ASUS Socket AM3/AMD 890FX/CrossFireX/SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0/A and GbE/ATX Motherboard Crosshair IV Formula

by Asus

• CPU: Socket AM3 Support AMD Phenom II/Athlon II/ Sempron 100 Series Processors, Support AMD 140W CPU; Support 45nm CPU; FSB Upto 5200 MT/s Chipset: AMD 890FX & SB850
• Memory: 4x 240pin DDR3-2000(O.C.)/1800(O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 DIMMs, Dual Channel, ECC/Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory, Upto 16GB Slots: 3x PCI-Express 2.0 x16 Slots(Support ATI CrossFireX Technology); 1x PCI-Express 2.0 x4 Slot; 2x PCI 2.2 Slot
• SATA: 6x SATA3 Ports, Support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10; 1x SATA2 Port; 1x eSATA2 Port Audio: SupremeFX X-Fi 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
• Ports: 12x USB 2.0 Ports (7 rear, 5 by headers); 2x USB 3.0 Ports; 2x IEEE 1394a Ports(1 rear, 1 by header); 1x PS/2 Ports; 1x eSATA Port; 1x Optical S/PDIF Out Port; 1x RJ45 LAN Port; Audio I/O Jacks
• Power Connector: 1x 24pin Main Power; 1x 8pin CPU Power

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 14.6 x 14.6 x 3.7 inches ; 5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B003G40Z66
• Item model number: CROSSHAIR IV FORMULA
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 8, 2010

Product Description

ASUS Crosshair IV Formula - AM3 - AMD 890FX - DDR3 - Republic of Gamers - ATX Motherboard

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth more than the retail price! October 14, 2010

By William Scarbrough

Asus has hit a homerun with this mobo! Using the Asus Crosshair IV Formula and my new AMD 1055t Athlon II x6 processor, I was able to easily OC the stock 2.8 Ghz proccy to 3.76 Ghz with almost no effort whatsoever. I had originally intended to go with the AMD 1090t proccy but couldn't see paying almost $100 extra (at that time). I realize now the Black Edition processors are a little better with faster through put but I'm still very happy.
My first impression of the packaging was simply "WOW". Normally you expect to get a mobo in a box that's been clear-tape sealed with a disk an instruction booklet and a CD and perhaps some cables/ribbons. This package is like no other mobo you'll ever buy. An extremely detailed booklet with plenty of info on anything and everything about the board and it's features as well as Bios tips. Cables, tie straps, and an amazing rear IO plate that put my faith back into premium quality mobos. Also included is an ROG (Republic Of Gamers) badge sticker as well as a pretty large side case sticker that goes perfectly with my Red and Silver Backtrack 4 logo ;). Assembly of the board is standard except for the RAM slots which feature one end clip on each slot. Yep, no more fumbling around underneath wires to have to pop out your RAM sticks with two latches, this feature alone is enough for me to be happy but it doesn't stop there. Asus has gone out of their way to deliver not only performance but a great assembled package that shows the pride of the ROG community. Some (including one of my closest friends) balked at the color scheme until he got a longer look at it. Admittedly, red wouldn't have been my first choice either since I like blue and green better but it quickly grows on you aesthetically.... Now, many have complained about the heat of the Northbridge which in some cases featured incorrect standoff heights. For a new and "featured" product it was sad to see such a blatant mistake which also proved a lack of QC/QA on Asus' part before shipping (IMO) on one of their premiere and premium prodcuts. However, with that said, I was one of the fortunate ones who had no problems with the heat of the NB.
Assembly was typical like any other motherboard until it came time to start it up. I have to admit this was the first time ever I had no problems running it correctly the first time with absolutely no flaws. Loaded in Windows Ultimate 7 64 bit and away it went.
For this build I opted for all top of the line products including: Corsair H70 proc cooler, 8Gb G.Skill Flare RAM, OCZ 850w GamerXStream PSU, Diamond ATI 1Gb DDR5 5870 GPU, Antec BluRay BD ROM, LG DVD/CD reader/burner, NZXT Sentry 2 LE Fan Controller, Lian Li 4 port mini-duckbill light switches, Cooler Master Sickle Blade Fans (6), Antec 1200 case, Sabrent 51 in 1 card reader, WD RE3 Enterprise Edition 1Tb drives (2), Corsair C300 64 Gb SSD, Bulgin LED Power Switch, Flatron 24" HDMI monitor,Logitech G19 Keyboard and last but not lease the Logitech G5 gaming mouse. And all fed through a Logitech 540 5.1 sound system.
My intention was to future proof this build as much as possible within a set budget and I've easily accomplished that with a few dollars leftover. The lighted switches, buttons on the motherboard are flat out sexy too. I've also got to admit the AMD 890 chipset totally rocks! My previous system was an Asus A8N32-SLI Premium mobo with an AMD Opteron 170 which is still a good build but nothing compared to the newest screamer! If you're looking for performance, capability, consistency and overclocking capabilities I would have to put this at position #1 with a bullet!
I had originally intended to use the Noctua NHD14 cooler which is mammoth but fits my case, until that is, I attempted to put it in with the performance RAM from G.Skill. If you're intending to use the Noctua cooler you can only use standard side cover heat spreaders on your RAM. Forget about the add-on top heat spreader such as the G.Skill Flare or Corsair Dominators, it just won't fit. The bottom 3-5 fins of the NHD14 hit the top of the RAM and will not seat anywhere near the top of your processor as it should. Hence the Corsair H70 which works like a charm and provides excellent cooling. Read more ›

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Motherboard but perfection doesn't exist!! October 26, 2010

By Nicholas Winn

Amazon Verified Purchase

This Motherboard rocks.
My Rig
Haf 922 Case
AMD 1090T Thuban 6 Core Black Box
G.Skill 100gb SSD
2nd Drive just normal 7500 WD 1 Terrabyte Drive
G.Skill 4gb x 2 ddr3 1333mhz Ram
Corsaire H-50 Watercooled CPU Unit
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5670 DDR5 1GB Memory Card
650 Watt Power Supply
Pioneer Blu-Ray 505

The Good.
Overclocked the CPU to a solid 4.0 ghz (Passed Prime 95 torture test)
with G.Skill Ram running at it's rated 1333. I used manual settings
which I found on Youtube and tweaked a little

According to the utility Asus Probe the Northbridge, CPU and Southbridge are all running at under
50 Degrees Celsius

My H-50 Cooler fit perfectly inside the Motherboard but I think a bigger cooler could block your last
Memory slot.
.
For my Haf 922 case the Sata Cable connectors are right next to my drives
so I don't have sloppy cables reaching across the board or had to buy 3 footers to spring behind the backplate. Interestingly enough the temperature went
down by 2 degrees when I operated the system with the case closed. Really good airflow in the Haf 922.

The Bad;
I feel like Asus should provide Motherboard Standoffs because I had to do some fiddling and really tighten the screws
to get a good line up for the Back Plate.

My built in sound card didn't work properly. I tried everything installing de-installing drivers devices etc but for some reason sound only comes out of 1 speaker.
This is not a biggie. I'm going to throw in a $30.00 SoundBlaster Card and the world should be right. But still if one pays more than $200.00 for a board you would think the sound would work....

I feel like one drawback of the board is that they allow AHCI on ports 1-4 and IDE on 5 6but that is your only option. You can't control the ports individually and
if you set AHCI the ports disappear in the bios. Yes AHCI causes all 4 ports to not be seen in the Bios. I thought that I had a defective MB but than I looked through the manual and it mentions this.

The first slot is unusable a heat sink fin blocks it. I was hoping to put a exhaust intake fan under the
Video Card but it was too big. Asus suggests you use the 1st PCIE slot for maximum performance when using only 1 Video Card. Next month I
plan to set up a Crossfire configuration. HMM HMM HMM.

I also wish there was a way to speed the Bios Process. I can boot to Windows in 15-20 seconds but the Bios just lags as it double checks everything. Guess this
is necessary on an Overclocker Motherboard.

If my sound had worked I would have rated this board 5 star. By the way Asus support is Abysmal. Don't expect help from them. Read more ›

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent board July 16, 2010

By Peeved Kitten

Amazon Verified Purchase

I ordered this through Amazon with 2 day shipping and it showed up the next morning. I use this board in conjunction with an AMD PII 1090T Thuban, 4gb of DDR3, a BFG Nvidia 9800 GTX+ OC, 32 gb high speed ssd and a 500gb 6gbs pair of data drives raided together.

This motherboard is awesome, it's excellent for gamers but is tuned for over-clocking. I have actually used almost every feature on the board and have to admit, they are REALLY useful.

Their are a couple of issues though. You MUST update the BIOS (this is a no brainer and should be done regularly) and there is a bug with Vdroops and LLC= Load Line Calibration. Right now if you turn LLC off, the system suffers a MASSIVE V-droop. IE: set the system at 1.47v and it return 1.356v at load. Turning LLC on can cut back on the Vdroop, however it also raises your operating temperature a bit and is unstable with a high overclock. ASUS is working on this already, a fix should be on the way shortly, until then you can compensate by finding how large the Vdroop is and over-volting the difference. Not what I recommend doing, but it works.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome mobo! August 10, 2010

By Fursnake

Amazon Verified Purchase

Purchased this motherboard in conjunction with an AMD 965 Black Edition Quad Core processor and the two make for a great setup. This mobo is a real treat, has a lot of great utilities and functions for custom profiles, overclocking and more. Easy to install and setup and made for a vrey hassle free RAID array setup. Plenty of PCI-e slot spacing for going up to triple SLI or Crossfire configurations, but spacing does not really allow for a 4th grpahics card....which is overkill anyhow. Even the onboard sound is pretty decent. Really liking this motherboard!