ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme

[ir_cow]

ASUS's R&D team are again bringing the very best to the AM4 socket. Including a massive 18+2 VRM design, Thunderbolt 4, 10Gb LAN, and loads of goodies on the side, If you are looking to find out more about one of the most feature-rich X570 motherboards on the market today, It's all covered in this review.

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[stinger608]

$800!!!!!! That's frigging insanity!!

 

[Kapone33]

I can't believe I am saying this but the MSI X570S Ace Max is a much better board than this before the price.

 

[Cheeseball]

I can't believe I am saying this but the MSI X570S Ace Max is a much better board than this before the price.

I would agree with you, but this C8X has five M.2 slots and 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, which would be of use to me.

The Maple Ridge (Thunderbolt 4) controller adds to the price for sure. It won't be as fast as the controllers that are built into the later Intel CPUs but are still pretty useful as an external PCI-E connector.

 

[Kapone33]

I would agree with you, but this C8X has five M.2 slots and 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, which would be of use to me.

The Maple Ridge (Thunderbolt 4) controller adds to the price for sure. It won't be as fast as the controllers that are built into the later Intel CPUs but are still pretty useful as an external PCI-E connector.

The Ace MAx has 4 M2 slots on the board, comes with an adapter card (with a fan) and is wired x8 running at PCie 4 on the 3rd x16 slot. That means all PCIe x16 slots run at a minimum of x8. The slot is wired to the chipset but I celebrate the M2 card connected to the CPU in the 2nd PCIe slot. Though the USB C may not be as fast Thunderbolt I really don't buy into that because X399 was full of Thunderbolt too but I never touched it.

 

[bobsled]

Looks like a nice board but coming from the Threadripper platform I’m still annoyed by the lacklustre PCI-E lanes available to expansion slots, afforded by consumer chips. If I add some expansion cards in the slots I reduce my GPU’s performance - frankly unacceptable when forking out for big AM4 chips and boards with enough power to run them.

Also, any reason you used a 3900X instead of 5950X?

 

[Selaya]

well ryzens only ever have 24 lanes, and seeing as you cannot conjure them out of thin air aftermarket or something, you'll have to either wire all of your m.2s to the PCH (bottleneckcity inc) or do something like this ...

and honestly, as long as your GPU's PCIe 4.0 capable, running it in x8 basically costs you nothing performance wise anyways so who cares. x16 is only useful for stuff like the 2080Ti that are not PCIe 4.0 capable

 

[Kapone33]

Looks like a nice board but coming from the Threadripper platform I’m still annoyed by the lacklustre PCI-E lanes available to expansion slots, afforded by consumer chips. If I add some expansion cards in the slots I reduce my GPU’s performance - frankly unacceptable when forking out for big AM4 chips and boards with enough power to run them.

Also, any reason you used a 3900X instead of 5950X?

Threadripper blows any AM4 out of the water in terms of PCie connectivity. It is why Ilike the AceMax so much. There is a lot of sharing going on but I lose 4 SATA ports for 2 M2 and the 3rd PCIe slot. I know on X399 or TRX40 there is no lane sharing but I have adjusted to the best AM4 has to offer in terms of exactly that (In my opinion).

 

[tabascosauz]

@ir_cow there's reference on the Intro and Conclusion pages to a ROG Apex that does not exist on AM4. Impact is the fourth member of the family.

 

[Ibizadr]

B550 unifi X may be a great choice to my 5800x, still impressive performance compared with that 800 board with 3x cut in price

 

[ir_cow]

@ir_cow there's reference on the Intro and Conclusion pages to a ROG Apex that does not exist on AM4. Impact is the fourth member of the family.

Appreciate the look out! I must have mixed up Maximus with Crosshair in my head.

The Ace MAx has 4 M2 slots on the board, comes with an adapter card (with a fan) and is wired x8 running at PCie 4 on the 3rd x16 slot. That means all PCIe x16 slots run at a minimum of x8. The slot is wired to the chipset but I celebrate the M2 card connected to the CPU in the 2nd PCIe slot. Though the USB C may not be as fast Thunderbolt I really don't buy into that because X399 was full of Thunderbolt too but I never touched it.

You will run into similar problems with the M.2 sockets. "PCI_E4, M2_3, M2_4 and SATA5~8 share the same bandwidth." Three of the of M.2 get the bandwidth from the PCH. I'm not sure how its split up based on the manual specs. I'm guessing one is Gen3? Also the USB-C is 20 Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2). Another one of those (*) "The PCIe x1 slot and onboard Wi-Fi module share the same bandwidth, you can not use both of them simultaneously,"

The MSI ACE MAX is certainly a good MB contender. It still not cheap either. I still believe that it will come down to personal preference. You can get the same OC with the B550 Unify-X I use for memory reviews. If that's all you care about, get the cheapest MB you can find. I recommend it! This is ASUS top offer, just like MSI, Gigabyte and ASRock have one. All expensive and offer similar levels of premium features.

 

[Dr. Dro]

B550 unifi X may be a great choice to my 5800x, still impressive performance compared with that 800 board with 3x cut in price

The review says it best... this is a product for people with either unlimited funds or treating themselves. My Strix B550-E can handle my 5950X at its peak without complaining, all while providing ample support for everything that I could possibly need. Boards like this only really serve the singular purpose of providing the best for those who demand the best, even if they do not necessarily need or use the features that it can provide.

On the upside, I hope I can find one of these on the cheap once AM4 is getting old and forgotten out there.

 

[Sabishii Hito]

Per Buildzoid, Asus having the memory traces for channel A visible on the board is the reason for the low RAM clocks. Seems dumb to have an 8+ layer PCB and to do that

 

[Jism]

Even as i much as like it, asus is known to offer such boards with maximum you can get in terms of overclocking and features you proberly not even going to fully use.

18x 90 A (1620A) is a bit over the top for generic Ryzens as well. You see the same trend on Intel boards and none of these CPU's even reach half of that.

All the boards ive had, Asus where among the best for Ryzen's and Vishera's. Just a fact. And i owned a X470-F, a Crosshair Formula Z. Would not change that for another brand.

 

[Blue4130]

Threadripper blows any AM4 out of the water in terms of PCie connectivity. It is why Ilike the AceMax so much. There is a lot of sharing going on but I lose 4 SATA ports for 2 M2 and the 3rd PCIe slot. I know on X399 or TRX40 there is no lane sharing but I have adjusted to the best AM4 has to offer in terms of exactly that (In my opinion).

In my opinion pcie lanes need to be rethought. The amount of lanes on consumer chips has not kept up with storage advances. I understand the need for product segmentation, but give us 8 more lanes. That would give us two more m.2 and still keep threadripper attractive for workstation use.

 

[Selaya]

In my opinion pcie lanes need to be rethought. The amount of lanes on consumer chips has not kept up with storage advances. I understand the need for product segmentation, but give us 8 more lanes. That would give us two more m.2 and still keep threadripper attractive for workstation use.

no.
just unnecessary price creep for the 99.99% who dont care. if you really need dedicated lanes for multiple m.2s, go buy HEDT or something.

 

[Dr. Dro]

no.
just unnecessary price creep for the 99.99% who dont care. if you really need dedicated lanes for multiple m.2s, go buy HEDT or something.

Not necessarily, there is room for premium chipsets in a product stack that can provide the ability to do this without having to resort to an HEDT processor or platform. Besides, with the implementation of PCI Express 5.0 coming up on Zen 4 and already supported today on Alder Lake platforms, you may very well be able to achieve such vast amount of bandwidth for high-performance storage using less lanes instead (i.e. 5.0 x2 = 4.0 x4 = 3.0 x8), it would be up to mobo makers to add more slots and up to SSD microcontroller manufacturers to optimize for such data paths.

 

[Vader]

no.
just unnecessary price creep for the 99.99% who dont care. if you really need dedicated lanes for multiple m.2s, go buy HEDT or something.

I'd say the same but when sata was the "best" connector, motherboards would come with 6-8 ports, which 99,9% didn't need. With pcie the same can happen, it's just a matter of when/if the costs go down enough for it to make sense

 

[Selaya]

but thats already happening? we have boards w/ 3, 4 or 5 m.2s ... it's just that they have shared, not dedicated bandwidth ... ?
as for extra lanes: no. it jacks up cpu production costs. 99.9% don't need those lanes. heck, like 90% of all uses dont even need the PEG but yea

 

[tabascosauz]

Per Buildzoid, Asus having the memory traces for channel A visible on the board is the reason for the low RAM clocks. Seems dumb to have an 8+ layer PCB and to do that

Probably part of it, but a pretty unsatisfactory explanation for bad mem OC performance. Plenty of other cheaper 6-8 layer AM4 boards of all sizes don't have shielded memory planes, and do better. Lazy Asus is just milking it on AM4 with mediocre designs, and they know full well.

They don't have any motivation to improve their memory topology design, look at this board and the "new" Strix-XE. They know that 99% users don't venture past Fabric limits, they know that most users aren't running APUs, they know that AGESA makes for a wild ride for memory OC, they know that there's no pressure from DDR5, they know that AM4 is almost dead.

And honestly, look at this board. It's the Formula's big bro. Feature-packed, but if you don't need those niche features, it's just a poser board (muh VRM) with no OC credentials whatsoever. I honestly hope the Impact is either replaced or supplemented by a proper Apex for AM5.

The Z690-esque VRM on it is just the cherry on top. I get similar (if not better) torture thermals with 6 less phases on the B550 Unify-X, which is already laughably overkill.

 

[Athlonite]

but thats already happening? we have boards w/ 3, 4 or 5 m.2s ... it's just that they have shared, not dedicated bandwidth ... ?
as for extra lanes: no. it jacks up cpu production costs. 99.9% don't need those lanes. heck, like 90% of all uses dont even need the PEG but yea

I wouldn't expect the cost difference between 24 PCIe lanes and say 32 to be that much of a price increase over the stock price it's going for today and even if it cost an extra $100 bucks for say an R9 5900~5950XT with 32 PCIe lanes I'd still pay that over the threadripper and related mobo expense

As for this mobo yeah well it looks nice an all but certainly not 800 clams nice and is Teamed the new buzzword for doubled now

 

[Camm]

Managed to snag one for about $400 USD from a pricing error. Look forward to replacing my Aorus Xtreme and see how it performs.

 

[Blue4130]

no.
just unnecessary price creep for the 99.99% who dont care. if you really need dedicated lanes for multiple m.2s, go buy HEDT or something.

Offset the cost by removing other ports. M.2 has largely overshadowed sata. Cut sata down to 2 or 3. Get rid of half of the usb.

There is room for product segmentation.

 

[Selaya]

you do know that you can put like 2 sata ports per gen3 lane yes? so to offset the bandwidth necessary for a single m.2 you have to like, throw out all your sata ports
as ive said, having one dedicated primary m.2 via cpu lanes and then a few secondary ones via the shared PCH's just fine. no need to blow up the amount of cpu lanes even further, ryzens have 24 and ADL 28, that's more than aplenty.

 

[Mussels]

This is an AMAZINGLY detailed review, covering a lot of bases. awesomely done. I'll add in some questions as i go

1. What NVME drive was used to test the USB storage speeds on page 7?
Should a 10Gb enclosure do faster, or is this a limit of the AMD platform with USB transfer speeds?

2. no Zen 3 CPU is
but also - no mention or testing of the rare and super useful Dynamic OC switcher - letting you pick a static all core base clock, with PBO working for boost on top?
(With my 5800x, that would be me have a 'base' of 4.6GHz at 1.2V, with turbo doing low thread count boosting all the way to 5.05GHz - the best of both PBO and static clocks in one setup)

I want a board upgrade, JUST to get that feature. It's the golden goose that changes ryzen overclocking completely.