Some things take a little time to be discovered… Especially the fact that the ROG Strix X670E-i has a second chipset mounted on a mini PCB. This is the discovery that the media UNIKO’s Hardware made when receiving the card. It must be said that this model has not been reviewed much and few people have taken the card apart.
ROG Strix X670E-i, a clever integration of the second chipset!
In order to offer an X670 chipset in ITX, Asus adds an additional chip. This chip is located on a vertical PCB piece giving access to an additional M.2 port. This set is hidden by a plastic cover while being positioned against a heatsink. The goal is to take care of the integration in order to propose a convincing visual!
Moreover, the result is a clever stack of bricks and mortar just above the PCIe x16 slot of the motherboard. Indeed, on top of the first chipset, we find a first heatsink on which an SSD will be mounted and connected via an M.2 riser. Then, on top of all this, a second heatsink is present against which the second chipset will be located while being hidden by a plastic side cover. And finally, a second M.2 SSD will be connected to this last one while it will be covered by yet another heatsink…
Clearly, layers, that in fact, it is a real sandwich. Moreover, it is this design that allows Asus to be the only brand to offer an X670E card in mini-ITX format. Moreover, this design/integration has a price: 500 € at the very least!