ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero Motherboard Review

To say the box is HUGE is an understatement! Inside, you’ll find the usual user’s guide, ROG stickers, ROG key lanyard, 2 pairs of SATA cables, 3 sets of M.2 screws, USB thumb drive, graphics card holder, 3-pin RGB extension, 4-pin RGB extension, WiFi 6e antennas, and a PCIE 5.0 M.2 card.

The ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero Motherboard

The motherboard comes in a matte finish and is pretty HEAVY, weighing in at well over 2kg!  This is all thanks to the large heat sinks around the VRMs/Mosfets and the M.2 slots.

You’ll also find the Polymo lighting feature on the left side of the motherboard which completely covers the I/O hood.

There are 4 x Q-DIMM slots for DDR5 ram which is great. One-sided clips for super simple and secure handling of memory modules. Please take note: The DDR5 memory slot is NOT compatible with DDR4 ram. 

You also get 2 x Safeslot for PCIE 5.0 x16 slots, which feature reinforcements to protect the motherboard and PCIe expansion cards from damage.

The good thing about the AM5 socket (LGA1718) is that it uses the same CPU mounting bracket as the previous AM4 socket. This is fantastic news, as you’ll be able to re-use your older AM4 CPU coolers on the newer Ryzen 7000 series processors (AM5).

The I/O panel has large heatsink and is completely covered by the Polymo lighting feature. It does look really good when you power up the system.

A Closer Look

As far as expansion is concerned, the motherboard 2 x PCIe 5.0 x16 slots (supports x16 or x8/x8 mode(s)* and 1 x PCIe 4.0 x1 slot.  And for USB, there’s loads … a total of 23 x USB ports!

Rear USB (Total 12 ports) including …

• 2 x USB4 (2 x USB Type-C),
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port(s) (1 x USB Type-C),
• 9 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 port(s) (8 x Type-A + 1 x USB Type-C)

For front USB (Total 11 ports) includes …

• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 connector (supports USB Type-C with up to 60W PD/QC4+)*
• 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 headers) support additional 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
• 3 x USB 2.0 headers support additional 6 USB 2.0 ports.

For connectivity, it comes with the Intel 2.5G LAN and WiFi 6E + Bluetooth 5.0. For audio, it features the SupremeFX ALC4082 audio codec and ESS  ES9218 QUAD DAC high-definition DAC.

There are 2 x 8-pin PCIE power connectors on the top left-hand corner of the board. These are required to power the board and to give you that extra stability.

I also like the M.2 Q-Latch, which allows me to easily install or remove an M.2 SSD without the need for extra tools. And I love the PCIE Slot Q-Release. It’s a physical button that unlocks the first PCIe slot’s security latch with one tap. It makes it easier to detach the graphics card from the motherboard at any time.

The rear I/O panel include the BIOS flashback button, clear CMOS, 1 x HDMI port, connectors for your WiFi 6e antenna, HDMI port, Intel 2.5G LAN port, an array of audio connectors, SPDIF out, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 port, and 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C port, 8 x USB 3.2 Gen2 port, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C ports, 2 x USB4 Type-C ports.