ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX Motherboard Unboxing Review

This is a simple unboxing test of ASUS new generation AMD AM5 1DPC (1 DIMM Per channel) memory overclocking motherboard model ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX, which is actually overclocked to DDR5 9800 MT/s with 2DIMMs Dual-Channel mode. for your reference.

ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX Motherboard Specifications.

Size: ATX 30.5 x 24.4 cm
Processor Support: AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000
Processor Pin: AM5 LGA1718
CPU power supply phase: 18+2+2 phases
Chipset: AMD X870E
Memory Expansion: 2x DDR5 DIMM slots, 9600(O.C.) MT/s, up to 128 GB (single slot supports 64 GB capacity)
Memory Certification: AMD EXPO (Extended Profiles for Overclocking), ASUS Enhanced Memory Profile (AEMP)
Display output: 2x USB 4 Type-C (DisplayPort 1.4a supported)
Graphics expansion slots: 2x PCIe 5.0 x16 (supports single card x16, dual card x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4 shared bandwidth slice mode), PCIe 4.0 x4, PCIe 3.0 x1
Storage expansion slots: 4x SATA 6Gb/s, M2_1 2280/2260/2242 PCIe Gen5 x4, M2_2 2280/2260/2242 PCIe Gen5 x4, M2_3 2280/2260/2242 PCIe Gen5 x4, ROG Q-DIMM.2 M2_1 22110/ 2280/2260/2242/2230 PCIe Gen4 x4, ROG Q-DIMM.2 M2_2 22110/2280/2260/2242/2230 PCIe Gen4 x4
Wired Network: Realtek 5 Gb
Wireless transmission: 802.11be Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Audio: Realtek ALC4080
USB Ports (Front Expansion): 2x USB 20Gbps Type-C, 2x USB 5Gbps (supports front four USB 5Gbps Type-A ports), 2x USB 2.0 (supports front four USB 2.0 ports)
USB Ports (Rear I/O): 2x USB 4 Type-C, 5x USB 10Gbps Type-A, 1x USB 10Gbps Type-C, 2x USB 5Gbps Type-A
RGB: 3x ARGB 5v 3-Pin
FAN: 1x 4-Pin CPU Fan, 1x 4-Pin CPU OPT Fan, 1x 4-Pin AIO Pump, 2x 4-Pin Chassis Fan, 2x 4-Pin Full Speed Fan, 1x W_PUMP+, 1x Extra Flow Fan

ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX Motherboard Unboxing

I personally have a very bad impression of the brand, but as an unboxing reviewer and overclocking enthusiast, I still wanted to see how this new memory overclocking board from Genesus is doing. As a result, there were only two unboxings in Taiwan: one by the media and the other by a price hut, both of them were only unboxing the exterior of the board, and the performance and overclocking tests didn't even have any installations... I can only say it's really a pity to have such an overclocking test model! I was going to say forget it, I'm not going to buy it anyway because it's a Pegatron, but then a friend who bought it and wants to sell it to replace it with the X870E BTF asked if he wanted to lend it to me for overclocking.

But because I just don't like to rack ASUS, things are also borrowed from others second-hand to return, I also don't want to spend too much time on ASUS to help advertise, so this article will not have disassembled or perfect performance test, anyway, the author is not like the other media ASUS pay money to find the unboxing, so don't waste my time, right, if you want to see more complete and detailed unboxing of the 1DPC memory overclocking models, you can refer to me! previous unboxings GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS TACHYON ICE、ASRock Z890 Taichi OCF、GIGABYTE X870 AORUS TACHYON ICEI have prepared these three articles a bit more seriously.

The ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX(C10A) motherboard from ASUS is ASUS' new generation AMD AM5 model for extreme overclocking, this time using the X870E chipset with more channels and better expandability, while its predecessor was the ROG CROSSHAIR X670E GENE(C9G), which is an M-ATX version. GENE(C9G), both of which are 2DIMMs overclocking-optimized models for AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000 overclocking, with 1DPC (1 DIMM Per channel) memory slot configurations that allow motherboards to have better compatibility with 2R (2 Rank) duplexed cells or 8000 MT/s high-frequency memory. The DDPC (1 DIMM Per channel) memory slot configuration allows the motherboard to have better compatibility with 2R (2 Rank) dual-sided particles or 8000 MT/s high frequency memory.

The ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX is also the first “APEX” motherboard in AMD's flagship ROG CROSSHAIR series, which was previously only available in Intel's ROG Maximus series, and the C10A has been around for quite some time. The C10A has been around for quite some time, revealed by internal engineers in January 2025, released in the press release in April, and started selling in Taiwan at the end of May. The price of changing from the X670E GENE (M-ATX) to the X870E APEX (ATX) is that the MSRP has become $6,000 more expensive, and it even surpasses the HERO, which is only cheaper than the EXTREME, and has officially become the second flagship of the AM5 motherboards from Pegasus. The AM5 motherboard is now a sub-flagship model.

∆ The ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX(C10A) motherboard, with a MSRP of NT$23,990, is second only to the flagship EXTREME chipset of the current generation of the X870E chipset, and officially surpasses the X870E HERO.

∆ Motherboard Features.

∆There is a handy instruction on the back cover "specially instructing" how to remove the card without scratching the gold finger.

 

ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX is the second 1DPC (1 DIMM Per channel) memory overclocking board from ASUS in AMD AM5 foot print, it is the successor of X670E GENE, but the specification has changed to ATX size and the price has become more expensive by 6,000 dollars, at present, the 1DPC memory overclocking boards for AM5 800 series contemporary models are GIGABYTE X870 AORUS TACHYON ICEASRock X870E OCF, Little Lizard B850MPOWER, but the latter two have not yet been officially mass-produced for sale, the specifications and pricing is not known, the Little Lizard B850MPOWER specifications are only in the Chinese microblogging paper specifications, the official website has not yet opened the specifications of the details of the temporary not yet known, so do not put into the discussion.

The ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX motherboard utilizes an ATX 30.5 x 24.4 cm form factor and features an 18+2+2 phase 110A power supply.

∆ ATX-sized ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX.

∆ has a reinforced backplate, which is not found in the Z890 APEX and X670E GENE.

∆ Motherboard Channel Configuration Diagram.

 

The integrated I/O COVER & VRM cooler connects the waste heat from ROG Ultimate's 18(110A)+2(110A)+2(80A) power supply to the aluminum I/O cover through embedded heat pipes and heat pads, which effectively increases the cooling surface area for better heat dissipation.

The X870E motherboard still uses the AM5 LGA 1718 socket to support AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000 processors, and because it retains the same heatsink grommets and hole spacing as AM4, gamers can install it directly along the AM4 heatsink grommet set.

∆ The motherboard power supply cooling block contains a nickel-plated heatpipe, then when I installed the radiator, I realized that my friend had removed the factory fasteners before installing water-cooling, and he had installed them backwards, so we laughed at him secretly here.

∆ AM5 LGA 1718 pin.

 

Let's take a look at the expansion and power supply slots on the ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX motherboard, which features an 8+8-Pin ProCool II processor ATX_12V power supply slot on the top left side of the motherboard.

On the upper right corner of the motherboard, there is a 4-Pin CPU Fan, a 4-Pin CPU OPT Fan, a 4-Pin AIO PUMP, and a 5V 3-Pin ARGB Gen2 slot, where the water-cooling header PUMP and the water-cooling exhaust fan cables can be installed when installing all-in-one water-cooling.

The four beads under the 4-Pin AIO PUMP slot are Q-LED indicators, labeled CPU red / DRAM yellow / VGA white / BOOT green, which allow users to quickly check which parts of the motherboard failed to boot up during the self-test process, and users can refer to the motherboard manual for debugging actions.

The Q-Code at the bottom of the screen is a 2-digit self-test code, which is the same as the Q-LED. If the self-test gets stuck, you can refer to the manual to check for hardware problems.

∆ The motherboard uses dual 8-Pin processor power supply slots.

∆ 4-Pin CPU Fan, 4-Pin CPU OPT Fan, 5V 3-Pin ARGB Gen2, 4-Pin AIO PUMP, Q-LED Indicator, Q-Code.

∆ Q-LED indicator and Q-Code demonstration.

 

The two slots of DDR5 DIMMs are 1DPC (1 DIMM Per channel) configured to support ECC Un-buffered DIMM/non-ECC Un-buffered DIMM memory, with a total maximum expansion capacity of 128 GB for both slots, which means the single slot has a maximum capacity of 64 GB. Supports AMD EXPO (Extended Profiles for Overclocking) memory one-click overclocking technology, as well as the ASUS Enhanced Memory Profile (AEMP) for memories with PMIC voltages locked at the upper limit of the JEDEC specification. AEMP provides an optimized profile based on the memory IC, allowing for additional overclocking performance even with JEDEC-rated memory.

The memory overclocking QVL support list features dual-channel memory modules with Ryzen 8000 series processors, the highest frequency that can pass the compatibility stress test is 8800 MT/s; in the official website, it is labeled that it can be overclocked up to DDR5 9600 MT/s or more, but this frequency specification does not pass the memory QVL(Qualified Vendor List) compatibility test. However, this frequency specification does not pass the memory QVL (Qualified Vendor List) compatibility verification, which is part of the overclocking power demonstration. Once again, we would like to remind you to choose the memory model that you want to install with the motherboard's memory QVL (Qualified Vendor List) compatibility report as the main selection.

Note that there is a double-clip slot with “DIMM.2” written on the side, which looks similar to the memory DDR DIMMs slot but is not a memory slot, and that side is a slot for M.2 expansion cards, so be careful not to oversee the wrong hole or even hard to oversee.

∆ 2x Un-buffered DIMMs DDR5 memory slots, UDIMM compatible, supports up to 128 GB capacity expansion, up to 8800 MT/s (O.C.) with QVL on both modules.

 

The slots on the right side of the motherboard are: ROG Probelt Multi-Meter Measurement Point, SAFE_BOOT Safe Boot Button, Boot Button, FlexKey (Default Reboot) Button, Reboot Button, PAUSE On/Off Switch, SLOW_MODE On/Off Switch, LN2_MODE LN2 Mode Jumper, 24-Pin Power Supply Slot for the motherboard, Two FS_FAN full-speed fan power slots, PCIE_8PIN_PWR fast charging power slots, one front USB 20Gbps Type-C slot (60W PD/QC4+ fast charging), EF FAN memory fan power slots, four SATA 6Gb/s, one USB 5Gbps slot (supports two front USB 5Gbps Type-A ports), RSVD_1/1/2 ), RSVD_1/2 ASUS personnel switch (do not use, keep it OFF), one 4-Pin Chassis Fan, one W PUMP+ water pump power supply slot.

The USB 20Gbps Type-C front panel slot features Quick Charge 4+ technology, which can fast-charge devices up to 60W, but the PCIE_8PIN_PWR fast-charging power supply slot on the side must be plugged into the graphics card's PCIE 8-Pin power supply cable in order to obtain fast-charging capability.

• The ROG Probelt has a voltage measurement point on the multimeter, which can be used to measure the system voltage with the multimeter during extreme overclocking.
• SAFE_BOOT Safe Boot button retains the original overclocking settings when pressed, but forces entry into the BIOS for subsequent fine-tuning of the BIOS settings.
• The FlexKey button is the system reboot function by default, but if you configure it in the BIOS Utilities tab, you can change the function to: Aura On/Off, DirectKey Direct Boot into BIOS, Safe Boot (force the system to reboot into the BIOS Safe Mode), which is beneficial during overclocking.
• The PAUSE switch temporarily freezes the system, allowing players to make system adjustments at UHF.
• The SLOW_MODE switch can be used during extreme overclocking of the LN2, and then turned on to record data during overclocking frequency logging authentication, and turned off to protect the system most of the time outside of authentication.
• The LN2_MODE jumper slot can fix the cold boot error of the motherboard during POST and help the system to boot up successfully.
• The FS_FAN full-speed fan slot provides full-speed power by default, eliminating the need to set an additional fan speed curve, and is ideal for use when you want to blow memory or other things directly with a full-speed fan.
• The EF FAN slot is used to power the ROG Memory Fan Kit included in the accessory.

∆ ROG Probelt Universal Meter Measurement Points, SAFE_BOOT Safe Boot Button, Boot Button, FlexKey (Default Restart) Button, Restart Boot Button, PAUSE Switch, SLOW_MODE Switch, LN2_MODE LN2 Mode Jumper, 24-Pin Power Supply Slot for Motherboard, Two FS_FAN Full Speed Fan Power Supply Slots, PCIE_8PIN_PWR fast charging power supply slot, one front USB 20Gbps Type-C slot (60W PD/QC4+ fast charging function).

∆EF FAN memory fan power supply slot, four SATA 6Gb/s, one USB 5Gbps slot (supports two front USB 5Gbps Type-A ports), RSVD_1/2 ASUS personnel switch (do not use, keep it OFF), one 4-Pin Chassis Fan, one W PUMP+ water pump power supply slot.

 

BAR, ALT_PCIE_MODE processor PICE channel bandwidth mode switch, one USB 5Gbps slot (supports two front USB 5Gbps Type-A ports), one 4-Pin Chassis Fan, two 5V 3-Pin ARGB Gen2 slots, RSVD_4 ASUS personnel switch (do not use, keep it OFF), BCLK_4 (do not use, keep it OFF), and BIOS_SWITCH. (do not use), BCLK +/- processor BCLK external overclocking button, front audio jack slot.

The ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX has many overclocking buttons and switches on the bottom row, many of which are relatively complicated and we recommend that you use them together with the official manual.

• BIOS_SWITCH is a dual BIOS physical switch that can be used if you want to keep one version of the BIOS while keeping the other one up-to-date. You need to power off the computer to switch between the two versions, and there are two LEDs on the top of the switch to indicate which BIOS chip is currently in use.
• 80_LIGHT_BAR allows you to turn on or off the Q-CODE indicator on the motherboard, but I think it's better to leave it on.
• ALT_PCIE_MODE Physical switch can set the PCIE channel bandwidth of the processor, but it is not necessary to keep the Gen5 bandwidth at the Auto side, if you find the processor bandwidth abnormal in the BIOS, you can check to see if there is any deactivation to this switch.
• BCLK +/- button is the processor BCLK external overclocking button for adjusting the CPU BCLK frequency, but you need to set Ai Overclock Tuner to manual mode before you can use this button.

∆ Front Panel Slot (F_PANEL), CMOS Motherboard Battery, One Front USB 20Gbps Type-C Slot, Two USB 2.0 Slots (Supports four front USB 2.0 mounting ports), BIOS_SWITCH Dual BIOS Physical Toggle Switch, T_SENSOR Temperature Sensor Cable Slot, 80_LIGHT_BAR, ALT_PCIE_MODE processor PICE channel bandwidth mode switch, one USB 5Gbps slot (supports two front USB 5Gbps Type-A ports).

∆ CMOS Battery CR2032.

∆ One 4-Pin Chassis Fan, two 5V 3-Pin ARGB Gen2 slots, RSVD_4 ASUS personnel switch (do not use, keep it OFF), BCLK +/- processor BCLK overclocking key, front audio hole slot.

 

The motherboard PCIE slots provide a total of two x16-length metal-reinforced slots. The first slot, PCIEX16(G5)_1, provides full PCIE 5.0 x16 bandwidth for single devices such as standalone graphics cards, but if dual graphics cards are installed and used in both PCIEX16(G5)_1 and PCIEX16(G5)_2 at the same time, the bandwidth is split evenly between x8 and x8. However, if the dual graphics cards are installed with both PCIEX16(G5)_1 and PCIEX16(G5)_2, the bandwidth will be split evenly between x8 and x8 channels. If the second slot PCIEX16(G5)_2 is installed with a M.2 expansion card, PCIEX16(G5)_2 can be split into x4 and x4 bandwidths, while PCIEX16(G5)_1 maintains the x8 bandwidth.

The PCIEX16(G5)_2 in the second slot also shares the bandwidth with the M.2_2 and M.2_3 expansion slots, so the PCIEX16(G5)_2 in the second slot will be automatically turned off as long as there is an SSD installed in the M.2_2 expansion slot. When SSDs are installed in M.2_3 expansion slot (M.2_2 is not installed), PCIEX16(G5)_2 in the second slot will automatically operate at x4 bandwidth; when SSDs are installed in both M.2_2 and M.2_3 expansion slots, PCIEX16(G5)_2 in the second slot will be turned off and cease to operate, and note that PCIEX16(G5)_2 in the second slot will turn off and cease to operate when SSDs are installed in both M.2_2 and M.2_3 expansion slots. 3 expansion slots have SSDs installed, PCIEX16(G5)_1 will be automatically sliced to x8 bandwidth.

Above the first PCIEX16(G5)_1 and the second PCIEX16(G5)_2 slot, there are PCIEX4(G4)_1 PCIE 4.0 x4 bandwidth expansion slot and PCIEX1(G3) PCIE 3.0 x1 bandwidth expansion slot, which do not share the bandwidth with the above mentioned x16 length metal-reinforced slots or M.2 expansion slots due to their X870E chipset channel. Since these two slots are for the X870E chipset channel, they do not share the bandwidth with the two x16 metal-reinforced slots or the M.2 expansion slots mentioned above. It is recommended to install these two short slots if there is a need for a capture card or a sound card, but this overclocking board is more likely to be used to plug in an illuminator card.

As for the ASUS motherboard PCIe Q-Release Slim design potentially improperly inserted and removed at the beginning of the year, causing damage to the graphics card's gold finger, I personally see that the official website is labeled as Q-Release Slim (with PCIe SafeSlot), and I remember seeing that some people said that you can tell whether or not it will damage the graphics card's gold finger, but I didn't pay attention to that at all! That article, interested parties can observe and analyze.

∆ Four expansion slots from top to bottom: PCIE 4.0 x4_PCIEX4(G4)_1, PCIE 5.0_PCIEX16(G5)_1, PCIE 3.0 x1_PCIEX1(G3), PCIE 5.0_PCIEX16(G5)_2.

 

The ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX motherboard comes with three M.2 SSD expansion slots, all of which support PCIe Gen5 x4 bandwidth and processor direct connectivity. These slots are compatible with Key M's 2242/2260/2280 sized hard drive installations and are also equipped with dual-sided particle cooling backplanes, but be careful when expanding! The aforementioned bandwidth channel sharing situation should be noted for expansion.

∆ All M.2 heatsinks at a glance.

∆ upper M.2_1, lower left M.2_2, lower right M.2_3.

 

The ROG DIMM.2 (ROG Q-DIMM.2 Expansion Card) in the ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX accessory installs in the DIMM.2 slot next to the memory slot, which is only available on the memory overclocking models (APEX and GENE) and EXTREME, and can be expanded by installing two PCIe Gen4 x4 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110 M.2 SSDs. The card can be expanded with two PCIe Gen4 x4 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110 M.2 SSDs, but it only comes with a single thermal pad and has a relatively low-profile appearance, unlike the X670E chipset.

∆ ROG DIMM.2 (ROG Q-DIMM.2 expansion card) installation demo.

The front of the ∆ ROG DIMM.2 (ROG Q-DIMM.2 Expansion Card), secured by two screws.

The back of the ∆ ROG DIMM.2 (ROG Q-DIMM.2 expansion card) with three screws to secure it.

 

In other words, the ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX, in addition to the motherboard's own onboard three M.2 PCIe Gen5 x4 expansion slots (for processor direct connectivity), and the two M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 expansion slots (for the X870E chipset channel) on the ROG Q-DIMM.2 expansion card, will have up to five total M.2 SSD expansion slots when a single card is installed on the PCIEX16(G5)_1 graphics card slot without taking up bandwidth. With a single graphics card installed in the PCIEX16(G5)_1 slot without taking up bandwidth, this motherboard will have a total of up to five M.2 SSD expansion slots.

The two M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 expansion slots on the ROG Q-DIMM.2 expansion card both run on the X870E chipset channel, so if you want to add more M.2 SSDs to the X870E APEX, it's recommended to prioritize the use of these two slots for SSDs, but it's unfortunate that this card only has thermal pads for the single-sided particles, so you may want to consider looking at other slots if you have heat dissipation considerations for the double-sided particles. If you are interested in cooling your SSD on a double-sided die, you may want to consider looking at other slots.

∆ Only heat transfer pads for one-sided particles are planned.

On one side of the ∆, there are two slots for temperature sensing cables, which can be used with accessory cables to detect the temperature of the SSD.

∆ Supports two PCIe Gen4 x4 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110 M.2 SSD expansion mounts, one mounting position on each side.

 

The rear I/O of the motherboard provides a clear CMOS data button, BIOS Flashback button, PS/2 keyboard and mouse, two USB 5Gbps Type-A, five USB 10Gbps Type-A, two USB4 Type-C, one USB 10Gbps Type-C, RJ-45 5 Gb LAN wired network port, Wi-Fi 7 Q-ANTENNA antenna port, fiber optic S/PDIF digital audio output, two audio ports. Fi-Fi 7 Q-ANTENNA antenna port, fiber optic S/PDIF digital audio output, two audio ports.

Two USB4 (Type-C) support processors have built-in graphics output, which allows users to have an additional graphics output slot available through the internal display, up to 4K 60 Hz resolution.

∆ Rear I/O at a glance.

 

Additional accessories include: ROG Premium Card, ROG Motherboard Driver UFD, ROG DIMM.2 (ROG Q-DIMM.2 Expansion Card), ROG Bottle Opener, ROG Memory Fan Kit, M.2 related gadgets, and ASUS WiFi Q-Antenna antenna.

∆ Accessories at a glance.

 

This generation of Z890 and X870E APEX both come with the ROG Memory Fan Kit gadget, which locks onto the motherboard heatsink with two screws, blowing DDR5 memory upwards as well as ROG DIMM.2 (ROG Q-DIMM.2 expansion card), which looks great without a graphics card installed. However, after installing the graphics card will inevitably eat waste heat, if you remove the heatsink to use LN2 liquid nitrogen (liquid nitrogen) extreme overclocking, then this is also useless.

∆ ROG Memory Fan Kit.

∆ But a barebones player would just have a 12 cm fan pressed on it, right?

∆ Two screws at the bottom secure it to the motherboard heat sink.

∆ 4-Pin PWM power supply.

∆Connect the EF FAN slot on the side to power it, but remember to set the fan speed curve in the BIOS to blow the memory and DIMM.2 expansion card straight up.

 

ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX Motherboard Lighting Showcase

Then the actual power on and off to show the motherboard on-board lighting effect for your reference.

∆ Motherboard lighting display.

The ∆ on-board beads are located at the rear I/O armor and below the transparent APEX nameplate.

 

The Knife is on the Neck ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX Motherboard Performance Testing

The ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX motherboard was tested with a 6-core, 12-thread AMD Ryzen 5 8400F processor, and the motherboard BIOS was updated to version 1605. G.SKILL Trident Z5 Royal Neo Royal Halberd EXPO Edition DDR5 8000MT/s 48GB (2x24GB) Dual-channel memory kit to build barebones test platform and open Profile 1 profile for memory.

Additional AI overclocking, memory open EXPO Profile 1 for testing.

Testing Platform

Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 8400F
Cooler: AMD Wraith Prism (Full Speed)
Motherboard: ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX (BIOS version: 1605)
Memory:G.SKILL Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-8000 CL40-48-48-128 1.40V 48GB (2x24GB)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition 8GB
Operating System: Windows 11 Professional 24H2
Power supply:MONTECH TITAN PLA 1000W
Case: STREACOM BC1 Benchtable V2
Graphics driver: GeForce Game Ready 572.83

 

firstly CPU-Z Viewing the hardware information of the test platform, AMD Ryzen 5 8400F processor has 6 cores and 12 threads, the series code is Phoenix using TSMC 4nm FinFET process, the motherboard uses ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX to support PCI-E 5.0 lanes (only PCI-E 4.0 bandwidth due to using 8400F), and the BIOS is version 1605. 4.0 bandwidth due to the use of 8400F) and BIOS version 1605.

Also ran CPU-Z internal tests Version 19.01.64 (beta)The results are provided for your reference.

∆ CPU-Z information at a glance and Version 19.01.64 (beta) built-in test score results.

 

new version Cinebench 2024 MAXON ONE is Maxon's benchmark software for MAXON ONE software. MAXON ONE includes Cinema 4D, Red Giant Complete, Redshift, ZBrush, Universe, and Forger, and is a powerful tool for creating animation effects, motion design, motion graphics, film-grade portraits, and game art scenes. Each of these software programs fits together to provide a complete visual solution for creators.

Cinebench 2024 uses Cinema 4D's default Redshift rendering engine to test GPU and CPU performance. If multiple graphics cards are used to run Cinebench 2024 tests, the software utilizes multiple cards for the rendering tests at the same time, and Cinebench 2024 performs multiple rendering tests with six times the amount of computation when compared to Cinebench R23. Compared to Cinebench R23, the Cinebench 2024 multi-threaded rendering tests show a six-fold increase in the amount of computation for scenes. This reflects improvements in CPU performance and the higher hardware requirements that multimedia workers must now meet.

∆ Cinebench 2024.

 

There is an Ai Overclock Tuner setting in the BIOS of Pegatron, and I am personally curious about the performance difference of this setting. In this motherboard with G.SKILL Trident Z5 Royal Neo Royal Halberd EXPO Edition DDR5 8000MT/s 48GB (2x24GB) When using a dual-channel memory set, you can see EXPO I, EXPO II, EXPO Tweaked, AEMP, On The fly and so on, and the author is curious about the performance of EXPO I, EXPO II, EXPO Tweaked, but because this time with an AMD Ryzen 5 8400F processor, the performance of read and copy will not be as good as a dual CCD processor due to the limitations of a single CCD processor. However, since we are using an AMD Ryzen 5 8400F processor, the read and copy performance is not as good as a dual CCD processor due to the limitations of a single CCD processor, and is usually only within 80GB, so we will take a look at the write and latency performance to see if it has changed.

• EXPO I: Load memory overclocking profile related timings and apply ASUS optimization.
• EXPO II: Overclocking Profile written in loaded memory.
• EXPO Tweaked: Loads memory overclocking profiles and adjusts them to improve performance.
• AEMP: Provides an optimized profile based on the memory IC, allowing JEDEC-spec memory to gain additional overclocking performance.
• On The fly: Gamers will be able to turn on and off the EXPO Profile in the system with the new Ryzen Master software, which seems to be able to adjust memory overclocking related settings as well.

The ∆ Ai Overclock Tuner setting is relevant.

 

AIDA64 Cache & Memory Benchmark It is mainly used to test the performance of processor caches and RAM. The read/write/copy bandwidth performance score represents the rate of transfer between CPU and memory, which means the efficiency of data throughput (the higher the score, the better), and the time delay score of accessing data indicates the responsiveness of the memory system.

∆ Use the EXPO I setting.

∆ Use the EXPO II setting.

∆ Use the EXPO Tweaked setting.

 

Dual-Channel mode overclocking test

Ultimately, the pure memory frequency challenge is to use the G.SKILL Trident Z5 Royal Neo Royal Halberd EXPO Edition DDR5 8000MT/s 48GB (2x24GB)The QVL serial number is F5-8000J4048G24GX2-TR5NS, which is ultimately overclocked to DDR5 9800 MT/s (4900 MHz) in a two-bay modular installation.

Hwbot Certified Web Site:https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/memory_frequency/submissions/5893158?recalculate=true

∆ Dual-channel module overclocked to DDR5 9800 MT/s.

∆ Results uploaded to Hwbot.com.

 

Conclusion

"Don't forget the 2020 ASUS editorial knife incident."

First of all, from the price point of view, the only competitor of AM5 1DPC memory overclocking motherboards in Taiwan is GIGABYTE X870 AORUS TACHYON ICEBut one is X870E and the other is X870 chipset, it's not fair to compare the price directly horizontally. APEX is more expensive by 3,000 bucks just from the point of view of overclocking boards, but APEX is more expandable, so it's up to you to decide according to your needs, and then we'll see how ASRock's X870E OCF will fare in terms of price and overclocking performance when it comes to mass production.

If we look at ASUS' own 1DPC memory overclocking motherboard products, we will find this X870E APEX really embarrassing, the price is 6,000 more expensive than the previous generation of X670E GENE, and the price of 23,990 is even 4,000 more expensive than the 19990 of the Z890 APEX. From the most fundamental overclocking purpose, the memory overclocking is still Intel's better chance of challenging the higher frequency, and the exterior part of the X870E APEX is almost all black. The X870E APEX is almost completely black, and the white army looks like they don't give a damn about it. If I were a fan of ASUS, I'd probably pick up a used X670E GENE.

In practice, the X870E APEX is better suited for use with pure metal memories, as there is a fat DIMM.2 expansion card next to it that completely blocks the side of the memory heatsink, so the heatsink shape of the memory itself is not visible at all, and if you buy a memory with a nice looking light bar on the top? Sorry, the DIMM.2 expansion card on the side makes the overall visual appearance super unattractive, and the memory is super hard to remove after installing the expansion card, which is not a good thing for memory overclocking boards that need to change memory often.

In terms of overclocking, the author spends the most time in the overclocking process of this motherboard is the Clear CMOS step. After the memory overclocking failure, it will often get stuck in the self-test stage of the processor and memory, which belongs to the so-called AMD black box stage, and at this time, it is useless to use the SAFE_BOOT key or the FlexKey button, only the CMOS can be cleared. However, using the GIGABYTE X870 AORUS TACHYON ICE GIGABYTE's BIOS will automatically jump into the BIOS setup page after an overclocking failure. This may be the difference between the two BIOSes, ASUS may have used a BIOS architecture that is more in line with AMD's public system and therefore not able to skip AMD's black box stage, while GIGABYTE may have its own way of avoiding this situation after an overclocking failure, but this is just a guess after all I'm not a BIOS engineer either. I'm not a BIOS engineer after all.

To paraphrase my other friend's summary: "Overclockers can't use it + Appearances can't look at it + Faith Kitchen won't buy it = Positioning abstraction."