ASRock TRX40 Creator review - Introduction

ASRock TRX40 Creator

Where all other TRX40 motherboards with the luxurious options sell at 800~1000 USD even, ASRock outs their TRX40 Creator, and the price is 449 USD. A heck of a lot of money, but features wise you still receive AX WIFI and 10 Gbps Ethernet. Worth it? Well, let's check that out.

The year is 2019, and it's becoming a little common already, I mean CPUs with 24 to even 32 processor cores. AMD unleashed their 3rd generation of Threadripper processors based on the ZEN2 architecture accompanied by that now familiar TRX40 chipset design. And where these mega-core processors really make little sense for your avid PC gamer, these can be very compelling products to developers, content creators and video editors. AMD overhauled the Threadripper and motherboard chipset design, PCIe Gen 4.0 anywhere and everywhere and new memory configurations make the UMA/NUMA discussion a thing of the past, heck, you can even game on these procs as if it was a Ryzen 3000 processor. Based on 7nm ZEN2 dies and the Castle Peak codename, that 32-core 3970X processor with its staggering 64 threads is just unprecedented in this desktop-class. As you can judge from this review, drop-in compatibility with X399 is, unfortunately, not an option ergo the new TRX40 chipset that will be complemented on many motherboards from all big brands. Threadripper 3000 processors are different from their predecessors mainly for reasons including PCI-Express 4.0 and further future-proofing the platform for upcoming generations - forcing AMD to introduce a new motherboard platform and chipset. The new Socket sTRX4 / TRX40 looks identical to the Socket TR4 of the first two generations of Threadrippers, but is not compatible; cooling solutions for existing Threadripper CPUs, however, are suitable for these new models. 

ASRock TRX40 Creator

Asrock’s is known by the fact that they can offer their products at a more competitive price. And arguably, the TRX40 is perhaps not the most beautiful design out there. However, is holding all and every feature you desire and in that sense can be compared with motherboards twice the price of the TRX40 Creator. The design is a bit soberer, for professional usage, even so, yes it does have less visual flair. Where all boards offer 16 phases, this one has an 8 Power Phase Design, 90A Dr. MOS & Power Chokes. However let's talk specs, you'll get fourth PCI Express x16 slot (could be handy with GPGPU setups). It has eight SATA3 ports, holds three slots for M.2 and is featuring USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C connector (20 Gbps), a 10Gbps Aquantia NIC and a 2.5Gbps Realtek LAN chip, plus an Intel AX Wi-Fi 6 module. There's also a vertical, active-cooling fan over the VRMs.

Form factor	ATX 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
Chipset	AMD TRX40
VRM	8 phases
RAM	8x DDR4 DIMM, quad PC4-35200U/DDR4-4466 (OC), max. 256GB (UDIMM)
Extension slots	4x PCIe 4.0 x16 slots (support x16/x8/x16/x8 mode)
connectors	1 Rear USB 3.2 Gen2 x2 20Gb/s Type-C 3 USB 3.2 Gen2 (1 Front Type-C, 2 Rear) 8 USB 3.2 Gen1 (4 Front, 4 Rear)
Audio	7.1 (Realtek ALC1220/Realtek ALC4050H)
RAID level	0/1/10 (TRX40)
Multi-GPU	NVIDIA 4-Way SLI (x16/x16, x16/x16/x8, x16/x16/x8/x8), AMD 4-Way-CrossFireX (x16/x16, x16/x16/x8, x16/x16/x8/x8)
Power connections	1x 24-Pin ATX, 2x 8-Pin EPS12V
Graphics	NA
LAN/WIFI	1x Realtek 2.5G LAN Gigabit LAN controller 1x Aquantia AQC107 10-Gigabit LAN controller Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 The Wireless module is pre-install in the M2_4 (Key-E) slot Supports 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, MU-MINO Rx, 2.4GHz- 5GHz (160MHz) up to 2.4Gbps Supports Bluetooth 5