A glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Gaming and content creators will find many useful features
- Premium quality and build quality
- Next-gen performance: VRMs, DDR5, PCIe Gen 5, USB4
Cons
- This premium experience is made possible by the higher AM5 platform prices.
- This level would welcome 10GbE Ethernet networking
Our Verdict
The Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero packs great next-generation features like DDR5 or PCIe Gen 5. It also has plenty of USB ports, M.2 slots and plenty of USB ports. It includes everything a serious content creator or gamer would need. It lacks high-end 10GbE networking, but in terms of features and performance per dollar, it doesn’t get much better.
Best Prices Today: Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero
AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPU lineup is here, and hot on its trail are the new X670E motherboards. What’s a “Hero” without a great sidekick, after all!
The Asus Crosshair X670E Hero acts like a superhero. It has enough power to power even the fastest Ryzen CPUs, and includes DDR5, PCIe Gen 5 and plenty of chops.
The Hero line has been a fan favorite in previous generations and aims to offer a similar premium experience with this generation. The Hero lineup is known for its powerful performance and many features. It also has a unique design that gamers love. It boasts enough features that it will entice content creators. One of the most appealing additions is Fast USB4.
The X670E Hero will be worthy of your superhero dollars. We’ll discuss the specs, features, design, and performance. We’ll see if this board alongside the Ryzen 7000 is the perfect duo to beat your supervillain foes.
The MSRP for the Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero is $699. This puts it in the category of enthusiast motherboards. It’s targeted towards gamers, but has the goods to please workstation users, too. Many people use mainstream platforms because HEDT has made it affordable.
We’ll look at the specs list, and more importantly, cover which features you should keep a keen eye on. Of course, you’ll need a new Ryzen 7000 CPU—there’s no backwards compatibility with Ryzen 5000 due to the new chipset.
If you’re considering X670E, you’ll have some benefits over the cheaper mid-level B650 options. You’ll get twice the theoretical USB and SATA ports with X670E. This will give you more PCIe lane options, with PCIe Gen 5 support for the GPU and your NVMe drives. (B650 also has an “B650 extreme” variant, plus a standard B650—adding some complexity to the product stack. Here’s our recent review of the Gigabyte B650 Aorus Master.)
Some of these extras are included with the Asus Crosshair X670E Hero.
Thiago Trevisan
To further cement this board’s premium position, the unboxing experience is amplified over mere mortal-level motherboards. You’ll get some nice ROG goodies in the box such as a ROG M.2 PCIe card, a key chain, and even a graphics card holder! It may be necessary for the new generation of goliath GPUs.
- Formulation ATX
- Ryzen 7000 CPU Support
- 18+2 Teamed Energy Stages with 110A per stage
- DDR5 dual channel RAM, up 4x DIMM and 128GB maximum
- 2x PCIe Gen 5.0 16x slots
- 4x onboard M.2 slots, (2x being PCIe Gen 5)
- 1x additional M.2 slot in conjunction with the PCIe Gen 5 included card
- HDMI-out, USB/DisplayPort out with USB4
- 12 USB ports on the rear, including two USB 4.0
- Intel Wi-Fi 6E
- Intel 2.5GbE Ethernet LAN
- RGB Aura Sync, plus “Polymo” lighting on I/O shroud
- 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports
- 8 PWM fan headers with water flow headers
- Clear CMOS Flashback and BIOS Flashback
- The onboard power button
- Audio: ROG SupremeFX – ALC4082 Codec
- Compatible AM4 CPU cooler mounting (using original AMD backplate design)
- Asus QRelease and QLatch
- MSRP $699
Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero: Features
It will look amazing in your tempered-glass gaming computer build. What’s more, it will even perform beyond most expectations for workstation users. That’s due to the caliber of included features offered here. Pair it with a Ryzen 9 7900X or 7950X, and you’ll be putting past HEDT CPUs in the rear-view mirror. (Ah, Intel 9290XE.
The Hero is a premium motherboard that differentiates it from lower-tier motherboards like the Asus X670E Strix. There are a few things that make the Hero stand out.
USB4? Yep, it’s here and the fastest speeds we’ve seen to date from USB—up to 40Gb/s. This is a dream machine for content creators, with six SATA ports and a few M.2 NVMe slot. (PCIe Gen 5 ensures you’ll have plenty of future headroom for upgradability, too.)
Overclocking enthusiasts take note: You’ll have the awesome start button (something that should be included in every motherboard!). Clear CMOS Flashback as well as BIOS Flashback are both available in order to allow for a quick reset if needed. A neat “Q-Code” display on the top right helps you diagnose issues rapidly. These features can be used for both everyday and troubleshooting purposes, even though you don’t plan on turning the overclocking dial.
DDR5 (and PCIe Gen 5) are here to speed things up in gaming and everyday usage. Do you want to add M.2 drives at lightning fast speeds? This motherboard can handle M.2 drives at super-fast speeds, along with your PCIe Gen 4 GPU like the Nvidia RTX 4090. With a healthy dose of PCIe lanes, you’ll be far from saturating them in most use cases.
Twelve USB ports are not something to be ashamed of, and few motherboards have the speedy USB 4. Like Thunderbolt, it has a wide-ranging potential for utility alongside its speed – such as displaying out to monitors.
With Ryzen 7000, you’ll even be able to use the integrated iGPU if you need to troubleshoot your build without having to install a discreet GPU—a great quality-of-life feature that can “save the day” when you least expect it!
If you want clear audio, the ROG SupremeFX ALC4082 Codec fits the bill and includes all the input and outputs you’d want.
Networking is standard here, with Intel’s 2.5GbE and 6E Wi-Fi. We’d love to see a 10GbE port offered on this class of motherboard, as many enthusiast users would make use of it among the otherwise stellar I/O lineup.
These creature comforts are now standard in the world: Q-Release to quickly release the GPU and QLatch to install M.2 drives. These creature comforts transform tedious building tasks into simple, fun-to use mechanical innovations.
Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero: Design
The ROG Crosshair E Hero X670-E Hero is $699 MSRP and will quickly let you know how valuable it is. From the moment you lay eyes on its gorgeous design, you know you’re in the presence of an enthusiast masterpiece!
Starting with the I/O shield area, you’ll get a tasty treat with the “Polymo” customizable RGB effects and subtle Crosshair branding. Next, check out the elegant VRM and M.2 heatsinks. Finally, look at the PCIe slot area.
For a premium look, mirror-like surfaces are surrounded by metal heatsink zones with harder accents. Sure, your GPU will likely obfuscate most of this area—but it’s still glorious to look at, and inspires real pride of ownership!
The back is more basic, with the motherboard name simply stamped on it. We’d love to see a backplate like what the Asus ROG Z790 Hero offers, however.
The Asus Crosshair X670E Hero has a simple backside and is made from high-quality materials.
Thiago Trevisan
Overall, it’s a very attractive motherboard with a subtle, almost smoked-mirror look to it. It feels great and is made of high-quality materials.
Asus ROG Crosshair Hero X670E: Performance, software and BIOS
Packing 18+2 power stages, with what Asus calls “Teamed Power Stage Design,” makes the board sound powerful, right? And it is—it can easily tame the hearty Ryzen 9 7950X without compromise.
Performance is robust, whether you’re talking about gaming or workstation duties. The DDR5 speed will be a big hit with gamers, and RAM prices dropping makes it more attractive.
You don’t get the option of DDR4 on AM5 motherboards, as you do on Intel’s Z790 lineup, but DDR 5 ensures you’re future-proofed.
The Asus BIOS enhances the experience by being as useful for tinkerers as ever. Overclocking RAM, undervolting CPUs, it’s all here—and more. It’s easy to use, intuitive, and full of options for the advanced user. If you’d rather sit back and let the motherboard do all the work, it can handle that spectacularly, as well.
Asus Ai Overclocking and DDR5 Preset RAM Profiles keep your hardware at peak performance with a simple click.
Asus’ Armoury Crate software has also been much improved this generation for those who prefer to stay out of the BIOS altogether. It can perform fan profiles with Fan Xpert. Ai overclocks your CPU. And it can even customize your RGB color with Aura Sync. It can pull up the latest driver updates for your motherboard. This makes it an easy-to-use tool for many users. The interface is attractive and easy to use, which is a plus—since motherboard software has historically been a bit bloated in the past.
Do you want to buy the Asus ROG Crosshair X670-E Hero Hero?
The Asus ROG Crosshair X670-E Hero has enthusiast-grade features that will please both gamers and content creators. It does this with minimal compromises and great style. It’s a real class act.
Sure, it’d be nice to see 10GbE rounding out the premium features, but it’s still chock full of goodies. You get all the latest-generation buzzwords like DDR5 or PCIe Gen 5, and plenty of PCIE lanes. These features all contribute to the $699 MSRP. DDR5 and Ryzen 7700 CPUs are included in AM5’s overall platform cost. But you’re also getting the most features and performance that we’ve seen yet from an AMD mainstream motherboards. (You’d have to step up to the $999 Asus ROG Extreme for features such as 10GbE networking).
If you’re a high-end enthusiast gamer or content creator who strives for one of the best motherboards on the market for AM5, this will be your Hero!
