on their web site with an MSRP of $154.00 I've used their Pro X boards in a number of builds and always had good results with them. They don't seem to be available at retail yet (at least anywhere I've seen) . On the other hand, I'm not one of those to go out and buy any product on the first day. Street prices on both motherboards and CPU's are likely to drop quickly and...even if I go out and buy a new CPU, I don't have anything else that could take advantage of the x570 chipset for the time being, so my x470 is probably good to go for quite some time to come anyway.Gastec - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
Ryzen 3000 series CPU prices are going to be over MSRP for at least 3 months.Targon - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
I don't know where you live, but here in the USA, the CPUs are all at the official prices, unless you go to a third party seller who is trying to scam money out of people. Note that many online stores show products from third parties in addition to what they sell themselves, so when you see CPU prices above MSRP, those are the third party scammers.Newegg is getting daily deliveries by the look of it, and I expect the other large online sources are as well. The sales volumes are high on these chips, and some people just take advantage of it and charge more money.
Gastec - Saturday, July 13, 2019 - link
On Amazon.es and PCComponentes.com the EXACT SAME price, set up by bots:AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, 548,90€
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X: 361,80 €
eva02langley - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
The only reason to buy x570 is for PCIe 4.0. If you don't need it, get a B450 board at 75$ Will work for every Ryzen 3000 CPUs.I am even thinking about using my X370 MSI Gaming Pro Carbon for my 3950x.
abufrejoval - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Unless you happen to have an older Ryzen or Carrizo lying around, there could be a problem to get older boards with an up-to-date BIOS.Had similar issues a year ago when RAM was so expensive, I had to recycle DDR3 for Kaby Lake CPUs using Z170 motherboards that only has Skylake support. Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge and Haswell CPUs I had galore, but Skylake only as notebooks. I wound up buying a Sky Lake i3, which I then returned for a full refund after I had updated the motherboards.
Didn't feel good about it, wasn't given a choice either.
These days some dealers offer a BIOS upgrade service, but at €40 it pretty much eats the 3. + 4. generation benefit.
I want 10Gbase-T or rather NBase-T. Currently that means mostly Aquantia 107, of which I have 4 already. Those are €88 a piece, but when I look at these x570 prices, they charge a 300% premium for what's essentially a low-cost chip.
And then I hear rumors, that there is actually 10Gbit Ethernet or in fact 100Gbit Ethernet already on-die, both in the CPU chiplet and the x570 chipset variant: For IF Ethernet is simply another protocol to run on the fabric and all you need is PHY.
It is rather unfortunate that sane CPU prices, sane SSDs and sane RAM only mean that motherboard vendors are hoping to cash in big-time.
I can see how they would be hungry. But I don't have 'waste money' around to feed them.
The_Assimilator - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
Asus boards have a "BIOS flashback" feature whereby if you plug in a flash drive with a new BIOS to a specific USB port and press a button on the IO panel, the board will auto-flash itself with that BIOS - no CPU is needed, just power to the board.Targon - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
Almost all MSI motherboards have BIOS flashback, and the Asus ROG Crosshair series also has BIOS flashback where you don't need a CPU or RAM in order to flash the BIOS. Most Asus motherboards do NOT have BIOS flashback capability.DanNeely - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
when they get PCI4 support Intel's boards will be equally more expensive than the previous generation. Maintaining that high frequency a signal across more than a cm or 2 requires building boards to a much higher and more expensive standard or active signal booster chips along the path.PCIe 5 will be far worse on that front. Estimates I saw earlier this year were that PCIe4 would add as much as $100 to the price of a board; with the cheapest x570 boards being almost $100 more than the cheapest x470's on Newegg and the average (excluding the crazy halo ones) looking like it's at least $50 higher that doesn't seem too far off. That article (ee times asia???) was predicting that PCIe5 could end up adding as much as $400 above the cost of a 3.0 capable board; which if true probably means it will end up server only or with only a narrow strip between the CPU and chipset build up to that standard. (Assuming the latter possible anyway: If the cost challenge is more preventing external interference than in needing higher quality materials a local board segment fudge might not be feasible.)