At Computex, we saw a ton of X570 motherboards for AMD Ryzen 3000 processors from various manufacturers but all of them had at least one flagship entry for their respective lineup. Today, I will try to give a more detailed look at the flagship motherboards we saw at Computex from some major players in the industry.
Here Are All The Flagship, AMD Ryzen 3000 Ready, X570 Motherboards You Should Know of
So I will try to let you know all the good and juicy details about these flagship products. We have already rounded up the entire lineups from all motherboard makers in our post here but it looks like these flagship products deserve a special mention and so let's start.
ASRock X570 AQUA - A $1000 US, All Liquid-Cooled Motherboard
Starting off with ASRock, the motherboard they are calling flagship is the $1000 US X570 Aqua. This motherboard is a super high-end design with a supermassive price. I think ASRock is justifying their higher price tag by adding a ton of features to this specific motherboard so let's take a good look at the ASRock X570 Aqua.
We will start off with the most obvious part, the design itself. When it comes to design, we have only seen ASRock building upon their Phantom Gaming, Taichi and Pro series for a while. Aqua series, on the other hand, is entirely new and the X570 Aqua is the first one to be a part of that. This motherboard makes use of a 16 Phase VRM and an 8+6 pin connector configuration which should supply a good amount of power to the socket for Ryzen 3000 CPUs to run stable and also allow some good overclocking results.
There are four DDR4 DIMM slots can support up to 64 GB of memory with speeds of up to 4666 MHz OC+. There are three PCIe 4.0 x16 slots which are shielded by a metallic brace & three PCI-e 4.0 x1 slots. There are also two M.2 slots (Gen 4) which are placed beneath the M.2 heatsinks that are next to the PCH heatsink. The aluminum cover which goes over the PCB has micro-channels which will pass liquid to the VRMs, CPU and the X570 PCH. This motherboard is aimed specifically at water cooling enthusiasts. In terms of storage 8 SATA III ports and the ever useful power and reset buttons at the bottom, next to the diagnostic LED.
For I/O, the Aqua is equipped with 1 HDMI, 1 DP, 2 Thunderbolt Type-C ports, 2.5G Gigabit LAN, 10G Aquantia LAN, 1 WiFi 6 + Bluetooth v5.0 module, and a 7.1 channel HD audio jack which is powered by the ALC1220 Codec. Expect this to be one of the most feature-rich AMD Ryzen 3000 motherboards when it launches on 7th July. ASRock also mentioned that they will be producing only 1000 units of the X570 Aqua and the one they showed at Computex was the very first unit. Each Aqua will have a marking of their unit number out of 1000.
X570 AORUS Xtreme - Front and Back PCB Covers, All Aluminum Fin Heatsinks
AORUS had set the bar with their X470 lineup which includes proper aluminum fin stack cooling over the VRMs. This time, they are further updating their design and using even more stacked fins for better thermal performance on AMD Ryzen 3000 CPUs to ensure the stable operation under stock and overclocked conditions.
Some of the main features of the X570 AORUS Xtreme include:
- Supports AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen/ 2nd Gen Ryzen/ Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics Processors
- Dual Channel ECC/ Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
- Direct 16 Phases Infineon Digital VRM Solution with 70A PowIRstage
- Thermal Reactive Armor Design with Fins-Array Heatsink, Direct Touch Heatpipe and NanoCarbon Baseplate
- Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with Triple Thermal Guards
- Onboard Intel WiFi 6 802.11ax 2T2R & BT 5 with 2X AORUS Antenna
- Rear 130dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with ALC1220-VB & ESS SABRE 9218 DAC with WIMA Audio Capacitors
- AQUANTIA 10GbE BASE-T LAN + Intel Gigabit LAN with cFosSpeed
- Exclusive RGB FAN COMMANDER for Professional Case modders
- USB TurboCharger for Mobile Device Fast Charge Support
- RGB FUSION with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
- Smart Fan 5 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP and Noise Detection
- Front & Rear USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C Headers
- Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS Without Installing CPU, Memory and Graphics Card
- CEC 2019 Ready, Save Power With a Simple Click
The X570 AORUS Xtreme has a grand set of features which if I had to start off with the CPU side itself, includes 16 Infineon Digital VRMs that are powered by a dual 8-pin connector configuration. The motherboard has proper stacks of aluminum finned heatsinks placed over the VRMs that are interconnected via an elongated heat pipe that runs all the way over to the PCH. AORUS is terming this as their Thermal Reactive Armor Design with heat pipe cooling.
For memory, the board will support up to 64 GB of DDR4 capacity in its four DIMM slots. AORUS has currently listed the standard JEDEC specifications for Ryzen 3000 which is 3200 MHz but will feature support for much higher memory speeds beyond the 4000 MHz barriers. Expansion slots include triple PCIe 4.0 x16 and three M.2 slots which are nicely hidden beneath the PCB cover that also includes heatsink for these specific M.2 points. The DIMM and PCIe slots are shielded by the AORUS solid metal shield.
For I/O, the motherboard includes WiFi 6 + Bluetooth V5.0, a Gigabit and a 10G Ethernet LAN port, tons of USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and ESS SABER HIFI system for audio that makes use of the ALC 1220-VB audio codec, ESS 9218 SABRE DAC and gold plated audio jacks for some superb audio quality. X570 AORUS Xtreme also has the Q-Flash and BIOS Flashback buttons in addition to Dual BIOS support and Power/Reset switches on the PCB. The whole motherboard has a brushed metallic black color scheme and is compliant with AORUS's RGB Fusion for a good display of RGB. AORUS also mentioned that there heatsink design is so good that they don't require any additional active cooling on the PCH which is absolutely great for users who want low noise loads.
MSI Prestige X570 Creation - Creation Comes To Ryzen With All The Goodies
With X570, MSI is bringing their Creation series down to the mainstream platform. The flagship creation series has so far been exclusive to the high-end desktop platforms from AMD and Intel however, X570 changes all of that.
Some features of the MSI Prestige X570 Creation motherboard include:
- Supports 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen / Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics Desktop Processors
- Supports 4 DIMMs, Dual Channel Memory DDR4
- Dual LAN with 10G Super LAN and WI-FI 6: Next level network speed, secure networking with fastest data throughput to improve efficiency.
- Lightning Gen 4 Solution: The latest Gen4 PCI-E and M.2 solution with up to 64GB/s bandwidth for maximum transfer speed and performance
- Frozr Heatsink Design: Designed with the patented fan and double ball bearings to provide the best performance for enthusiast gamers and prosumers.
- Extended Heat-pipe Design: Enlarge the surface of heat dissipation, connecting from MOS heatsink to chipset heatsink
- Extended Heatsink Design with Pre-installed I/O Shielding: All-metal extended heatsink cover ensures even high-end processors to run in full speed and provides convenience for installation
- M.2 Shield FROZR: Strengthened built-in M.2 thermal solution. Keeps M.2 safer and faster
- Creator Center: An optimized software with various system modes and resources for a wide range of scenarios and needs
- Core Boost: With dual 8pin power supply and IR digital power design to support more cores and provide better performance
- Audio Boost 4 with NAHIMIC: Reward your ears with studio-grade sound quality
- M.2 XPANDER-Z GEN4: An add-on card offers two extra Lightning Gen 4 M.2 slots and features FROZR heatsink design to increase your storage capacity at maximum Gen 4 speed
MSI's flagship contender this year is the Prestige X570 Creation, a fully loaded and neatly fleshed out motherboard which aims to make no compromises. The motherboard features 16 IR Digital phases in total which are powered dual 8-pin connectors. The board has four metal shielded DIMM slots which can support up to 64 GB capacities with speeds of over 4200 MHz OC+.
Expansion slots include three PCIe 4.0 x16 and three PCIe 4.0 x1 slots. Storage includes 6 SATA III ports and two USB 3.0 front panel headers right beneath them. The PCIe slots are using the steel armor which adds extra durability to these boards and looks great too. There are two M.2 slots which have the M.2 shield over them but in addition to that, MSI is bundling their M.2 Xpander Z Gen 4 Add-in-card which would allow for an additional two M.2 slots that will be cooled off by its own active cooling fan.
Looking at the design, we can see an E-ATX form factor which includes dual aluminum heatsinks and a heat pipe that leads to the Twin Frozr armor with active propeller blade fan design. The IO extended heatsink is also a great thing which is hidden underneath the IO cover that houses a lot of connectivity outputs such as dual LAN, a ton of USB ports, WiFi antennas and more. Expect the board to carry a premium price tag around the $500 US mark when it launches with the AMD Ryzen 3000 CPUs.
ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula - 8th Gen Crosshair With Liquid Cooled VRMs
Finally, we have ASUS who are known for their consistent quality and the best BIOS in the industry. The flagship this time is the ROG Crosshair VIII Formula which builds upon the foundation of the previous Crosshair VII Formula which is a pretty amazing board itself. The thing is that while the Crosshair VIII Formula is the flagship that has been showcased, for now, there's also supposed to be the ROG Crosshair Extreme which is the most top of the line motherboard series for AMD platform.
Some of the main features of the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula include:
- AMD AM4 socket: Ready for 2nd, and 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processors and up to two M.2 drives, USB 3.2 Gen2, and AMD StoreMI to maximize connectivity and speed.
- Comprehensive thermal design: Integrated Crosschill EK III, active PCH heatsink, M.2 aluminum heatsink, and ROG Cooling Zone.
- High-performance networking: Onboard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with MU-MIMO support, 5G, and Gigabit Ethernet courtesy of Aquantia and Intel, both with ASUS LANGuard protection and support for GameFirst V software.
- 5-Way Optimization: Automated system-wide tuning, providing overclocking and cooling profiles that are tailor-made for your rig.
- DIY Friendly Design: Pre-mounted I/O shield, ASUS SafeSlot, BIOS flashback and premium components for maximum endurance.
- Unmatched personalization: ASUS-exclusive Aura Sync RGB lighting, including RGB headers and Gen. 2 addressable headers
- Industry-leading ROG audio: SupremeFX S1220 and ESS ES9023P for enthusiast-grade audio performance driven by Japanese capacitors.
ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula makes use of 16 PowIRstages that are accompanied by MicroFine Alloy chokes, with each stage capable of delivering a whopping 60 amps. The board is powered by an 8+6 pin connector configuration and over the VRMs is a dual heatsink setup which not only is fully aluminum based, but also features an EK Waterblocks cooling solution that is compatible with all of the standard water cooling setups.
The motherboard carries four DDR4 DIMM slots which can support 64 GB of memory capacities with speeds beyond 4000 MHz OC+. Expansion slots include three PCIe 4.0 x16, a single PCIe 4.0 x1, and two M.2 slots which have their own separate heatsinks deployed next to the PCH heatsink. The board has a large PCB cover with ASUS's AURA Sync RGB and active cooling that keeps the chipset running cool under heavy loads. Storage options include 8 SATA III ports and you can also find a huge range of IO on the motherboard which is fantastic.
This was about it for our flagship X570 motherboard roundup for AMD's next-generation Ryzen 3000 processors. We will be updating you with the prices of each specific flagship motherboard when we have details. Till then, you can vote for your favorite flagship X570 motherboard in the poll below.
