ASUS ROG Strix X670 is a Mini-ITX motherboard which is tightly packed with not much room to spare. All X670 motherboards have two chipsets, except the B650 series which has a single one. The Strix Mini-ITX would also have been counted with the B650 series had it not been for a tiny hidden characteristic.
Uniko’s Hardware took apart the ASUS ROG Strix X670 Mini-ITX to discover a secondary chipset installed on a small daughter board, tucked away under a large I/O cover.
This is an example of exceptional design by ASUS. The company had revealed this design months ago, but no reviewer managed to find this detail. The Mini-ITX motherboard is a multi-level structure of boards and heat-dissipating parts forming a sleek and systematic setup.
Here’s a better view of the ASUS ROG Strix X670 Mini-ITX motherboard.
ASUS has installed the secondary chipset on a special PCIe 4.0 x4 add-on card that gives the user an additional M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 slot and I/O controllers.
Figure 8 shows the second chipset located on a quad-lane M.2 card.
ASUS’ premium X670 motherboards consist of two Promontory 21 chips daisy-chained together. Basically, the two-chipset design allows more features and better connectivity as compared to a single chip for lower-end implementation.
The additional Promontory 21 chip uses a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface to add more PCIe lanes, USB ports, and other I/O interfaces. However, it doesn’t have to be installed on the primary motherboard itself.
Similar to ASUS, ASRock X670 Xpansion Kit also has a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface that carries a Promontory chip for extra M.2 slots. Clearly, ASUS is not the only company to place a Promontory 21 chip on an add-on card.
About ASUS
ASUS or ASUSTek Computer Inc. is a Taiwanese computer and electronic hardware company, based out of Beitou, Taipei. They became a common name with their EEE PC and Zenfone series. They have recently introduced Zenbo, a smart hobot robot.
ASUS continues to be one of the best motherboard and gaming brand with their leading technology and design.
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