Introducing the Crosshair VI Hero AM4 motherboard

The PC gaming scene has been getting a lot of attention lately, but it’s not new to us. Our ROG division has been focused on delivering the best gaming products for more than a decade. We started with the original Crosshair motherboard back in 2006, and the latest revival is the Crosshair VI Hero for AMD’s AM4 processors, including eight-core Ryzen beasts. Behold the Hero’s elegantly menacing glory:

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Ready to run Ryzen faster, cooler, and quieter

The ROG Crosshair VI Hero is designed for easy overclocking whether you’re a seasoned veteran or new recruit. It includes our 5-Way Optimization package, whose one-click auto-tuning intelligently overclocks the processor based on the characteristics of your individual chip and cooling. The parameters can be adjusted to suit your preferences, and there’s a full array of manual tweaking options for experienced enthusiasts who want to fine-tune every aspect of their machines. Supported DDR4 memory speeds go all the way up to 3200MHz.

Efficient cooling is essential to maintaining high performance and quiet acoustics, which is why we put so much effort into refining our Fan Xpert system. The fourth incarnation featured on the Crosshair is smarter than ever before. It’s capable of reading the GPU temperature on select graphics cards, letting fans react to gaming loads that typically hammer that component more than others. To hedge your bets, individual fans can respond to as many as three temperature sources, ensuring effective cooling for any workload. And that’s on top of all the usual perks, like automated calibration, 3/4-pin fan detection, and the ability to adjust how rapidly fans wind up and down when temperatures spike.

Liquid cooling gets some extra love thanks to headers for a flow tachometer and temperature in/out sensors. Those additions build upon a stacked foundation that includes one 3A header for dedicated pumps or finger-munching industrial fans, one 1A header for AIO water coolers, and five more for traditional CPU and system fans. The Crosshair VI Hero is equipped to drive formidable cooling configs right out of the box.

Primed for powerful graphics

Based on the top-of-the-line AMD X370 chipset, the Crosshair supports two-way SLI and CrossFireX configs split between its main PCI Express x16 slots. The slots are widely spaced to provide plenty of breathing room, and we include a high-bandwidth SLI bridge to complete the package.

High-end graphics cards increasingly employ larger heatsinks with more metal and bigger fans. That adds weight, putting strain on the PCI Express slot that can lead to damage with clumsy or rough handling. To withstand the forces at work, the main x16 slots are fully reinforced with SafeSlot. Their walls are reinforced with insert-molded steel bracing, and they’re anchored to the board with additional solder points. SafeSlot is stronger in every direction than the beefed-up slots on competing motherboards, so you can trust it with your prized GPU.

A customizable canvas for your AM4 masterpiece

The ROG Crosshair VI Hero provides full control over not only how your PC performs, but also how it looks. Our designers drew from a monochrome palette to provide a neutral foundation that won’t clash with other components. With a combination of customizable Aura RGB lighting and 3D-printed accents, you have the freedom to make the Hero your own.

Aura puts a rainbow of colors and effects at your fingertips, so you can choose the right look to suit your system—and change it at will. LED backlighting illuminates the chipset heatsink and powers dual 4-pin headers for off-the-shelf LED strips. The headers can be controlled independently, and they’re split between the top and bottom of the board for maximum flexibility.

Personalization extends to 3D printing with a dedicated mount for 24-pin cable covers. Off-board accessories include covers for the SLI bridge and combs to tidy your cabling. For something more functional, there’s a fan mount for cooling M.2 SSDs. You can make your own parts from our 3D source files or have them printed for you through our Shapeways store.

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Cutting-edge I/O for all your devices

We’ve taken full advantage of Ryzen’s expanded I/O by deploying an ultra-fast M.2 slot linked directly to the CPU. You can add the latest NVMe SSDs with up to four lanes of PCI Express 3.0. Some of those drives can run warm enough to induce throttling under extreme workloads, so the slot is located in the bottom corner of the motherboard, away from hot spots around the CPU and graphics card. The placement alone improves thermals, and even better cooling is possible with our 3D-printed fan mount.

Gigabit Ethernet is provided by an Intel controller backed by GameFirst software that intelligently manages packets to prevent streaming and downloads from lagging your gaming. There’s also an M.2 slot primed for mini Wi-Fi cards. That lives in the rear I/O cluster alongside handy CMOS reset and BIOS Flashback buttons. You also get enough USB ports for a collection of game controllers and VR hardware, including 10Gbps USB 3.1 ports in Type-A and reversible Type-C flavors, plus an internal header for front-panel connectivity.

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Upgraded audio backed by ROG software

The Crosshair’s SupremeFX audio features an S1220 codec that improves input quality for streamers with an industry-leading 113-dB SNR for the line-in. We’ve paired the chip with a premium ESS Sabre DAC and a collection of other enhancements along the audio chain to produce output good enough to make most people forgo a discrete sound card. On top of that, our Sonic Studio III software makes it easy to map audio streams to different outputs. You can route game audio through your headset, music through your speakers, and videos through a separate TV or monitor.

A selection of ROG software adds the finishing touch: RAMCache II transforms system RAM into an ultra-fast SSD, while Sonic Radar III maps 3D game audio to a visible HUD. These extras complete a comprehensive package that sets the tone for premium Ryzen motherboards. Learn more on the Crosshair VI Hero product page.

Size	ATX
Chipset	AMD X370
Memory	4 x DDR4 up to 3200 (OC)
Multi-GPU	CrossFireX, 2 x SLI
Expansion	PCIe 3.0 x16 (CPU): 2 (x16/x0, x8/x8) PCIe 2.0 x16 (Chipset): 1 (up to x4) PCIe 2.0 x1 (Chipset): 3
Storage	1 x M.2 (NVMe x4 or SATA 6Gbps) 8 x SATA 6Gbps
Networking	Intel Gigabit Ethernet M.2 slot for Wi-Fi
Audio	SupremeFX S1220
USB	3.1: 1 x front, 1 x Type-C, 1 x Type-A 3.0: 2 x front, 8 x Type-A 2.0: 2 x front, 4 x Type-A
Aura	Chipset + 2 x strip headers