Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero - Flagship AM4 Ryzen X370 Motherboard

Official Asus webpage

"AMD X370 ATX Gaming motherboard with Aura Sync RGB LEDs, DDR4 3200MHz, M.2, USB 3.1 front-panel connector and type-A/C"

• Aura Sync RGB LED: Stunning synchronized effects and two Aura 4-pin RGB-strip headers
• SupremeFX: Exclusive new codec plus intuitive Sonic Studio III and Sonic Radar III
• Compatible with both AM3/AM4 coolers
• ROG Water Cooling Zone : Dominate your cooling system
• 5-Way Optimization: One-click system-wide overclocking.
• Best gaming networking: Intel® Gigabit Ethernet, LANGuard and GameFirst technologies
• Best gaming connectivity: M.2, USB 3.1 front-panel connector and both USB 3.1 Type-A/C
• Best gaming durability: Safeslot and premium components for maximum durability

Overview

AM3 Mounting Support

Obviously a very big selling point especially during these early Ryzen launch days

• AM2/3/3+ had a very long run with countless pre-existing cooling options  - from air to water to LN2 pots
• AM4 mounting brackets are virtually non-existent at Ryzen launch

Packaging

Red & Black ROG colours.

Unboxing

 

AM4 Bracket & Backplate

Unlike earlier iterations, this comes with a sticky textured backplate so a little more effort is needed to gently pry it off if you are not going to use it.

Bundled Accessories

Some smaller parts are very sneakily hidden in the flat thin compartment of the bottom cardboard.

The ROG Crosshair VI Hero

Resplendent in dark shades.

Dual AM3 & AM4 Mounting Holes 

As very clearly demonstrated with the help of an old AIO cooler AM3 backplate.

Back I/O

USB galore from USB2 to USB 3.1 Type C, useful Clear CMOS & BIOS Flash buttons, Intel G.LAN. Note the gold plated audio ports, wifi slot and the lack of any video out.

Storage Options

M.2, SATA3, USB3 Gen 1 & Gen 2 ports, RGB headers. Note also the various voltage measurement points.

Debug LED

Immensely useful now especially when UEFI releases are very new and frequent, still on the way to maturity. Note the 3D Mount screw hole at bottom of photo.

Dual Reinforced x16 PCI-e slots

Reassuring for owners of huge gaming cards

Onboard Buttons

Conveniently located at the edge of the motherboard, very useful for troubleshooting.

SupremeFX Audio

ROG Heatsinks

All properly anchored down with metal screws, heatpipe for power sinks

AuraSync RGB LED

Note the LED circuitry on the undersurface of the i/o hood in addition to those on the motherboard itself.

UEFI Matters

At the moment (11-3-17), the 5803* beta (tCL 1T) is the best/fastest release so far, the newer 0902 (tCL 2T) is reportedly though slower, a safer bug fix for possible BIOS corruption.

* There is a potential BIOS corruption bug in earlier releases under certain conditions, detailed here.

There is just something about seeing so many threads (yes, 16) in the Task Manager that makes it so damn... geeky macho appealing.

For BIOS settings for overclocking with power settings, click!
 

UEFI Screenshots

 Just a few sample screenies.

Benches

Mostly model specific results as the other Ryzen general bench numbers have been posted earlier, if you missed that, just click here!

Speedtest.net

Nice numbers!

DPC Latency

This test was done with Windows Power Options at High Performance settings which is the actual AMD recommendation for Ryzen systems.

Advanced Features

In addition, have fun exploring the following:
RAID 0, 1, 10
Custom liquid  cooling - in/out temps sensors, flow tachometer
AuraSync RGB LED
Sonic Radar III
3D Printing - customize your personal rig
& more...

Initial Impressions

Great aesthetics with hunky angular ROG heatpiped sinks.

Well designed with very thoughtful provision of both AM3 and AM4 mounting holes. This alone may be one of the most persuasive factors for those heavily invested in expensive AMD coolers. Onboard buttons and debug LED display are really too useful to leave out in such a nascent platform and the Crosshair VI has them all.

Beautifully laid out UEFI as per usual for Asus ROG models, still it is early days for Ryzen BIOS maturity.

Cons so far related to the overall newness of the Ryzen platform, apparently common to all models - long POST times, cold double POST when overclocked, high speed RAM compatibility... etc. Fortunately, most if not all can be expected to be reduced over time as AMD improves their BIOS base code.

Overall, the Asus Crosshair VI Hero is a top Ryzen model that simply demands any potential Ryzen buyer to take a much closer look at it, imo it's just great.

Good Reads

The Stilt's Ryzen: Strictly technical
elmor's ROG Crosshair VI series 
Asus ROG Forum - Crosshair VI



#Ryzen #Asus #Crosshair

Update May 2017

Latest beta BIOS are now based on AGESA 1.0.0.6 eg. BIOS 9945. Lots of new RAM options so now undergoing quick and dirty testing with memtest86 and GSAT with different RAM kits... going to be lots of time and effort spent.

HTH