Asrock trx40 creator review in Spanish (full analysis)

ASRock has also unveiled its solutions for the new AMD platform that is debuting, and we've had access to the ASRock TRX40 Creator. A plate that together with the Taichi will be the references of the brand, each in its field, creation or gaming. This Creator has a 90A real 8-phase VRM with active cooling, Wi-Fi 6 and 10 Gbps network link, three M.2 PCI 4.0 slots and much more that we will see here.

How do you think it will behave with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X that we have analyzed? The competition with Asus and AORUS will be tough so we will see its ASRock follow this upward trend as it already did with the X570 chipset.

But before we go any further, we appreciate ASRock's trust in us by lending us this board for our analysis.

ASRock TRX40 Creator technical characteristics

Unboxing

This ASRock TRX40 Creator has come to us in a most professional presentation, with a briefcase-type main box that has a handle on the top. It is made of rigid cardboard, and all its outer faces use a glacier blue vinyl print with a fairly detailed rear description of its main features.

Inside, we can see more or less the same as always, a distribution on a double floor thanks to a second semi-open box. In the first, we have the base plate in a mold made of polyethylene foam and, as always, attached with clips to prevent it from moving. Meanwhile, on the second floor we have the accessories.

The bundle in this case consists of the following elements:

• ASRock TRX40 Creator Motherboard Installation Guide Support CD 4x 6Gbps SATA Cables SLI Adapter for Nvidia MultiGPU Wi-Fi Antenna Screws for 3 M.2 Slots Back Panel Protective Plate

It is not a presentation as extremely complete as the high-end boards but as always ASRock provides the detail of an SLI bridge in case we use double GPUs. Something that does call our attention the most is the fact of not integrating the protective plate of the I / O panel even though it even has an EMI protector in the entire area. We consider it a step back.

Exterior design and features

The series to which the ASRock TRX40 Creator belongs does not bet so much on a gaming aesthetic as for example the Taichi, and this is something that we clearly see throughout the board. With a much more professional cut using the matte black color for the PCB and silver aluminum heatsinks thus highlighting the natural color of this metal. In addition, we do not have integrated RGB lighting, although we do have headers to connect it.

Starting with the chipset part, we find a dissipation system made up of the chipset block itself, which has a clearly exposed axial fan and without any superior protection. Alongside this and luckily independently, we have the three passive heatsinks in the M.2 slots. In this way we can install SSD without removing the rest of the heatsinks as it happens in many other current boards.

Continuing towards the top, we find another curious solution to extract the heat generated by the VRM. It consists of an XXL size aluminum heatsink provided with another vertical axial fan. This block is attached to a second one located under the EMI protector thanks to a copper heatpipe. In addition, a separate heatsink has been used for the Wi-Fi network chip which this time is visible to the user and outside the I / O panel.

The back area is completely bare and has no metal protector, leaving the entire system of surface electric tracks visible and the large number of capacitors that have been used for the main power areas. Something that for example we have not seen in other boards, especially the VRM is very nourished by these elements because it has MOSFETS of 90A.

In general, the ASRock TRX40 Creator has a design that we could say is basic for what current manufacturers have accustomed us. Discreet, professional and without frills.

VRM and power phases

We start with the detailed description of this ASRock TRX40 Creator as always taking a look at VRM. In this case, the manufacturer has installed a system consisting of 8 real phases for the V_Core, while the SoC power system (RAM) has been separated by 4 lower power phases, two in the right DIMMs and another two in the Left DIMMs.

This entire system is powered by two full 8-pin CPU connectors constructed of solid metal. We don't have extra connectors like PCIe or Molex to support the expansion slots. Also, it may be curious that these two connectors are each on one side of the board, so we will need to distribute more cables throughout the chassis.

So the system this time consists of three different power zones, with the main one managed by a Renesas ISL69247 PWM controller with 8 outputs, one for each phase. Meanwhile, in each set of RAM memory phases we have independent Renesas Intersill ISL69144 PWM controllers that will manage their corresponding MOSFETS.

Speaking of MOSFETS, we have 8 DrMOS of no less than 90A which are the ones that make up the V_core. Along with them we have the corresponding 90A chokes or choke for each phase and Supreme 12K capacitors for the last power stage. As we see, it is not a VRM with too many phases, but these rise to 90A, while on other boards they reach 60 or 70A. This has been reason enough to adopt an active cooling solution for her.

The manufacturer provides in its description that the plate is built in a total of 4 conductive copper layers together with a fiberglass mesh to separate each one. This should ensure the stability of the entire power system along with its Full Spike Protection surge protection.

Socket, chipset and RAM memory

This ASRock TRX40 Creator is one of the new boards that meet the needs of AMD's new enthusiastic platform, the 3rd generation Threadrippers, made up of only two models so far, the 3960X and 3970X with 24 and 32 cores respectively. This means that each of the plates that we will see, as this is the case, will hardly fall below 500 euros as it is an enthusiastic platform.

Of course we have the huge AMD LGA sTRX4 socket, which is physically the same as the TR4, with its 4096 contacts. The update comes from the inside, to support the 64 PCIe 4.0 lanes of these CPUs and the communication interface between chipset and CPU of 8 PCIe 4.0 lanes instead of 4, thus increasing the trunk link to 16 GB / s up and down. Needless to remember then that these boards will only be compatible with the 3rd generation Threadrippers, as they have a different power configuration on their pins.

Along with this socket, we also have the premiere of the AMD TRX40 chipset, completely changing the nomenclature used so far with the X399. However, it continues to offer 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes, of which 8 are dedicated to communication with the CPU. The remaining 16 can be addressed as each brand deems appropriate, distributed among M.2 slots, normally one of them PCIe 4.0 x4, SATA ports, in a total of 8, and of course high-speed connectivity for USB 3.2 peripherals, supporting 8 USB 3.2 Gen2 and 4 2.0 ports.

Finally, its capacity to install RAM amounts to 256 GB, something normal with the existence of 32 GB modules thanks to the update of the die by the main manufacturers. We have a total of 8 288-pin DIMM slots for the DDR4 standard running on Quad Channel. It supports XMP profiles with speeds up to 4666 MHz, although AMD recommends for its Ryzen 3600 MHz. Having an independent VRM dedicated to these slots can give us performance advantages in this regard.

Storage and PCIe slots

Let's now look at the storage capacity and slots of the ASRock TRX40 Creator, which this time the manufacturer does not provide too many details about the distribution of PCI lines, but that we can easily deduce.

Starting with the expansion slots, we have a total of 4 PCIe 4.0 x16 and none x1 in this case. All of them have steel reinforcement to be able to support heavy cards such as GPUs. For this board we have good news, since it supports parallel multi-GPU configurations AMD CrossFireX 2, 3 and up to 4-way and also Nvidia Quad-GPU SLI 2, 3 and 4-way, that is, 4 graphics cards running in parallel.

Thanks to the large number of PCIe lines that have this platform we have the following operation:

• 2 PCIe slots will work at x16 and will be connected to the CPU (will be the first and third slot) 2 PCIe slots will work at x8 and will also be connected to the CPU (will be the second and fourth)

As in other cases, this will be the fixed operation in them, not being able to alter in any case the rails of each slot. With these, we have a total of 48 busy CPU lanes, there are still 8 available along with 8 dedicated to the CPU-Chipset link.

So now we go with the storage configuration, which is made up of 8 SATA III 6 Gbps ports and 3 M.2 PCIe 4.0 / 3.0 x4 slots that each provide a bandwidth of 64 Gb / s or what is the same, 8 GB / s. We do not have an ASMedia chip installed to expand SATA capacity, nor do we see it as very necessary.

The distribution of lanes and operation of the M.2 slots will be as follows:

• The 1st M.2 slot (M2_1) supports sizes 2260 and 2280, and is connected to the CPU with 4 lanes. The 2nd M.2 slot (M2_2) supports sizes 2260 and 2280, and is again connected to the CPU with 4 lanes. And the 3rd M.2 slot (M2_3) is connected to the chipset and supports sizes 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110. The 8 SATAs are also connected to the chipset and do not share a bus with anything else.

Triple network link and high-end sound card

This is where the ASRock TRX40 Creator flaunts its distinctive Creator by offering us complete high-speed network connectivity ideal for design-oriented equipment and as server stations.

Regarding the wired LAN res we have a double connection using RJ-45. The most powerful offers us a 10 Gbps bandwidth thanks to an Aquantia AQC107 chip that is installed in an M.2 PCIe 4.0 x1 slot right where we see the independent heatsink. The second connection offers us a width of 2.5 Gbps thanks to a Realtek Dragon RTL8125AG chip which we do not see because it is under the EMI protector. Finally, another TRX40 lane is responsible for addressing the installed Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 chip, with a bandwidth of 2.4 Gbps at 5 GHz and 733 Mbps at 2.4 GHz, and which implements Bluetooth 5.0.

And the set in charge of managing all the sound is made up of a new generation Realtek ALC4050H codec together with the well-known Realtek 1220-VB. These provide us with 7.1 audio quality in high definition with support for premium Blu-Ray and Purity Sound 4 audio thanks to high-quality Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors. But also includes a NA5532 Premium amplifier, a DAC specially dedicated to headphones with up to 600 Ω input impedance.

I / O ports and internal connections

We go to see ultimately the configuration of internal and external ports for peripherals of this ASRock TRX40 Creator.

Starting with the I / O panel we have:

• BIOS Flashback button Clear CMOS button PS2 keyboard / mouse connector 2x Wi-Fi antenna outputs USB Type-C 3.2 Gen2x2 (20 Gb / s) 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (blue) 4x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (blue) 2x RJ-455x 3.5mm audio jack S / PDIF port

As always happens in the ASRock X299 Taichi, the manufacturer has used an ASMedia ASM3242 chip to double the speed of the USB Type-C port that we have installed on the rear panel. Let's say it is an ASRock solution to improve this port without actually using Thunderbolt 3 as it is an AMD platform. We would have liked to have more Gen2 USB ports, with a better use of PCIe lanes, although these are occupied with all the network connection and dual-performance USB-C.

The distribution of internal ports is as follows:

• 5x headers for fans and cooling pumps 4x LED headers (2 Addressable RGB and 2 RGB) 2x front audio connectors 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C2x USB 3.2 Gen11x USB 2.0TPM Board management buttons Switch CPUM Xtreme OC

The variety of internal connections is considered quite standard and similar to X570 boards. We highlight that button or switch with which we can manually activate an overclocking mode for the motherboard and the CPU. In any case, we have preferred to do it the old-fashioned way and thus have control of the power supplied to the CPU.

There is also no lack of corresponding buttons both outside and inside to interact with the BIOS and the boot system of the ASRock TRX40 Creator. We continue with the testing section of this board.

testing bench

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	AMD Threadripper 3960X
Base plate:	ASRock TRX40 Creator
Memory:	32 GB G-Skill Royal X @ 3200 MHz
Heatsink	Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3
HDD	Kingston SKC400
Graphic card	Nvidia RTX 2060 FE
Power supply	Corsair RM1000

As we can see we opted for a state-of-the-art test equipment. We would have liked to mount our traditional Corsair H100i V2, but since we did not have the official support of the AMD microprocessor (we have achieved it in other ways), so we have chosen to mount an excellent NH-U14S Tr4 from the prestigious manufacturer Noctua, which is at the height of any AIO liquid.

The chosen graphics card is the RTX 2060 in its reference version. We believe it is a good option since it is affordable for many mortals and is the one we use for all our tests. For 2020 we will choose to mount a higher graphic, to see if we get an RTX 2080 SUPER.

BIOS

A classic BIOS in ASRock, with easy menus and very intuitive. Perhaps not ideal for expert users, since we have many options to overclock and get the most out of our components. It is one of the most stable in this AMD enthusiast range.

Overclocking

Although we do not like its cooling system, because it uses two very small fans, it is true that it is an efficient system that hardly heats up. We have had peaks of 44 ºC, but it is always around 41 ºC constant in its most critical zone. While the phases are always below 40 ºC.

Regarding overclocking, it has performed the worst. We have had to leave our AMD Threadripper 3960X at 4.3 GHz. A lower frequency than other TRX40 motherboards that we have analyzed today and others that will be out in the coming days on the web.

Final words and conclusion about ASRock TRX40 Creator

ASRock is clear with the ASRock TRX40 Creator: motherboard with a minimalist aesthetic and without many colored lights but quality components. Perhaps the use of two small fans is his great handicap. Since when they break down we will have to change it, and this must be taken into account, because the rest of the motherboards at most I have one in the chipset.

With this motherboard we can install a total of 256 GB of RAM at a speed of 4666 MHz by overclocking it. We can also install a 4 Way SLI or CrossFire system, we have 8 SATA connections and three M.2 PCI Express 4.0 connections available for high speed NVMe SSDs.

We recommend you read the best motherboards

In connectivity we are more than served! We have a 10 Gigabit connection signed by Aquantia, another connection but 2.5 Gigabit and a Wifi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0 combo. In our tests we have been able to raise the processor to 4.3 GHz with a voltage of 1.45v. Although not bad, other motherboards have managed up to 4.4 GHz.

Its price in the market will oscillate 500 euros. We think it is one of the cheapest and most interesting alternatives for the TRX40 socket. With this review we already know the pros and cons of this motherboard. What do you think about the ASRock TRX40 Creator? For us it is a very

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ MINIMALIST DESIGN	- WE HOPED TO MAKE MORE OVERCLOCK
+ TYPE-C USB CONNECTOR WITH HIGHER SPEED THAN STANDARD
+ REFRIGERATION IN PHASES AND M.2 NVME
+ 10G CONNECTIVITY AND WIFI 6
+ STABLE BIOS

The Professional Review team awards him the gold medal:

ASRock TRX40 Creator

COMPONENTS - 82%

REFRIGERATION - 85%

BIOS - 83%

EXTRAS - 85%

PRICE - 80%

83%