Lath Design & Layout

Upon first glance, the Asus Crosshair Iv Extreme makes prominent employ of an advanced cooling setup. Heatpipes connect the SB850 southbridge and Lucid HydraLogix engine to the massive heatsink covering the power stage circuitry and 890FX northbridge bit. The 890FX northbridge is one of the about power-hungry fries of the AMD 8-series, consuming 19.six watts, so the larger heatsink is probably warranted.

Nosotros dislike the small blower fan embedded in the large primary heatsink every bit it emits a high pitch noise that tin can be heard over the other organization fans. The current BIOS version doesn't provide command over this fan, so there's no way to slow information technology down. If you feel your CPU libation directs enough air over the motherboard, you can always opt to unplug the congenital-in fan.

The Crosshair Iv Farthermost features the new Farthermost Engine Digi+ (8+2 phase CPU power pattern with ML Cap) which is designed to combine high quality analog and digital design elements that provide optimum electrical, thermal and textile performance for reduced switching delay times and improved signal accuracy.

Typical digital VRMs requires a high switching frequency of 800KHz or above to operate due to their logical limitation, but the ROG Extreme Engine Digi+ is capable of delivering the aforementioned level of power stability with a switching frequency every bit low as 250KHz. This allows for a lower operating temperature and greater efficiency.

Farthermost overclockers will also appreciate the ROG Crosshair III Extreme's LN2 mode that solves cold-kicking bugs which can crop up with liquid nitrogen cooling, while Q Reset offers a quick and like shooting fish in a barrel way to clear the CMOS when frosting prevents a reset in standby mode.

As you would await from a tier 1 lath maker, the Crosshair IV Extreme'due south blueprint is very neat and tidy. Often we find that when the DIMM slots are too close to the primary PCI Express slot, it becomes impossible to install retentivity modules without showtime removing the graphics card. This can be a hassle for those with a large graphics cards in pocket-sized cases, as they can exist quite awkward to remove.

Asus has excluded the DIMM slot clips from the bottom of the slots, keeping them only at the meridian where they are easily attainable. This means that users simply accept to employ the top clips to remove and install retentivity modules, eliminating the abrasive DIMM/PCIe conflict.

Those wanting to use 2-fashion or even 3-way CrossFireX on this motherboard volition exist pleased with the large amount of space betwixt each graphics menu. Because the Crosshair Four Extreme is designed to use the first and third slots for CrossFire, Asus has placed two slots between them to promote good for you airflow.

Nevertheless, the down side to this is that the HydraLogix engine slots are positioned closed together (second, fourth and fifth slots). Each is separated by but one other slot, significant that the graphics cards have practically no room for proper airflow.

The SATA ports are mounted on a 90-degree angle to avoid interfering with long graphics cards. The CMOS battery is positioned above the SATA connectors, making it easily accessible, though at that place is a CMOS reset button on the I/O panel, so yous would likely use that to reset the BIOS.

The I/O console is well stocked and includes merely a unmarried legacy connector, a PS/2 port for older keyboards. There are also seven USB 2.0 ports (ane port is for ROG Connect), two USB 3.0 ports, six audio jacks, coaxial/optical S/PDIF-out connectors, a Firewire port, dual eSATA ports, Ethernet, as well as the CMOS reset button and an ROG Connect On/Off switch.

The board supports some other six USB ports via headers, and Asus has included a single 2-port SATA/1-port Firewire bracket in the package, along with a CrossFireX connector, RC Bluetooth carte du jour, Thermal Sensor Cable Pack, ProbeIt cablevision fix, ROG Connect Cablevision and a number of black SATA cables.