ROG Zenith II Extreme, Asus' ideal home for Ryzen Threadripper 3000

Asus he announced three TRX40 motherboards, compatible with the new Ryzen Threadripper 3000 CPUs arriving on November 25th. Two models – ROG Zenith II Extreme is ROG Strix TRX40-E – are part of the ROG family, while one (Prime TRX40-Pro) is part of the Prime series.

The ROG Zenith II Extreme is designed for those who want the best. It is an EATX solution characterized by a VRM TDA21472 with 16 phases of 70 Ampere each. The motherboard also features micro-fine alloy chokes, 10K and Japanese capacitors three power connectors for the CPU only (8 + 8 + 6 pins).

The main heatsink of the Zenith II Extreme VRMs is equipped with a direct contact heathpipe and two semi-passive fans that only turn on when the temperatures of the underlying components reach 60 ° C. It is present on the I / O a small 1.77 ″ OLED display on which are displayed not only diagnostic information but also CPU frequency, voltage and temperature values.

For the rest, the motherboard makes available eight DDR4 ECC slots up to 3200 MHz (4600 MHz in OC +), four PCIe 4.0 x16 slots (x16 / x8 / x16 / x8), five M.2 connectors and eight SATA at 6 Gbps.

Connectivity is entrusted to Aquantia AQC-107 10G Ethernet chip and Intel I211-AT Gigabit Ethernet; there is also support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. The audio part, however, is entrusted to the ESS Sabre9018Q2C DAC and to the SupremeFX S1220 codec. You can explore the other aspects of this motherboard in the table below:

The second motherboard, the ROG Strix TRX40-E, is placed one step lower than the Zenith II Extreme and its format is theATX standard. Here too we find a 16-phase VRM dissipated by heatpipe in direct contact with two semi-passive fans. The socket is powered by two 8-pin connectors and the heatsink on the TRX40 chipset also has a fan that only runs when temperatures start to rise.

Like the Zenith II Extreme, the Strix TRX40-E also allows you to install eight DDR4 ECC modules at 3200 MHz, which can be further overclocked up to 4400 MHz (OC +). The differences with the older sister, however, emerge when it comes to expansion slots: here we find 3 PCIe 4.0 x16 (up to x16 / x16 / x16) and a PCIe 4.0 x4, three M.2 slots and eight SATA 6 Gbps ports.

Connectivity is entrusted to the Realtek RTL8125-CG 2.5G Ethernet and Intel I211-AT Gigabit Ethernet chips, while support is provided for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. The audio part is managed by the SupremeFX S1220 Codec.

For those who do not have special needs, there is Asus Prime TRX40-Pro. This too is in ATX format and includes a VRM TDA21462 16-phase, high quality components and two 8-pin connectors to power the CPU socket. The heat dissipation of the VRMs is entrusted to the massive aluminum heat sink.

Here too we find support for up to eight DDR4 ECC 3200 MHz modules, 3 PCI Express 4.0 x16 (up to x16 / x16 / x16) and a PCIe 4.0 x4, 3 M.2 and 8 SATA 6 Gbps ports. Connectivity does not include Wi-Fi and is entrusted to the Intel I211-AT Gigabit Ethernet chip; however, there is an E-key M.2 2230 slot for those wishing to add their own Wi-Fi module. The audio component, at this juncture, is entrusted to the Realtek S1220 chip.

Prices and availability for the Italian market have not yet been announced.