ASUS Teases Flagship ROG Crosshair X870E Glacial and Crosshair X870E DARK HERO Motherboards for AMD AM5 Ryzen Systems
ASUS has published a teaser for 2 upcoming ROG Crosshair flagship motherboards built on the AM5 socket and AMD X870E chipset, positioning them as the top tier options in its next wave of Ryzen focused platform hardware. The lineup includes the ROG Crosshair X870E Glacial, a white themed showcase board that blends extreme power delivery with premium thermal design and a large display for system monitoring, plus the ROG Crosshair X870E DARK HERO, a darker aesthetic counterpart that keeps the enthusiast feature set while leaning into a more stealth build identity.
Starting with the ROG Crosshair X870E Glacial, ASUS is going full flagship with an E ATX form factor and a reported 26 to 28 phase VRM design paired with an updated heatsink layout. The most visually dominant feature is an integrated 5 inch LCD on the rear IO cover, designed for real time monitoring and customization, giving builders a front and center dashboard without needing a separate sensor panel. Memory support is listed at up to 8000 MT per second DDR5 speeds and up to 256 GB capacity, aligning with the current high end AM5 tuning ceiling while keeping plenty of headroom for workstation class multi DIMM builds.
On expandability, ASUS is continuing to leverage its DIMM.2 approach to increase M.2 storage flexibility without overcrowding the main board surface, and the board design includes a large tray style cover that hides PCIe and M.2 slots for a cleaner presentation. ASUS is also leaning hard into thermals, with full coverage heatsinks for M.2 slots and dedicated heat pads, plus a highlighted primary M.2 solution that uses a 3D vapor chamber style heatsink with an embedded heatpipe to help manage the heat density of fast PCIe Gen5 SSDs. For builders who still need legacy storage connectivity, the board is noted to include 4 SATA III ports.
Functionally, the Glacial layout also appears to emphasize build convenience and power stability, featuring a large control panel area with Start and FlexKey buttons and multiple right angled connectors, including the main 24 pin power and an additional 6 pin connector for supplemental power delivery. Taken together, the design reads like ASUS is targeting enthusiasts who want both maximum performance throughput and a premium presentation build, especially for high end GPUs, Gen5 storage, and Ryzen platform tuning.
ASUS has also highlighted the board through its CES Innovation Awards 2026 listing, describing the Crosshair X870E Glacial as a flagship class platform for Ryzen 9000 series systems, calling out DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 throughput, USB4 connectivity, and the 5 inch LCD as a core differentiator for monitoring and personalization.
The second teased board is the ROG Crosshair X870E DARK HERO, which shifts to a black themed styling and is positioned as a similarly premium option with an updated VRM approach and the same 3D vapor chamber M.2 cooling concept. ASUS is also pushing EZ DIY enhancements here, which typically signals more tool free installation features and builder friendly slot and latch refinements. While ASUS has not yet published a full spec table in the provided teaser details, the direction is clear: Glacial is the bold showpiece flagship, and DARK HERO is the high end alternative for builders who want the same category of performance and cooling innovation with a darker, more understated finish.
With CES 2026 arriving on January 6, 2026, these boards look like part of ASUS strategy to keep AM5 at the center of enthusiast builds as memory speeds climb, PCIe Gen5 storage becomes mainstream at the high end, and motherboards increasingly double as both performance tools and showcase components.
If you were building a premium AM5 rig in 2026, would you choose the X870E Glacial for the 5 inch LCD and white showcase aesthetic, or the X870E DARK HERO for a stealth build with the same flagship DNA?
