[Test] Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi. Very good value for money. |Specs | Price

Hi all !

A new motherboard passes through the hands of the editors today, the Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi! Behind this extended name hides an entry-level model on socket AM4 equipped with the X570 chipset from AMD. As a reminder, it is currently the only chipset capable of handling PCIe 4.0, if used with a third generation Ryzen CPU (such as the Ryzen 5 3600X tested previously). Offered at a price of around 210 €, it is the cheapest motherboard equipped with WiFi, is it interesting? This is what we will see!

Characteristics

The TUF Gaming range from Asus is a derivative of TUF for gamers, as the name suggests! This means that the components are designed to be robust and last over time while having the basic functionality designed for gamers (whatever that might mean on a motherboard). The small nuance is however at the level of the guarantee. When a TUF product is guaranteed for 5 years, the TUF Gaming goes up to 3 years, like the Prime and other models.
The TUF Gaming X570-Plus WiFi is therefore a 30.5 by 24.4 cm ATX format motherboard, so it will have no problem to be installed in all ATX boxes on the market. It is possible to install the second and third generation AMD Ryzen CPUs as well as the first and second generation APUs. The first generation Ryzen (type Ryzen 7 1700X) are therefore not compatible, this is something to consider when buying, or if you have an old processor and just want to update the motherboard. .
There are a total of four PCIe 4.0 ports, two 16X and two 1X. On the other hand, only one of the two 16X is wired in 16X, the second goes in 4X. This is really the minimum union for a player configuration, and the graphics card must imperatively be installed on the first PCIe port located next to the CPU, under penalty of having reduced bandwidth and impacting FPS on the screen.

When releasing the Ryzen 3000, AMD insisted on supporting high-frequency memory modules. It is possible to install four DDR4 modules up to 4400 MHz for a total of 128 GB. Note that as usual, and we cannot stress this point enough, you must imperatively look at the compatibility list of memory kits on the manufacturer’s website if you absolutely want a high frequency (from 3200 MHz). This list is available here, it will avoid compatibility problems with crashes under Windows or even black screens when activating the DOCP option (equivalent of XMP for Intel).

In terms of on-board functions, it is also minimalist apart from the WiF 802.11ac 2 × 2 Intel AC 9260, this will avoid the purchase of a dedicated WiFi card which would increase the bill by at least 50 € to have this speed . The ethernet network is entrusted to Realtek and its L8200A Gigabite, we would have preferred Intel but that will not change anything during classic use. As for the audio part, Realtek is also involved, the S1200A to be precise accompanied by some high-end capacitors. The storage is quite sufficient on the other hand, there are no less than eight SATA (compatible with RAID 0, 1 and 10) and two M.2 PCIe (4.0) NVMe and SATA. The USB connection is not forgotten with seven ports on the back (including a Type-C), two 2.0 headers and a 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A. We also regret the absence of a Type-C header for modern boxes.