An AMD Threadripper X399 Motherboard Overview: A Quick Look at Seven Products
by Ian Cutress & Joe Shields on September 15, 2017 9:00 AM ESTWith the release of AMD’s Threadripper CPUs into the HEDT market, board partners have released new motherboards based on the X399 chipset. Consumers are going to see quad channel memory, native 4-Way SLI and Crossfire capabilities, more full-speed M.2 slots, added 10G network ports, and more on the new platform. We're taking a quick look at each of the motherboards that the vendors are promoting in the market, as well as a few upcoming teasers.
Related Reading
- The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X and 1920X Review: CPUs on Steroids
- AMD Threadripper Unboxing
- AMD Threadripper 1920X and 1950X CPU Details: 12/16 Cores, 4 GHz Turbo, $799 and $999
- AMD CPU Updates: 16 Core Threadripper w/64 PCIe Lanes This Summer, Epyc Launching June 20th
AMD Ryzen Threadripper Needs a Mother(board)
A big takeaway from our AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X and 1950X review is the increase in CPU connected PCIe 3.0 lanes. A full 60 lanes are available to the PCIe slots and M.2 drives, while 4 lanes head off to the chipset where it's muxed for USB, SATA, low-level I/O, and other features. The increase in CPU PCIe lanes is set up to allow for a lot more flexibility connecting devices using PCIe bandwidth.
The four major players, ASRock, ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI, have launched X399 motherboards for Threadripper. These boards equip the massive 4094-pin socket with eight DIMM slots to cover the four memory channels and then differentiate themselves in PCIe configuration, IO, styling and software support.
Unlike Ryzen, the base processor is not a true SoC as the term has evolved over the years. In order to get the compliment of SATA and USB ports, each Threadripper CPU needs to be paired with an X399 chipset. So aside from the CPU PCIe lanes, the 'new' X399 chipset also gets some IO to play with:
Unlike mainstream platforms that have several chipsets to choose from that vary in capability and cost, the AMD high-end platform only has a single chipset, similar to Intel's X299. As we've learned over the last few months, some elements of the motherboard base cost, such as the socket, can cost a pretty penny to the board manufacturers, which in turn will be forwarded on to the user. These motherboards appear to start somewhere around $249-$299, with the top board so far set at $549. Guess which one AMD sent us for our CPU review.
The Underlying Block Diagram
When PCIe is the game, it becomes time to play with controllers and ports to see what fits. It all starts with the underlying diagram for Threadripper and X399:
AMD's marketing on the left is set out to explain that each product in the Threadripper and X399 line will be 'fully enabled' - none of the chips will be limited in PCIe lane counts or DRAM for the sake of segmentation. AMD is happy at this point to keep segmentation limited to cores, frequency, and L3 cache.
The diagram shows the two hubs for everything to connect to: the CPU and the chipset. The CPU has 60 PCIe lanes, provided in 3 or 4 PCIe root complexes at x16 each (the diagram above suggests x16/x8/x16/x8). These will often go towards the main PCIe slots to support add-in cards like GPUs, or they could be partitioned off for RAID controllers or fast ethernet if required. In total, AMD has stated that the platform can support six GPUs maximum. The CPU also supports eight USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports, quad channel DDR4, and support for up to three PCIe 3.0 x4 storage drives for 3-way NVMe.
Threadripper CPUs reserve four PCIe lanes for the chipset, which similar to Intel acts like a PCIe switch for more IO - although AMD only offers a few lanes here compared to Intel's 24 PCIe 3.0 x4 lanes.
From the chipset there are eight PCIe lanes, which AMD here has suggested reserving two for gigabit Ethernet, four for a PCIe x4 slot, one for a PCIe x1 slot, and one for a WiFi module. Alongside the PCIe lanes are eight SATA ports, six USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports, one USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) Type-C port and two USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) ports with appropriate redrivers. In a change to what we normally see on Intel motherboards, AMD lists SPI and Audio features as coming from the CPU rather than the chipset.
AMD Suggests Variants
As part of the launch, AMD is wanting to promote the different ways in which an X399 motherboard could be arranged depending on the workload requirements.
X399 Potential Configurations | |||
Use | PCIe Lanes | Total | |
Content Creator | 2 x Pro GPUs 2 x M.2 Cache Drives 10G Ethernet 1 x U.2 Storage 1 x M.2 OS/Apps 6 x SATA Local Backup |
x16/x16 from CPU x4 + x4 from CPU x4 from CPU x4 from CPU x4 from CPU From Chipset |
52 Lanes |
Extreme PC | 2 x Gaming GPUs 1 x HDMI Capture Card 2 x M.2 for Games/Stream 10G Ethernet 1 x M.2 OS/Apps 6 x SATA Local Backup |
x16/x16 from CPU x8 from CPU x4 + x4 from CPU x4 from CPU x4 from CPU From Chipset |
56 Lanes |
Streamer | 1 x Gaming GPU 1 x HDMI Capture Card 2 x M.2 Stream/Transcode 10G Ethernet 1 x U.2 Storage 1 x M.2 OS/Apps 6 x SATA Local Backup |
x16 from CPU x4 from CPU x4 + x4 from CPU x4 from CPU x4 from CPU x4 from CPU From Chipset |
40 Lanes |
Render Farm | 4 x Vega FE Pro GPUs 2 x M.2 Cache Drives 1 x M.2 OS/Apps 6 x SATA Local Backup |
x16/x8/x8/x8 x4 + x4 from CPU x4 from CPU From Chipset |
52 Lanes |
Each of these potential configurations would run into several thousand dollars a piece for a full build - the M.2 drives were suggested at 512GB minimum, with the SATA drives in RAID configurations as well. AMD is making no joke; they want to be the premium platform.
New Controllers for X399
With each of these motherboard overviews, we like to cover a few of the newer controllers to hit the market that motherboard manufacturers might take advantage of. Given the recent X299 launch on the Intel side, not much has changed since. The big parts to enter the consumer space are Aquantia's multi-gigabit ethernet controllers.
Aquantia launched two ethernet controllers: the AQC107 which supports 100MB, 1G, 2.5G, 5G and 10G, and the AQC108 which supports 100MB, 1G, 2.5G and 5G, all through standard RJ45 connectors. Motherboard manufacturers can use these controllers directly on the boards, or bundle them in add-in cards like the AQN107 and AQN108 above. We've seen cards from ASUS and GIGABYTE already hit the market based on these controllers, while ASRock and MSI prefer to integrate them direct.
The second controller worth mentioning is the updated ASMedia ASM3142 controller, providing USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) functionality to motherboards that need more USB 3.1g2. Originally we saw the ASM1142 single lane controller, while the ASM2142 integrated a dual lane design such that all the ports had peak bandwidth when multiple ports are in use. ASM3142 is a low powered version of the ASM2142, but still supporting all the ports at peak bandwidth.
Third is the updated Realtek ALC1150 audio codec, known as the ALC1220. The ALC1220 improves peak SNR while adding new functionality. ASUS run a customized version known as the ALC1220A, which removes some of the excess function for a stripped down version unique to them but configured in a partnership with Realtek.
The Motherboards
The seven motherboards we have to discuss are:
- The ASRock X399 Taichi
- The ASRock X399 Professional Gaming
- The ASUS X399 ROG Zenith Extreme
- The ASUS Prime X399-A
- The ASUS Strix X399-E Gaming
- The GIGABYTE X399-Gaming 7
- The MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon
- The MSI X399 SLI Plus
Added on 9/19: The GIGABYTE X399 Designare EX
Added on 10/10: The MSI X399 SLI Plus
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Vorl - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
Heads up, the X399 Taichi product link is linked to the pro gaming motherboard link.milkod2001 - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
Grossly overpriced boards. Cay they drop this LED nonsense & ugly plastics and make proper boards at reasonable $250?DanNeely - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
The RGB cancer isn't why these boards are so expensive. It's stupid, but only adds a few dollars to the cost; not a few hundred.It's all the extra PCB layers they need to support the 4000 connections to the CPU socket and route all the extra PCIe lanes. Limiting the number of PCIe lanes in mainstream chips is as much about being able to use smaller sockets and fewer PCB layers to keep board costs down as it is a desire on AMD and Intel's part to upsell to X299/X399 systems. The fact that the mobo vendors are probably expecting to sell dozens of mainstream boards for every one of these halo products doesn't help either because it means that the R&D costs can't be spread anywhere near as widely.
For the two boards that have them, the $100 for a 10GB NIC doesn't help any.
tamalero - Sunday, September 17, 2017 - link
Still annoying and useless. They just wanted to appeal the extra gaming segment when this entire system is not for gaming.Now add the fact that almost every goddarn high end videocard AND memory now have shitty RGB lights as well.
Its a waste of power.
CheapSushi - Sunday, September 17, 2017 - link
Are you assuming enthusiasts are all just gamers? You can be an enthusiast that loves gaming AND content creation. If you want no-nonsense then maybe go EPYC instead (YES, it is a workstation platform too, not just server): http://b2b.gigabyte.com/Server-Motherboard/MZ31-AR...mapesdhs - Tuesday, September 19, 2017 - link
Amazing how many people just assume that a PC user is either a gamer or not a gamer. There's a lot of crossover with content creation these days, and also people who stream. Being able to play a game, record the gameplay, convert a previous session and upload it to YT/etc. will be a boon for those who make a living doing such things.CheapSushi - Sunday, September 17, 2017 - link
Finally a voice of reason for the naggers.ddarko - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
Anyone interested in pairing the Asus Zenith Extreme with the Threadripper version of the Noctua NH-U14S should note that the cooler blocks the first PCI-E x16 slot on the board. Noctua says Asus didn't follow the AMD clearance guidance on this board; you can see in the pic that the top slot is very very close to the CPU bracket.glennst43 - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
NH-U12S TR4-SP3 will fit though: http://noctua.at/en/nh-u12s-tr4-sp3/specification. I read a German article that showed that this cooler provides very similar cooling perf and noise as compared to the 14S. I have 2 other systems that use variations of the 14s, and I can not find any noticeable noise difference. Still an unfortunate design decision from Asus.DanNeely - Friday, September 15, 2017 - link
Other than the MSI board, I notice that none of them are putting USB2 ports on the back panel. Does that mean the interference problems that some USB2 devices encountered in 3.0 ports have been fixed; or that the mobo makers just feel anyone who needs them can use an IO bracket attached to an onboard header?