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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abufrejoval - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
It's amazing how quickly you run out of PCIe lanes, when you don't have switches to multiplex and translate between PCIe revisions and lanes (e.g. PCIe v4 x2 <-> PCIe v2 x8).I find myself using USB 3.x NBase-T NICs and NVMe adapters, simply because they *do* switch.
Bensam123 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Maybe a bit more depth on the power delivery page. I have absolutely no idea how to go about parsing what's there. More chokes is better? What denotes a power phase?A5 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
+1. Some analysis of that information would be helpful.MrSpadge - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
+1bunkle - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
The controller column includes the total number of phases supported split between CPU cores and SoC e.g. (6+1) = 6 CPU phase and 1 SoC phase. More is *usually* better but has diminishing returns regarding tighter and tighter voltage regulation. Some controllers are better than others (can operate at high frequency e.g. 500KHz v 1000KHz, include other features to improve performance) mitigating the need for more phases.Each phase is a buck converter comprised of a low/high side MOSFET (can be integrated in a single package) and choke. Some controllers can support doubling up the PWM signal to driver more MOSFETs. Doublers can also be added as discrete components if not built into the controller.
Current rating of the MOSFET (e.g. Sic639=40A IR3555=60A) indicates the total power deliverable. MOSFETs are not 100% efficient and vary in efficiency. The more current they provide the hotter they get and the less efficient they become, with better MOSFETs producing less heat for a given current. Thus using doubles can improve temperatures and efficiency without the benefits of the tighter voltage tolerance that *real* phases provide.
Hope that’s helpful!
bunkle - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
A lot more detailed explanation: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/voltage_regulator_mod...bug77 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
The description for AsRock X570(M) Pro4 says "5 jack + 1 SPDIF". Unfortunately, those boards lack SPDIF and only come with 3 jacks ;)Smell This - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
I'm thinking the *ASRock Thunderbolt AIC* ...https://thunderbolttechnology.net/product/asrock-t...
would cover all your TBT peripheral needs, including optical.
DanNeely - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Do X570 boards still need an extra chip per USB port to support USB-C reversibility?The additional expense and needed PCB space were cited as among the reasons why earlier generation boards (IIRC both Intel and AMD) almost never had more than 1 C port; but it was never clear to me if that was an inherent implementation penalty for the C port or an artifact of Intel's tech stack being stalled out and AMD outsourcing to ASMedia which built the chipsets on an ancient (55nm) platform.
DigitalFreak - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Gavin - X370 and X470 only supported PCIe 2.0. The connection between the CPU and chipset was 3.0, but all the ports on the chipset were 2.0.