For those who’re trying to construct a brand new Ryzen 7000 system, the X670E Hero delivers all issues Zen 4, together with PCIe 5.0 slots and even two PCIe 5.0 M.2 sockets. The Hero has an up to date design with improved visuals, and it continues to look the a part of a premium motherboard as high-end boards have, usually, gotten extra premium. Together with the usual upgrades, the Hero consists of two USB 4 (40 Gbps) ports (12 whole rear IO USB), a flagship-class audio resolution with built-in DAC, Wi-Fi 6E and a 2.5 GbE port. Total, it’s a horny motherboard that comes loaded with options for its substantial $699.99 worth.
Asus’ X670 product stack consists of 12 boards on the time of this writing. You’ll see all of the acquainted names just like the Excessive, Hero, Gene, Creator, Gaming, TUF, Prime, and Professional boards we’re used to. Costs vary from $269 (Prime X670-P) to $999for the flagship Crosshair X670E Excessive. Briefly, there’s one thing for everybody right here (besides for many who need to spend lower than $269), together with ITX and Micro-ATX boards and lower-end choices. Simply keep in mind that the really lower-end choices for this platform are a part of the B650 chipset line.
Together with the entire required platform updates, the Hero comes with 5 M.2 sockets, three of which help PCIe 5.0 x4 speeds (one requires utilizing the included add-in card). The board additionally has six SATA ports for many legacy storage choices. The wired networking is quick sufficient at 2.5 Gb, however different boards within the class embody a ten GbE port. Efficiency-wise, the Hero mixes in with our different early Ryzen 7000 outcomes, with nothing inordinately quick or gradual. That will change as extra information is available in, however for now, our testing with our AMD Ryzen 7950X exhibits this can be a performant possibility. Overclocking, for what little that’s value on AMD nowadays, labored with out concern as nicely.
Beneath, we’ll take an in depth take a look at the options and specs of the X670E Hero to higher perceive how this motherboard stacks up towards the competitors. Please discuss with the X670 Motherboard Overview article for particulars about platform options and adjustments. After we see a number of of those AM5 boards, we’ll see which, if any, deserve a spot on the finest motherboards record. Earlier than we get into all the small print, here’s a full record of specs from the Asus web site.
Specs: Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero
| Socket | LGA1718 |
| Chipset | X670E |
| Kind Issue | ATX |
| Voltage Regulator | 21 Part (18x 110A SPS MOSFETs for Vcore, Teamed) |
| Video Ports | (1) HDMI (v2.1) |
| (2) USB4 | |
| USB Ports | (2) USB4 (40 Gbps) Kind-C |
| (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (20 Gbps) Kind-C | |
| (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Kind-C | |
| (8) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) | |
| Community Jacks | (1) 2.5 GbE |
| Audio Jacks | (5) Analog + SPDIF |
| Legacy Ports/Jacks | ✗ |
| Different Ports/Jack | ✗ |
| PCIe x16 | (2) v5.0 (x16, x8/x8) |
| PCIe x8 | ✗ |
| PCIe x4 | ✗ |
| PCIe x1 | (1) v 4.0 (x1) |
| CrossFire/SLI | AMD CrossFire |
| DIMM Slots | (4) DDR5 6400+(OC), 128GB Capability |
| M.2 Sockets | (2) PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) / PCIe (as much as 80mm) |
| (2) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) / PCIe (as much as 80mm) | |
| (1) PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) / PCIe (as much as 110mm) from AIC | |
| Helps RAID 0/1/10 | |
| U.2 Ports | ✗ |
| SATA Ports | (6) SATA3 6 Gbps (Helps RAID 0/1/10) |
| USB Headers | (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2×2, Kind-C (20 Gbps, 60W PF/QC4+) |
| (2) USB v3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) | |
| (3) USB v2.0 (480 Mbps) | |
| Fan/Pump Headers | (8) 4-Pin (CPU, CPU OPT, AIO Pump, Chassis, W_Pump) |
| RGB Headers | (3) aRGB Gen2 (3-pin) |
| (1) Aura GB (4-pin) | |
| Diagnostics Panel | (1) Q-Code |
| (1) Q-LEDs | |
| Inner Button/Change | Energy, Flex, and Retry buttons |
| SATA Controllers | (1) ASMedia ASM1061 |
| Ethernet Controller(s) | (1) Intel I225-v (2.5 GbE) |
| Wi-Fi / Bluetooth | Intel AX210 Wii-Fi 6E (2×2 ax, MU-MIMO, 2.4/5/6 GHz, 160 MHz, BT 5.2) |
| USB Controllers | JHL8540 USB4 |
| HD Audio Codec | Realtek ALC4082 (ESS SABRE9218 Quad DAC) |
| DDL/DTS | ✗ / DTS: Sound Unbound |
| Guarantee | 3 Years |
Contained in the Field of the Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero
Contained in the field together with the motherboard, Asus consists of quite a lot of equipment designed to get your system up and working with out a further journey to the shop. Of major not is the AIC for a further PCIe 5.0 x4 slot (on high of the 2 on the board itesef). The remainder is commonplace siff, together with SATA and RGB cables, Wi-Fi antennas, and a USB persist with drivers. Beneath is a whole record of the included equipment.
- ARGB RGB extension cable
- RGB extension cable
- (4) SATA 6Gb/s cables
- PCIe 5.0 M.2 Card with heatsink
- M.2 screw package deal for PCIe 5.0 M.2 Card
- Thermal pad for M.2
- ASUS Wi-Fi transferring antennas
- (3) Rubber Packages for M.2 backplate
- Q-connector
- M.2 Q-Latch package deal
- (3) M.2 Q-Latch packages for M.2 backplate
- ROG Graphics card holder
- ROG key chain
- ROG stickers
- ROG thanks card
- USB drive with utilities and drivers
- Person information
Design of the ROG Crosshair X670E Hero
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The X670E Hero receives a pleasant visible replace from the Crosshair VIII Hero. The VRM heatsinks seem bigger and have extra floor space with giant mitered slots carved out, whereas the rear IO cowl now sports activities a bigger RGB component (the one RGB component), together with the Crosshair branding in chrome. The underside portion of the board extends the heatsinks out to the audio part, whereas the highest M.2 socket will get a notable heatsink improve to help the PCIe 5.0 drives we’ll quickly see.
The board’s type carefully follows the Z690 Hero, however is a greater model with updates minimizing the polarizing dot-matrix type illumination we noticed on the Intel boards. In all, this can be a very handsome possibility that gained’t take consideration away from something within the case, whereas wanting just like the premium half it’s.
Beginning with the highest half, we get a greater take a look at the RGB component. Right here the RGBs shine by way of a display to provide the design on high. Asus largely moved away from the dot-matrix design and changed it with an up to date look that shows the Hero and ROG branding. The lighting gained’t take over your case, however it’s nonetheless vibrant sufficient to point out off different issues inside.
Above the VRM heatsinks are two 8-pin EPS energy connectors (one required) to feed the processor energy. The VRM heatsinks surrounding them are heavy, with giant cutouts to extend floor space and enhance cooling functionality. Moreover, each VRM heatsinks join by way of a heatpipe, so the load is shared between them. As you’ll see later in our testing, they’d no points holding the facility supply bits cool whereas stress testing our Ryzen 9 7950X CPU.
To the appropriate of the socket space, we run into 4 single-side locking, unreinforced DRAM slots that help speeds as much as DDR5-6600(OC) and capacities as much as 128GB. Whereas it’s not an enormous deal, I want to see bolstered DRAM slots right here since some considerably less-expensive boards (Aorus Grasp and Taichi) have them.
Simply above the DRAM slots are the primary three (of eight) 4-pin fan/pump headers. All followers help PWM and DC units, with the CPU and Chassis followers Q-Fan managed. The W_PUMP+ and AIO_PUMP run at full velocity by default. Output on the headers varies from 1A/12W (CPU/Chassis and AIO_PUMP headers), whereas the W_pump+ header helps 3A/36W. There are many headers and sufficient energy to run your cooling from the motherboard.
Beneath that, we run into the primary two RGB headers, on this case, a 4-pin Aura RGB and 3-pin ARGB. The opposite two 3-pin ARGB headers are positioned on the underside of the board. Persevering with down the appropriate edge, we run into the Begin, Flex and Retry buttons, together with the 24-pin ATX connector to energy the motherboard. There’s a 6-pin PCIe connector as nicely that, when linked, helps as much as 60W charging (PF/QC4+) by way of the entrance panel USB Kind-C header (that sits just under the supplemental energy connection). Final however not least is the handy PCIe slot Q-Launch button that unlocks the PCIe slot. Usually graphics playing cards and huge M.2 heatsinks get in the way in which of accessing the latch, so this can be a good addition.
Energy supply on the Hero makes use of a number of the most succesful {hardware} we’ve seen. Energy comes from the EPS connector(s) to an Infineon Digi+ ASP2205 PWM controller. After that, it strikes on to 18 110A SIC850A MOSFETs (that’s 1,980 Amps!), that are greater than able to dealing with the flagship 7950X. Coupled with the massive heatsinks, there’s no want to fret about energy supply.
Shifting to the underside half of the board, we’ll begin on the left aspect, which homes the audio part. Hiding underneath a shroud is an Asus-branded Realtek ALC4082 codec. As you mayknow, the 4082 codec, on paper, is one of the best codec these boards have out there. Along with the flagship codec is an ESS SABRE9218 DAC and devoted audio caps. The audio circuitry right here is among the many finest you’ll discover on any motherboard.
In the midst of the board, we discover a number of M.2 sockets and three PCIe slots. Beginning with the PCIe slots, the highest two full-length slots join by way of the CPU and supply PCIe 5.0 bandwidth. The highest slot runs as much as x16 speeds whereas the second runs as much as x8. If something populates the second slot (together with the M.2 AIC), they break all the way down to x8/x8, however take into account that it’s PCIe 5.0 x8, which is successfully equal to PCIe 4.0 x16 . The tiny backside slot sources its lanes from the chipset and runs at PCIe 4.0 x1.
The Hero sports activities 4 M.2 sockets on the board itself, with a fifth coming from the M.2 add-in card (AIC). Onboard, all sockets help as much as 80mm PCIe modules and use the M.2 Q-Latch (slightly than the standard tiny screws) to safe modules, however the speeds differ. Socket M2_1 and M2_2 supply their lanes from the CPU and run at PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) speeds. M2_3/4 get their lanes from the chipset and run at PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) speeds. The add-in-card offers house owners one other PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 socket (as much as 110mm), bringing the full to 3 PCIe 5.0 M.2, or 5 M.2 in whole with the board and the AIC. Along with the six SATA ports, you possibly can run 11 drives concurrently. For those who’re into working software program RAID, the NVMe and SATA socket/ports help RAID0/1/10 modes.
Sliding previous the chipset heatsink alongside the appropriate edge, we run into one other chassis fan header, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 connector and 6 SATA ports. Throughout the underside of the board are a number of uncovered headers. You’ll discover the same old, together with extra USB ports, RGB headers, and extra. There are even headers for water circulation charge and water temperature sensors to make use of together with your customized water loop. Beneath is a whole record from left to proper.
- Entrance panel audio
- (3) 4-pin fan headers
- (2) 3-pin ARGB header
- (3) USB 2.0 headers
- USB 3.2 Gen 1 header
- Water pump header
- Water temperature in/out headers
- Temperature sensor header
- Entrance panel
The rear IO on the Hero comes with a theme-matching, pre-installed IO plate with easy-to-read white labels on every of the ports. There are a staggering 12 USB ports on the rear IO, which ought to be loads for most individuals. From left to proper, we first see BIOS Flashback and CMOS reset buttons. For video, there’s an HDMI port and each USB4 (40 Gbps) Kind-C ports to the appropriate of it. The purple USB ports are all 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), with the opposite two Kind-C ports working Gen 2 (10 Gbps) and Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps), respectively. Subsequent is the Intel 2.5 GbE port, Wi-Fi antenna connections, and a full 5-plug plus SPDIF audio stack.
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