Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero assessment: Fanatic-grade excellence

AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPU lineup is right here, and scorching on its path are the brand new X670E motherboards. What’s a “Hero” with out a nice sidekick, in spite of everything! 

Very similar to a superhero, the Asus Crosshair X670E Hero is able to ship the products. Its arsenal consists of DDR5, PCIe Gen 5, and sufficient chops to energy the quickest Ryzen CPUs.

Being an fanatic favourite in earlier generations, the Hero lineup goals to supply a equally premium expertise with this gen. Along with its strong efficiency and ample options, it additionally provides an attention-grabbing gamer-approved design. It has sufficient options to entice content material creators to its nook, too. (Quick USB4 being one mouthwatering addition.) 

The X670E Hero desires to be worthy of your superhero bucks. We’ll talk about the specs, options, design, and efficiency. We’ll see if this board alongside the Ryzen 7000 is the proper duo to beat your supervillain foes.

Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero: The specs

The Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero has an MSRP of $699, putting it squarely within the realm of high-end fanatic motherboards. It’s focused in direction of avid gamers, however has the products to please workstation customers, too. (Many individuals are utilizing mainstream platforms since HEDT has priced out cheap budgets.) 

We’ll take a look at the specs listing, and extra importantly,  cowl which options you must maintain a eager eye on. After all, you’ll want a brand new Ryzen 7000 CPU—there’s no backwards compatibility with Ryzen 5000 because of the new chipset. 

If you happen to’re contemplating X670E, you’ll have some advantages over the cheaper mid-level B650 choices. You’ll get twice the theoretical USB and SATA ports with X670E. It should additionally offer you extra PCIe lanes, with PCIe Gen 5 for the GPU alongside along with your NVMe drives. (B650 additionally has an “B650 extreme” variant, plus a typical B650—including some complexity to the product stack. Right here’s our latest assessment of the Gigabyte B650 Aorus Grasp.)

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To additional cement this board’s premium place, the unboxing expertise is amplified over mere mortal-level motherboards. You’ll get some good ROG goodies within the field resembling a ROG M.2 PCIe card, a key chain, and even a graphics card holder! (You might want it for the new-generation goliath GPUs!)  

• ATX type issue 
• Help for Ryzen 7000 CPUs 
• 18+2 Teamed Energy Phases, with 110A per stage
• DDR5 dual-channel RAM, as much as 4x DIMM, 128GB max 
• 2x PCIe Gen 5.0 16x slots 
• 4x onboard M.2 slots, (2x being PCIe Gen 5) 
• 1x further M.2 slot with the included PCIe Gen 5 card 
• HDMI-out, and USB/DisplayPort-out with USB4
• 12 USB ports on again, together with two USB 4.0  
• Intel Wi-Fi 6E 
• Intel 2.5GbE LAN
• RGB Aura Sync, plus “Polymo” lighting on I/O shroud
• 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports 
• 8 PWM fan headers plus water circulate headers
• BIOS Flashback and Clear CMOS 
• Onboard energy button
• Audio: ROG SupremeFX with ALC4082 Codec  
• Appropriate AM4 CPU cooler mounting (utilizing unique AMD backplate design)
• Asus Q-Launch and Q-Latch
• MSRP $699

Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero: Options

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Sure, this can look candy in your tempered-glass gaming PC construct. What’s extra, it’s going to even carry out past most expectations for workstation customers. That’s because of the caliber of included options provided right here. Pair it with a Ryzen 9 7900X or 7950X, and also you’ll be placing previous HEDT CPUs within the rear-view mirror. (Ahem, Intel 10980XE.) 

With its premium worth, the Hero differentiates itself from the lower-tier motherboards such because the Asus X670E Strix in a couple of ways in which improve the I/O expertise. 

USB4? Yep, it’s right here and the quickest speeds we’ve seen so far from USB—as much as 40Gb/s. Six SATA ports, and a smattering of M.2 NVMe slots make this a content material creators dream come true. (PCIe Gen 5 ensures you’ll have loads of future headroom for upgradability, too.) 

Overclocking lovers take word: You’ll have the superior begin button (one thing that ought to be included in each motherboard!). Clear CMOS and BIOS Flashback are each out there to make sure issues will be reset if want be. A neat “Q-Code” show on the highest proper helps you diagnose points quickly. These options come in useful for on a regular basis use in addition to troubleshooting, even in case you by no means plan to show that overclocking dial.

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DDR5 and PCIe Gen 5 are right here to hurry issues up, in each gaming and on a regular basis use. Wish to pile on M.2 drives with hyper-fast speeds? This motherboard has the chops to deal with that, in addition to your PCIe Gen 4 GPU such because the Nvidia RTX 4090. With a wholesome dose of PCIe lanes, you’ll be removed from saturating them in most use circumstances. 

12 USB ports are nothing to scoff at, and only a few motherboards embody the tremendous speedy USB 4. Like Thunderbolt, it has a wide-ranging potential for utility alongside its pace – resembling displaying out to displays.

With Ryzen 7000, you’ll even be capable to use the built-in iGPU if you could troubleshoot your construct with out having to put in a discreet GPU—an ideal quality-of-life function that may “save the day” if you least count on it! 

If you need clear audio, the ROG SupremeFX ALC4082 Codec suits the invoice and consists of all of the enter and outputs you’d need. 

Networking is normal right here, with Intel’s 2.5GbE and 6E Wi-Fi. We’d like to see a 10GbE port provided on this class of motherboard, as many fanatic customers would make use of it among the many in any other case stellar I/O lineup.

We now count on these creature comforts in all places: Q-Launch to shortly free the GPU, and Q-Latch to simply set up M.2 drives at the moment are de rigueur creature comforts that flip burdensome construct duties into fun-to-use little mechanical improvements!

Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero: Design

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The $699 MSRP ROG Crosshair X670-E Hero wastes no time letting you understand its price. From the second you lay eyes on its beautiful design, you understand you’re within the presence of an fanatic masterpiece! 

Beginning with the I/O defend space, you’ll get a tasty deal with with the “Polymo” customizable RGB results and refined Crosshair branding. Subsequent, take within the chiseled VRM and M.2 heatsinks, in addition to the fantastically executed PCIe slot space within the center. 

Mirror-like surfaces surrounded by tougher accented metallic heatsink zones mix for a premium look. Certain, your GPU will doubtless obfuscate most of this space—nevertheless it’s nonetheless superb to take a look at, and conjures up actual satisfaction of possession!

The again is extra strange, with a easy stamping of the motherboard identify. We’d like to see a backplate like what the Asus ROG Z790 Hero provides, nonetheless.

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General, it’s a really enticing motherboard with a refined, virtually smoked-mirror look to it. Supplies used are prime quality and really feel nice.

Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero: Efficiency, software program, and BIOS

Packing 18+2 energy levels, with what Asus calls “Teamed Power Stage Design,” makes the board sound highly effective, proper? And it’s—it could actually simply tame the hearty Ryzen 9 7950X with out compromise.

Efficiency is strong, whether or not you’re speaking about gaming or workstation duties. Players will rejoice within the quick DDR5 speeds, and with RAM pricing coming down, it makes the prospect extra interesting. 

You don’t get the choice of DDR4 on AM5 motherboards, as you do on Intel’s Z790 lineup, however DDR 5 ensures you’re future-proofed. 

The Asus BIOS provides to the pleasure by being nearly as good as ever for tinkerers. Overclocking RAM, undervolting CPUs, it’s all right here—and extra. It’s simple to make use of, intuitive, and stuffed with choices for the superior consumer. If you happen to’d slightly sit again and let the motherboard do all of the work, it could actually deal with that spectacularly, as properly. 

Asus Ai overclocking and DDR5 preset RAM profiles maintain your {hardware} working at peak capabilities with a click on of a button. 

Asus’ Armoury Crate software program has additionally been a lot improved this technology for individuals who desire to remain out of the BIOS altogether. It may well do fan profiles with Fan Xpert, Ai overclock your CPU, and even customise your RGB with Aura Sync. It may well pull up driver updates in your motherboard, making it a one-stop store for a lot of customers. The interface is enticing and straightforward to make use of, which is a plus—since motherboard software program has traditionally been a bit bloated previously. 

Do you have to purchase the Asus ROG Crosshair X670-E Hero?

The Asus ROG Crosshair X670-E Hero brings enthusiast-grade options to fulfill each avid gamers and content material creators. It does so with only a few compromises, and whereas providing super model. It’s an actual class act.

Certain, it’d be good to see 10GbE rounding out the premium options, nevertheless it’s nonetheless chock stuffed with goodies. It packs all of the new-generation buzzwords resembling PCIe Gen 5 and DDR5 and provides a wholesome dose of PCIE lanes. These all assist to justify the $699 MSRP. The actual fact is, AM5 has larger total platform prices when DDR5 and Ryzen 7000 CPUs are factored in. However you’re additionally getting probably the most options and efficiency that we’ve seen but from an AMD mainstream motherboards. (You’d must step as much as the $999 Asus ROG Excessive for options resembling 10GbE networking).

If you happen to’re a high-end fanatic gamer or content material creator who strives for the most effective motherboards in the marketplace for AM5, this shall be your Hero!