Asus unveiled its X870/X870E lineup at Gamescom in 2024, and they look pretty good.

Asus announced its initial X870E/X870 motherboard line-up at Gamescom 2024. Asus's standard model tiers, including the ROG Strix TUF ProArt Prime and Prime families, are all represented. All models are compatible with Ryzen 9000 series CPUs and support the latest feature sets including USB4 & WiFi 7.

As you would expect, Asus has included several auto-optimizing AI features, including AI Networking II. AI Overclocking, and AI Cooling II. They feature CPU and DRAM enhancements with granular controls, along with notably strong VRM designs. Various models support multiple PCIe 5.0 based SSDs.

The ROG Crosshair X870E Hero is the flagship model. It has a long list of features and looks like a ROG motherboard. It has a very powerful 18+2+2 stage VRM with 110A phases, which is strong enough to handle even a heavily clocked Ryzen 9. 9950X. Add to this support for DDR5-8200+ and up to three Gen5 SSDs, dual USB4, USB20Gbps with 60WPD, WiFi 7, Dual LAN, and the typical ROG features and flourishes.

Asus hasn't yet revealed a price, but you can expect it to be higher than the X670.

The next four ROG Strix products include the ROG Strix Gaming WiFi Z870-I. Asus' X670EI-I version is the best Mini-ITX board, so unless Asus dropped the ball, then the X870-I will be a contender.

Both the ROG Strix X870-F and X870-A gaming are sure to be popular. They come with most of the goodies that are included in the more expensive Hero.

The Asus TUF gaming X870-Plus WLAN is a little lower in the range. This one has a unique blocky aesthetic that I find quite appealing. It still supports WiFi 7, USB4 as well as dual Gen 5 SSDs.

The TUF brand evolved from its original theme of military with a focus in reliability to more of a budget game brand. If the Z870-Plus is priced correctly, it could be a very competitive mid-range offering.

The ProArt X870E WiFi Creator is aimed at creative professionals. It comes with a 3-month Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, which is a good value. It has a lot of USB ports, and includes 10G LAN along with 2.5G LAN and Wireless 7.

I love the black and gold design. I would expect this to be a very expensive laptop. It's still a bargain compared to other workstation options.

Asus' mainstream Prime line is the last to be discussed. Prime X870-P WiFi appears to be almost identical to Prime X870-P, but the latter's lack of WiFi 7 and WiFi is a bit strange in today's world.

Both boards have decent feature sets, with Gen 5 SSD and USB4 support. The X870-P WLAN includes four PCIe slots. Unless I'm mistaken, this is the only Asus X870 motherboard with that many expansion slots.

This is just the first of a series of X870E/X870 boards that will be launched. These boards will be better suited for high-end models like the Ryzen 5 9600X or Ryzen 7 9700X. You can use this board with Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 but it's more logical to pair them with the upcoming B850 motherboards.

We have no word on pricing. Asus is not known for its aggressive pricing. I expect all X870 boards to be expensive because of the electrical complexity inherent to boards that support PCIe 5.0 SSD and GPU support, faster RAM and stronger VRM solutions.