ASUS Targets Aspiring Ryzen Overclockers With Crosshair VI Extreme X370 Motherboard

Are you planning to go the AMD Ryzen route with your new build and want a motherboard that gives it the "high-end foundation it deserves"? If so, ASUS has got the board for you, with its new Crosshair VI Extreme.

The Crosshair VI Extreme is built around AMD's top-end X370 chipset and boasts aesthetics that any enthusiast should be pleased to see gracing the inside of their build. Want LEDs? Don't fret: this board is littered with them, and as an added bonus, there's a new header that allows you to use strips with per-LED color control.

Tying into the RGB love, ASUS' Aura SDK can be adopted by any hardware vendor that wishes to support its ecosystem, ultimately giving owners the ability to control all of their RGB from one centralized location. For example, imagine meticulously building different color profiles for all of your RGB devices; ASUS' software would be able to pull that off if the product you're using explicitly supports ASUS' framework.

ASUS expects people to overclock with this motherboard, so it's done what it can to complement those looking to go the DIY liquid cooling route. That includes placing a header on the board that lets people monitor their monoblock temperature, flow rates, and best of all, leak detection circuits. ASUS says it has partnered with Bitpower to produce a special monoblock that can be purchased separately at some point in the future.

If you like to overclock, but not that much, you'll be happy you know that ASUS includes a 1-click auto-overclock that should satisfy many appetites. To get the best possible performance, though, you'll likely need to get your hands dirty inside of the UEFI or ASUS' Windows software suite.

Of course, a deluxe board like this wouldn't be complete without a slew of connectivity options. This board has a full complement of USB ports, with two supporting 10Gbps speeds (3.1 gen 2), available in both Type-A and Type-C forms. The board also includes a Wi-Fi solution that also covers Bluetooth 4.1.

All told, this board packs an awful lot for its $349 price tag, although if you're not much of an overclocker, you may not need to go quite so high-end. Fortunately, ASUS offers a mind-numbing number of Ryzen-supported motherboards, so finding the right one for you shouldn't be difficult.