Conclusion
I’ll keep this brief for a change. The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi is a cut above its predecessors in the Hero lineup. It elevates the Hero moniker to a new level not previously seen. The features are much more in line with the Formula of old, while ASUS’ ROG Crosshair VIII Formula moves up the line as well. The pricing is not for the feint of heart. At $379.99, it’s pretty expensive. It’s not as expensive as super high end Z390 boards or X570 offerings, but its’ on the upper side of what the last generation’s high end offerings cost for the AMD platform.
While being a little expensive, the Crosshair VIII Hero actually provides a something of a value. It delivers a ton of high end overclocking features and a solid VRM design for a price point that now makes up the mid-range of the X570 market. The motherboard is extremely reliable. I had no trouble getting the system going and getting software installed on it. The integrated features worked well and I was generally impressed with the build quality, aesthetics and functionality of the motherboard. I feel like ASUS made the right decisions for integrated components. The layout is extremely good as well, with my only issue being the extra needless fan cover on the PCH.
It feels like your getting a lot of what makes the ASUS Crosshair VIII Formula so good, but for only about 60% of the price. The latter does have a few more features, but I think the Hero is closer to the sweet spot. Unfortunately, that still makes the Crosshair VIII Hero WiFi more expensive than high end offerings in the X470 generation of motherboards. This isn’t an ASUS issue though. This has to do with X570 costs and design requirements increasing the price of the bill of materials on these motherboards.
I have brought up boost clocks time and again. The leaked BIOS did NOT fix the boost clocks for me. If anything, they are actually lower, although they hold the higher end of what is achieved for longer which seems to close the performance gaps I saw prior to the update. The boost clocks were close with one 3700X, and not the other. The 3900X was about 60MHz off before the update, and is now about 80MHz off now. I think this is a matter of the silicon lottery and your own personal luck. I wouldn’t be super concerned with this even if AMD never fully corrects this. The performance is there and a less than 100MHz difference just doesn’t matter much.
Final Points
If your budget is a little generous, the Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi (or the non-Wi-Fi version) would make an excellent choice. I don’t think you’d be disappointed with either based on my experiences.
