The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact: A Sharp $430 Impulse on X570
by Gavin Bonshor on October 25, 2019 11:30 AM ESTBoard Features
The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact is one of two small form factor motherboards from ASUS and is the bigger of the pair with its slightly larger than normal PCB. Using the mini-DTX form factor allows ASUS to feature its ROG SO-DIMM.2 slot which allows users to install two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives with cooling support provided by the inclusive heatsink. Other storage options include four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. The Impact features an Intel I211-AT Gigabit ethernet controller and an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax wireless interface; this also offers users BT 5.0 connectivity. Onboard audio is handled by ASUS's familiar SupremeFX S1220 HD audio codec and also includes an ESS ES9023P DAC. This adds three 3.5 mm audio jacks which are illuminated, as well as a single S/PDIF optical output on the rear panel. The implementation of the onboard audio is interesting as it's on an add-on card which is plugged into the PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot just beneath the full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot.
ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact DTX Motherboard | |||
Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
Product Page | Link | ||
Price | $430 | ||
Size | mDTX | ||
CPU Interface | AM4 | ||
Chipset | AMD X570 | ||
Memory Slots (DDR4) | Two DDR4 Supporting 64 GB Dual Channel Up to DDR4-4800 DC UDIMM Support |
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Video Outputs | N/A | ||
Network Connectivity | Intel I211-AT 1 G Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax |
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Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220 ESS ES9023P DAC |
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PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 | ||
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | N/A | ||
Onboard SATA | Four, RAID 0/1/10 | ||
Onboard M.2 | 2 x PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA (SO-DIMM2) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 (Audio) |
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USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) | 5 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Rear Panel |
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USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 2 x Type-A Rear Panel 2 x Type-A Header 1 x Type-C Header |
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USB 2.0 | 1 x Type-A Header (2 x ports) | ||
Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 8pin CPU |
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Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x Water Pump (4-pin) 1 x System (4-pin) 2 x System (4-pin) SO-DIMM.2 |
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IO Panel | 5 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-C 2 x USB 3.1 G1 Type-A 1 x Network RJ45 (Intel) 3 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (SupremeFX) 1 x S/PDIF Output (SupremeFX) 2 x Intel AX200 Antenna Ports 1 x PS/2 Combo Port 1 x Clear CMOS Button 1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button 1 x Reset Button Q-Code LED Debug |
On the rear panel are five USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C port, and two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports. A further two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G1 Type-C, and two USB 2.0 ports can be added through the front panel headers. Clear CMOS, USB BIOS flashback and reset buttons are also located on the rear panel, and a two digit Q-Code LED debugger makes up the rest of the space. The memory support on the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact is very impressive with support for up to DDR4-4800 and the two slots allow for users to install up to 64 GB. The 32 GB UDIMMs can be used, as well as the double-height, double capacity DC memory is also supported.
Test Bed
As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
Test Setup | |||
Processor | AMD Ryzen 3700X, 65W, $329 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3.6 GHz (4.4 GHz Turbo) |
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Motherboard | ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact (BIOS 1001- ABBA) | ||
Cooling | ID Cooling Auraflow 240mm AIO | ||
Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU | ||
Memory | 2x8GB G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 16-16-16-36 2T | ||
Video Card | ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
Case | Open Benchtable BC1.1 (Silver) | ||
Operating System | Windows 10 1903 inc. Spectre/Meltdown Patches |
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
New Test Suite: Spectre and Meltdown Hardened
Since the start of our Z390 reviews, we are using an updated OS, updated drivers, and updated software. This is in line with our CPU testing updates, which includes Spectre and Meltdown patches. We are also running the testbed with the new Windows 10 1903 update for AMD's Ryzen 3000 series CPUs, and X570 motherboard reviews. The Windows 1903 update improves multi-core and multi-thread performance on AMD's Ryzen processors with topology awareness meaning previous issues in regards to latency have been known to affect performance. As users are recommended to keep their Windows 10 operating system updates, our performance data is reflected with the 1903 update.
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RavenRampkin - Sunday, October 27, 2019 - link
Yup, point below me. Little correction *:DPeachNCream - Tuesday, October 29, 2019 - link
Interesting that someone feels compelled to make up rules after the fact when they find an opinion disagreeable. It points to a shortcoming in the security of your own opposing viewpoint when you lash out to say, "Oh yeah? Well you aren't allowed to wear the fire helmet when we play pretend during preschool recess because you played with the police hat last recess." Please, reflect on your thoughts before you allow yourself to lay hands on a keyboard.just4U - Sunday, October 27, 2019 - link
I can't hear the fan on my Strix x570-E at all. The fact that it's hidden from view was a bit of a selling point for me as well. Not thrilled about having chipset fans again but the fans appear to be much better quality than the ones we used to see back when they were common.AshlayW - Monday, October 28, 2019 - link
Oh, please. Have you owned X570? Have you? If not then stop complaining about things you don't know about. Your complaint is completely pointless and it just seems you've hopped on the "complain about the fan" bandwagon.Go overpay for an EOL Z390 that doesn't even have gen4, instead.
PeachNCream - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
Typo in the Visual Inspection section, second paragraph, first line - "..SO-DIMM.2 slot abouve the main PCIe slot." - Word "above" has an extra letter in it.masteraleph - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
While I know you haven't reviewed it, the most direct competition to this board is Asus' own X570i Strix board (ITX), which is now appearing in the wild. It also has 2x m.2 slots, one on the back and one under the chipset heatsink. The audio isn't quite as ridiculous, but the power delivery and networking stuff is mostly the same. Would love to see a comparison of the two. The ASRock board is intriguing but lacks a second m.2 slot- while Thunderbolt is great and all, 2x m.2 slots are really nice in a SFF system.mrvco - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
I'm still unclear what you really get for an extra $140 with the Crosshair over the Strix x570-i (currently $259 on Newegg). Seems like an awful lot of money for upgraded audio with more limited SFF case options.inighthawki - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
On "System Performance" page at the end:"and the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact did well with a latency time of 128.2 ms. "
Just FYI i think you mean to write 128.2 us (not ms) to match the table being microseconds.
a5cent - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
I really wish Anandtech would start including the following in their motherboard reviews:- IOMMU groups
- SR-IOV support for the NIC and GPU (tested using AMD's MxGPU cards)
Dual booting every OS that needs the GPU (I have three, one for CAD, one for gaming and my main, which has Photoshop installed) is getting tiring.
I know AMD and nVidia consider SR-IOV based access to the GPU an enterprise feature, but it's about time to acknowledge that many enthusiasts could also make use of this.
Dug - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link
And performance for USB, the network, data, sound, and tb3 if it has it.It's like they want to ignore all the parts of a motherboard except some basic cpu benchmarks.