Yesterday, AMD unveiled new Ryzen 5000 series processors based on the Zen 3 architecture. No new chipset was released to support the new processors, but at least Asus has seen the timing as favorable for new motherboard releases.

Asus’ new ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero motherboard doesn’t boast so much with new features, but it has one major difference from its predecessors: It lacks the X 570 – a chipset fan typical of motherboards. Motherboards with AMD’s X 570 chipset have so far been almost invariably equipped with a chip boundary fan, although its necessity has been questioned in tests conducted by Der8auer, among others. According to the pictures, the cooling heater of the Dark Heron chipset differs from the previous one mainly in its groove, but according to Asus, the temperature of the chipset is only 2, 25% higher than in the models with a fan.

While the most significant change is the removal of the fan, there is something new on the motherboard as well. The processor power supply is equipped with as many as 16 (14 + 2) 90 amps in the TI power stage. The phases are set to operate in pairs of two Power Stages without a separate phase doubler, which speeds up their operation, in addition to which the phases are placed in a temperature-optimized formation. The motherboard also includes Wi-Fi 6 support, 2.5 and 1 gigabit network controllers with LANGuard technology, and support for the BIOS FlashBack feature. System board back side of the I / O panel can be found in the power and reset buttons, in addition to Wi-Fi antennas, as many as eight USB 3.2 G