ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII with AMD X570 chipset

Also ASUS presented at the Taipei Computex its own range of motherboards based on AMD X570 chipset, designed for the combination with Ryzen processors of the 3000 series that will debut on the market starting next 7 July. The Crosshair range that the one that historically identifies the proposals for top-of-the-range AMD CPUs: for the new family, we find 3 well-differentiated models in terms of technical characteristics.

Crosshair VIII Formula is the summit proposal, equipped with 3 PCI Express 16x mechanical slots flanked by one of 1x type. The form factor used is the traditional ATX one, with a massive cooling system installed on the power-supply circuit around the CPU socket. This system, developed in collaboration with EK Water Blocks, can be cascaded inside a liquid cooling kit, thus ensuring an even more effective thermal dissipation of the 16-phase power supply circuitry.

In the plate that collects the I / O ports, there is a 1.3 inch OLED screen, which shows information on the system’s operating characteristics such as the CPU clock frequency or the POST codes. The onboard equipment is completed by the 802.11ax WiFi network card, two ethernet network connectors (Intel 1Gbit and Aquantia 5Gbit), remarkable options for connectivity via USB ports, 2 M.2 ports with 4x PCI Express connection and SupremeFX S1220 audio subsystem.

For the Crosshair VII Hero (Wi-Fi) card, we find very similar technical characteristics compared to the CrossHair VIII Formula board: same number of PCI Express slots and expansion connectors, as well as audio subsystem. The equipment is slightly simplified for the network sector, with two Ethernet cards (Intel 1Gbit and Realtek 2.5Gbit) and WiFi 6 available as an accessory option. The cooling of the components is ensured by a traditional passive-type dissipation system, which extends beyond the chipset, also involving SSDs mounted in M.2 connectors.

The third card is the Crosshair VIII Impact model, based on the small Mini-DTX form factor and suitable for installation in the most compact chassis. It integrates only two slots for DDR4 modules and one PCI Express 16x for the video card, but does not renounce two M.2 connectors for SSD, two Ethernet cards (Intel 1Gbit and Realtek 2.5Gbit) and integrated WiFi 6 onboard. High expandability also from the side of USB peripherals, while the audio sector proposes the same SupremeFX S1220 chip also seen in the two previous cards of the Crosshair VIII family.

One of the peculiarities of this card is the presence of a vertical installation card that integrates the CPU power supply circuit: in this way, it was possible to implement a complex and adequate circuitry for a demanding workload without excessively sacrificing the other areas of the PCB.

The Mini-DTX form factor is slightly more developed in height than the Mini-ITX one: in this way, it is possible to install video cards with two space slots without these developing laterally beyond the dimensions of the card itself.