ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus

Key Features

The TUF Gaming X570-Plus

We are dealing with a 6-layer PCB, ATX motherboard. The 6 layer is main stream-on x570 motherboards.  The PCIE 4.0 standard has some signal integrity issue, and a 6 layered PCB does help isolating signals and avoiding component signal interference.

Socket

Our AM4 socket can support :

• Ryzen 2000 series of AMD CPU
• Ryzen 3000 series of AMD CPU

VRM

The TUF Gaming X570 Plus comes with what is advertised as a 12+2 phases VRM.

Obviously it is not the case, but it is not all bad!

We are dealing with 4 trues phases organized in pairs. So 12 of the power stages are CPU-centric, delivering up-to 600 Amps (540 Amps effective) of power with heat foot-print of 100 Watts.

100 watts is a lot, but with a greater number of power stage-surface to dissipate them, and the rather premium heat-sinks ASUS has provided ( a definite upgrade since its TUF Gaming X470-PLUS) , you should not detect any kind of over-heating.

What remains the most surprising out of this sub-200 bucks board, is its excellent multi-core support.

The TUF Gaming X570-PLUS can easily support even a 16 physical core processor, such as the R9 3950X!

Not bad for a TUF!

RAM

Again depending of your CPU series, you will get different performances.

With a Ryzen 2000 series, your board support up-to 128 GB of DDR4 RAM overclock-able up-to 3.6 Ghz

With a Ryzen 3000 series, your board support up-to 128 GB of DDR4 RAM (as well) overclock-able up-to 4.4 Ghz!!!

1000 Mghz more than on its previous iteration : the TUF Gaming X570-Plus

 

M.2 SSD PCIe. 3.0

 

Our board can support up-to 2 M.2 SSD 11cm sticks.

In PCIe 3.0 mode, they can swap data up to 32 Gb/s which obviously will cause some heat, and potentially thermo-throttle your sticks.

That is why ASUS has provide a rather thick and heavy padded heat-shield which does a great job at keeping our M.2 SSD temps under control. This is where I would put any M.2 SSD boot if any.

M.2 SSD PCIe. 4.0

In PCIe 4.0 configuration, our compatible sticks would experience twice the bandwidth , peaking at 64 Gb/s.

Obviously heat is an issue, and that is precisely why, all of the M.2 SSD PCIe 4.0 manufacturers have pre-mounted rather imposing heat shield on them.

 

 

Our X570 chipset runs on double the wattage of the X470 (5 Watt against 11 Watt). It does translate in much higher temperatures.

Active Cooling

To keep these temps below 80c X570 manufacturers have all opted for a similar active single-blower option.

It does the job, but can be somewhat noisy if you keep your build open.

SATA 3.0

For more classical storage solutions, we have our usual SATA 3.0 plugs. 8 in total, with a transfer rate of 6 Gbps each. They can be configured to run into a 0,1,5 or 10 RAID configuration.

PCIe 3.0 VS PCIe 4.0

Depending of the Processor you will run on this board, your PCIe will be either 3.0 or 4.0

The difference is of size. Compared to PCIe 3.0, PCIe 4.0 will double the available bandwidth per lane, in each upstream or downstream direction!

In terms of IOs, or PCIe based storage solutions, this is great news ! But in terms of gaming, it is a more contrasted conclusion.

Videocards currently on the market are far from bottle-necking the PCIe 3.0 standard in its 16 lanes configuration. Meaning that GPUs are yet to produce enough data to experience any kind of performance differences between a PCIe 3.0 and a PCIe 4.0 ran motherboard.

In the coming 6 months we will probably see some being released which will surpass the bandwidth ability of PCIe 3.0, and in this scenario, yes, you will notice performance differentials when upgrading to PCIe 4.0.

So a great future-proofing feature, but nothing which will immediately provide a gaming edge today.

On this board

The TUF Gaming X570-Plus has 5   3rd/4th Generation PCI expresses.:

• 2 16 lanes with different BUS speeds
• 3 single lanes , single speeds

Only the closest 16 lanes PCIe slot can operate up to 16 full BUS speed. Therefore, your unique video card should be here for optimal performances.

The second 16 Slots PCIe has been caped to operated up to 4 full BUS speed. And in a PCIe 3.0 configuration, that would severely bottle-neck any secondary video card and, I would understand the absence of metallic re-enforcement.

But since PCI 4.0 configuration, there would be plenty of bandwidth to run a 2nd video card without issues. That’s why I would have preferred to see a 2nd metallic re-enforcement on the second 16 slot PCIe export.

The board supports CrossFire but not SLI, therefore only dual Radeon AMD cards will be supported.

Again, no performance differential has been noticed between PCIe 3 and PCIe 4, with a single GPU.

BACK IO

I will regret the absence of an integrated I/O shield. Doesn’t cost much and improves first time builder experience, which this card was aimed for.

Starting from the left, we have :

AUDIO and Capacitors

The TUF Gaming X570-PLUS is equipped with the budget-centric S1200-A Codec Realtek.

The Realtek chipset itself has been shield by the a TUF cap, and it does a prety good job at isolating any kind of statics from your sound. Especially when recording or streaming from non-grounder PC.

Front Panel connectors

We have one USB 3.2 1st gen type A (classical) front panel connector.

In addition, we have 2 USB 2.0 front panel connectors. Worth noting, these are not only relevant for data transfer, but they are also very useful for All-In-One water pumps energy supply and PWM abilities, or for Intelligent PSUs for in and out wattage readout / monitoring.

I do regret the absence of a 3.2 2nd gen Type-C front panel connector. The X570 chip-set has ample resources to feed it all the bandwidth it needs, and having only 1 3.2 1st gen FP connector will be somewhat handicapping for larger builds.

Fan & Pump Connectors

We have 6 nested fan connectors, 1 of which can support an All-in-one CPU coolers.

More than enough to keep air flowing through your build.

There is not Custom-water cooling obvious support or features, but I did not expect a first-time builder motherboard to feature any. So no worries there.

EZ-debugger

This is somewhat of a happy surprise!

EZ-debuggers are not always available on TUF motherboards, but give the beefier VRM, and the increased bandwidth of this particular one, it makes sense to have one!

AURA Sync Effect

RGB wise, ASUS went all out on this board. This is tech-bling at its best!

We have Addressable RGB strip nested on the PCB itself.

on the PCB

PCB

We also have 3 RGB connectors :

2 standard 12V RGB connector and 1 addressable RGB connector.

Which is 2 more connectors than previously available on the TUF Gaming X470-Plus.

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Conclusion

First let me note what a major jump forward ASUS has achieved with this board. Compared to its predecessor.. the TUF Gaming X470-PLUS, the The X570 is just another animal all together.

 

• We are jumping from 3 twin phases to 6!
• 64GB more of RAM support and 1 ghz more in RAM clock!
• We gained an EZ debugger,
•  3 times more RGB connector from 1 to 3!
• And obviously, with X570 chipset, we have  the TUF Gaming X570-Plus features PCIe 4.0 which is a game changer in its own right.

But the TUF Gaming X570 PLUS also costs 40 bucks more than its previous version and stands at 190 USD!

If you follow me, you must know that I am no fan of the TUF series. (My only bad review of an ASUS board was a TUF series!)

But coupled with what the X570 chipset brings in, we have a surprisingly good gaming board!

It is a well balanced board which prioritize a simpler layout, and an extremely reliable one! All of it under the 200 Dollars mark.

Without being an enthusiast board, it manages to have enough power to push to its very limits any CPU you will throw at it, and yes, including 12 and 16 core CPUs!

Sure, I have a couple of remarks:

• Given the PCIe 4 abilities of the board, I think it should have metallic re-enforcement on its second 16 slots PCIe.
• And yeah, I do think it should have included a USB 3.2 2nd gen TYPE-C FP connector.

But these are almost details, given the jump forward ASUS has done from a chip-set generation to the next!

I’ll put it this way, if you are a first time builder or budget gamer, shame on you for even thinking twice. Not all TUF comes that good !

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