Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master, AMD TRX40 mainboard - socket sTRX4 [TRX40 AORUS MASTER]

The combination of a new chipset and socket has become necessary for the HEDT processors with up to 32 computation cores plus hyper-threading, because with the "Zen2" architecture and the 7 nm manufacturing process of the Threadripper 3000 CPUs, various changes compared to the previous series were introduced.

The new features of the "Castle Peak" processors primarily include support for the PCIe 4.0 standard and a new memory controller that supports four memory channels for up to 256 GB capacity and memory with error correction (ECC). The TR3000 CPUs offer 64 PCIe lanes in standard 4.0, which offers twice the bandwidth compared to PCIe 3.0, of which 12 lanes are reserved directly for connecting NVMe SSDs, while eight lanes for connecting the CPU and chipset are responsible.

The special features of the Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master motherboard at a glance:
- 4x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x16 / x8 / x16 / x8) for high-end graphics cards
- I / O panel with 1x USB 3.1 C, 5x USB 3.1 A and 2x USB 2.0 external
- Internal: Up to 4x RGB (various), 8x fans and 1x USB 3.1 front header (type C)
- DDR4 memory up to 4400 MHz (OC) in quad-channel mode
- Dual LAN with 1x 5 gigabit and 1x 1 gigabit
- WLAN 802.11ax and Bluetooth 5.0
- RGB LED lighting including RGB LED headers
- Modern UEFI BIOS including temperature monitoring

The Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master in detail:
The Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master can already be recognized by the striking covers in the Aorus design and the RGB LED lighting. The lighting that can be set using the manufacturer's software is located on the cover on the I / O panel. For additional RGB components such as fans and LED strips, the TRX40 mainboard offers several RGB headers: 2x 3-pin for digitally addressable RGBs and 2x 4-pin for conventional RGBs.

Other important features of the Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master include a WLAN / BT module (Intel WiFi 6 AX200) and a LAN port with 5 Gbit / s (Aquantia AQC111C), which is supported by a Gigabit LAN port ( Intel I211-AT) is added. When it comes to audio, the manufacturer uses the ALC 4050H audio codec in combination with the Realtek ALC1220-VB audio codec for the rear. This provides a total of five illuminated 3.5 mm jack sockets and an optical S / PDIF output on the I / O panel. For the front audio, the mainboard also offers the Realtek ALC4050H audio codec, but with ESS SABER 9218 digital-to-analog converter.

Internal and external USB ports
There are six USB 3.1 ports - one type C - and five type A - and two USB 2.0 ports with type A socket on the I / O panel. USB 3.1 or USB 3.2 Gen 2 reaches maximum speeds of 10 Gbit / s and USB 2.0 a maximum of 480 Mbit / s per port.

Internally, the mainboard offers a USB 3.1 Type-C connector (a header) for modern PC cases. In addition, four USB 3.0 ports (2 headers) and four USB 2.0 ports (two headers) are provided.

Expansion slots and connectors for drives
For plug-in and expansion cards, the E-ATX mainboard provides four PCIe-x16 slots and one PCIe-x1 slot in the 4.0 standard. Eight SATA 6G connectors (including RAID support) and two M.2 slots, each with four PCI Express 4.0 lanes connected directly to the CPU, are provided for connecting data carriers such as SSDs and hard drives , These support the advanced NVM Express protocol, which has been specially optimized for highly parallelized disk accesses of modern PCIe SSDs. A third M.2 slot is connected to the chipset with four lanes.

Connections for fans and sensors
The Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master offers a total of eight 4-pin PWM connections on the main board, which are suitable for connecting water pumps and fans. For the power supply there is a 24-pin connector and two 8-pin ATX sockets on the mainboard.

Overclockers are happy about the extensive power supply with 16 + 3 phases and 70-ampere output stage, which is equipped with massive heat sinks. There is a start and reset button on the board. An LED segment display helps with error analysis. The I / O panel is equipped with a Clear CMOS button and a Q-Flash-Plus button. The back of the Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master is also reinforced with an aluminum backplate with a nanocarbon coating.

Attention:

TRX40 motherboards are only compatible with AMD processors of the Threadripper 3000 series. The socket sTRX4 differs from the socket TR4 by a different PIN assignment and is not compatible with older Threadripper CPUs!

Note:

Due to the size of the Ryzen Threadripper CPU, the sTR4 socket is very different from conventional sockets. When inserting the CPU, please carefully observe the instructions in the assembly instructions of the CPU or the mainboard! It is a LGA socket! The pins are on the socket, not the CPU.

Technical details:
Format: E-ATX (305 x 269 mm)
Chipset: AMD TRX40
Socket: sTRX4 (for Ryzen Threadripper 3000)
R.A.M:
8x DDR4 (3200 MHz / 4400 MHz via OC)
Quad-Channel
Max. 256 GB
slots:
2x PCIe 4.0 x16
2x PCIe 4.0 x16 (electrical x8)
Multi-VGA configurations: 3-way CrossFireX (x16 / x8 / x16), 3-way SLI (x16 / x8 / x16)
Multi-GPU configurations: Quad-GPU CrossFire / Quad-GPU NVIDIA SLI
Internal connections:
8x SATA 6G (RAID 0, 1, 10)
1 x M.2 (M-Key, 2260 to 22110, PCIe 4.0 x4 / x2 & SATA)
1 x M.2 (M-Key, 2280, PCIe 4.0 x4 / x2)
1 x M.2 (M-Key, 2280, PCIe 4.0 x4 / x2 & SATA)
1x USB 3.1 Type C (USB 3.2 Gen 2, two headers, max. 10 Gbit / s)
4x USB 3.0 (USB 3.2 Gen 1, two headers, max. 5 Gbit / s)
4x USB 2.0 (two headers, max. 480 Mbit / s)
1x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1x noise detection header
1x gigabyte add-in card connector
1x TPM header (2x 6-pin, for the GC-TPM2.0_S module)
2x BIOS switches
2x temperature sensor headers
1x Clear CMOS jumper
1x power button
1x reset button
Voltage measuring points

Fan header:
1x CPU fan (4-pin PWM)
1x water cooling / CPU fan (4-pin PWM)
2x case fan (4-pin PWM)
4x case fan / water cooling (4-pin PWM)
RGB header:
2x 4-pin RGB headers (12V)
2x 3-pin A-RGB header (5V)
External connections:
1x USB 3.1 Type C (USB 3.2 Gen 2, max. 10 Gbit / s
5x USB 3.1 Type A (USB 3.2 Gen 2, max. 10 Gbit / s)
2x USB 2.0 type A (max. 480 Mbit / s)
1x 5 Gigabit LAN (Aqauntia AQC111C)
1x Gigabit LAN (i211-AT)
5x 3.5 mm jack (Realtek ALC4050H + ALC1220-VB)
1x S / PDIF (optical)
2x WLAN antenna (Intel WiFi 6 AX200)
Q-flash button
Clear CMOS button
Power supply:
1x 24-pin ATX12V
2x 8-pin ATX12V
Special features: dual BIOS, integrated RGB LED lighting (1 zone), RGB Fusion 2.0, WLAN / BT module, aluminum backplate, onboard buttons, LED segment display, pre-assembled I / O panel, USB TurboCharger , RAM-OC up to 4400 MHz
Manufacturer guarantee: 3 years