Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero review: Enthusiast-grade excellence

Price When Reviewed

$699.99

Best Prices Today: Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero

AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPU lineup is right here, and sizzling on its path are the brand new X670E motherboards. What’s a “Hero” with no nice sidekick, in spite of everything! 

Much like a superhero, the Asus Crosshair X670E Hero is able to ship the products. Its arsenal contains 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 offer a equally premium expertise with this gen. In addition to its strong efficiency and ample options, it additionally presents an attention-grabbing gamer-approved design. It has sufficient options to entice content material creators to its nook, too. (Fast USB4 being one mouthwatering addition.) 

The X670E Hero needs to be worthy of your superhero bucks. We’ll focus on 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

Thiago Trevisan

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

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

If you’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 may also provide you with extra PCIe lanes, with PCIe Gen 5 for the GPU alongside together with your NVMe drives. (B650 additionally has an “B650 extreme” variant, plus a typical B650—including some complexity to the product stack. Here’s our current evaluation of the Gigabyte B650 Aorus Master.)

Thiago Trevisan

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 similar to a ROG M.2 PCIe card, a key chain, and even a graphics card holder! (You might have it for the new-generation goliath GPUs!)  

• ATX kind issue 
• Support for Ryzen 7000 CPUs 
• 18+2 Teamed Power Stages, 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 move headers
• BIOS Flashback and Clear CMOS 
• Onboard energy button
• Audio: ROG SupremeFX with ALC4082 Codec  
• Compatible AM4 CPU cooler mounting (utilizing authentic AMD backplate design)
• Asus Q-Release and Q-Latch
• MSRP $699

Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero: Features

Thiago Trevisan

Yes, this may look candy in your tempered-glass gaming PC construct. What’s extra, it can even carry out past most expectations for workstation customers. That’s because of the caliber of included options supplied 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 number of ways in which improve the I/O expertise. 

USB4? Yep, it’s right here and the quickest speeds we’ve seen thus 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 fans take word: You’ll have the superior begin button (one thing that must be included in each motherboard!). Clear CMOS and BIOS Flashback are each accessible to make sure issues could 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.

Thiago Trevisan

DDR5 and PCIe Gen 5 are right here to hurry issues up, in each gaming and on a regular basis use. Want 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 velocity – similar to displaying out to displays.

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

If you need clear audio, the ROG SupremeFX ALC4082 Codec suits the invoice and contains 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 supplied 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 all over the place: Q-Release 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

Thiago Trevisan

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

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

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

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

Thiago Trevisan

Overall, it’s a really enticing motherboard with a refined, virtually smoked-mirror look to it. Materials used are top quality and really feel nice.

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

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

Performance is powerful, whether or not you’re speaking about gaming or workstation duties. Gamers 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 pretty much as good as ever for tinkerers. Overclocking RAM, undervolting CPUs, it’s all right here—and extra. It’s straightforward to make use of, intuitive, and stuffed with choices for the superior consumer. If you’d somewhat sit again and let the motherboard do all of the work, it may 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 choose to remain out of the BIOS altogether. It can do fan profiles with Fan Xpert, Ai overclock your CPU, and even customise your RGB with Aura Sync. It can pull up driver updates on 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. 

Should you purchase the Asus ROG Crosshair X670-E Hero?

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

Sure, it’d be good to see 10GbE rounding out the premium options, however it’s nonetheless chock stuffed with goodies. It packs all of the new-generation buzzwords similar to PCIe Gen 5 and DDR5 and presents a wholesome dose of PCIE lanes. These all assist to justify the $699 MSRP. The truth is, AM5 has increased general platform prices when DDR5 and Ryzen 7000 CPUs are factored in. But you’re additionally getting essentially 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 Extreme for options similar to 10GbE networking).

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