Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming review

Our Verdict

90%

With loads of features and a great design, the Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming is still the Socket AM4 mini-ITX king, although it’s showing its age now.

While those with deep pockets might be tempted to buy the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Impact if their case could squeeze a longer mini-DTX motherboard into its innards, the Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming is your best bet for a premium motherboard that sticks within the 170 x 170mm confines of the mini-ITX form factor. Despite its age, you still won’t see much change from $300 if you buy this top-end mini board.

At Custom PC, we’ve been reviewing and overclocking the latest motherboards since we first launched in 2003, so we know exactly what to look for in terms of layout, features, performance, and overclocking abilities.

Its total of ten power phases are cooled by a huge array of heatsinks and fans, which also run down to the M.2 port and chipset, and there’s a decent amount of clearance around the CPU socket area.

However, the fans can ramp up their speeds in warm environments and become audible, and sadly, there’s no way to control them. The Asus did offer the lowest VRM temperature of a mini-ITX Socket AM4 motherboard we’ve seen, of just 47°C, but it’s no wonder that EK offers a monoblock for the board that allows you to remove the fans completely.

Another issue is the lack of a USB Type-C header, which is common on X570 boards, although some cases do offer the ability to use a USB 3 header to power a Type-C port. Still, it’s a bitter pill to swallow at nearly $300, especially as other cheaper boards have them. We can’t deny its looks, though, and with an RGB-enabled M.2 heatsink, it’s a very attractive board for sure. That M.2 heatsink covering the top PCIe 4 M.2 port isn’t just for show either, as it kept our SSD below a peak of 52°C.

There’s a second M.2 PCIe 4 port on the underside of the PCB as well, which is the main reason to opt for this board over the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3. The rear I/O panel is far busier than on the Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming board as well, with seven Type-A ports, three of which support USB 3.2 Gen 2, as does the USB-C port here.

There’s no 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, though, so you’ll have to make do with just one Gigabit network port, although you do at least get 802.11ax Wi-Fi and Realtek S1220A audio. The performance from the audio was excellent with a dynamic range of 107dBA and noise level of -106dBA, although this board didn’t really set itself apart from the cheaper competition in our gaming or content creation benchmarks.

Like its ROG Strix B550-based sibling, the board sports a thermal probe input, allowing you to control your radiator fans using coolant temperature if you use a coolant probe, which is very handy. However, we’d like to see Asus improving the sensitivity when switching to other inputs for fan control, as they can be clunky.

Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming pros and cons

Pros

• Attractive RGB lighting
• Excellent design and cooling
• Plenty of features

Cons

• No way to control chipset fans
• No USB-C header
• Expensive

Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming specs

The Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming specs list is:

Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming price

Price: Expect to pay $299 (£288).

Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming review conclusion

With ample cooling, decent CPU socket clearance, and most modern features, the Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming remains an excellent choice for an AMD Ryzen mini-ITX PC. Its main shortcomings are simply due to age, which means its competitors suffer the same issues, such as a lack of a USB-C header, below-average networking and a need for fans to cool the chipset and VRMs. Asus will no doubt be the company to beat with Socket AM5, but if you’re sticking with Socket AM4, this is the premium option to buy unless you need a USB-C header.

If you’re looking to assmeble your own mini-ITX PC, make sure you also check out our top mini-ITX PC build tips, as well as our reasons on why now is the best time to build a mini-ITX PC. If you want to upgrade to one of the latest AMD CPUs, such as the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, then make sure you also check out our full guide to the best AMD AM5 motherboard, which runs through several options at a range of prices.