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
ASUS ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming
Moving onto the ASUS ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming and it's the only TRX40 model currently to include the gaming tag line in its model naming. Cut from a similar cloth to the ROG Zenith II Extreme with its blend of black aluminium inspired design, ASUS has also included its LiveDash OLED into the rear panel cover, with support for DDR4-4666 and 256 GB across eight memory slots also featured. The ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming is ATX in size and is designed for the gamer in mind, with plenty of features found on most HEDT boards making it a solid all-rounder.
The design of the ASUS ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming is similar to its other gaming branded Strix models with its holographic digital colorful insignia on the rear panel cover and heatsinks; these areas are also customizable due to the integrated RGB LEDs. The power delivery consists of a 16-phase setup with 16 Infineon TDA21472 70 A power stages which are operating in teamed mode. Its heatsink includes active cooling with fans hidden between the grill and the heatsink, while the TRX40 chipset heatsink also includes a cooling fan. There are three full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, with the inclusion of a PCIe 4.0 x4 slot for good measure.
On the storage front, ASUS includes three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, with eight SATA ports supporting RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. Memory compatibility on the ASUS ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming is competitive with support for DDR4-4666, with up to 256 GB supported across eight memory slots. Located around the edge of the board is seven 4-pin headers with two for CPU cooling fans, one for a water pump, one for an AIO pump, and three designated for chassis fans.
Looking at the rear panel and ASUS has included a whopping seven USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, and four USB 2.0 ports. Also present are five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output driven by a SupremeFX S1220 HD audio codec with dual OP amplifiers, a pair of Ethernet ports powered by a Realtek RTL8125-CG 2.5 GbE and Intel I211-AT Gigabit controller pairing. The ASUS ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming also includes an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface with support for BT 5.0 devices.
The ASUS ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming isn't the only gaming-focused board, and while AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 3000 processors will almost certainly be capable, the real advantages are had in multi-core optimized applications. With a price tag of $450, it combines a solid controller set with the usual ROG Strix aesthetics we come to expect from ASUS, as well as plenty of networking capability for uses outside of gaming.
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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
(^.^)