ASUS thinks outside the box with their Mini ITX ROG Strix x870-I Gaming motherboard

ASUS pushes audio off-board with their new ROG Strix X870-I Mini ITX motherboard

Rounding off our ASUS X870/X870E coverage today is the mini ITX ROG Strix X870-I Gaming, a tin design that packs a lot of BIG features. As always, the Mini ITX form factor presents a challenge to motherboard manufacturers. Space is at a premium, and every inch of space needs to be used effectively.

With X870, ASUS has taken things to a new extreme by pushing audio off-board with their new ROG Strix HIVE II. This external control unit features a ESS Sabre 9260Q DAC, an integrated volume knob, and press-to-mute controls. It also includes two 10Gbps USB ports (Type-A and Type-C) and features a Q-LED array to help users diagnose motherboard problems.

Despite its compact size, the ROG Strix X870-I features a tonne of connectivity options. For starters, this motherboard features two 40Gbps USB4 ports. Additionally, this motherboard features 5 10Gbps USB ports (4x Type-A, 1x Type-C) on its rear I/O and three USB 2.0 ports. Additionally, we have options for 10Gbps USB and 5 Gbps USB as part of its front I/O. Furthermore, this motherboard also has two SATA ports, USB 2.0 headers, and other options that are enabled through ASUS’ ROG FPS-II card (pictured below).

Networking comes via WIFI 7 or 2.5Gb ethernet. Storage-wise, this motherboard features two M.2 slots. One of these slots are PCIe 5.0 enabled, and the other is PCIe 4.0. The primary PCIe slot of this motherboard is 16x PCIe 5.0 connection. Moving onto DRAM, this motherboard supports up to 96GB of DDR5 memory across two DIMM slots.

Information for ASUS’ other X870/X870E motherboards is available here.

You can join the discussion on ASUS’ mini ITX ROG Strix X870-I Gaming motherboard on the OC3D Forums.