Board Features

The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact is one of two small form factor motherboards from ASUS and is the bigger of the pair with its slightly larger than normal PCB. Using the mini-DTX form factor allows ASUS to feature its ROG SO-DIMM.2 slot which allows users to install two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives with cooling support provided by the inclusive heatsink.  Other storage options include four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. The Impact features an Intel I211-AT Gigabit ethernet controller and an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax wireless interface; this also offers users BT 5.0 connectivity. Onboard audio is handled by ASUS's familiar SupremeFX S1220 HD audio codec and also includes an ESS ES9023P DAC. This adds three 3.5 mm audio jacks which are illuminated, as well as a single S/PDIF optical output on the rear panel. The implementation of the onboard audio is interesting as it's on an add-on card which is plugged into the PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot just beneath the full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot.

ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact DTX Motherboard
Warranty Period 3 Years
Product Page Link
Price $430
Size mDTX
CPU Interface AM4
Chipset AMD X570
Memory Slots (DDR4) Two DDR4
Supporting 64 GB
Dual Channel
Up to DDR4-4800
DC UDIMM Support
Video Outputs N/A
Network Connectivity Intel I211-AT 1 G
Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax 
Onboard Audio Realtek ALC1220
ESS ES9023P DAC
PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) N/A
Onboard SATA Four, RAID 0/1/10
Onboard M.2 2 x PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA (SO-DIMM2)
1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 (Audio)
USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) 5 x Type-A Rear Panel
1 x Type-C Rear Panel
USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) 2 x Type-A Rear Panel
2 x Type-A Header
1 x Type-C Header
USB 2.0 1 x Type-A Header (2 x ports)
Power Connectors 1 x 24-pin ATX
1 x 8pin CPU
Fan Headers 1 x CPU (4-pin)
1 x Water Pump (4-pin)
1 x System (4-pin)
2 x System (4-pin) SO-DIMM.2
IO Panel 5 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-A
1 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-C
2 x USB 3.1 G1 Type-A
1 x Network RJ45 (Intel)
3 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (SupremeFX)
1 x S/PDIF Output (SupremeFX)
2 x Intel AX200 Antenna Ports
1 x PS/2 Combo Port
1 x Clear CMOS Button
1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button
1 x Reset Button
Q-Code LED Debug

On the rear panel are five USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C port, and two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports. A further two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G1 Type-C, and two USB 2.0 ports can be added through the front panel headers. Clear CMOS, USB BIOS flashback and reset buttons are also located on the rear panel, and a two digit Q-Code LED debugger makes up the rest of the space. The memory support on the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact is very impressive with support for up to DDR4-4800 and the two slots allow for users to install up to 64 GB. The 32 GB UDIMMs can be used, as well as the double-height, double capacity DC memory is also supported.

Test Bed

As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.

Test Setup
Processor AMD Ryzen 3700X, 65W, $329 
8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3.6 GHz (4.4 GHz Turbo)
Motherboard ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact (BIOS 1001- ABBA)
Cooling ID Cooling Auraflow 240mm AIO
Power Supply Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU
Memory 2x8GB G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 16-16-16-36 2T
Video Card ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost)
Hard Drive Crucial MX300 1TB
Case Open Benchtable BC1.1 (Silver)
Operating System Windows 10 1903 inc. Spectre/Meltdown Patches

Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.

Hardware Providers for CPU and Motherboard Reviews
Sapphire RX 460 Nitro MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC Crucial MX200 +
MX500 SSDs
Corsair AX860i +
AX1200i PSUs
G.Skill RipjawsV,
SniperX, FlareX
Crucial Ballistix
DDR4
Silverstone
Coolers
Silverstone
Fans

New Test Suite: Spectre and Meltdown Hardened

Since the start of our Z390 reviews, we are using an updated OS, updated drivers, and updated software. This is in line with our CPU testing updates, which includes Spectre and Meltdown patches. We are also running the testbed with the new Windows 10 1903 update for AMD's Ryzen 3000 series CPUs, and X570 motherboard reviews. The Windows 1903 update improves multi-core and multi-thread performance on AMD's Ryzen processors with topology awareness meaning previous issues in regards to latency have been known to affect performance. As users are recommended to keep their Windows 10 operating system updates, our performance data is reflected with the 1903 update.

BIOS And Software System Performance
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  • Marlin1975 - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link

    Nice board; but not $200, let alone $400, nice.
  • Destoya - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link

    This is really a hardcore overclocker board more than anything and the price reflects that. It's already set records for DRAM frequency (first board over 6000 MT/s).

    As the article says, there's numerous other options for SFF X570/X470 at more reasonable prices for people who aren't chasing WR overclocks or who don't have a blank check to build the "best" small system.
  • shabby - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link

    How much better will this overclock than a $200 board? 50mhz more? The new ryzen chips simply don't overclock well so you don't need any fancy mobos.
  • Dug - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link

    More for ram than cpu. You are right, the ryzen cpu's just don't o/c that much to spend so much money on this board. The differences in speed aren't worth the headache.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Sunday, October 27, 2019 - link

    My crosshair VII was only $249 and it is considered a fantastic OC AMD board with overbuilt VRM capable of OCing memory well as long as the CPU can handle it.

    $400 is WAY too much for a tiny mobo that wont OC ryzen 3000 any higher then your typical AM4 board, on account of ryzen 3000 having 0 OC headroom, and even if it did, you dont need a $400 mobo to do that.

    This generation motherboards have jumped $100-200 in price while prancing out touted features that mean jack in real world usage. People need to stop wasting their money on this overpriced garbage.
  • guitarmassacre - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link

    In what world would this board sell for sub-$200? The cheapest itx is currently $220.
  • evernessince - Saturday, October 26, 2019 - link

    Given that X99 SFF boards sell for more then $200 and they have less PCIe bandwidth and a lower PCIe version, older Wifi, older USB gen, ect. I don't see a reason why this board wouldn't be worth more then $200. If people can justify paying Intel's premium for 3% more gaming performance, you can certainly justify twice the PCIe speed.
  • Daveteauk - Monday, May 18, 2020 - link

    $200?!? You are a dreamer! What colour is the sky in your world!?
  • Sivar - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link

    Yet another X570 with an embedded fan. Pass.
    This is a regression, from solid state to mechanical moving parts. Fan quality has increased since the horror stories of the 90's and 2000's, but an improved bad idea is still a bad idea.
    Why can only Gigabyte cool an 11W load passively?
  • PeachNCream - Friday, October 25, 2019 - link

    It actually has two 30mm fans rather than one.

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