Maximum PC - UK (2019-12)

WHEN AMD LAUNCHED its third-gen Ryzen
processors, they represented a massive
change. Keen to cement the success of
its first and second-gen chips, and taking
advantage of its Zen 2 architecture, AMD
pushed both core count and single-
core IPC in its new processors to the
max. But in a frantic attempt to stymie
Intel’s long-held advantage and stop the
competition having time to formulate a
counter-attack, the release of the Ryzen
3000 series hasn’t been as smooth as
AMD would have liked. With turbo speeds
struggling to hit their advertised marks,
and manual overclocking being null and
void in most cases, there are some tricky
problems at the heart of AMD’s product
stack that it is still addressing.
For price and performance, the
chips are still impeccable, but they’re
not without fault. Fortunately, AMD’s
saving grace comes in the form of PBO
and PB2: Precision Boost Overdrive and
Precision Boost 2. Easy to confuse, these
two technologies are very different from
one another. PBO controls how long the
processor stays at its advertised boost
frequency during heavy load, depending
on four main metrics: PPT (Package

Pure power and a monstrous I/O

Asus ROG

Crosshair VIII

Formula

9

VERDICT Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Formula

PERSEUS Incredible VRM

solution; performs well out of

the box; awesome aesthetic;

strong I/O.

PERCY JACKSON Price.

$650, http://www.asus.com

SPECIFICATIONS

Chipset/Socket X570/AM4

Form Factor ATX

Memory Support 128GB DDR4 @ 4,800MHz

M.2/U.2 Support 2x M.2 PCIe 4.0

(with Ryzen 3000)

SATA Support 8x SATA 6Gb/s

Max PCIe Support 2x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x8x8)

Rear I/O

4x USB 3.2 Gen1, 8x USB

3.2 Gen2, 5.1 audio, optical

audio out, Wireless AX, 1x

Intel 1G Ethernet, 1x AQC

5G Ethernet, clear CMOS,

BIOS reset

Asus ROG

Crosshair VIII

Formula

Gigabyte

X570 Aorus

Master

ASRock

X570

Taichi

Tech ARP’s X264 (Avg fps) 63.24 62.57 61.07

Cinebench R15 Multi (Index) 3,174 3,106 2,999

Fry Render (m:s) 1:15 1:22 1:26

AIDA64 Memory Latency (ns) 70 76 76

CrystalDisk QD32 Sequential Read (MB/s) 4,979 5,013 4,996

CrystalDisk QD32 Sequential Write (MB/s) 4,285 4,271 4,272

Power Draw Idle/Load (Watts) 68/177 65/206 63 / 155

Total War: Warhammer II (fps) 58 58 58

Lowest Voltage @ 4.2GHz (Volts) 1.19 1.17 1.17

Maximum OC Achieved (GHz) 4.3 4.2 4.2

BENCHMARKS

Best scores are in bold. Our test bed consists of an AMD Ryzen R9 3900X, 32GB of Corsair Dominator Platinum

RGB DDR4 @ 3,600MT/s, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, and a 1TB Corsair MP600 PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD. Total War:

Warhammer II was tested at 1440p, on the Ultra preset.

Power Tracking, the maximum power the

motherboard allows over its rails); TDC

(Thermal Design Current, the maximum

amperage that can be passed through the

mobo’s VRMs, dependent on temperature

scenarios); EDC (Electrical Design

Current, the maximum amperage that

can be passed through the mobo’s VRMs

during a spike in demand, over a period

of time); and the temperature of the

processor. With those metrics, when the

CPU is under load, PBO adjusts how long

the processor remains at its max boost

clock across all cores, before reducing

voltage and clock speed simultaneously.

PB2 is a far simpler auto-overclock

feature that works in tandem with PBO.

It looks at the quality of the cores in the

chip and the chip’s temperature, then

increases the clock speed of one or two

cores by up to 200MHz when the load

requires single-core performance.

What has any of that got to do with the

Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Formula? Well,

thanks to PBO and PB2, third-gen Ryzen

chips will perform better with stronger

VRM solutions and better cooling across

the VRM and the processor, and the

latest Formulas include support for VRM

cooling, thanks to a collaboration project

with EKWB to produce a waterblock for

the VRMs that works both under air and

in a custom loop.

But let’s not beat around the bush—

this motherboard is not cheap. At $650,

it’s almost $200 more than the Intel

equivalent. This is in part due to the

design, but the inclusion of PCIe 4.0

across the M.2 slots is expensive to

achieve. That said, Asus is certainly

not holding back. Apart from the

incredible aesthetic appeal, with subtle

mirrored styling and intricate RGB, the

Formula also features an arsenal of

internal connectivity and rear I/O, and a

stunning power delivery system. With

a 14+2 power-phase design, with each

MOSFET capable of handling 60A, backed

up by a microfine alloy choke rated at

45A, all supplied by both an eight-pin and

a four-pin EPS power, this is a monster.

And it shows. Performance-wise, it

makes a mockery of the competition,

hammering in 3,174 in Cinebench R15, 75

seconds in Fry Render, and 63.24fps in

X264. There’s no doubting how big a deal

that VRM solution is. Even so, the reality

is, in our testing suite, this is all done at

stock. With a liquid-cooled loop chilling

those VRMs, it’s likely it will score far

higher thanks to PBO and PB2, and that’s

where the true brilliance of the Crosshair

VIII Formula lies. Despite its vast price,

it’s hard to deny the genius behind its

design. Whether it’s connectivity, PCIe

4.0, aesthetics, or outright performance,

the Formula is king. –ZAK STOREY

maximumpc.com DEC 2019 MAXIMUMPC 85