Asus tuf gaming x570

The TUF series could not miss in this massive launch of plates for the new AMD Ryzen platform. The commitment of Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS is clear, to create a product of good performance and connectivity assembled with the best components of the brand, optimized for its durability and resistance to adverse conditions.

A step below the ROG Strix and an excellent option for those who need a board with a great quality / price ratio, for more than 200 euros.

First we want to thank Asus for giving us this product to be able to do our analysis. It is one of the brands that trust us the most and are at the top of our website in these launches. Thank you!

Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS technical characteristics

Unboxing

The Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS has arrived in a rigid cardboard box with dimensions quite adjusted to the final product. The TUF design is unmistakable on the outer shell, with a print based on abundant black and yellow colors with a large photo of the plate on its main face. Similarly, we have relevant information on the back and some sides.

We open this one to find ourselves more or less the same as always, a well-fitted plate in a cardboard mold and put in a fairly thick transparent antistatic bag. Below it, are all the accessories available in the bundle, which will be the following:

• Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS motherboard User manual I / O protection plate2 SATADVD cables with drivers and programs M.2 installation screws TUF certified card and a sticker to stick

It is clear that we lose elements such as RGB headers to connect lighting, and some other connectors and details that do incorporate the plates that are above this, such as the ROG Strix or of course, the Crosshair.

Design and Specifications

We can say without fear of being wrong that we have never had such an extremely extensive range of motherboards for AMD's gaming platform, the TUF range is not a novelty, since X470 and B450 have had a prominent presence here, but they have with other high-end. Of course, we must consider that the prices in general of this platform have risen considerably compared to other generations and this plate is not the exception, costing more than 200 euros.

How is the TUF series different? Well, let's see it with this motherboard, but not only is it a design inspired by military or metal, but its components are also optimized to offer superior durability.

The large aluminum TUF Gaming Armor cover that protects the rear I / O panel, which in this case does not have lighting, stood out considerably. Right next to it, we have a dual XL size aluminum heatsink system for the 12 + 2 phase VRM DrMOS. If we continue down, we also found a heatsink for one of the M.2 slots, although for the price of the board having heatsinks in both slots would have been the right thing to do.

And finally, a heatsink with an active system in the form of a turbine fan has been used for the X570 chipset. As with the others, at maximum speed it is a little noisy. An important novelty is that we have RGB AURA lighting in the chipset area, light, but present.

We continue with the TUF design indicating that the board is made on a 6-layer PCB for maximum durability and better transport of the electrical signal. One of the slots is reinforced with SafeSlot technology in the form of a steel plate, as well as the LAN network chip. ESD protections have been used on all I / O connectors to protect them from electrostatic charges up to 10 kV, with stainless steel.

VRM and power phases

The Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS power system consists of a VRM with 12 + 2 power phases, which is prepared to withstand the maximum voltage and power demands with the AMD Ryzen 3950X, and overclocking, although everything will depend on the silicon and the CPU that we use.

This VRM is composed in the first instance of a double EPS 8 and 4-pin connector with ProCool technology in the form of solid pins that support up to 480W of power. After this, we have a DIGI + controller that supplies a PWM signal for the digital control of the voltage that reaches the 14 CMOS SiC639 DrMOS capable of supplying 50A per phase. This stage of MOSFETS has an operating frequency of 1.5 MHz with an input at 19V and an output at 3.3V and 5V.

To finish we have a stage of CHOKES TUF of military certification and built in metal capable of providing high quality power even in high-power CPUs, as we can expect. Keep in mind that Asus VRMs are always real and without MOFETS that duplicate the signal. Similarly, the end stage capacitors withstand temperatures up to 125 ° C, 20% more than those commonly used, and with up to 5000 hours of life.

Socket, chipset and RAM memory

As you already know, this Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS motherboard has the AMD X570 chipset, which has 20 LANES PCI 4.0. It is the only one, along with the AMD Ryzen 3000, compatible with the new PCI communication standard. And we are already going to be able to use that two-way communication at 2000 MB / s in each data lane, thanks to the new M.2 SSD units, of which we have had two analyzes on our website for a few days.

This chipset has 8 fixed lanes for PCIe connectivity, and supports up to 8 10 Gbps USB 3.1 Gen2 ports, among other devices such as SATA and other ports. Communication with the CPU will be done through 4 of these new generation lanes, so in reality 16 of them are the ones that will be available for I / O devices, among which are M.2 slots and PCIe slots as we will now see.

The new AMD platform supports AMD Ryzen 2nd and 3rd generation processors, and 1st and 2nd generation Ryzen APUs with integrated Radeon Vega graphics. In this case, we do not have compatibility with 1st generation CPUs, although it is not a problem, since these CPUs are practically useless today. Anyway, in the support section of the board, you have the complete list of CPU and RAM memory compatibility.

We finish with the RAM memory capacity, which is 128 GB DDR4-4400 MHz in Dual Channel for the 3rd Gen Ryzen, while it will be 64 GB DDR4-3600 MHz for the 2nd generation. Asus has unlocked the ability to install high-frequency memories on almost all of its boards, thanks to support for A-XMP profiles, and this TUF is no exception.

Storage and PCI slots

In this section we do begin to see a decrease in performance and connectivity compared to high-end boards, especially in terms of PCIe slots. As we usually do, we are going to separate the slots that are connected to the chipset and the CPU, so that no user gets lost.

And it is that in the CPU lanes we will only have a PCIe x16 4.0 slot connected, which will be the fastest and the one that we must use for the dedicated graphics card. This slot will work at x16 with 3rd and 2nd generation Ryzen processors, although obviously in 3.0 mode for the latter. In the case of APU, it will be limited to one x8 bus instead of x16. In addition, it offers support, along with the second slot, to connect AMD CrossFire 2-way multiGPUs.

The rest of the slots will all be connected to the X570 chipset. The first of them will be a PCIe 4.0 x16, although keep in mind that it will only work at x4 at most. After these, we have another 3 PCIe 4.0 x1 slots, a good option to expand connectivity with small PCIe cards. It is certainly a way to keep the chipset lanes busy without going into multi-rail connections.

A good detail is that 8 SATA connectors have been allocated for 6 Gbps units, also connected to this chipset, and not 6 as it happens in other cases, so we will have plenty of solid storage connectivity. This chipset also includes an M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 slot, which supports 2242/2260/2280/22110 sizes and can work on both PCIe and SATA 6Gbps. In principle, the manufacturer does not detail limitations on the capacity of connections between SATA and PCIe in its lanes in its instruction sheet. (if you see it, say so)

For the CPU, only a second M.2 slot has been left connected, which is exactly the same as the previous one, although it does not have a heatsink. So it will work on PCIe 4.0 x4 bus for 3rd generation Ryzen and supporting sizes up to 22110. The whole system will be compatible with AMD Store Mi storage technology and capable of RAID 0, 1 and 10 configurations.

Network connectivity and sound card

Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS also goes down one notch as is normal in this section, with more basic connectivity, although high-level sound. Perhaps what we are going to miss the most is a Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6 wireless connection, which does exist on the top plates. And we also do not have a third M.2 slot available to install a Wi-Fi card such as the Intel AX200 or lower ourselves, so we would have to use one of the available PCIe slots.

In any case, the available connection will be of the wired type from an RJ-45 that gives us a 10/100/1000 Mb / s bandwidth. It is controlled by a Realtek L8200A chip where Asus has done its bit to improve the latency, stability and bandwidth of the connection. Behind the chip, we have the Asus Turbo LAN software that allows you to prioritize game connections and improve signal delay with a Game mode.

And under a metal TUF cover that protects you from interference, we have a custom Aste-enhanced Realtek S1200A codec for sound functions. Of course we have a double layer to separate left and right audio, and high quality Japanese capacitors to provide good sound. This codec supports a sensitivity of 108 dB signal-noise at the output and 103 dB at the input. Behind him, the support software with DTS Custom oriented to gaming to improve the ability to personalize sound in games.

I / O ports and internal connections

To finish with this description, let's see what this Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS offers us in terms of connectivity. We will always differentiate the connections of the rear I / O panel and the internal connections that we have not yet seen.

The ports that we have in the external I / O panel are the following:

• BIOS Flashback button1x PS / 21x Display Port1x HDMI4x USB 3.1 Gen12x USB 3.1 Gen21x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C1x RJ-45S / PDIF for digital audio5x 3.5mm jack for audio

In total there are 7 high-speed USB ports, which is not bad, and internal video connectivity in case we want to install APUs on the board. We do lose the Clear CMOS button, for example, for the simple fact of having a single BIOS available.

Well, the internal ports we have will be:

• 2x USB 2.0 (support up to 4 ports) 1x USB 3.1 Gen1 (support up to 2 ports) Front audio connector TPM connector 5x fan headers 1x AIO pump header 2x AURA1x header strips RGB Addressable header

The distribution of USB ports that Asus has made between chipset and CPU are as follows:

• X570 chipset: 2 USB 3.1 Gen2 and USB Type-C panel I / O, and all internal USB connectors will be managed by it (4 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.1 Gen1) CPU: 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 rear panel

Well, this is all that Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS offers in terms of connectivity and components, although we will see how it has behaved in our test bench.

testing bench

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Base plate:	Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS
Memory:	16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB Royal DDR4 3600MHz
Heatsink	Stock
HDD	Corsair MP500 + NVME PCI Express 4.0
Graphic card	Nvidia RTX 2060 Founders Edition
Power supply	Corsair AX860i.

BIOS

As far as BIOS is concerned, this Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS presents the same configuration as its older sisters from the ROG and Crosshair series, something that we must put in esteem, because we will have everything necessary to overclock (when we can) and manage intuitively and advancedly the parameters of our hardware.

As expected, it allows us to monitor and adjust any option on our motherboard. Having exhaustive control at all times of our system. You also have the possibility to adjust the fans to measure, create overclocking profiles and update the BIOS from the internet. Asus always offers top-notch BIOS.

Overclocking and temperatures

With fear of repeating ourselves more than garlic, we have not been able to upload the processor at a faster speed than what it offers in stock, it is something that we have already discussed in the review of the processors. However, we have decided to do a 12-hour test with Prime95 to test the 12 + 2 phases of powering this board with the AMD Ryzen 3700X CPU.

Similarly, we have taken a thermal capture with our Flir One PRO to measure the temperature of the VRM externally. In the following table you will have the results that have been measured in the VRM during the stress process.

Temperature	Relaxed Stock	Full Stock
Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS	32 ºC	48 ºC

We can see how the heatsinks of this VRM offer us a little less performance than the higher-end boards, we are talking about the ROG Strix and the Crosshair VIII, which in any case is normal. Similarly, temperatures in general are somewhat higher, both in phases and CPU.

Final words and conclusion about Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS

It is time to take stock of the Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS. Let's first summarize its great qualities: 14 power phases, an optimal cooling system, an aesthetic that combines with any component on the market and enough storage connections to have a high-performance equipment.

In our tests with the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and RTX 2060 we have been able to play Full HD and WQHD games with total fluidity , take advantage of the 16 logical cores by doing multi-tasks and having an all-terrain system.

We recommend reading the best motherboards on the market

Perhaps the clearest improvement is the incorporation of a thicker NVME heatsink, unlike the Strix and Crosshair models, this one is thinner, but somehow it has to be differentiated from the other ranges.

Its BIOS within what it is right now is the best there is on the market. At the day of the review, the issue of voltages remains to be polished, but we know that they are in it.

Its price in stores ranges from 250 to 270 euros. We believe that it is a great option for this price range and that few models can put so much face on it.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ DESIGN	- BEST HEATSINK FOR NVME
+ GOOD COMPONENTS	- PRICE INCREASE REGARDING PREVIOUS TUF MODELS
+ OPTIMAL COOLING
+ NVME PCI EXPRESS 4.0 AND WIFI 6
+ PERFORMANCE SIMILAR TO THE STRIX SERIES

The Professional Review team awards you the gold medal and recommended product:

Asus TUF Gaming X570-PLUS

COMPONENTS - 82%

REFRIGERATION - 81%

BIOS - 77%

EXTRAS - 85%

PRICE - 80%

81%