Why don't just reduce the USB connectors and try stacking the second chip somewhere if there isn't any space literally? Cases, monitors, keyboard have shit load of USB-s, like who is using 12 USB ports? It's understandable if you use like, LETS SAY best case scenario keyboard + mouse + headset + led controller + whatever audio + phone. You have 2 at least on front, coming out from motherboard pin (pin, not USB), 2 on back, 2+ on monitors... you already have saturated it with full needs.. having only 2 on the back of the mobo lol (not 8)

Why 50 year old 24-pin connectors still same

I think this is fine, since the chipset really only has to interface with the rest of the mobo. Makes me wonder why it couldn't have been mounted on the rear face of the board - surely there would have been enough room there? It's pretty common to have expansion slots on the rear of ITX boards, so why not the chipset too? What I would really like to see is slotted VRMs. Not only would that save space on a board like this (and again, only has to interface with the mobo) but it would make boards significantly cheaper for both the consumer and the manufacturer (when you account for RMAs). Nowadays, motherboard VRMs have to be built to withstand as much as 24 CPU cores, and that's a problem if you're trying to make a budget-oriented board. Intel kinda made this easier by having non-overclockable CPUs or chipsets, where VRMs on such boards don't have to be quite as expensive. But... a B660 still has to power the 125W TDP of a 13900K, and an A620 is going to have to power a 170W 7950X. I'd rather just buy a VRM that suits my needs than to have one overbuilt for a chip I'll probably never get.

D1stRU3T0R:

Why don't just reduce the USB connectors and try stacking the second chip somewhere if there isn't any space literally? Cases, monitors, keyboard have crap load of USB-s, like who is using 12 USB ports? It's understandable if you use like, LETS SAY best case scenario keyboard + mouse + headset + led controller + whatever audio + phone. You have 2 at least on front, coming out from motherboard pin (pin, not USB), 2 on back, 2+ on monitors... you already have saturated it with full needs.. having only 2 on the back of the mobo lol (not 8)

Come on... don't mess with the USBs, my last PC motherboard had 12 USB A and it was not enough

D1stRU3T0R:

Why don't just reduce the USB connectors and try stacking the second chip somewhere if there isn't any space literally? Cases, monitors, keyboard have crap load of USB-s, like who is using 12 USB ports? It's understandable if you use like, LETS SAY best case scenario keyboard + mouse + headset + led controller + whatever audio + phone. You have 2 at least on front, coming out from motherboard pin (pin, not USB), 2 on back, 2+ on monitors... you already have saturated it with full needs.. having only 2 on the back of the mobo lol (not 8)

Yeah table / smartphone user detected. I'm not anywhere close to "a power user" of PC, but I use at least 6 USB ports (m/k, controller, 2 usb cables for smarthphones have 1 type C and 1 norma + 1 free for usb stick). There are people who need external camera / screen recorders, HUBs, external audio card, maybe a wacoom tablet. you are adding 3-5 more peripherals. To have a sh*t "high-end" motherboard with less than 10 usb ports or have to use pci-e card for usb ports which a no-no considering you do not have alot of pci-e lanes/conectors. That and reduced amount of SATA ports is a really retarded trend manufacturers have been pulling lately (and remove POST codes, and other OC features like button in high end mobos)

schmidtbag:

...Makes me wonder why it couldn't have been mounted on the rear face of the board - surely there would have been enough room there? It's pretty common to have expansion slots on the rear of ITX boards, so why not the chipset too?

You'll start to run into signal interference from other traces on the board if with all the crossover they'll have to do to wire it up that way, especially when you take power delivery into consideration. Additional PCB layers can only do so much, and PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 are very sensitive to interference. This way of doing it allows for a little better signal isolation on the traces on the second chipset and other PCIe slots. We're getting close to the point where photonic traces for motherboards become practical, and that prospect excites me greatly.

ok mini-rant so you can have a perfectly competent X670E with a 10+2 VRM this is a huge reason X670 and B650 boards are so effing expensive and it's all about the aib's deciding to go this route. and this the super premium ITX offering for AM5

Umit:

Why 50 year old 24-pin connectors still same

If it isn't broke don't fix it

Do you know what is pointless on most mobos these days is the 6 or 8 SATA 6Gb/s ports. They might be useful for some people here but i'll never use them personally. I'm never going back to SSDs or HDDs so M.2 it is until the next new tech comes along. Maybe give a add on board with SATAs on it instead.

Just my MOBO uses 2 USB, then there my flight controller stick, throttle and rudder peddles plus Track IR, then mouse and headset. I chose the Asrock 570x Taichi based on the number of USB ports and the three full speed Gen 4 NVMe slots.

Reddoguk:

Do you know what is pointless on most mobos these days is the 6 or 8 SATA 6Gb/s ports. They might be useful for some people here but i'll never use them personally. I'm never going back to SSDs or HDDs so M.2 it is until the next new tech comes along. Maybe give a add on board with SATAs on it instead.

Agreed but we also have people complaining Hogwarts won't run on their 5 year old rigs.

Reddoguk:

Do you know what is pointless on most mobos these days is the 6 or 8 SATA 6Gb/s ports. They might be useful for some people here but i'll never use them personally. I'm never going back to SSDs or HDDs so M.2 it is until the next new tech comes along. Maybe give a add on board with SATAs on it instead.

I agree 6+ is unnecessary. I think 4 is fine where there is otherwise plenty of room, though honestly I can't see any on the Asus board in the article. Is it still a think where a pair of SATA ports gets disabled if a M.2 drive is installed? Because if so, I'd say ITX and perhaps mATX boards could save a lot of space by having only 2 SATA ports and then, like you said, have an add-on board (M.2) with a pair of SATA ports. You have to choose one over the other anyway so why waste board space with something that is unlikely to be used? I'd even go as far as to say to not even bother including the M.2 SATA card - if people really want it, they can buy it. Should only cost a few dollars since (as far as I understand) it's just wires. Huge profit margin to make lol. I still use SATA though I don't see myself buying another SATA drive again any time soon. I haven't had a reason to upgrade my existing SATA SSDs.

Can you even fit a decent air cooler on that thing? So many MITX boards these days seem to be designed for water only as far as clearances go. My personal preference for my last 2 MITX builds has been all air, its nice and simple and quiet if you have the right gear.

AuerX:

Can you even fit a decent air cooler on that thing? So many MITX boards these days seem to be designed for water only as far as clearances go. My personal preference for my last 2 MITX builds has been all air, its nice and simple and quiet if you have the right gear.

i adore sff builds but i'm also addicted to w/c because i go for the larger core count

schmidtbag:

I agree 6+ is unnecessary. I think 4 is fine where there is otherwise plenty of room, though honestly I can't see any on the Asus board in the article.

I had to search the website to find them on this board, there is just 2 hidden away which is fine i guess.