Product Showcase

 
The ROG Zenith Extreme price motherboard is obviously to be considered a enthusiast class solution in that super-high-end segment of AMDs X399 series motherboards. The board is built using the best components, assuring high reliability and a long life-span. Some interesting features are 802.11ac/ad Wi-Fi, triple M.2 as well as an intricate AURA LED Lightning system and a 10 Gbps Network adapter.

 
 

 
The motherboard includes all of the standardized X399 enhancements with three M.2 SSD slots and will support SLI (2-way) and Crossfire (4-way). Your PCIe lane configuration will be highly dependent on the choices you make with you purchase. However the CPU alone will deliver a nice 64 PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes. 

If you'd use four graphics card they would be configured at 16:8:16:8 (or a combination of that) as the chipset uses a x4 link from the processor.

The I/O panel of the mobo reveals eight USB 3.1 ports and then an extra 10 Gbps type-c and type-a  connector. AMD offers native USB 3.1 Gen 2 support from the. ASUS adds and splits with a ASMedia's 3142 controller:

AMD Ryzen Threadripper Processors : 

• 8 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 port(s) (8 at back panel, blue)

AMD X399 chipset : 

• 4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 port(s) (4 at mid-board)

AMD X399 chipset : 

• 2 x USB 2.0 port(s) (Type-A + USB Type-CTM, 2 at mid-board)

AMD X399 chipset : 

• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 front panel connector port(s) 

ASMedia® USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller : 

• 2 x USB port(s) (2 at back panel, , Type-A + USB Type-CTM)

I qould assume that is plenty for you USB needs. The motherboard features four PCIe x16 Gen 3.0 expansion slots. A Realtek ALC1220S audio codec is the source for audio which will use enhanced quality capacitors, used on most motherboards these days.

The board gets one 10/100/1000 Ethernet controller from Intel I219-V. There is no PS/2 combo port that can be used for either a keyboard or mouse.

• 1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 (black)USB Type-C
• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 (red) Type-A
• 8 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (blue) 
• 1 x Optical S/PDIF out
• 1 x Clear CMOS button(s)
• 1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button(s)
• 1 x ASUS Wi-Fi GO! module (Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac+ WiGig 802.11ad and Bluetooth v4.1)
• 5 x LED-illuminated audio jacks
• 8 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (blue) 
• 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 (red)Type-A
• 1 x USB 3.1 (black) USB Type-C

The board seriously has AC WIFI on-boardAD and AC WIFI (Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) up to 867 Mbps speeds with on that AD band 60GHz, up to 4600Mbps transfer speed. AD however is very limited in signal and cannot pass through say concrete walls. The board is powered by two 8-pin ATX power header to the processor, that second 8-pin connector can be use optionally (but is advised). Memory wise the board has 8 DIMM slots for your quad-channel needs.  This board is rated to support up to DDR4 3600 MHz memory (overclocked), you may install up-to 128 GB of it. If you look at the overview of the board you'll spot a nice black design with styled RGB elements on the heatsink plating. 

Included in the bundle is the standard kit as well as WIFI (shark fin design) antennas and an RGB extended LED cable. Also included is a SLI bridge, this is the new HB (high-bandwidth) version.
 

We'll talk more on the 10 Gbps Ethernet adapter later in the article. Interesting to note is that one M2 SSD slot is located under the chipset heatsink (and is cooled that way as well). The other two M2 units, should you wish to use them, can be applied to the ROG DIMM.2 card that you see. The board has an extra 'DIMM' slot where it can be inserted and used. I guess it's a bit of a compromise as in the past ASUS was using the vertically mounted solution. ASUS, guys why not simple do an EATX board with a little more space eh?