Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Xtreme, AMD TRX40 motherboard - socket sTRX4 [TRX40 AORUS XTREME]

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 Xtreme 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 and 7x USB 3.1 A
- Internal: Up to 4x RGB (various), 7x fans and 1x USB 3.1 front header (type C)
- DDR4 memory up to 4400 MHz (OC) in quad-channel mode
- Fast dual LAN with 2x 10 gigabit
- WLAN 802.11ax and Bluetooth 5.0
- RGB LED lighting including RGB LED headers
- Modern UEFI BIOS including temperature monitoring
- Including PCIe adapter card with four additional M.2 slots

The Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Xtreme in detail:
The Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Xtreme can already be recognized by the striking covers 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, on the right edge of the PCH cooler and on the right underside of the board. 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 Xtreme include a WLAN / BT module (Intel WiFi 6 AX200) and two 10 Gigabit LAN ports (Intel X550-AT2). 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 3.5 millimeter 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 eight USB 3.1 ports - one type C - and seven type A on the I / O panel. USB 3.1 (USB 3.2 Gen 2) achieves maximum speeds of 10 Gbit / s. 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
The XL-ATX mainboard provides four PCIe x16 slots in the 4.0 standard for plug-in and expansion cards. Ten SATA 6G connections (including RAID support) and a total of four M.2 slots are provided for connecting data carriers such as SSDs and hard drives. Two are directly connected to the CPU with four PCI Express 4.0 lanes, while the other two are connected to the chipset with four lanes.

All M.2 slots support the advanced NVM Express protocol, which has been specially optimized for highly parallelized data access by modern PCIe SSDs. The included AORUS Gen4 AIC adapter card fits into a PCIe x16 slot and also supports the 4.0 standard. It offers four additional M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs as well as a copper heat sink and a temperature-controlled radial fan for cooling.

Cooling, power supply and OC features
The Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Xtreme offers a total of seven 4-pin PWM connectors on the main board, which are suitable for connecting water pumps and fans. For the power supply there is a 24-pin connector on the mainboard as well as two 8-pin ATX and one 6-pin PCIe socket.

Overclockers are happy about the extensive power supply with 16 + 3 phases and 70-ampere output stage, which is equipped with massive heat sinks including heat pipe and aluminum backplate. The expansion and RAM slots and the power connections are reinforced to counteract wear and tear under frequent use, for example when the mainboard is used in test systems and benchtables.

There is a start and reset button on the board and an LED segment display helps with error analysis. The I / O panel is equipped with a Clear CMOS button for resetting the BIOS settings and a Q-Flash Plus button for flashing the firmware via USB stick. The back of the mainboard is reinforced with an aluminum backplate.

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: XL-ATX (325 x 275 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: 4-way CrossFireX (x16 / x8 / x16 / x8), 4-way SLI (x16 / x8 / x16 / x8)
Multi-GPU configurations: Quad-GPU CrossFire / Quad-GPU NVIDIA SLI
Internal connections:
10x SATA 6G (RAID 0, 1, 10)
1 x M.2 (M-Key, 2260 to 22110, PCIe 4.0 x4 / x2 & SATA)
2 x M.2 (M-Key, 2280 to 22110, PCIe 4.0 x4 / x2 & SATA)
1 x M.2 (M-Key, 2280, PCIe 4.0 x4 / x2 & SATA)
1x USB 3.1 Type C (USB 3.2 Gen 2, one header, 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 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)
3x case fan / water cooling (4-pin PWM)
RGB header:
2x 4-pin RGB headers (12V)
2x 3-pin A-RGB header (5V)
Gigabyte AORUS Gen4 AIC adapter card:
4x M.2 (M-Key, 2230 to 22110, PCIe 4.0 x4)
Interface: PCIe 4.0 / 3.0 x16
External connections:
1x USB 3.1 Type C (USB 3.2 Gen 2, max. 10 Gbit / s
7x USB 3.1 Type A (USB 3.2 Gen 2, max. 10 Gbit / s)
2x 10 Gigabit LAN (Intel X550-AT2)
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
1x 6-pin PCIe
Special features: dual BIOS, integrated RGB LED lighting (3 zones), RGB Fusion 2.0, WLAN / BT module, aluminum backplate, onboard buttons, LED segment display, dual 10 Gigabit LAN, pre-assembled I / O panel, USB TurboCharger, M.2 passive cooler, angled 90-degree connections, RAM-OC up to 4400 MHz, M.2 adapter card
Manufacturer guarantee: 3 years