Review: ASRock TRX40 Creator Threadripper 3000 motherboard

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, Dec 24, 2019.

  1. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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  2. nizzen

    nizzen Ancient Guru

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    Thnx for a nice review!

    Happy christmas :)
     
  3. Pictus

    Pictus Master Guru

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    Thank you for the review and Merry Christmas!

    Strange...
    In the ASRock X570 series some models have Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt header, but the
    more expensive TRX40 series does not... :eek:
    If Thunderbolt is needed for Ryzen the ASRock x570 series is the way, but for
    Threadripper GIGABYTE TRX40 series is the way...
     
  4. Stairmand

    Stairmand Master Guru

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    My big complaint is with all those PCIe lanes I'd have liked 8 x 16x slots (even if they were only 8 x speed) I have a few companies that use 8 x GPUs for rendering so previously I used Asus X99-E WS boards. now would be a great time to upgrade them to Threadripper and 2080ti cards.
     

  5. fry178

    fry178 Ancient Guru

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    @Pictus
    how many GB x570 boards have you used?
    i usually dont get any GB stuff anymore, since the boards are usually one model lower than what i get from msi/asus/asrock for same price,
    and on gpus they like to do v1.0 with nice binned chips and samsung ram, and after initial testing/reviews are done they switch to v1.1 with micron/hynix ram.
    if not, it would mean they need to get their act together, as no other brand needed to "improve" their initial design (e.g. 1.0 -> 1.1) on every chip since 7xx series.

    but after i swapped the msi gaming plus (180$) for the aorus ultra (300$), i remembered why i dont care for their components anymore.
    even after clean install with latest 10 build (1909), i still experience sudden reboots (no shutdown before) and cold boots (especially after shutting down pc within the last few min),
    when the same hw (except the board) has no issues on the gaming, and i can even run the ram i bought for the GB (3600-16),
    incl the xmp profile, when the GB wont even post with it (no matter settings/voltage in bios).

    Not saying their stuff is crap, but thats the first time in 10y that i had major issues with brand new hw,
    and the 2nd time in 19y that i had to swap ram to get rig to post (on my personal rigs)
     
  6. xrodney

    xrodney Master Guru

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    What CPU are you using ?

    I am currently using 2950x on MSI MEG x399 creation and planning to swap soon to 3950x and Gigabyte x570 Aorus Master which is currently probably best x570 motherboard together with Hero from Asus.
    It have best VRM including best heat-sink on it, best selection of functions, decent selection of ports on Rear IO and also as bonus half hidden TB Header.

    I don't really care about wifi 6 as it can be added to any motherboard with M.2 wifi slot for about 13$ and also don't care much about 2.5/5/10gbe network as its easy to get dual 10gbe Intel x540-T2 enterprise server grade NIC for under $90.

    As for issues you can get it with any brand motherboard.
    I had plenty of issues with MSI boards (MSI MEG x399 Creation is 1st in long time that works just fine), I had issues with Asrock in past as well. Currently prefer Asus and Gigabyte and usually check in advance if there is some high amount of issues reported by users.

    More or less you cant be 100% safe with any brand, its always question of specific model.

    @Hilbert Hagedoorn , thx for review, just... I don't think motherboard price is main factor if you have $1350 as cheapest option for CPU.
     
  7. D3Master

    D3Master Member

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  8. fry178

    fry178 Ancient Guru

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    R5 3600

    I didnt mean normal stuff.
    Im talking about a board that wouldnt even post until i swapped the gskill with corsair (both same 2133),
    going into a non-post reboot loop for no reason, refusing to do anything and sitting at a black screen that only a bios flashback fixed,
    And little things like flashback button is on the board (not on i/o panel like the sub 300 boards i had),
    charge over usb is only 500mA no matter what port or device, charging while sleep doesnt work at all,
    features my last 200$ asus (6y old) had.
    maybe ok for a cheap board, not for one with +300$ tag.

    and so far R are limited mainly by heat transfer (HS to cooler) and limits outside (board) control,
    so vrm/power on virtually all +200$ boards (x570) is enough to run all ryzen cpus at stock clocks without problems,
    and 3xxx out of box clocks are getting so close to max chip capability that most reviews dont see power etc as limiting factor.
     
  9. Valken

    Valken Ancient Guru

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    A non-LED real workstation board. Love it. I wonder how many companies run Bling Bling cases with colored LEDs. Most tech companies still go for best price / performance.

    Contractors with personal gear are different.

    I don't need this kind of power but love that someone remembers that some of us just need the power to work, not the flash.
     
  10. fry178

    fry178 Ancient Guru

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    Then again, wouldn't you get it if its let say 20% cheaper than the one without?

    Dont care much about windows/lights anymore, but everything i got was same/cheaper coming with RGB (board/ram/gpu),
    same for the case (tinted TG).

    would have never paid extra nor did i look for the leds, but now that i have dimmed lights behind tinted glass (to show cpu/gpu temps)
    i have to say it looks pretty nice and i might keep it that way.
     

  11. xrodney

    xrodney Master Guru

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    Memory incompatibility can happen to any board, had it with corsair on Asrock and with Gskill on MSI and Asus, was your memory module on QVL?
    Don't have experience with 3rd gen Ryzen yet, but generally there are different memory chips and you are more likely to run into issues with Hynix or micron than with Samsung B-die, also if you use more than two dims or dual rank memory modules it increase chance of issues, putting this fully on gigabyte is not exactly fair as any manufactuer will have some problematic modules.

    As for lack of Flashback button on rear IO, you chosen specific model that removed it to get place for Graphics port(s) which you don't event need with 3600, you could have chosen Master instead Anyway its better to move FB to board rather than remove more USB ports.

    As for VRM it maybe doesn't make big difference for 3600 but better VRM can have more stable and faster voltage regulation and generate less heat if its able turn some phases off under low load, Also together with 3950x in hot environment or bad airflow case it might make huge difference if VRM runs on 60C instead of 90C+.
    Where I live you can easily get 36c room temperature during summer and just ok VRM would not cut it.
     
  12. fry178

    fry178 Ancient Guru

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    yes, and the one im using now, wasnt.
    i can, if the rest of the hw works without any problems but swapping the board.
    never use more than 2 dimms, but with ryzen 3xxx dual sticks @dual rank seems best.

    there is literally no other way this is coming from something else, as i even did another clean install when 1909/new chipset driver came out.

    for the past 18y i build about 2-3 desktops a year (upgrades) ,
    usually when someone i know, wants a new one/upgrade.
    so with about 50 machines, i never had to rely on a second set of hw (to swap stuff) to get it to power up (access bios/POST).

    well as seen the FB on that board is more important as i needed to do this already 3 times in 6 weeks,
    dont have tons of devices, so i can lose 4 ports..

    and after i saw that the limiting factor (ryzen 3xxx) isnt power/vrm anymore (outside maybe ocing 3900/3950),
    means i can now look at smaller boards/different brands as i dont plan to get a 3950 an oc it.
    temps arent an issue, as i run everything on water, and would recommend an aio even for 3600.
    and if used as exhaust, case temps (incl vrm etc) will drop to decent levels as well.

    im not saying the others dont have issues, but not on the +200$ boards i had.
    and each time i give them another chance since features/price is good (on rig thats not for me) ,
    i always get reminded why i dont want their boards/gpus anymore.
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2019
  13. Reddoguk

    Reddoguk Ancient Guru

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    I know HH isn't English but the Where all other is funny lol. Correction is> Were all over TRX40 motherboards.

    I hate the spelling police but i just found it funny. Still a good review though.
     
  14. kakiharaFRS

    kakiharaFRS Master Guru

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    about thunderbolt :
    it's Intel technology those are AMD motherboards (Apple uses Intel cpus heh)
    if you didn't know you cannot have TB3 on a non-intel chipset normally, TB is heavily integrated into your bios and motherboard, you can't "just plug a pcie card" it's not how it works(I technically had it on my Z390 except with only 16 cpu lanes it shutdown 2 of my SATA drives..screw that)
    they had to pay Intel, their competition to integrate it and create new motherboard layouts, new BIOS etc...

    I wanted TB3 but the few motherboards that have it cut in other places which I cared more about (usbs and internal storage lanes)
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2019
  15. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    thunderbolt is no longer intel technology, they gifted it to the usb-if months ago.
     

  16. xrodney

    xrodney Master Guru

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    No you don't need any complicated bios integration anymore, Thunderbolt 3 is opened standart since 2018 and yes you can simply buy PCI-e TB3 controller card and use it. Asus and others make them.

    As for disabling SATA ports, yes its annoying, but you can simply solve it by adding PCI-e sata controller card, you can now-days buy something like Adaptec 7805 or 71605 for like $50.
     

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