The PCB and connectors :
The tools for clocking :
Why is this ROG Crosshair X670E Gene going to be one of the best cards for overclocking? First of all, because it comes with many tools inserted directly on its PCB that will make your life much easier.
- The power button: allows the motherboard to be powered on.
- The FlexKey button: by default it allows to reboot the motherboard in case of failure, but you can give it another function via the BIOS.
- Safe Boot: allows to reboot the board even if the settings chosen in the bios do not allow the boot. This avoids having to do a CMOS Clear and therefore losing your settings.
- ReTry Button: during cold tests, sometimes the OS freezes and a reset does not allow to restart the motherboard: only solution 6, 7 seconds by keeping the START button pressed. With the ReTry button, it restarts immediately.
- CLR CMOS : allows to erase the BIOS parameters during a boot failure.
- The Q-Code LED: allows to identify the component responsible for the error during the boot, but also to display the CPU temperature as well as the voltages.
- Status LED : which, depending on their color, allows you to identify a problem or to know at what level the component voltage is.
- ProbeIT: via the cables included in the bundle, you can easily read the different voltages with a multimeter
- Slow mode: allows you to boot with a coefficient of 16x and once in the OS to put back the one chosen in the bios. In cold mode, if you want to reach 6GHz in 60x100MHz, by activating the Slow Mode, you boot in 16×100 and in the OS, hop back to 60×100. It’s mostly for max screens.
- RSVD: when activated under cold conditions (-120°C), it prevents cold boot bugs.
- LN2 Mode: allows you to activate LN2 profiles in the bios.
If you have the opportunity to purchase a multimeter, it is an essential tool to accurately measure the voltage of your processor. Personally, I can’t do without it anymore and it also allows me to see the impact of the ” LoadLine calibration ” which I’ll tell you about in our overclocking tests. With this ROG Crosshair X670E Gene it’s a breeze to take readings thanks to the voltage measurement points on the PCB.
The PCB of this ROG Crosshair X670E Gene :
Our ROG Crosshair X670E Gene is based on a 16 + 2 + 2 phase power supply. The CPU part consists of 16 phases and on this model there is no doubler, but the phases are placed in parallel, so there are really 8 phases. The controller is a Digi+ ASP2205 chip.
The 16 mosfets are all 110A Vishay SIC850s. The mosfets in the power stages generate the most heat as they are responsible for the voltage conversion and delivery to the CPU from the 12 volt EPS connector.
Ultra complete connectivity:
The Crosshair X670E Gene is of course very complete. First of all, there is the Clear CMOS and the button for flashing the bios from a USB stick. One of the particularities of the card is that it has two PS/2 slots to connect a keyboard and a mouse. But why still use this type of connector in 2021 ? Simply because some benchmarks perform better under XP (Super Pi) and the use of non-USB peripherals greatly facilitates the installation of the OS.
Then there are two USB4 Type-C ports, six USB 3.2 Gen2 (5 Type-A and 1 Type-C), two USB 2.0 (Type-A), the tips for the Wi-Fi antennas, a 2.5Gb Ethernet port, an optical S/PDIF Out and the various audio outputs. Now that we’ve had a look at the AORUS X670E Master and its PCB, let’s go to the BIOS to take a look at the available settings and new features.
