ASUS ROG (X570) Crosshair VIII Impact, AMD,AM4, Ryzen 3000, (Mini-DTX) SFF gaming motherboard

I regret not buying this board 2 years ago when it first hit retail. I have had a love/hate relationship with ASUS products for going on 15 years now. I remember when I had to shift from DFI to ASUS years ago and thought the price/performance value was questionable. I am in the camp that thinks they charge "way" too much for most of their products no matter how good they are. This MOBO hits a little different though. Is it overpriced? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes. It easily is the best AM4 board I have ever built on. It easily OC's RAM and PBO. The BIOS is both stable and functional. It works as a Ryzentosh. It does everything I need it to do save for having Thunderbolt support. I will eagerly be waiting for the next generation Impact to come out on the AM5 platform.

I bought this motherboard to upgrade my Strix B450i and I could not be happier. The bios configs are straightforward and familiar and the access to enhanced tweaking is excellent. I really like the use of the SODIMM slot for the M.2 drives. Having both slots accessible from top of the motherboard makes adding or upgrading down the road much simpler. The relocation of the CPU plug is also a really nice change. Both of these elements make this motherboard an excellent addition to an SFF build so long as the case that fits the mini DTX form factor. The backplate this motherboard feels rigid as an oak tree and really adds to the design ascetics of the board despite not being able to see it. The RGB strip along the memory side edge and on the SODIM card are nice touches that are not obnoxious and gaudy and really do add to the overall aesthetics of the motherboard. I used this board in the SSUPD Meshilicious case and it fit nicely. You have to do some careful running of the included Gen 4 PCIe riser cable but it will work with this motherboard.