At first we would like to thank ASUS for sending us a sample of their ROG Crosshair VI Hero AM4 Motherboard for testing and reviewing.

 

 

About ASUS:

"ASUS takes its name from Pegasus, the winged horse in Greek mythology that symbolizes wisdom and knowledge. ASUS embodies the strength, purity, and adventurous spirit of this fantastic creature, and soars to new heights with each new product it creates.

Taiwan’s Information Technology industry has grown enormously over the last few decades and the country is now a dominant force in the global market. ASUS has long been at the forefront of this growth and while the company started life as a humble motherboard manufacturer with just a handful of employees, it is now the leading technology company in Taiwan with over 17,000 employees worldwide. ASUS makes products in almost every area of Information Technology too, including PC components, peripherals, notebooks, tablets, servers and smartphones.

Innovation is key to the success of ASUS. Having unveiled the PadFone to a rapturous audience at Computex 2011, this year, ASUS chairman Jonney Shih raised the bar once more by announcing the TAICHI™ and Transformer Book dual-purpose ultraportables.

ASUS TAICHI™ is an Ultrabook™ with a unique double-sided multi-touch display that allows it to switch between a tablet and notebook in an instant, simply by lifting its lid. Transformer Book is a convertible Ultrabook that is both a notebook with hard drive and storage and a multi-touch SSD tablet, thanks to its backlit keyboard dock.

Together with its exciting new range of Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets, ASUS has a dazzling array of innovative products that will surpass users’ imaginations as the world enters a new era of cloud computing.

This visionary approach is the reason ASUS is able to bring high-quality innovation and design to all, and the reason for its widespread acclaim. In 2015, ASUS earned 4,368 awards from some of the most prestigious international organizations and media groups worldwide. ASUS has consistently achieved significant year-on-year growth in terms of consumer notebook units shipped too, and closed 2015 on a high with revenues hitting US$14 billion."

Hollow Heat-Sink with red-hot style

 

Our new heat-sink is finely engineered with an innovative perforated design for maximum heat dissipation. On its top are expertly angled facets that allow light from the platform controller hub to penetrate through — so your builds stand out unlike any other!

 

ROG Water Cooling Zone

 

ROG's innovative Water-Cooling Zone lets you monitor your cooling system like never before. ROG Water-Cooling Zone's dual water-temperature headers and flow-rate header feed information straight into ROG's intuitive Fan Xpert 4 utility ? so you can stay on top of the heat and stay cool in every game!

 

Ready for any AM4 or AM3 cooler

 

ROG Crosshair VI Hero has special mounting holes that are compatible with any AM4 or AM3 cooler/LN2 pot. Upgrade to a new AM4 cooler, or extend the life of your existing AM3 kit — the choice is yours!

 

Aura lighting control

 

Customize your own favorite LED effects with Aura, the intuitive lighting-control software, to cast a stunning multi-color glow across your build via the ROG Crosshair VI Hero's brilliant built-in RGB LEDs or attached RGB strips via the two onboard 4-pin headers ? all lights will perform in perfect synchronization! Fire up Aura and enjoy the creative freedom of nine different lighting schemes.

 

OUTSHINE THE COMPETITION aura-sync

 

ASUS Aura Sync technology makes ROG Crosshair VI Hero the control hub for your illumination ambitions — so it's easy to synchronize incredible lighting effects between compatible components, including RGB LED strips, graphics cards, keyboards and even mice! Change all LEDs in unison or employ dynamic modes to flow the illumination effects smoothly across all synchronized devices.

 

New SupremeFX Codec

 

ROG's awesome SupremeFX audio technology has levelled up, delivering an exceptional 113dB signal-to-noise ratio on the line-in connection and 120dB on line-out — and that means our best-ever recording quality! We've also added a low-dropout regulator for cleaner power delivery to the SupremeFX S1220 codec, an ESS® Sabre Hi-Fi ES9023P digital-to-analog converter for superior front-panel output, and a Texas Instruments® RC4580 op-amp for high gain with low distortion — which all adds up to audio that envelops you as never before.

 

Sonic Studio III

 

ROG's Sonic Studio III audio effects station has been updated with an all-new routing feature to port streams to different outputs as well as app-level preferences for instant audio profiles and improved noise filtering for conversations with total clarity!

 

Sonic Radar III

 

Sonic Radar III is all-new – with an evolved audio engine that processes sounds more accurately than ever, ensuring you're always aware of what's going on around you. A new on-screen arrow has also been added to help you pinpoint the enemy position instantly!

 

Make it your own

 

ASUS is the first motherboard manufacturer to support 3D printing, making it easy to customize your motherboard's appearance and improve system performance with a range of printable parts.

 

3D-printable accessories

 

As system parts are visible in custom PC builds, make yours stand out from the competition with 3D-printed accessories.

 

ASUS PRO CLOCK TECHNOLOGY

 

A dedicated base-clock generator designed for AM4 processors allows overclocked base clock frequencies up to or beyond 158MHz*. This custom solution works in tandem with the ASUS TurboV Processing Unit (TPU) to enhance voltage and base-clock overclocking control — providing an exciting new way to boost performance to extreme heights.

 

Third-generation ASUS T-Topology

 

With support for DDR4 memory you're able to drive memory frequencies up to 3200MHz (and beyond when overclocked)! ASUS-exclusive T-Topology circuit design plus OC Socket provides superb memory-overclocking capability to unleash the full power of DDR4 by minimizing coupling noise and signal reflection. With innovative equidistant memory channels, it delivers the most balanced control and powerful overclocking compatibility. ASUS works with almost every DDR4 memory vendor to ensure the best compatibility.

 

Performance, efficiency, digital power, fan control and networking ? tailored to the way you play

 

You don't need to be an expert to max out gaming performance on your ROG Crosshair VI Hero — because 5-Way Optimization sorts all the complex settings with a click, for instant, highly controllable performance boosts! Exclusive ROG technology dynamically optimizes essential aspects of your system, based on real-time use — so you get superb CPU performance, everyday energy savings, ultra-stable digital power, cool and quiet fans and networking settings that are tailored for the apps that you are using. In short, 5-Way Optimization ensures that your PC is perfect for gaming, entertainment, and productivity!

 

Games run swiftly and smoothly with high-performance and prioritized bandwidth.

Fans stay whisper-quiet for everyday computing, and ensure extreme cooling efficiency when gaming.

Stutter is eliminated for smooth-running apps, even under heavy loads.

Energy waste is reduced so you'll save money and the earth.

 

Cooler by design

 

Play quieter and cooler with advanced fan and water-pump controls for the ultimate in undisturbed gaming. With onboard thermal sensors and hardware-level 4-pin/3-pin PWM/DC mode detection, Fan Xpert 4 makes sure every fan achieves the best balance of cooling performance and low noise ? so you enjoy all the performance you demand with none of the racket!

 

Media-acclaimed UEFI BIOS

 

The smoothest, slickest mouse-controlled graphical BIOS has been improved to make it even more gorgeous. Whether you're a PC novice or a seasoned overclocker, the EZ and Advanced modes help you find your way, quickly and easily.

 

The Finest Power: digitally controlled

 

ROG's revered digital power controller now delivers even-finer power, with Texas Instruments NexFET™ MOSFETs, MicroFine alloy chokes, Digi+ PWM controller and 10K black metallic capacitors — ensuring Extreme Engine Digi+ always delivers the smoothest core voltages.

 

Super-speed connectivity ? where you need it

 

USB-C is the future-proof reversible connector — and ROG Crosshair VI Hero lets you put the connection right where it's needed! With an onboard USB 3.1 front panel connector you can position a USB-C port on your system's front panel, so it's always within reach.

 

More throughput and less processing equals faster online play

 

ROG Crosshair VI Hero features the very latest Intel® Ethernet Controller I211-AT for faster, smoother gaming. Intel's LAN has the serious double advantage of reducing CPU overhead and offering exceptionally high TCP and UDP throughput, so there's more power for your game and your gameplay.

 

Pumped-up throughput, Best surge protection

 

LANGuard means safer, more reliable connections for your battles! Advanced signal-coupling technology and premium surface-mounting processes join forces to protect your ROG Crosshair VI Hero's connection, plus electrostatically guarded and surge-protected components (ESD Guards) for 1.9x greater tolerance to static electricity and 2.5x greater protection (up to 15kV) against surges!

 

Team up to banish lag

 

GameFirst IV optimizes network traffic for faster, lag-free online gaming — and now we've added Multi-Gate Teaming to team up to 4 networks for maximum bandwidth and smooth gameplay. You'll also enjoy all-new Intelligent mode, which automatically compiles a database by parsing new app data to ensure that every game is optimized for the best performance.

 

Protect your graphics cards investment

 

As a gamer you demand stability and durability, so ROG integrates long-lasting, premium components, plus exclusive smart DIY designs across the board — ensuring the best gaming experiences.

 

Stay in the game

 

A clever, unobtrusive overlay keeps you in the game and allows you to browse the Web, email, IM, stream or record while you play. The overlay is dressed in color-matched ROG skins to show you're part of an elite pack. Grab it now from Overwolf's app store!

 

Image your drives - the smart way

 

All-new ROG Clone Drive is the smart, convenient cloning solution that quickly and efficiently replicates hard drives or SSDs. Clone Drive is so smart that it can clone one drive to two target drives at the same time, or image any file from your disk at breakneck speeds.

 

Speed your game loads

 

ROG's uniquely intelligent technology effectively caches an entire storage device so that favorite games and apps launch at breakneck speeds: going to work the moment it's activated. RAMCache II turns milliseconds into microseconds to boost game-load times to stratospheric levels!

 

KeyBot II

 

Get a free keyboard upgrade from an exclusive microprocessor and intuitive user interface. Record macros directly from the keyboard, switch profiles in moments, enable special functions with hotkeys from F1-F10, start and even boost your PC from shutdown (S5 mode)!

 

VR ready

 

ROG Crosshair VI Hero isn't just VR Ready — it goes way beyond! The ASUS ROG Beyond VR Ready marque means that ROG Crosshair VI Hero has been tested with loads of class-leading components to ensure that your productivity, gaming and entertainment needs are tuned for maximum performance after you've taken off the headset. ASUS Beyond VR Ready opens up a new way to configure and build your dream system with total confidence.

 

If you do remember well, our first Ryzen 7 review did feature a ASUS Crosshair VI Hero motherboard, which was included in the test bundle; in this article we will take a closer look at the mobo itself by also re-testing it with the latest BIOS (AGESA 1.0.0.4a), while equipped with the Ryzen 7 1700 CPU. Crosshair VI Hero was shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard enclosure that does feature the usual ROG box art:

 

 

 

In the lower left corner, the manufacturer has also placed some pictograms that do represent the supported technologies:

 

 

 

On one of the box sides, we will be able to spot some of the main product highlights such as Gamefirst IV, SupremeFX, AURA, ROG RAMCache II or Extreme Engine Digi+:

 

 

 

A full list of technical specifications can be consulted on the bottom side of the box, along with a motherboard photo:

 

 

 

After lifting the top cover, we will get to see that the inside contents:

 

 

 

The motherboard is located in a separate cardboard layer, while its bundle can be observed underneath (the Vengeance LPX is not part of the bundle though, it was just shipped with this particular review kit):

 

 

 

 

To be more exact, we will receive a Safety Information guide, a disk with drivers and utilities, one nice ROG case sticker, some custom cable labels, a leaflet which includes a discount for CableMod cables (for unique looking builds), the ASUS Warranty Information Form but also one Quick Start Guide:

 

 

 

The supplied ROG Cable labels are very helpful when we are working with lots of drives and want to have them plugged in in a specific order:

 

 

 

ASUS has also included one User Guide, along with a beverage coaster:

 

 

 

Considering the multitude of interface Crosshair VI Hero does come with, the manual is really handy for installation purposes:

 

 

 

The high-end C6H does come with a black/dark grey color scheme and sports modern, RGB-enabled heatsinks:

 

 

 

Beginning with the top left corner of the PCB, we will be able to spot the usual 8-pin ATX power header, but also an extra 4-pin one, which is handy during extreme overclocking:

 

 

 

Between the I/O plastic cover and the first PCIe x1 slot, we can spot a fan header, but also a populated RGB LED header:

 

 

 

The SupremeFX audio solution is fully covered by a dark grey plastic shroud and is based upon the latest CODEC from Realtek (ALC1220). In order to provide very good sound quality, ASUS has also included a ES9023P High-Definition DAC; the interface does also come with impedance sensing for front and rear:

 

 

 

 

Crosshair VI Hero does feature 3x PCIe x1 slots (coming from the PCH), two reinforced PCIe 3.0 x16 SafeSlots (coming from the CPU), but also one bottom PCIe 2.0 x16 slot from the PCH, allowing multi-GPU SLI/CFX configurations to be easily installed:

 

 

 

Between the two top PCIe x16 slots, we can spot one ICS 9VRS4883BKLF Clock Generator, along with multiple ASMedia ASM1480 16 to 8 channel multiplexers/demultiplexers:

 

 

 

The CMOS battery is also available here:

 

 

 

Further down, we’ve got the ASUS TPU IC (TurboV Processing Unit):

 

 

 

An undocumented IC with the ROG logo is also available here:

 

 

 

For additional storage, the board does feature a M.2 Socket 3 Type M, which allows connecting models of different sizes:

 

 

 

On the bottom PCB area, we’ve got the usual Front Panel audio header, one fan header, the dedicated Power LED-enabled button, one Reset button, a Safe Boot button in order to force the system to reboot into the BIOS safe mode, a Boot Retry button which is very handy during overclocking, a LN2 mode jumper for fixing the cold boot problem but also a Slow Mode switch for LN2 benching:

 

 

 

Moving on to the right, we’ve got a TPM header, a ROG extension connector, one USB 2.0 header, one USB 3.0 header, a water pump header, one additional fan header, a RGB strip header, one Speaker header, a Thermal Sensor header but also a Front Panel header:

 

 

 

In the corner, we’ve got an orange HDD activity LED (SMD) but also Water in, Water out and Water flow headers:

 

 

 

Crosshair VI Hero does have no less than six SATA 6Gb/s connectors:

 

 

 

Nearby, we can spot another 4-pin fan header:

 

 

 

A USB 3.1 frontal panel header can be also located here (compatible with the newer case designs):

 

 

 

The 24-pin ATX power header is also accompanied by measuring points:

 

 

 

Mounting points are available for installing 3D prints of our own (models are downloadable from the ASUS website):

 

 

 

In the top right corner, we’ve got the Q-Code LED display:

 

 

 

Between it and the VRM heatsinks we’ve got three additional 4-pin headers, a DIGI+ VRM controller IC, but also one additional RGB header:

 

 

 

The stock heatsinks do look really nice and are meant to cool the massive VRM (8 VCore, 4 SoC):

 

 

 

 

The X370 heatsink follows the same design lines and is also RGB-enabled:

 

 

 

On the I/O we can see a ton of USB ports available -> eight USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0, one USB 3.1 Type A, one USB 3.1 Type C, a Clear CMOS button, the USB FlashBack button, a RJ45 LAN port, but also the classic audio ports which do also feature an Optical S/PDIF OUT port. A M.2 (E-key) interface is also available here for using a Wi-Fi module, but it is not supplied in the package:

 

 

 

This is the only motherboard we have seen which does come with both AM4 AND AM3 CPU cooler mounts, which is a great thing!

 

 

 

 

A small hole is available in the PCB area of the socket for inserting a thermal probe:

 

 

 

Here is also a look on the back side of the motherboard, which does reveal the PCIe contacts, the stock AMD backplate, the separation of the audio interface, but also an ASUS sticker:

 

 

 

Moving on to the bundle side, we are receiving additional M.2 mounting screws, one SLI HB BRIDGE, a RGB strip extension cable, the ASUS Q-Connector, one I/O shield but also four SATA cables:

 

 

 

The Q-connector really helps for plugging in the Frontal Panel cables:

 

 

 

The supplied I/O shield also has markings with the additional functions of the USB ports:

 

 

 

 

Lastly, we will receive a large sticker set, all ROG themed:

 

 

 

The Crosshair VI Hero board does come with a nice looking and functional UEFI interface, which is literally packed with a ton of options; we do also have a “My Favorites” menu, from where we can access the most frequently used settings:

 

 

 

Moving on to the Main section, we can see the BIOS version, the software versions of the other IC components, details regarding the installed CPU, RAM but from here, we can also adjust the date and time of the system:

 

 

Further down, can access the Security sub-section, which does contain the usual options:

 

 

Extreme Tweaker section was especially made for fine-tuning or enhancing the system performance; here we can work with the default overclocking profiles, adjust the CPU Core ratio, memory frequency, SMT mode, Core Performance Boost and many more:

 

 

In the lower area, we have the possibility to adjust the voltages:

 

 

Default Overclocking Presets

 

 

DRAM Timing Control

 

 

DRAM Control After Training

 

 

Digi+ Power Control

 

 

Tweaker’s Paradise

 

 

From the Advanced menu, the user is able to work with the additional board interfaces:

 

 

TPM hardware can be configured from the dedicated menu:

 

 

The CPU Configuration menu does offer some more details regarding the installed CPU and this is also the place to check out for enabling Virtualization (SVM Mode), which is disabled by default:

 

 

The Onboard LEDs can be disabled from the following menu:

 

 

Next we do have the SATA interface configuration menu:

 

 

M.2 options are also available here:

 

 

From the Onboard Devices Configuration menu, we can enable or disable the mobo interfaces:

 

 

APM Configuration area presents itself with some usual power management options:

 

 

Network Stack menu is next:

 

 

S.M.A.R.T. information can be also checked out per each connected device:

 

 

NVMe Configuration menu gets populated when suitable hardware is installed on the motherboard:

 

 

The USB interfaces can be also customized via the specific menu:

 

 

Moving on to the Monitor area, we can see the live temperatures, fan speeds but also voltages; this menu does also include the Q-Fan Configuration sub-menu:

 

 

The Boot menu does allow us to access the priorities, enable/disable Fast Boot, work with other different Boot Configuration options, CSM, Secure Boot and so on:

 

 

The Tool menu does allow us to access the UEFI EZ Flash 3 Utility, Secure Erase the specified drive, enable/disable the Setup Animator, access the Overclocking Profiles, configure the ROG OC Panel (when applicable), access the SPD information of the installed memory modules or check out some information regarding the graphics card:

 

 

Finally, we do have the Exit menu, which allows the user to load the defaults, save or discard:

 

 

Before actually starting the testing procedure, we made sure that we were using one of the more recent BIOSes available online for the C6H, and we have chosen to go with the BIOS 0083 version that is not considered a BETA.

 

 

The system did incorporate a Ryzen 7 1700 octal-core CPU, a GEIL PC4 25600 3200MHz CL16 8GBx2 Samsung B-die based kit running at 2133Mhz (15-15-15-36 timings), one KFA2 GTX 1060 OC 6GB video card, a Cooler Master 850 PSU but also an OCZ Vector 150 240GB SSD for storage purposes/boot. During testing, the system was running on a fresh Windows 10 Anniversary installation, while all hardware was mounted inside a Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower case.

 

With the help of the AIDA64 system reporting/benchmarking utility, we have extracted some more information regarding the system:

 

Motherboard

IMC

Chipset

Southbridge

 

The Crosshair VI Hero motherboard comes with a ton of applications customized for it; we will begin with SupremeFX GUI, which is practically a different skin for the Realtek CODEC. An interesting feature is automatic detection for the impedance, which will automatically set the amplification level:

 

 

 

We can configure options such as Speaker Configuration, launch Sonic Studio components, apply Room Correction or choose a Default Format for recording purposes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sonic Studio III will apply different effects depending on the type of audio content; the application does have separate tabs for playback and recording:

 

 

 

 

 

The settings we have performed can be saved to the cloud if we do have an account set up:

 

 

 

Sonic Radar III is and onscreen overlay that visually represents sound activities according to their positional location. It is designed as a gaming aid for pro/am gamers, those hard of hearing or unable to use in-game audio clearly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ASUS EZ Update application will search for the suitable applications and offer updates:

 

 

 

KeyBot II is a built-in microprocessor that provides instant upgrade to your keyboard. You can configure and assign macros to specific keys on your keyboard to perform specific or several tasks at the same time. You can also configure your PC to wake up in CPU overclocking, XMP, or directly to BIOS mode. The IC is backed with an application that sports the same name:

 

 

 

For speeding up applications, we can use the RAMCACHE II application:

 

 

 

 

The ASUS AI Suite application is quite complex and combines several modules for customizing the system such as Dual Intelligent Processors 5, TPU, Turbo App, EPU, Fan Xpert 4, DIGI+ Power Control, PC Cleaner, EZ Update, System Information and USB BIOS FlashBack:

 

 

 

 

 

 

ASUS AURA is the application in charge of the RGB lighting system; it comes with multiple effects we can choose from:

 

 

GAMEFIRST IV does provide a better gaming experience network-wise and will do traffic shaping when needed:

 

 

ASUS CLONE DRIVE is also available for copying the contents of one drive to another drive:

 

 

Mem TweakIt allows RAM customization to the smallest detail:

 

 

A RAMDisk application can be also downloaded and used for free:

 

 

If you do remember well, we have utilized the Ryzen 7 1700 CPU on both MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium and BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7 motherboards, but only with the MSI model we were able to hit 4GHz.

 

After a few unsuccessful attempts at 1.395V and 1.4V, we have given it one more try at 1.412V inside the BIOS and we were surprised that the system has passed the Prime95 28.10 test with flying colors! At the same time, we have had a CPU SoC voltage set at 0.943V inside the UEFI and a DRAM voltage of 1.32. The monitoring was performed with the HWiNFO64 utility (latest Beta version), where we did record a maximum temperature of 77.6 degrees Celsius on the CPU.

 

Here are the details of the 4GHz test run:

 

 

 

CPU-Z

 

 

 

Validation

 

 

 

Regarding the memory overclocking capabilities of the board, we have climbed the GEIL PC4 25600 3200MHz CL16 8GBx2 Samsung B-die based kit speed in steps from 2133Mhz until we have reached 2933MHz. The system performed flawlessly even at this speed, so we have also tried the 3200MHz frequency; the Crosshair VI Hero is basically the first board which actually booted at this speed, but as soon as we have started the Memtest utility for testing stability, we have been welcomed by a black screen.

 

 

AIDA64

Memory

CPU Queen

CPU PhotoWorxx

CPU Zlib

CPU AES

CPU Hash

FPU VP8

FPU Julia

FPU Mandel

FPU SinJulia

FP32 Ray-Trace

FP64 Ray-Trace

 

CineBench R11.5

CineBench R15

Blender Ryzen Render

PCMark Vantage

PCMark 7

PCMark 8

 

 

SuperPI XS 32M

X265 Benchmark (HWBOT)

1080P 64-bit Normal

3DMark Vantage

3DMark 11

3DMark 2013

Unigine Valley

Ultra AA Off DX11 1920X1080

Ashes of the Singularity DX12

CPU Focused

 

With the help of the AIDA64 utility, we have been able to check out the memory bandwidth differences at 2133MHz, 2400MHz, 2666MHz but also 2933MHz.

2133MHz

2400MHz

2666MHz

2933MHz

Due to the good quality components used besides the most recent Realtek ALC1220 CODEC, the ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero audio RMAA results are some of the best we have seen so far.

 

Supermicro C7Z170-OCE 16/44

GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-SOC FORCE 16/44

GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming K3 16/44

GIGABYTE Z270X-Ultra Gaming 16/44

MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium 16/44

BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7 16/44

ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero 16/44

 

 

 

 

Supermicro C7Z170-OCE 24/96

GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-SOC FORCE 24/96

GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming K3 24/96

GIGABYTE Z270X-Ultra Gaming 24/96

MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium 24/96

BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7 24/96

ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero 24/96

 

Crosshair VI Hero is one of the high-end boards for the AM4 platform we have very much enjoyed thanks to the multitude of available interfaces, good quality components, beefy VRM but also a fully-featured and easy to use UEFI interface. This board does impress by having a ton of USB ports on the I.O so you can plug a ton of devices in the back, you can connect your own RGB strips to the dual Aura-lighting headers, monitor your cooling system via dedicated water temperature and flow-rate headers but also install your trusty AM3 compatible water pump/cooler due to the unique compatible mounting system.

 

Regarding the board BIOS, this board was notorious in the beginning because many boards got bricked because an IC was getting corrupted after a few runs and the Flasback feature was not able to fix it; the BIOS engineers however got to the bottom of the problem quite fast and supplied the users with a fix on the Overclock.net forums, starting with the 0902 version. Most current boards should ship with this version or a newer one BUT if you get a board with a legacy version, we really recommend you to flash it right away and avoid bricking it.

 

With the latest BIOS we were also able to overclock our Ryzen 7 1700 CPU sample at 4GHz again, that does show the good VRM quality, while the RMAA benchmark has shown that the advertised audio solution with the low-dropout regulator, the added ESS Sabre Hi-Fi ES9023P DAC but also the Texas Instruments RC4580 op-amp are not there just for show.

This specific board does also feature an external, dedicated clock generator that does enhance the system overclocking capabilities. We could also remind of the large number of Windows OS-based utilities that allow the overclockers work with most of the system tuning options easily, without the need to boot to the BIOS each and every time.

 

A high-end board also comes with a “high-end” price, so it can be found online for about 247 Euros.

ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero AM4 Motherboard is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to ASUS for making this review possible!