ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero Wi-Fi X470 Motherboard Review | Level One Techs

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://level1techs.com/video/asus-rog-crosshair-vii-hero-wi-fi-x470-motherboard-review
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haven’t started watching it. Just wanted to brag and say I was nineteenth!

You mentioned an Intel 2x2 wifi solution? Can you confirm that? Mine has a Realtek RTL8822BE. But at least it is 2x2 vs other boards that are 1x1 for some reason.

And yeah, those RMA experiences… This board seems to be either perfect or a hair loss catalyst. My first one would freeze in UEFI. Second one hasn’t caused any problems. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Agreed that the BIOS flash button is extremely important, especially with the nightmarish issues with my first board.

One other thing to mention is the memory compatibility seems to be among the best, and it has a lot of tuning settings for achieving high memory clocks and tight timings.

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I was wondering if someone could clarify the CPU lane situation. I currently have a 970 evo 250GB in the bottom NVMe slot and a 1070 Ti in the top PCIe x16 slot. I was planning to buy a P2000 for the other PCIe x16 slot but run both GPUs in x8. P2000 for host and 1070 Ti for GPU passthrough to Windows 10. Is my understanding correct that I couldn’t use the other NVMe/M.2 slot for another drive?

PS: my C7H has been awesome and stable. Personally got the non-wifi model and I’m loving it.

You could, but the second PCIEe x16 slot would run at x4

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Is that enough bandwidth for a P2000? I don’t fully understand how it affects performance. Obviously more is better but where does performance start to become sad.

@wendell In the video you state that you are using 2 x 8GB sticks of ECC memory. Were you able to successfully run it in ECC mode under Linux? Looking at the motherboard memory QVL list, it appears that ECC is not supported - or at least not officially…

I have the C6H, I bought it because of the memory support. After an AGESA update around last December(?), I can run my 2x16 GB G.Skill kit at 3200 MHz CL14 1T. The motherboard itself is great, the UEFI is really nice. I was messing around a lot with settings and overclocking, and the back buttons (clear CMOS and flashback) are a huge help. I did not have to take off my side panel when I messed up something.

However I can’t really say good things about their software. Aura is buggy, AI Suite 3 is dangerous. It has the habit of locking my fans at a certain speed (so when the temps rise, the fans stay at 600 RPM, causing thermal shutdown), or turning off my CPU fans randomly. I have a tempered glass side panel, so I notice when my CPU fans stop, but it is very scary. My D15 is a great cooler, but it can’t passively cool my 1800X.

Anyway, I like that the C7H is a good motherboard, let’s hope that Asus keeps improving it, so when the C9H comes out I will have a nice upgrade :slight_smile:

But we did go into it though?

Yes ecc operated fine. It’s not guaranteed but it’s fine.

Nice to see Cats Per Second GPU make a comeback. Still very happy with my own one that’s able to play Crash N.Sane Trilogy at 4K 60fps at Ultra just fine.

Buildzoid (a Actually Hardcore Overclocker) did have a criticism that the Slow Mode and Retry buttons were in a bad location. That’s more for extreme overclocking though.

Still hoping for better separation for the chipset IOMMU-wise though.

@wendell The ASUS Crosshair VI Hero was just ok? What don’t you like about the CH6? I have a CH6 in my system and it works like a charm with Arch Linux. Build quality is top notch and I even think the CH6 has a better io on the back than the CH7. Please respond :sweat_smile:

I think it’s the unhindered raidability of the nvme that really sets the C7H apart. To my knowledge it’s the only Ryzen board with the option of dedicated 2X x4 PCIe lanes for it.

But of course it would be good to hear @wendell’s complaints on the C6H… and confirmation of the wifi brand in his C7H.

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To answer my own question: https://youtu.be/GM4TkiU35vI?t=14m30s

Confirmed, Realtek wifi just like mine:

IOMMU Group 12 05:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection [8086:1539] (rev 03)
IOMMU Group 12 06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8822BE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi adapter [10ec:b822]

Yep yep. I think someone did an experiment on the board swapping m.2 modules in my office. Oops :-p the iommu was from aaaaaages back.

@wendell - At this mid-year point you’ve done reviews and/or builds with Threadripper using MSI, AsRock, and Asus boards. In your opinion, if you had to choose just 1 mobo for thread ripper and were building a new system for Windows / Linux Gaming, VM’s, and coding…plus testing of Linux distros…which one would you personally choose? And why? Thank you in advance for your response, Wendell.

Waiting for gen2 TR boards. The designare is pricey but good. The msi is no frills but stable and cheaper. The asrock fataility has 10 gig but buggy uefi mars an otherwise top notch computing experience

The new msi looked designare levels of swanky. I might prefer an Intel add in 10 gig card.

Asus had the 10 gig card but was also the only board to fail to post with 128gb memory at stock.

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Are you going to showcase your Linux Battlestation in any upcoming videos? I remember you using MSI for that board and running Fedora on it. But we never saw or heard anything more (unless I honestly missed it) using that system. I was wondering how the MSI board has been treating you with Threadripper under Fedora (and Linux in general). I will take a look at the Designaire. I get the feeling that, for Threadripper under Linux, for a completely uncomplicated build experience I need to choose between MSI or AsRock. You did say very nice things about Asus’ Crosshair Hero for recent Ryzen 5 & 7…but I’ve heard some negative feedback on Threadripper on Asus mobo’s under Linux use. Again, thanks for your help and response to my concerns, Wendell.

What is the max RAM on a CH7 with 4 DIMMs: 4x32Gb or possibly 4x64/128Gb with Registered ECC RAM (disabled in BIOS)?!