Final Thoughts
Once again ASUS has a very solid Crosshair motherboard. This board just shows you why ASUS is a market leader and continues to set the standard in terms of unique features and quality. There are many things on this board that you just won’t find on others and while you might not make use of them, they are invaluable if you do plan on using them. Some of these include the dedicated AiO pump header, safe boot button, LN2 header, W_IN/OUT and W_Flow headers, and the voltage checkpoints.
When it comes to an X570 board and its feature-set this board has everything you want plus more. You of course have PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slots as well as two PCI-Express 4.0 M.2 slots. This board also has the most USB ports we’ve seen on an X570 board. You have 12 ports on the rear I/O plus 4 headers on the board so if you have a lot of USB devices you are covered there. ASUS has also added 802.11ax WiFi 6 and 2.4G LAN to the board too.
As we mentioned this board has been made with seriously overclocking in mind. First the VRM is capable of a total output of 840A which is more than enough to handle the upcoming Ryzen 9 3950X. ASUS has added an extra 4-pin CPU power connection for LN2 overclocking which is nice to see. There is of course the LN2 header too, which when enabled will enable a set of pre-set LN2 settings for the board. You can’t forget the small hole in the center of the CPU socket, where you can install a K Type thermocouple probe. This board also supports very high frequency memory out of the box, which is nice to see.
ASUS has also done a great job with their BIOS. It is quite easy to navigate and every setting you want is inside of there. I also like that you can control the RGB elements on the board through the BIOS if you don’t want to install software. ASUS’s software seems to be all over the place right now. They do have Armoury Crate, which seems very current and is great for downloading drivers and other software, but then you have Ai Suite III and EZ Update which seem very dated. I would hope that ASUS plans to put everything into Armoury Crate so you have a single app.
While this is one of the best X570 motherboards I’ve reviewed so far it is one of the most expensive as well. Right now it is selling at our favorite online retailer for $379.99 and at that price it would have been nice to have a 3rd M.2 slot. Overall ThinkComputers gives the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award!
Pros:
– Sleek design
– Very powerful VRM
– Many features made for overclocking and LN2
– So many USB ports
– Can access M.2 slots without removing entire bottom heatsink
– Easy to navigate BIOS
– Many features you just won’t find on other boards
Cons:
– Software needs some work
– Would have liked to see a 3rd M.2 slot at this price point
