Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Glacial adds magnetic RAM fan and hidden PCIe covers

With so many motherboards on the market, it's hard for vendors to make something that really stands out. At a glance the Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Glacial caught my eye only because it ships with pre-installed Wi-Fi drivers, but a closer look reveals plenty of features: M.2 slots, heatsinks and a five-inch LCD panel on a top-end, high-priced board.

A small cover snaps off to reveal connectors for a magnetically attached fan that comes with the motherboard and blows along the length of the DRAM sticks. The snap-on design means no screws or struggle, but how well it works depends on noise and build quality, and most users who aren't heavily overclocking memory may never need it.

My main worry is placement: the fan intake sits right next to where a graphics card fits, so with a long, powerful GPU the little DRAM cooler could end up pulling in hot air. There are also two PCIe slots hidden under magnetically attached plates; one conceals the usual headers, while the larger cover prevents fitting a graphics card unless you remove it.

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