ASUS Brings The BTF Goodness With Its ROG Crosshair X870E HERO BTF Motherboard
ASUS has unveiled its latest high-end AMD AM5 motherboard, the ROG Crosshair X870E HERO BTF, a flagship-class board packed with premium enthusiast features, 22 power phases, and support for DDR5 memory speeds up to 8600 MT/s with capacities reaching 256 GB.
The new HERO BTF carries forward ASUS’s Back-To-the-Future (BTF) design philosophy, which relocates most connectors to the back of the motherboard for super-clean cable management. Earlier this year, ASUS debuted the BTF approach on the TUF Gaming B850-TUF WIFI, and now it arrives on the flagship ROG Crosshair line for AMD’s Ryzen 9000 CPUs.
The board is equipped with a 22-phase power design (18+2+2) rated at 110A/80A, ensuring stable overclocking performance. It comes with dual 8-pin CPU connectors and includes advanced overclocking tools such as Nitropath (for up to 400 MT/s memory boost), AEMP, DIMM FIT/PRO, Dynamic OC Switcher, Core Flex, PBO enhancements, and a dedicated clock generator for asynchronous tuning.
Cooling is handled by a large integrated heatsink solution with VRM coverage, I/O shielding, and heatpipes. For storage, users get five M.2 slots (three PCIe 5.0 x4 direct from CPU, two PCIe 4.0 x4 from chipset) and four SATA III ports. Each M.2 slot is covered with Q-release heatsinks, allowing tool-free installation.
Expansion includes one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot and one PCIe 4.0 x4 slot. Rear I/O connectivity is extensive, featuring:
20 USB ports total: 10 rear (2× USB4, 8× USB 10 Gbps), 10 front (2× USB 20 Gbps, 4× USB 5 Gbps, 4× USB 2.0)
HDMI out
BIOS Flashback & Clear CMOS buttons
ALC4082-based 7.1 audio with ESS ES9219 Quad DAC
WiFi 7 + Bluetooth 5.4 (MediaTek MT927)
Realtek 5 GbE & Intel 2.5 GbE LAN
Optical S/PDIF output
Cooling headers include 8 connectors for fans and liquid cooling solutions.
The Crosshair X870E HERO BTF also introduces a 600W BTF GPU power slot using a hidden 16-pin connector on the back of the board, compatible with ASUS and third-party BTF graphics cards. This integration ensures minimal visible cabling, reinforcing ASUS’s clean build vision.
ASUS has not yet confirmed pricing, but the ROG Crosshair X870E HERO BTF is expected to retail slightly above the standard HERO board, which currently sits between $600–$650 USD. Availability should follow in the coming weeks across global retail channels.
Would you pay extra for ASUS’s BTF design to enjoy a completely clean build, or do you think traditional layouts still offer more flexibility?
