The ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming Motherboard Review
by Gavin Bonshor on January 25, 2021 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- Asus
- ROG
- AM4
- Ryzen 3000
- X570
- Strix X570-E
- Ryzen 5000
- X570-E Gaming
Power Delivery Thermal Analysis
One of the most requested elements of our motherboard reviews revolves around the power delivery and its componentry. Aside from the quality of the components and its capability for overclocking to push out higher clock speeds which in turn improves performance, is the thermal capability of the cooling solutions implemented by manufacturers. While almost always fine for users running processors at default settings, the cooling capability of the VRMs isn't something that users should worry too much about, but for those looking to squeeze out extra performance from the CPU via overclocking, this puts extra pressure on the power delivery and in turn, generates extra heat. This is why more premium models often include heatsinks on its models with better cooling designs, heftier chunks of metal, and in some cases, even with water blocks.
The 16-phase (12+4) power delivery operating at 6+2 on the ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming
Testing Methodology
Out method of testing out if the power delivery and its heatsink are effective at dissipating heat, is by running an intensely heavy CPU workload for a prolonged method of time. We apply an overclock which is deemed safe and at the maximum that the silicon on our AMD Ryzen 7 3700X processor allows. We then run the Prime95 with AVX2 enabled under a torture test for an hour at the maximum stable overclock we can which puts insane pressure on the processor. We collect our data via three different methods which include the following:
- Taking a thermal image from a birds-eye view after an hour with a Flir Pro thermal imaging camera
- Securing two probes on to the rear of the PCB, right underneath CPU VCore section of the power delivery for better parity in case the first probe reports a faulty reading
- Taking a reading of the VRM temperature from the sensor reading within the HWInfo monitoring application
The reason for using three different methods is that some sensors can read inaccurate temperatures, which can give very erratic results for users looking to gauge whether an overclock is too much pressure for the power delivery handle. With using a probe on the rear, it can also show the efficiency of the power stages and heatsinks as a wide margin between the probe and sensor temperature can show that the heatsink is dissipating heat and that the design is working, or that the internal sensor is massively wrong. To ensure our probe was accurate before testing, I binned 10 and selected the most accurate (within 1c of the actual temperature) for better parity in our testing.
For thermal image, we use a Flir One camera as it gives a good indication of where the heat is generated around the socket area, as some designs use different configurations and an evenly spread power delivery with good components will usually generate less heat. Manufacturers who use inefficient heatsinks and cheap out on power delivery components should run hotter than those who have invested. Of course, a $700 flagship motherboard is likely to outperform a cheaper $100 model under the same testing conditions, but it is still worth testing to see which vendors are doing things correctly.
Thermal Analysis Results
We measured 47.2°C on the hottest part of the CPU socket during our testing
The ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming is using a strong looking 16-phase power delivery in a 12+4 configuration. It is using twelve International Rectifier IR3555 60 A power stages for the CPU and four IR3555 for the SoC. The board uses an ASUS specific ASP1405 PWM controller operating at 6+2, with two power stages per channel. ASUS is using teamed power stages for better transient response and lower latencies for higher bursts of power. Keeping the power delivery cool is a dual heatsink array which is interconnected by a single heatpipe.
Looking at our AM4 thermal VRM results, the X570-E Gaming performs very well and is on par with some of the best performers that have been tested so far. This is partly due to the efficient design with teamed power stages which we've seen perform well from them in the past, but the other element is the mass of the two heatsinks. Combining the two components, we measured a temperature of 52 degrees celsius from our K-Type thermocouple.
ASUS has neglected to utilize an integrated thermal sensor on all but its top tier AM4 models which is disappointing. With our thermal imaging camera, we saw a maximum temperature of 47.2 degrees Celcius which backs up our results. Compared against other AM4 models, the ASUS performs as well as its B550-F Gaming, and better than ASRock's B550 Taichi. It's a positive result for ASUS in an area they have over-engineered for better thermal performance and efficiency.
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du_bucha - Monday, January 25, 2021 - link
I have this board, they just forgot to tell that there is a bunch of bios upgrades in asus website that is causing a lot of errors in people systems, so it is a good thing check the asus forum first to see which ones are the stable bios before rushing into the last one ( using ver 3001 here but there is a 3402 beta already for download in asus website).Another thing that bothers me in this mb is the fact that it doesn't have a bios reset button for use when overclocking or fine tunning the memory. You only have an ancient jumper pin and terribly located in the bottom part of the motherboard.
The chipset sits right under the video card and suck all the hot air from it. My chipset temperatures was around 68ºC in idle with a GTX1060. Since I don't use the computer for gamming, I changed the GTX1060 to the second slot and changed the thermal pad too, and now chipset temp is around 62ºC.
These are the negative points I found in this board that was not mentioned in the review.
Beaver M. - Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - link
All new mainboards have issues with crappy firmware. But its starting to get ridiculous with X570 and B550 ones. They sure as hell arent new anymore. Only the Zen 3 CPUs are, and they have been released for a long time as well.Yet nothing seems to change or improve.
I am seriously rethinking of buying an AMD because of that and because of the WHEA issues (not to mention the still not fixed X570 IO issues.
Guess people (and me) were right still recommending Intel simply because they are far more stable.
Qasar - Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - link
news for you, myself, and some others i work with, have had issues with intel as well. be it bios updates or drivers. to claim intel is more stable, is also false.EG, i have 2 X99 boards, after a re install of win 10, for some reason, 6 of the 10 sata ports would not work after installing the latest drivers from the board maker AND intel's site, exclamation point in device manager. went back to both pages and tried a few of the driver revisions on both, i started to search for drivers. finally found ones that fixed the issue. this driver version was not available on either site.
i have this board, and it has been great for a year now. even with an issue with the SB Z sound card i have, and a bios update that cause it to reboot on its own from time to time, i would still get this board again. bottom line i have had issues with BOTH AMD AND Intel. and would get either or, depending in which has the performance and features i want for a price i am willing to pay. this round, its been amd, and have replaced 3 of 6 comps with amd and ryzen 3000 cpus that were intel.
Beaver M. - Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - link
So youre comparing ancient boards with new ones?Ok.
You know, my one Z170 board also has lots of issues. But they started over time, because........ its degrading after 5+ years.
The issues with AMD are filling reddit and other forums. Thats a fact. And its not issues that are because of rare hardware failures that are normal, its because of bugs in software AND hardware design that can be reproduced rather often. In comparison, when the first Skylake had the "768 FFT bug", or the Z87 bug, it wasnt nearly as huge of a problem as the AMD fanboys made it out to be. Plus they were fixed quickly.
The issues with AMD right now are vast, critical and numerous and some of them have been there for quite a long time (some even since Zen 2). And all you hear are crickets.
If Intel had those issues, the cries of havoc would be so shrill and loud that even your rose colored glasses would burst into tiny shards. And very justified so.
But this "users keeping silent/uncritical about serious issues" phenomenon has always been a part of AMD. Even 20 years ago. I fell for it several times myself.
Qasar - Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - link
yes, as while that issue with the sata ports were recent, when i picked up my x99 board new 5 years ago, i had issues then as well.the funny part, is EACH person has their own experience with either side. myself, i have had issues with BOTH. it hasnt been just amd, or just intel over the years.
" it wasnt nearly as huge of a problem as the AMD fanboys made it out to be " the SAME can be said about the intel fanboys with amd, whats your point ?
while you kind of accuse me of rose colored glasses, the same can be said for the other side as well, again whats your point ?
if intel does it, its just fine, and ok, but if AMD does it, its a federal offense.
Spunjji - Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - link
They managed to squeeze so much projection, prognostication and ventriloquism into a few tight little posts. It's an exceptional demonstration in partisan rhetoric married to denial.Qasar - Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - link
i didnt know that saying either side has had,and has, its issues was considered to be a demonstration in partisan rhetoric married to denial.Spunjji - Wednesday, January 27, 2021 - link
@Qasar - I was talking about Beaver M., not you. I agree entirely with you here. 👍Spunjji - Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - link
I'm impressed by the way you made a claim about forums, threw in the declarative "Thats a fact" (it wasn't, it's hyperbole) and then followed with another statement that *definitely* isn't a fact - it's clearly just your opinion. Very self-confident; Dunning and Kruger offer a salute.I also appreciated your completely un-self-aware commentary on how other people have "rose tinted glasses", even as you assume the truth of your casual dismissal of specific Intel issues. To make it extra funny from an outside perspective, you hype up a few other AMD issues you just didn't quite get around to specifically naming.
Whatever this bit you're doing is, it's very good!
Spunjji - Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - link
Cautiously-worded partisan FUD is still partisan FUD. You jumped from someone's specific anecdotal critique to a generalised one, then used that to bolster an unrelated conclusion.I Googled the WHEA issues, and it leads to two types of post:
1) People gathering data on the issue and noting that it doesn't do any harm in and of itself, and is often fairly trivially solved.
2) A bunch of similar posts on forums (some from the same users) that look like this: "My (fairly recent) high-spec Intel system was a saint that never crashed, and now my brand-new high-spec AMD system crashes aLl ThE tImE and this is definitely AMD's fault. /ragequit"
It's possible there's a selection bias here - and I might be missing a serious issue. I just don't really buy the way you introduced these topics.