The AMD TRX40 Motherboard Overview: 12 New Motherboards Analyzed
by Gavin Bonshor on November 28, 2019 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- MSI
- Gigabyte
- ASRock
- Asus
- TRX40
- Threadripper 3000
- Castle Peak
MSI TRX40 Pro 10G & TRX40 Pro WIFI
Slightly down the pecking order and below the MSI Creator TRX40 are the MSI TRX40 Pro 10G and TRX40 Pro WIFI motherboards. Both with identical aesthetics and core feature sets, the differences between both models come down to networking support. Both motherboards come with dual Intel I211-AT Gigabit Ethernet controllers on the rear panel, but the TRX40 Pro 10G comes with an Aquantia AQC107 10 Gigabit Ethernet add-in card, while the TRX40 Pro WIFI includes an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface.
The design of the MSI TRX40 Pro 10G and TRX40 Pro WIFI follow the same black and grey design which stretches across the heatsinks and the PCB for a professional and uniformed look. The TRX40 chipset heatsink features active cooling, while just to the right hand of this is a two-digit LED debugger. Dotted around the edge of the PCB is six 4-pin headers with one designated for a CPU fan, one for a water pump, and four designed for chassis fans. The power delivery for both the MSI TRX40 Pro WIFI and TRX40 Pro 10G the CPU consists of a 12-phase design with 12 Intersil ISL99390 90 A power stages with 6 ISL6617 doublers and is controlled by an Intersil ISL69247 PWM controller. Providing power to the CPU is a pair of 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power connectors.
Both models contain the exact same core feature set which includes four full-length PCIe 4.0 slots which run at x16/x8/x16+x8, with a single PCIe 4.0 x1 slot also included. There are two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 with heatsinks on the board itself, while an M.2 Xpander-Z Gen4 add-on card allows users to install up to two more PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives into a full-length PCIe 4.0 slot. Also present is eight SATA ports which support RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. Memory support is exactly the same as the MSI Creator TRX40 with up to DDR4-4666 1DPC 1R, and up to DDR4-3866 2DPC 2R, with up to 256 GB supported across the eight memory slots.
MSI TRX40 Pro WIFI rear panel (Pro 10G is exactly the same, minus the Intel AX200 Wi-Fi)
The only differences between both models are the rear panel; the Pro 10G has no Wi-Fi, while the Pro WIFI includes an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface which includes BT 5.0 connectivity. On the USB side is three USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A, and one USB 3.2 G2 20 Gbps Type-C port. Both rear panels have two Intel I211-AT Gigabit Ethernet controllers, while the 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output are powered by a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec; a secondary Realtek ALC4050H audio codec powers the 3.5 mm microphone input and the front panel audio. The MSI TRX40 Pro 10G comes with an Aquantia AQC107 Ethernet controller add-on
The MSI TRX40 Pro 10 GbE has an MSRP of $500., while the MSI TRX40 Pro WIFI has a cost $470. Both models do feature identical features aside from networking. The M.2 Xpander-Z Gen4 PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot add-on card comes with both models and is a nice touch for users looking to add extra M.2 drives, at the expense of one of the full-length PCIe 4.0 slots. Both models are aimed at professionals with the design and feature set, but both models will appeal to gamers looking to build a system with the high-core count advantage of the Threadripper 3000 series, and on AMD's latest HEDT platform.
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Smell This - Thursday, November 28, 2019 - link
Still just a bit bummed .... that 1st/2nd Gen TRs have been left hangin'
As we roll into 2020, we gotta love where AMD is going BUT, here's hoping that Dr Su does not make the same mistakes on HEDTs that Chipzillah has been notorious in making in the past. With DDR5 on the horiZen, could sTRX4 be yet another *2 and Done* in the next 18 months?
I'm all for $800 mobos -- just as long as they don't become $50 moo-boards in January, 2021.
Spunjji - Friday, November 29, 2019 - link
Based on prior experience of AMD processors, it seems more likely that they'd have to offer new boards for DDR5 support but allow the new processors to run in older boards with DDR4.eek2121 - Friday, November 29, 2019 - link
Chances are that the TRX* series of boards will end in 2021 (or 2022 at the latest), when DDR5 is expected to roll out along with possibly Zen 5 (if 2022). That being said, I have an X399 board and a 1950X. I don't see a need to upgrade yet. I may eventually pick up a 2950X next year, but I'm hanging onto this platform. It games pretty much all current games at 4k, with the majority at maximum or high details (even on a 1080ti), and it's excellent for the development and content creation workloads that i do. Don't let the listed benchmarks fool you, the 1950X is capable of much more. Running Linux brings a rather large performance increase due to better thread scheduling among other things. I have no problems running GTA V or any other games that I play, at full 4k and maximum details.Llawehtdliub - Saturday, November 30, 2019 - link
At 30fpsscineram - Wednesday, December 4, 2019 - link
300.masmosmeaso - Thursday, November 28, 2019 - link
question,is the amount of phases important when it comes to performance or having more devices on the motherboard ? if so how many is overkill for these motherboards ?
Hul8 - Thursday, November 28, 2019 - link
Those power delivery components are only for the CPU package, and take all their power input from the auxiliary CPU power connectors (usually 8-pin, 8+4 or 8+8-pin these days).The rest of the motherboard get their power thru the 24-pin.
eek2121 - Friday, November 29, 2019 - link
More phases typically means better performance (thermals, quality of power, power limits) from the CPU, unless the vendor cheaps out on VRMs. I'd stay away from any board offering only a single 8-pin, as that can be a sign they are using lower quality VRMs, fewer phases, etc. Contrary to popular belief, phase doublers don't really hurt anything. A few in the youtube community have tested this, both with a CPU and also with a CPU 'emulator' that plugs into the socket and measures power output.Hul8 - Tuesday, December 10, 2019 - link
The question was about "devices on the motherboard", which I assume means things other than the CPU. That's why I pointed out that the phases are irrelevant to the question.Dragonstongue - Thursday, November 28, 2019 - link
just to say suchjust "cause" the box label as 280w TDP, this does not automatically mean it USES 280w (I am sure Intel or NVDA likely many many others) will lambast the crud out of AMD for this, without giving the "full story"
eg. Intel will say "our product X only is TDP of Y vs this massive 280w number, choose us, save the world" then when the user actually uses said "product X" they find out either A is much much slower than all review sites list it is and/or B, it shoots ACTUAL power use through the roof therefore not matching the "claims" of said product X TDP being "better" than TR gen 3 280w "listed" TDP
Intel, NVDA have far more proven themselves on "fibbing" their numbers to make the sales than AMD has "overall" over the many years I have been involved with (consumer or otherwise) in computing
............
Thanks for the review overall, at least it seems the various "partners" are not being overly foolish in terms of pricing and feature set, MSI IMO even "better" than some of the others (such as ASUS)
I truly hope these turn out to be the "cat's meow" for those whom can afford and use them, it helps AMD, helps their partners, the long run, helps us all
(^.^)