ASUS PRIME X570 Pro Motherboard Review

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Storage Configuration and Testing

For our testing, the operating system is always installed to a Samsung 970 EVO NVMe based SSD. A second, identical drive is employed for testing RAID0 performance on motherboards that support this functionality natively, without PCIe adapter kits. In cases where this is necessary, an alternative is used as the OS drive. It is either an Intel SSD 750 via U.2 to PCIe adapter or a SATA based Samsung 840 Pro.

Standard SATA III 6Gb/s drive tests were performed using Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX hard drives on all SATA headers. The SATA drives were used for testing in RAID 0 64k block size configurations on all applicable controllers when possible. While not necessarily ideal, AMD controllers can’t use smaller block sizes. For an apples to apples comparison, it is necessary to choose a common block size shared by both vendor’s controllers. Additionally, third party controllers from Marvell and Realtek should support this block size as well if necessary. All drive benchmarks were done using the freely available CrystalDiskMark program, run with both 50MB and 100MB sized test sets. NVMe drives use an additional 1000MB test set.

USB 2.0 Testing

To test the capabilities of the onboard USB 2.0 connections, we used a Sans Digital external eSATA / USB 2.0 drive enclosure, connected via the USB 2.0 port. Installed in the enclosure are dual Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX drives in a RAID0 configuration. In theory, this should always saturate the USB 2.0 connection an isolate the motherboard as the biggest variable in our USB 2.0 performance tests.

USB 3.x Testing

A Thermaltake BlacX 5G docking port which uses a USB 3.x connection with a SATA based Corsair Force GT SSD installed. While not the most modern drive, it is fast enough to test the USB connection.

Motherboard Storage Configuration

The configuration of the ASUS PRIME X570 Pro is relatively simple. It features 6x SATA 6Gb/s ports and 2x M.2 (type 2110) slots that support both PCIe and SATA type devices. This is basically standard fare for any X570 motherboard on the market and though the ability to integrate third-party controllers and to increase the storage capabilities do exist, it’s rarely done on any X570 motherboards.

USB

  • 3rd and 2nd Gen AMD Ryzenâ„¢/2nd and 1st Gen AMD Ryzenâ„¢ with Radeonâ„¢ Vega Graphics Processors :
  • 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 port(s) (4 at back panel, blue, Type-A)
  • AMD X570 chipset :
  • 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 front panel connector port(s)
  • AMD X570 chipset :
  • 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 port(s) (4 at back panel, teal blue, 3 x Type-A+1 x Type-C)
  • AMD X570 chipset :
  • 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 port(s) (2 at mid-board)
  • AMD X570 chipset :
  • 4 x USB 2.0 port(s) (4 at mid-board)

Storage

  • 3rd Gen AMD Ryzenâ„¢ Processors :
  • 1 x M.2_1 socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 4.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
  • 2nd Gen AMD Ryzenâ„¢/2nd and 1st Gen AMD Ryzenâ„¢ with Radeonâ„¢ Vega Graphics Processors :
  • 1 x M.2_1 socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 3.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
  • AMD X570 chipset :
  • 1 x M.2_2 socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 4.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
  • 6 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)
  • Support Raid 0, 1, 10

As you can see, one M.2 slot is tied to the PCH while the other has a direct line to the CPUs PCIe controller. This should offer an advantage to one or the other in theory, but in practice this isn’t the case. This motherboard does not support NVMe RAID but does support RAID 0, 1, and 10 for SATA devices. Stripe sets will be limited as well, as AMD’s SATA controller isn’t as flexible as Intel’s which supports more configuration options as well as RAID 5. However, this isn’t ASUS’s issue but rather a limitation of the platform. One that I don’t think matters much today, as RAID on the desktop has largely fallen out of fashion as it were. Mostly, all people care about are how many M.2 slots they get and how fast those are.

Dan Dobrowolski
Dan has been writing motherboard reviews for the past 15 years, with the first decade or so writing for [H}ard|OCP. Dan brings his depth of knowledge about motherboards and their components to his reviews here at The FPS Review to help you select the best one for your needs.

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