How Much Power Power Switch Should Read Asrock X399 Professional
ASRock X399 Professional person Gaming Motherboard Review
Our latest AMD TR4 Threadripper motherboard review focuses on ASRock's X399 Professional Gaming. Should y'all purchase it? Let's see.
Rating: 92% Manufacturer: ASRock
Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing
ASRock's X399 Taichi was the outset X399 motherboard nosotros took a look at, and it not only performed well, simply it was also loaded with quality components. ASRock's take on the X399 platform is interesting, to say the to the lowest degree. They are using high-quality parts, implementing solid platform features, but not adding in also many aesthetic features. The motherboards aren't covered in RGB LEDs, although they tin can be if that's what is needed. The Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming is ASRock'southward top of the line X399 motherboard, and it takes the quality nosotros saw with the X399 Taichi and adds in more features.
ASRock might as well have left out the "Gaming" at the stop of the motherboard'south model name, and but chosen it the professional person, but that's too boring for an X399 motherboard. X399 is designed for professional utilize, and if a professional wants to game on the platform, information technology's easy to practise, and so the name actually makes sense.
Allow's take a look at how the motherboard does.
Specifications
The X399 Professional Gaming features dual Intel NICs, an Aquantia 10Gbit NIC, USB three.1, USB 3.0, SATA6Gb/s, three Ultra 1000.ii slots, support for up to 4-way SLI/CrossFireX, U.2, and even multiple RGB LED headers.
Pricing
The X399 Professional person Gaming costs $339.99.
Packaging and X399 Professional person Gaming Overview
Packaging and Overview
The motherboard's box and packaging are similar to the residual of ASRock's killer lineup. The motherboard itself is packaged slightly better than other loftier-end ASRock motherboards and is well protected in the box.
The accompaniment package includes 4-way SLI bridge, three-way SLI bridge, SLI HB bridge, four SATA6Gb/s cables, WIFI antenna, IO shield, manuals, and commuter DVD.
All the headers on the motherboard are hybrid DC/PWM fashion headers and can be configured in the UEFI. The three headers circled in blue offers up to 1A of current while the two circled in red offer upwards to i.5A. The motherboard's aesthetics are surprising for a motherboard in ASRock's "Gaming" series. For starters, there is virtually no red in the heat sinks of shields, and that is a skilful thing, especially for the X399 platform. While the PCB uses a much different silk screen design than the Taichi, it still tin can offer some way if you desire it. The back of the motherboard is bare of components except for POSCAPs.
The rear IO panel features BIOS Flashback button, PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, WIFI antenna, viii USB 3.0 ports, USB 3.i type-A, USB iii.1 blazon-C, two Gbit ports, one 10Gbit port, and 7.1 gilded-plated audio outputs with S/PDIF output.
Just like almost every other X399 motherboard, the PCI-East slots are hard-wired x16/x8/x16/x8 PCI-Due east 3.0. A single PCI-E two.0 x1 slot is located at the eye, and there isn't a x4 slot considering the Aquantia 10G NIC gets those four lanes from the X399 chipset. There are three x4 PCI-Due east three.0 Grand.2 slots, the topmost one shares x4 with the U.ii port.
The motherboard features eight SATA6Gb/s ports, all connected to the chipset. There is as well a U.two port and a PCI-E power connector to enhance the corporeality of power to the PCI-East slots. At the top right corner of the motherboard, nosotros find a MOS_Prochot switch, which ASRock calls a Xtreme OC switch, I remember information technology disables OTP for the VRMs. The motherboard likewise features dual CPU power inputs, with the 8-pin at the acme right corner.
A 2d CPU input ability connector accepts a 4-pin CPU power plug. Right under the 24-pivot connector is a USB 3.0 internal header and an RGB LED header.
At the lesser of the motherboard, we get another USB iii.0 internal header, ability and reset buttons, a clear CMOS button, and a POST lawmaking display. There are two USB 2.0 internal headers and another RGB LED header at the bottom of the motherboard as well.
The motherboard has two HD audio connectors, and they are identical, you but need to apply one at a time, simply the reason for 2 is for case cable management. A COM port is located near the sound headers, and that is one feature this lath has over the Taichi. The rut sinks are pretty big and heavy, and they should practise a solid job of controlling VRM temperatures. The heat sink here for the VRM is similar to that on the Taichi, except it's too cooling the Aquantia 10G NIC.
ASRock X399 Professional Gaming Circuit Analysis
Excursion Analysis
The X399 Professional Gaming reveals its goods when we remove the heat sinks.
We get a true eight-phase VRM controlled by an International Rectifier IR35201 working in 8+0 mode. Information technology'due south a fully digital cutting border PWM and controls eight IR3555 fully integrated power stages rated at 60A each. While that is all good and bully, nosotros also demand to find high electric current chokes, and ASRock uses 60A rated ones. The capacitors are tantalum POSCAPs located on the back of the PCB. ASRock also uses a 2oz copper PCB, making it easier to absurd the VRM expanse.
We find another IR35201 digital PWM, merely simply three of its phases are being utilized to ability the SoC VRM. The SoC VRM uses three IR3555 PowIRstages. Each retentiveness VRM uses a UPI Semiconductor uP1647P PWM to control and drive two SinoPower SM7341EHKP dual N-Channel MOSFETs.
The second VRM is pictured in a higher place and its identical to the other memory VRM.
ASRock X399 Professional Gaming Circuit Analysis Connected
X399 Professional Gaming Circuit Analysis Continued
The Realtek ALC1220 is rated for 120dB SNR for the master headphone output. The codec as well has an integrated amplifier for the headphone/speaker jack, and ASRock added a Texas Instruments NE5532 to amplify the front panel header output. Gold electrolytic sound capacitors are used to improve audio quality, as is a physical PCB divide.
We observe the Aquantia AQC107 NBase-T controller which supports 10Gbit, 5, two.five, 1, and 100Mbit Ethernet. It is part of a new grade of NICs and performs quite well. We find ii Intel i211AT 1Gbit NICs on the motherboard every bit well.
An Intel Wireless AC 3168NGW 1x1 Wireless Air conditioning card is used to provide up to 433Mbps of WIFI. An ICS clock generator is used to heighten clock overclocking; its model number is ICS 9VRS4883BKLF.
Ii Pericom PI3EQX USB iii.ane re-drivers improve USB iii.1 signals from the X399 chipset. An ASMedia ASM1543 type-C switch and CC logic chip are used for the rear IO panel's blazon-C port. A FlashBack IC provides the USB BIOS recovery feature.
The chief SuperIO is a NuvoTon NCT6779D and provides system monitoring and PS/2 on the rear IO. A nuvoton N76E885AT20 provides RGB LED control, and a drivers and receivers chip (labeled 232GG) provides the COM port header.
The motherboard features two ASMedia ASM1480 that switch x4 PCI-E iii.0 from the CPU to either M2_1 or the U.two port.
BIOS and Software
BIOS
ASRock's UEFI for the X399 Professional Gaming is pretty much identical to that of the X399 Taichi, except for minor differences such as the colour theme. We get a red and black color theme with an easy to utilise layout, and the UEFI is mostly issues-gratis.
I didn't find any issues, and when yous ready the CPU to manually OC you have to places where you lot can input voltage, I just use the i at the top near where you set CPU frequency. Fan control is quite good and menu and GUI options equally both available. There is also an EZ Fashion, which is for the less experienced users, but information technology you aren't taken to that GUI by default.
Software
ASRock's software suite includes F-Stream, Aureola RGB LED, APP Charger, Restart to UEFI, and APP Shop, and Sound Equalizer 720.
Test Organization Setup
Steven's Motherboard Examination System Specifications
- Motherboard: ASRock X399-Professional person Gaming
- CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X
- Cooler: ThermalTake Riing Floe AIO - Purchase from Amazon
- Memory: TridentZ 8GBx4 RGB 3200MHz
- Video Bill of fare: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Storage - Boot Drive: Samsung 950 Pro 256GB
- Storage - SATA6G Drive: Corsair LS 240GB
- Storage - USB Bulldoze: Corsair Voyager GS 64GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Case: ThermalTake Cadre P5 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Ability Supply: Corsair RM1000 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Bone: Microsoft Windows 10 - Buy from Amazon
- Monitor: ASUS PA328 ProArt 32" 4K - Purchase from Amazon
- Keyboard: Corsair K70 LUX - Buy from Amazon
- Mouse: Corsair M65 PRO RGB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Headset: Corsair VOID RGB Wireless - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- BIOS: P1.30
The ASRock X399 motherboards are quite bones when it comes to in RGB LEDs, you simply notice them nether the chipset rut sink. That being said, the motherboard offers 2 RGB LED headers, so you lot tin can calorie-free up if you lot like or go along things dark if you so choose.
Overclocking
Overclocking Results
CPU Overclocking
AMD'south Threadripper platform is quite interesting, as AMD stated the top 5% of Zen dies go Threadripper CPUs. That is a big deal, as that would also mean the CPU should overclock quite loftier, or at to the lowest degree consistently high.
My all-time overclock on the X370 platform was 4GHz with 3200Mhz memory speeds after months of BIOS updates, so I volition aim for the same here. Most people get limited effectually four.1GHz, and I know my 1950X tin't practise 4.1Ghz stable on all cores without tons of voltage or better cooling.
To achieve the in a higher place overclock I set the CPU overclocking mode to manual, input CPU frequency of 4000MHz and set up VCore to 1.325v. I also enabled XMP and didn't mess with any retention settings. I prepare LLC to level 2, and that seemed to get the job washed. The CPU booted into Windows, and temperatures stayed at acceptable levels, although they could have been improve if fans on the radiator were at total blast.
CPU, Memory, and System Benchmarks
CINEBENCH R15
wPrime
AIDA64 FPU
AIDA64 Retention
ScienceMark
HandBrake
SuperPi 32M
3DMark: Fire Strike
3DMark: Cloud Gate
ResidentEvil 6
The X399 Professional Gaming 'southward performance is solid; I didn't detect any bug with the motherboard'due south CPU, memory, or GPU performance. The iii latest motherboards in the charts have the near upwardly to engagement software version and AGESA lawmaking, that's why the performance slightly differs from older boards.
I expect differences like that to even out as nosotros motion towards more consistent microcode updates in AMD's AGESA lawmaking for this platform. Equally of now, the motherboard's operation is solid, and in that location isn't anything to worry about or go excited over.
Arrangement IO Benchmarks
CrystalDiskMark SATA6G:
CrystalDiskMark G.2:
ixChariot Network Throughput:
The X399 Professional Gaming 'due south storage operation is excellent, but we expected that every bit ASRock has e'er washed a nice job tuning M.2 and SATA.
The Zenith Extreme and the X399 Professional person Gaming both use the Aquantia AQC107 10Gbit NBase-T NIC, and it does operate virtually 9400Mbps equally it should. Networking performance could be better.
Audio RMAA 5.5:
I disable all audio features, gear up the correct bitrates, and then test the audio with a loopback test.
Sound Judgment by Ear: Excellent, and but like the Taichi, we see really excellent frequency response, the best for X399 thus far. There are five ratings for audio: 1. Bug, ii. Okay, 3. Acceptable, 4. Very practiced, 5. Excellent
Thermal Imaging and Power Consumption
Organisation power is measured at the wall with an AC ability meter.
Notation on Thermal Images: In the temperature department, we utilise our Seek thermal imaging camera to capture the surface temperatures of major components on the lath. I look at the VRM so all other things that low-cal up the screen. If there is something to worry almost, then I will country it. Otherwise, I will just evidence the hotter running parts of the board for fun. Unless some component is over lxxx-90C, so in that location isn't anything to worry about.
All systems will human action differently, so I will look for commonalities, such as how far from the VRM the oestrus spreads through the PCB and the divergence in temperature betwixt the forepart side and backside of the PCB. Keep in heed, the bulk of the estrus from the VRM goes into the PCB as information technology is a behemothic soldered on copper heat sink. A larger difference in temperature between the dorsum and forepart of the PCB points towards a more effective estrus sink.
Thermal Testing at Stock Speeds:
The image on the left is always at idle, and the image on the correct is at load. During ALL TESTS, At that place is no airflow direct at the VRM
Total frontal.
Upwards-close of the front of the VRM.
Up-shut of the back of the VRM.
The X399 Professional Gaming has the same VRM every bit the X399 Taichi and uses the aforementioned heat sink design. However, the X399 Professional person Gaming's VRM rut sink is not only cooling the CPU core and SoC VRMs but likewise the Aquantia 10Gbit NIC.
We see that topside VRM temperatures aren't much difference, but the PCB temperature on the rear of the motherboard is 3C college than on the X399 Taichi, possibly due to the 10G NIC (which tin get hot). Even at 46C on the rear of the PCB, temperatures were excellent.
What's Hot, What's Not & Final Thoughts
Here are key points about the ASRock X399-Professional Gaming.
What'south Hot
VRM Quality: VRM quality isn't merely in the components, but also in the cooling apparatus and the PCB. With 2oz copper in the PCB and a hefty heat sink that will handle all those thermal spikes, the X399 Professional Gaming has you covered. Still, that isn't where the buck stops. Component quality matters also, and ASRock is using best in grade International Rectifier IR35201 in eight phase manner with IR3555 60A PowIRstages and 60A inductors to seal the deal.
10G NIC Integrated: Equally of at present, the X399 Professional Gaming is the only X399 motherboard with an integrated 10Gbit NIC. The NIC, from Aquantia, supports 10G, 5G, 2.5G, 1G, and 100M speeds, and will work with the newer switches and routers coming out that features higher speed ports, and it will piece of work with existing 10Gbit infrastructure. Since the NIC is integrated, you volition exist able to make full up all four PCI-E x16 slots and nevertheless apply information technology.
Well-nigh Professional: ASRock didn't add together in a crazy amount of RGB LEDs, and they designed the aesthetics of the motherboard to exist solid and elementary. It is piece of cake to match accessory wise since it is generally gray and black. The looks of the product are fierce, like a well-groomed executive in a ability adjust.
Storage Options: You not simply get all eight SATA 6Gb/s ports from the chipset and three Ultra M.2 x4 PCI-E 3.0 32Gb/due south G.2 slots, but you also become the selection for a U.ii port. The U.two header is not that common on X399 motherboards, merely considering the workstation mentality of the platform, information technology's a welcome addition.
What's Not
No Internal Blazon-C Header: While the X399 Taichi also doesn't have the internal USB 3.ane blazon-C header, the X399 Professional person Gaming is $100 more expensive, and in this cost range the majority of motherboards comport the new blazon-C USB iii.1 header. The real reason the motherboard doesn't take information technology is that there are no more PCI-E lanes left for a USB iii.1 controller.
Final Thoughts
The ASRock X399 Professional Gaming has you covered at home or even in a professional person setting. If yous have a dominate who tasked yous with building X399 systems for professional workstations, they might wonder why the motherboard is covered in RGB LEDs, but that won't exist a problem with the X399 Professional Gaming.
On the flip side, if you lot desire fancy lighting in your rig at abode, or you take a fun work environment, then the motherboard has yous covered with a few integrated RGBs and two RGB headers. While looks aren't that important when we hash out motherboards, I am using them as a symbol of the motherboard'due south dual purpose office, as a Professional person or Gaming motherboard.
Now, you are probably wondering what the differences between the X399 Taichi and the X399 Professional Gaming are, and they aren't that different. The X399 Professional person Gaming has a 10Gbit NBase-T NIC, a COM port, Creative Audio, and a different BIOS peel when compared against the X399 Taichi for $100 more than. The truth of the matter is that you will know if the X399 Professional person Gaming is for you, and that is because of the 10G NIC. If you lot meet the value in it, then information technology'due south worth it, and if you don't, then the Taichi is amend for you if you want to stick with ASRock.
Either style, the X399 Professional Gaming is a solid motherboard with excellent features, excellent quality, and solid performance, and that is why it has earned our 2nd highest rated award, in a higher place that of the X399 Taichi's Best Quality Award.
Source: https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8341/asrock-x399-professional-gaming-motherboard-review/index.html