Introduction

Last year, AMD released the Ryzen 3000 series desktop processors in one of the most monumental hardware launches of the modern era. This final step completed the Red brand’s ascent back into the forefront of the desktop processor market that began with the launch of the first generation of Ryzen CPUs.

With the Ryzen 3000 launch came the AMD X570 chipset. Featuring PCIe 4.0 support, X570 was an impressive leap from generations past. It was also hot, which had motherboards often including chipset cooling fans. With Ryzen 5000 around the corner, as well as AMD’s RDNA2 GPU launch, there is more interest than ever in Team Red.

The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero is an update to last year’s award winning ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero. The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero has been equipped with the same accouterments as last year’s Hero, with a few upgrades. The M.2 heatsinks on both slots, a premium lighting solution, integrated rear I/O shield, and great ASUS BIOS have not changed. But the VRM Power Stages have been upgraded to 90 A from 60 A, and most importantly, ASUS has done away with the chipset fan. The only question is how much better is the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero?

Specifications