Meanwhile, ASUS showed up on the market with a hybrid air-water VRM solution back in 2013. We're supposed to get excited for teeny-tiny fans and rainbow LEDs — for a board that has stupid liquid nitrogen features. Yeah, water cooling is just so esoteric in comparison.
Asus, please explain to me how it makes sense... I am buying an AMD AREZ card, however I am using an AMD ROG motherboard. I am so confused... you were the one telling me I was too dumb to understand what I was buying, so you had to simplify it for me... and now I am just more confused than I was.
AREZ was started because of Nvidia's GPP. Some manufacturer's, like Asus, took the route of making entire new brands for AMD, not just for GPUs. But because Nvidia finally caved and gave up on GPP, AREZ is no longer necessary.
But you probably already knew that and know that AREZ/ROG has nothing to do with compatibility.
Would anyone who would buy such a board even bother to use the USB stick with what will be out of date drivers and added value junk on it anyway? Waste of time with USB or DVD/CD. Like driver disks in GPU boxes.
It's nice to have drivers available in situations where you either don't have immediate internet access or where you cannot access the internet because your OS install doesn't include necessary drivers, like for graphics or network adapters.
This is far from the worst example, but not having built a system in a few years - it seems like I've come back to find every motherboard now looks like some blinged-out kids toy from the dollar store. Lights, weirdly-shaped plastic shrouds with big gamer logos that have no functional purpose, etc.
I want to comment about m.2 cooling. According to numerous respected internet outfits and even the JEDEC specification and testing, nand flash lasts longer at higher temperatures and is recommended to be above 40c. The only part that needs cooling is the controller, but almost all cooling plates cool the nand.
Notice one thing: most boards share the m2 heatsink with the PCH, which is responsible for pci and sata. It will always get relatively warm while still keeping the m2 drives away from throttling.
Now, aftermarket m2 heatsink are another story but still a valid choice in poorly ventilated cases. Just take care to avoid contact with nand chips by peeling off portions of the thermal pad.
A quick glare suggests this VRM will be dissipating 30W at 1.4V@176A. That being said the 32 cores TR better come with a maximum TDP of 250W. For the pricetag this board is lacking alot in the VRM side of things, especially if you consider this a very premium board ( with AAA+++ premium pricetag ) with a VRM that is actually worse than what you have on a few AM4 boards like the X370 Taichi and C7H. This VRM is pretty much like what you have with the X370 GT7, a $ 120 board for AM4.
ASUS and Gigabyte both sold hybrid air/water VRM cooling, beginning in 2013 with ASUS — for quad core CPUs. But, no — we don't need water cooling for VRMS on a board like this. Instead, we need tiny fans and LEDs.
I just have to comment on this ... I have this motherboard and would say the heatsink for the included 10GB card is necessary. I've actually been having problems with the 10GB network dropping offline randomly and traced it down to the card overheating. The heatsink is big, but it also needs some airflow near it (my case provides none). I now have an additional slot fan mounted that moves air across the 10GB card and my other addon cards (older intel dual GB nic and a 9211 sas controller).
Also, if this review had been done 9 months ago when I built mine, there would've been some mention of the buggy bios and memory support. I made the mistake of buying unsupported DDR3200 ram (Corsair kit for Intel) and after reading a bit was feeling lucky I got it to run at 3000. A bios update in January got it to run at 3200 though and I believe most of the fan speed control issues have been resolved.
As for power, when messing with overclocking mine I've had the 1950X draw over 350 watts by itself using this board. That'll easily cover a 250Watt TDP 32 core processor ... I'm sure we'll see the limits when the new processors become available though.
I find the DPC Latency section misleading. There is no mention what power profile and BIOS (C-states) settings were used and if the values reported are maximum or average values. Look at this example:
Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 354,514229 Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 2,480283
Quite the difference. And 354 µs maximum still is not a problem even at lowest audio buffer settings.
Other than not prepared for Threadripper 2000 series. the things that bothers me with this is the M.2 daughter board is kinda not cool. and the fact that it is a massive E-ATX motherboard, and sadly all ASUS's TR4 mobos are E-ATX.
I am still looking to move to thread-ripper but I am looking at the Retail price of this and the fact not a single vendor is selling it @ its retail of around $550 ... more like $750 from where I typically buy my PC parts... or stores are not carrying it at all ... Did the bad press from people who 'didn't know what they were doing' flame this board into submission ? .... Though I will say the idea they would use an air cooler on such a processor and then overclock it seems strange to me as to me this sort of chip and board screams out loud 'WATER-COOLING not Optional' ... yeah yeah I know you can run processors hot and they are designed for it but if you intend to go beyond stock it seems like a 'no duh!' to slap a waterblock on this sucker ...
I don't know about everyone else but running a room dedicated AC to keep the temps of the room tolerable is not something everyone wants and if your system is running 80*C for hours you can bet that room is going to get uncomfortable in the summer -if you have house AC maybe no issue but I don't have such a thing yet but when my furnace goes out I'll be setting up to do an AC hookup while I dropping that cash...Since I think about cooling I know I can attribute my long over time system stability to the fact I don't let me system get crazy hot where a few additions can keep it much happier... and no I am not talking about a dozen case fans going full blast as that noise is irritating not only to myself but anyone around to hear it or anyone who hears it in my voice chat...
Still I am happy AMD is back and is swinging hard at intel to knock them out of complacency ... for that reason I know my next build is going to be a return to AMD for me here but I'll probably be adopting when the 3k series ryzen's come out ... my poor i7 3770 is holding on for most what I do mostly minus VM's but its showing its age and I'd really like to get some more overhead and 16 cores would certainly cut down the times I need to just leave my computer on chewing on renders all night -_-
Yeh,top tier until it breaks then Asus comes up with 12 thousand excuses why it is not their fault and refuse to RMA it!!! Will never buy anything else that says Asus on it.
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25 Comments
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Meaker10 - Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - link
It's going to struggle to deliver power to 32 cores though.Chaitanya - Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - link
which is why expect to see a refreshed X399 boards from all vendors with launch of Threadripper 2.SodaAnt - Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - link
Small as it is, the VRM fan should help a lot with that.Oxford Guy - Thursday, July 19, 2018 - link
Meanwhile, ASUS showed up on the market with a hybrid air-water VRM solution back in 2013. We're supposed to get excited for teeny-tiny fans and rainbow LEDs — for a board that has stupid liquid nitrogen features. Yeah, water cooling is just so esoteric in comparison.Gothmoth - Saturday, July 21, 2018 - link
Nonsense... The VRM is fine for the 32 core threadripper 2.plonk420 - Monday, July 23, 2018 - link
*OCing on 32 cores :Peva02langley - Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - link
ROG? ROG!!!? I thought AMD was AREZ now.Asus, please explain to me how it makes sense... I am buying an AMD AREZ card, however I am using an AMD ROG motherboard. I am so confused... you were the one telling me I was too dumb to understand what I was buying, so you had to simplify it for me... and now I am just more confused than I was.
Congratulation Asus, you are making sense.
jordanclock - Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - link
AREZ was started because of Nvidia's GPP. Some manufacturer's, like Asus, took the route of making entire new brands for AMD, not just for GPUs. But because Nvidia finally caved and gave up on GPP, AREZ is no longer necessary.But you probably already knew that and know that AREZ/ROG has nothing to do with compatibility.
The Chill Blueberry - Wednesday, July 18, 2018 - link
AREZ is for Radeon; AMD is still ROG.jabber - Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - link
Would anyone who would buy such a board even bother to use the USB stick with what will be out of date drivers and added value junk on it anyway? Waste of time with USB or DVD/CD. Like driver disks in GPU boxes.jordanclock - Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - link
It's nice to have drivers available in situations where you either don't have immediate internet access or where you cannot access the internet because your OS install doesn't include necessary drivers, like for graphics or network adapters.twtech - Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - link
This is far from the worst example, but not having built a system in a few years - it seems like I've come back to find every motherboard now looks like some blinged-out kids toy from the dollar store. Lights, weirdly-shaped plastic shrouds with big gamer logos that have no functional purpose, etc.Yuriman - Wednesday, July 18, 2018 - link
The retail PC segment is in decline. Manufacturers are doing everything they can to attract a new generation of buyers.Awful - Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - link
I have no use case that requires 32 cores, 10Gb networking, or even wifi in a desktop so I wouldn't buy one of these. But I still waaannnt one!Alien959 - Wednesday, July 18, 2018 - link
I want to comment about m.2 cooling. According to numerous respected internet outfits and even the JEDEC specification and testing, nand flash lasts longer at higher temperatures and is recommended to be above 40c. The only part that needs cooling is the controller, but almost all cooling plates cool the nand.kazoOC - Thursday, July 19, 2018 - link
Notice one thing: most boards share the m2 heatsink with the PCH, which is responsible for pci and sata. It will always get relatively warm while still keeping the m2 drives away from throttling.Now, aftermarket m2 heatsink are another story but still a valid choice in poorly ventilated cases. Just take care to avoid contact with nand chips by peeling off portions of the thermal pad.
virpuain@gmail.com - Wednesday, July 18, 2018 - link
A quick glare suggests this VRM will be dissipating 30W at 1.4V@176A. That being said the 32 cores TR better come with a maximum TDP of 250W.For the pricetag this board is lacking alot in the VRM side of things, especially if you consider this a very premium board ( with AAA+++ premium pricetag ) with a VRM that is actually worse than what you have on a few AM4 boards like the X370 Taichi and C7H.
This VRM is pretty much like what you have with the X370 GT7, a $ 120 board for AM4.
Oxford Guy - Thursday, July 19, 2018 - link
ASUS and Gigabyte both sold hybrid air/water VRM cooling, beginning in 2013 with ASUS — for quad core CPUs. But, no — we don't need water cooling for VRMS on a board like this. Instead, we need tiny fans and LEDs.a351must2 - Wednesday, July 18, 2018 - link
I just have to comment on this ... I have this motherboard and would say the heatsink for the included 10GB card is necessary. I've actually been having problems with the 10GB network dropping offline randomly and traced it down to the card overheating. The heatsink is big, but it also needs some airflow near it (my case provides none). I now have an additional slot fan mounted that moves air across the 10GB card and my other addon cards (older intel dual GB nic and a 9211 sas controller).Also, if this review had been done 9 months ago when I built mine, there would've been some mention of the buggy bios and memory support. I made the mistake of buying unsupported DDR3200 ram (Corsair kit for Intel) and after reading a bit was feeling lucky I got it to run at 3000. A bios update in January got it to run at 3200 though and I believe most of the fan speed control issues have been resolved.
As for power, when messing with overclocking mine I've had the 1950X draw over 350 watts by itself using this board. That'll easily cover a 250Watt TDP 32 core processor ... I'm sure we'll see the limits when the new processors become available though.
Timur Born - Friday, July 20, 2018 - link
Thanks for the article.I find the DPC Latency section misleading. There is no mention what power profile and BIOS (C-states) settings were used and if the values reported are maximum or average values. Look at this example:
Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 354,514229
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 2,480283
Quite the difference. And 354 µs maximum still is not a problem even at lowest audio buffer settings.
Xajel - Sunday, July 22, 2018 - link
Other than not prepared for Threadripper 2000 series. the things that bothers me with this is the M.2 daughter board is kinda not cool. and the fact that it is a massive E-ATX motherboard, and sadly all ASUS's TR4 mobos are E-ATX.Vikka Dhamtan - Tuesday, August 7, 2018 - link
<b><a href="https://www.rrbresultz.in/">RRB Result</a></b>Vikka Dhamtan - Tuesday, August 7, 2018 - link
<b><a href="https://www.rrbresultz.in/answer-key/">RRB Answer Key</a></b>EndUser2019 - Sunday, January 13, 2019 - link
I am still looking to move to thread-ripper but I am looking at the Retail price of this and the fact not a single vendor is selling it @ its retail of around $550 ... more like $750 from where I typically buy my PC parts... or stores are not carrying it at all ... Did the bad press from people who 'didn't know what they were doing' flame this board into submission ? .... Though I will say the idea they would use an air cooler on such a processor and then overclock it seems strange to me as to me this sort of chip and board screams out loud 'WATER-COOLING not Optional' ... yeah yeah I know you can run processors hot and they are designed for it but if you intend to go beyond stock it seems like a 'no duh!' to slap a waterblock on this sucker ...I don't know about everyone else but running a room dedicated AC to keep the temps of the room tolerable is not something everyone wants and if your system is running 80*C for hours you can bet that room is going to get uncomfortable in the summer -if you have house AC maybe no issue but I don't have such a thing yet but when my furnace goes out I'll be setting up to do an AC hookup while I dropping that cash...Since I think about cooling I know I can attribute my long over time system stability to the fact I don't let me system get crazy hot where a few additions can keep it much happier... and no I am not talking about a dozen case fans going full blast as that noise is irritating not only to myself but anyone around to hear it or anyone who hears it in my voice chat...
Still I am happy AMD is back and is swinging hard at intel to knock them out of complacency ... for that reason I know my next build is going to be a return to AMD for me here but I'll probably be adopting when the 3k series ryzen's come out ... my poor i7 3770 is holding on for most what I do mostly minus VM's but its showing its age and I'd really like to get some more overhead and 16 cores would certainly cut down the times I need to just leave my computer on chewing on renders all night -_-
dirty earnie - Monday, August 1, 2022 - link
Yeh,top tier until it breaks then Asus comes up with 12 thousand excuses why it is not their fault and refuse to RMA it!!! Will never buy anything else that says Asus on it.