An AMD Threadripper X399 Motherboard Overview: A Quick Look at Seven Products
by Ian Cutress & Joe Shields on September 15, 2017 9:00 AM ESTThe MSI X399 SLI Plus
As with other X399 boards, the MSI X399 SLI Plus uses eight total memory slots, although these are not reinforced. This configuration allows for up to 128GB of RAM in a quad channel setup. MSI uses their DDR4 Boost technology on the SLI Plus and lists memory speed support up to DDR4-3600+.
Power delivery is handled by a fully digital 13 phase VRM which looks quite similar to the Gaming Pro Carbon AC. Per the Military Class VI specs, it uses Titanium chokes and 'dark' capacitors. We cannot confirm by the pictures, however, it is likely using the same DrMOS ICs found on the Pro Carbon. Power is fed to the VRMs by two 12V CPU leads (one is optional) located in the upper left-hand corner of the board. The SLI Plus has a full two character debug LED as well as a simplified four LED debug system with LED’s for Boot, VGA, DRAM, and CPU.
The SLI Plus has a total of six PCIe slots: two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots and four full-length PCIe 3.0 slots. The two main GPU slots, capable of running x16/x16 if they are the only ones populated, are reinforced with MSI’s Steel Armor to support heavy video cards and prevent potential damage to the slot. The motherboard supports 4-Way NVIDIA SLI and 4-Way AMD Crossfire technologies.
For storage, the SLI Plus has a total of eight SATA ports fed from the chipset, and has the same physical location and orientation of the Pro Carbon; six horizontal and two vertical. There are a total of three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots which get their lanes from the CPU. Two of the M.2 slots support up to 80mm drives, while the middle slot can handle up to 110mm modules. Only the top M.2 slot has a heatsink for cooling down the installed M.2 module. U.2 support does not make it to the SLI Plus.
The audio side of the house is managed by a Realtek ACL1220 codec working in conjunction with MSI’s Audio Boost 4 suite. While the Nahimic software package normally found on the gaming products does not make its way here, the SLI Plus uses separate audio layers for left and right channels, de-pop protection, Chemi-Con audio capacitors, EMI shielding and board separation, and a dedicated headphone amplifier which auto-detects impedance (use up to 600Ω).
As far as the overall aesthetic, MSI uses a black PCB and color scheme and lets the integrated RGB LEDs fit whatever theme a builder has in mind. LEDs make it on the back panel IO shroud, chipset heatsink, and a strip found on the back of the board under the SATA ports. Additional RGB LED strips can be added via the two onboard RGB headers. One is for a rainbow strip, while the other for general RGB; both are controlled by MSI’s Mystic Light software.
Pricing was not listed, but we do expect the SLI Plus to come in under the Gaming Pro Carbon. We should see these available for purchase soon.
| MSI X399 SLI PLUS | |
| Warranty Period | 3 Years |
| Product Page | Link |
| Price | N/A |
| Size | ATX |
| CPU Interface | TR4 |
| Chipset | AMD X399 |
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Eight DDR4 Supporting 128GB Quad Channel Up to 3600 MHz (OC) Supports ECC UDIMM (in non-ECC mode) |
| Network Connectivity | 1 x Intel Gigabit LAN controller |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220 |
| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 4 x PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| PCIe Slots for Other (from Chipset) | 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| Onboard SATA | 8 x Supporting RAID 0/1/10 |
| Onboard SATA Express | None |
| Onboard M.2 | 3 x PCIe 3.0 x4 - NVMe or SATA |
| Onboard U.2 | None |
| USB 3.1 | 1 x Type-C (ASMedia) 1 x Type-A (ASMedia) 1 x Internal Header |
| USB 3.0 | 4 x USB 3.0 |
| USB 2.0 | 2 x Back Panel 2 x Headers |
| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 2 x 8-pin CPU |
| Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x Water Pump (4-pin) 4 x System Fan (4-pin) |
| IO Panel | 1 x Clear CMOS button 1 x BIOS FLASHBACK+ button 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A ports 8 x USB 3.0 Type-A ports 1 x LAN (RJ-45) 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A port 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C port 5 x Audio Jacks 1 x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector |
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Vorl - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
Heads up, the X399 Taichi product link is linked to the pro gaming motherboard link.milkod2001 - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
Grossly overpriced boards. Cay they drop this LED nonsense & ugly plastics and make proper boards at reasonable $250?DanNeely - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
The RGB cancer isn't why these boards are so expensive. It's stupid, but only adds a few dollars to the cost; not a few hundred.It's all the extra PCB layers they need to support the 4000 connections to the CPU socket and route all the extra PCIe lanes. Limiting the number of PCIe lanes in mainstream chips is as much about being able to use smaller sockets and fewer PCB layers to keep board costs down as it is a desire on AMD and Intel's part to upsell to X299/X399 systems. The fact that the mobo vendors are probably expecting to sell dozens of mainstream boards for every one of these halo products doesn't help either because it means that the R&D costs can't be spread anywhere near as widely.
For the two boards that have them, the $100 for a 10GB NIC doesn't help any.
tamalero - Sunday, September 17, 2017 - link
Still annoying and useless. They just wanted to appeal the extra gaming segment when this entire system is not for gaming.Now add the fact that almost every goddarn high end videocard AND memory now have shitty RGB lights as well.
Its a waste of power.
CheapSushi - Sunday, September 17, 2017 - link
Are you assuming enthusiasts are all just gamers? You can be an enthusiast that loves gaming AND content creation. If you want no-nonsense then maybe go EPYC instead (YES, it is a workstation platform too, not just server): http://b2b.gigabyte.com/Server-Motherboard/MZ31-AR...mapesdhs - Tuesday, September 19, 2017 - link
Amazing how many people just assume that a PC user is either a gamer or not a gamer. There's a lot of crossover with content creation these days, and also people who stream. Being able to play a game, record the gameplay, convert a previous session and upload it to YT/etc. will be a boon for those who make a living doing such things.CheapSushi - Sunday, September 17, 2017 - link
Finally a voice of reason for the naggers.ddarko - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
Anyone interested in pairing the Asus Zenith Extreme with the Threadripper version of the Noctua NH-U14S should note that the cooler blocks the first PCI-E x16 slot on the board. Noctua says Asus didn't follow the AMD clearance guidance on this board; you can see in the pic that the top slot is very very close to the CPU bracket.glennst43 - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
NH-U12S TR4-SP3 will fit though: http://noctua.at/en/nh-u12s-tr4-sp3/specification. I read a German article that showed that this cooler provides very similar cooling perf and noise as compared to the 14S. I have 2 other systems that use variations of the 14s, and I can not find any noticeable noise difference. Still an unfortunate design decision from Asus.DanNeely - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
Other than the MSI board, I notice that none of them are putting USB2 ports on the back panel. Does that mean the interference problems that some USB2 devices encountered in 3.0 ports have been fixed; or that the mobo makers just feel anyone who needs them can use an IO bracket attached to an onboard header?