Asrock x570 phantom gaming

ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 is another of the plates that were presented during Computex 2019 and that we have finally received for analysis. This model falls within a very small group of plates with an ITX form factor and features that will surprise many. It has Thunderbolt 3 built in under USB-C, Wi-Fi 6 AX and no less than 10 power phases to support the most powerful Ryzen 3000 processors in the segment.

If you are thinking about updating the platform and mounting a miniPC gaming, or multimedia with the new Ryzen G series, then you should be aware of this review.

We started not without first thanking ASRock for giving us almost its entire range of X570 boards for our analysis.

ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 technical features

Unboxing

We start as always with the Unboxing of this small plate in ITX format that comes in a single box almost identical in size to the product itself. This box has exactly the same design as the outer cover of the Phantom Gaming ATX version. In black with the great family logo and multiple explanations of the most notable features in the rear area.

The opening is a case type, and inside we find this area with the accessories in the upper area and the plate on the lower floor, placed in an antistatic bag and polyethylene foam to protect it even more.

This time we find the following elements in the bundle:

• ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 motherboard One SATA 6Gbps cable Screw to install M.2 SSD Wi-Fi antenna with dock and extension cable Support CD-ROM Instruction manual

In bundle it is quite similar to the full size model, although obviously we lose elements like the SLI cable for obvious reasons. Yes, we would have liked a cable with an RGB header to be incorporated, since this board has lighting and is expandable.

Design and Specifications

Now it's time to take a good look to see what we are in terms of appearance and design, since not only the power will be important in a gaming team. The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 features aluminum heatsinks in all 10 power phases it has. The top four have a small block with a fairly high profile, while the larger side is integrated with the board's I / O port panel EMI shield.

The chipset is located in the lower central area, or rather in the only space available. Due to space limitations, the manufacturer has decided to install a high-profile heatsink with a fan blade identical to the Phantom Gaming X. On top of it, an aluminum grill protects it and allows it to take air. And, in addition, to increase efficiency it has been integrated with a copper heat pipe that connects it to the heatsink of the main VRM. As we will see later, this area captures enough heat, so we will obtain temperatures above 50 degrees.

Otherwise, on this main face we do not have any M.2 slot nor too many fan connectors. Of course, ASRock has placed the two regulatory headers to expand the LED lighting of the board, one 4-pin RGB and another ARGB. In fact, it will be in the back area where we find a lighting strip that just occupies the side parallel to the PCIe x16 slot. It is compatible with ASRock Polychrome RGB that later we will see what to do with it.

In fact, it is in this area where we find the only M.2 slot for SSD that the board has. This means that to mount an SSD we will have to remove the board from the chassis. In addition, we do not ensure compatibility with all SSD heatsinks, it will always depend on the gap between PCB and chassis. Many of the capacitors and electronic chips that should be on the main face have been placed here for lack of space.

Something that we consider important to note is that the dissipation system is relatively complicated to disassemble.

VRM and power phases

We continue with the detailed study of the VRM of the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3, not for being small we will have a mediocre system, on the contrary. The Phantom range always assembles quality components as is the case. Its VRM consists of 10 power phases (remember that the Phantom Gaming X had 14), whose power supply will be made through a single solid 8-pin connector.

This configuration is controlled as always by a DrMOS chip that intelligently manages, via PWM, the voltage signal and control through the BIOS of the entire system. It has the latest technology SPS (Smart Power Stage) from the electronics manufacturer. Next, in the first stage we have 60A DC-DC ISL99227 MOSFETS built by Renesas, which will ensure a current delivery of over 200A for the most powerful Ryzen.

But these in turn receive the current through a Renesas ISL6617A phase duplicator, exactly the same as other models. ASRock is comfortable using these duplication systems, and for now on these X570 boards it is not failing, as we have good temperatures and stable and very well adjusted power delivery.

In the second stage we have 60A solid CHOKES that are also the ones that the manufacturer has used in all models of the generation. Finally, we found a system of 820 µF and 100 µF capacitors to smooth the input signal into the Vcore and that withstand high temperatures in case of future overclocking. These are accompanied by other Nichicon FP12K Black Caps capacitors that withstand at least 12, 000 hours of use.

Socket, chipset and RAM memory

You will say, " of this section step, because I already know what there is ", but be careful because this time we are going to find a curious dilemma when it comes to installing our AMD CPU.

We know that the socket will be the fireproof AMD4 with PGA format, but we do not have the traditional bracket system to install the heatsinks included in the Ryzen. In this ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3, an Intel LGA 1151 hole system has been placed. And no, it's not a design flaw, the manufacturer has purposely decided to put the system down to somehow compel users to buy a higher-performance custom heatsink or liquid cooling system. The good thing is that the 1151's hold for RL is better and more generic, and the bad thing is that we won't be able to use the heatsink included in the AMD CPU. But of course, both systems could coexist together, since the holes occupy different places, and this is precisely what we do not understand.

Although in the specs nothing is said, we assure you that the fan of the X570 chipset is the same as that of the Phantom Gaming X. It is a traditional fan instead of having to pass a turbine, and therefore it is much quieter than these. It is designed to last more than 50, 000 hours thanks to an EBR bearing. Of course, this time we have no RGB light trail on it.

And like all ITX boards, we only found two DDR4 DIMM slots without steel reinforcements. In them we can place a configuration of up to 64 GB of RAM memory at a maximum of 4533 MHz with the XMP 2.0 profile activated from the BIOS. Keep in mind that if we put a 2nd generation Ryzen CPU, the speed will be limited to 3600 MHz, while APUs with Picasso architecture will be limited to 3466 MHz. Also, keep in mind that the ECC type memories that this board supports only with Compatible with AMD's Ryzen PRO range.

Storage and expansion slots

Now we continue with the section on slots and storage, and you can imagine that we will finish very soon. As the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 is such a small board, much of the capacity of the 20 LANES X570 chipset and 24 LANES CPUs will be wasted, but it is up to friends.

Focusing on storage, we will only have an M.2 slot compatible with the PCIe 4.0 x4 2280 bus, supporting a maximum speed of 64 Gbps, or what is almost the same, 8, 000 MB / s for new generation SSD drives. This slot will be directly connected to the CPU rails and in case of mounting 2nd generation Ryzen the bus will become 3.0 to 32 Gbps as normal. We have already mentioned that it is located at the back of the PCB, so not all the heatsinks included in the SSDs will be able to be placed successfully for reasons of space.

Finishing off with the expansion slots, we only have one PCIe 4.0 x16 that we will definitely use to mount a dedicated graphics card. This slot features steel reinforcement for durability, and is also connected to the processor's LANES. It will work at x16 with 2nd and 3rd generation Ryzen, and at x8 with 2nd generation Ryzen APU due to its limitation in PCIe lanes.

Network connectivity and sound card

We are nearing the end of our visit to the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3, and now it's time to talk about network connectivity and sound.

The manufacturer has taken advantage of this new generation to introduce an Intel Killer AX1650 WiFi network card, Intel's gaming-oriented specification for its M.2 2230 cards. Recall that this card is dual band, offering a maximum bandwidth of 2, 404 Mbps. at 5GHz and 733 Mbps at 2.4 GHz. It implements MU-MIMO and OFDMA technologies at frequencies of 80 and 160 MHz 2 × 2, although the speed will be limited to 1.73 Mbps in 5GHz when we use a router that does not have an IEEE 802.11ax protocol. Of course it integrates Bluetooth 5.0 LE.

As for wired connectivity, it is certainly more normal, since we are only left with an Intel I211-AT controller that supports a bandwidth of 10/100/1000 Mbps. We think that a 2.5 Gbps connection would do more justice when facing a Phantom Gaming.

The sound card is a high-end Realtek ALC1220, the most widely used today. As you know, it has digital S / PDIF output and 7.1 channels of surround audio. The manufacturer integrates compatibility with Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 5, which gives us an extra quality for a home theater and a MiniPC mounted for this purpose. The capacitors that accompany the card are Nichicon from the Fine Gold series with their two separate channels on different electronic tracks.

I / O ports and internal connections

We will also finish the port count soon, although we have something interesting in this ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 board that we did not find in other AMD platforms.

The rear I / O panel has these ports:

• PS / 2 port for keyboard or mouse 2x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A (Blue) Dual Wi-Fi antenna output Clear CMOS button HDMI 2.0 port DisplayPort 1.4 USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C Thunderbolt 3 2x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A (blue) Rj -45 LAN Ethernet, 5x 3.5mm audio jack connectors, S / PDIF digital sound port

It is a list that becomes quite interesting due to the fact that it has a port with Thunderbolt integrated, which is not common on this platform for obvious reasons. Other ASRock boards we know were enabled for it, but in this one, we have it directly implemented, so it is great news for users who are thinking of mounting a Mini PC for design, for example.

The port provides a fast charge of 15W, which is rather little, and offers a maximum speed in Thunderbolt 3 of 40 Gbps, while in USB mode it will be 10 Gbps. The HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort connectors support 4K resolution (4096 × 2160 @ 60 FPS, with HDR and HDCP 2.2.

We turn to see the internal connections we have:

• USB 3.1 Gen1 connector (supports two USB ports) USB 2.0 connector (supports 2 ports) Front audio header 3x fan or pump headers 2x RGB headers (1 4-pin ARGB and another 4-pin RGB) TPM connector

No surprise in this regard, with such limited space the capacity is less. We have temperature sensors in the CPU, Chipset and chassis, while it is possible to manage the speed of the chipset fan using PWM.

Management software

As on other occasions the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 offers management support with various manufacturer programs. The most interesting will be ASRock Gaming Tuning and Polychrome Sync.

With the first, we can modify the parameters related to overclocking the BIOS, although not with the detail and breadth of it, so we recommend doing it from the BIOS if we are advanced users. It has several performance modes for the board and cooling, and we can modify in detail the operating profile of the installed fans and even the one integrated in the chipset.

With the following, we can modify the RGB lighting integrated in the plate and the one connected in its headers. The program has a generic interface for all models, although it will activate only the options available in each case. Fortunately it supports RAM memory with RGB lighting and we have verified that everything works perfectly and without any compatibility problem as if it happened in the Phantom Gaming X.

testing bench

The test bench that we have used to test this ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 is as follows:

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
Base plate:	ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3
Memory:	16GB G.Skill Trident Z NEO DDR4 3600MHz
Heatsink	Stock
HDD	ADATA SU750
Graphic card	Nvidia RTX 2060 Founders edition
Power supply	Antec HCG Gold 750W

BIOS

The BIOS is the same as the Phanton Gaming X, and the rest of the family, although with the necessary modifications to adapt it to the available and supportable hardware. In the screenshots we can see that the interface is quite simple and intuitive, and if you already have a board of this brand you will hardly need to watch tutorials to use it.

It is a very stable BIOS as we have confirmed with other reviews, but certain aspects such as SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 5.1, are currently available in newer versions. Other manufacturers such as Asus, bring these new standards in their models. In any case, it perfectly supports the XMP profiles of the new generation memories and we have not had any compatibility or voltage problems with the components.

We leave you a screenshot of the voltages, power and intensity supplied with a CPU under stress. The results we see are correlative to other full-format models, so the Vcore is perfectly tuned for the needs of a board that supports even the powerful Ryzen 9 3950K.

Temperatures

A 12-hour test has been carried out with Prime95 to test the 10 power phases of this board with the 6-core CPU and its stock heatsink. Likewise, we have taken thermal captures with the Flir One PRO to measure the temperature of the VRM externally. In the following table you will have the results that have been measured in the system about the chipset and the VRM during the stress process.

	Relaxed Stock	Full Stock
VRM	33ºC	47ºC
	Minimum observed	Maximum observed
Chipset	55 ° C	60 ° C

We see slightly better results than other full-format models and this may be largely due to the fact that the chipset heatsink and VRM share heatpipe. This causes part of the temperature of the hottest element to be transferred to the other, and consequently the heatsink reaches more temperature.

Similarly, a 10-phase VRM with duplicator and 60A CMOS will be under greater stress than a larger configuration, and this causes somewhat higher temperatures, although not worrisome at all.

Final words and conclusion about ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3

If something catches the attention of this board it is obviously its form factor, since it falls into a very small group where we practically have one per manufacturer. And it lacks almost no detail, since we have RGB lighting and even an integrated EMI protector, ideal for an enthusiastic level MiniPC gaming.

And we say enthusiastically because this model supports even the processed AMD Ryzen 3900X and 3950X, something worthy of a high-end. Its 10-phase VRM with duplicator does a sensational job providing those 200A needed for these monsters to be stable.

Due to certain space and design limitations, temperatures are slightly higher than on ATX-format models, but remain within the safe threshold at less than 60 degrees on components such as chipset or VRM. Another positive point to highlight is an excellent and stable BIOS, it perfectly supports all kinds of hardware, XMP profiles, with a very simple and complete management.

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The expandability is obviously quite limited, although this is somewhat acceptable in an ITX model. Of course, we consider that the I / O panel has few USB, only 4, although all high-speed and even Thunderbolt 3 integrated, something very differential and very advantageous for design miniPCs.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect comes in the socket, specifically in the compatibility with AMD heatsinks. And it is that ASRock has decided to integrate only the LGA 1151 heatsink holes, having enough space to put AMD's own. We understand the objective, which is to force to put a custom heatsink or liquid cooling and thus be sure that the CPU will not be in trouble in very small spaces.

We finish with the price, which places this ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 at approximately US $ 400. It is more, or less, the expected in a plate as peculiar as it is, and being one of the few with this format, perhaps its price is therefore somewhat high.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ IDEAL ITX SIZE FOR MINIPC ENTHUSIASTIC LEVEL	- FEW USB TYPE-A ON I / O PANEL
+ PORT WITH THUNDERBOLT 3 INTEGRATED	- ONLY ADMITS HEATSETS COMPATIBLE WITH INTEL LGA 1151
+ WI-FI 6, AND POWERFUL 10-PHASE VRM
+ VERY STABLE AND EASY TO USE BIOS
+ RGB LIGHTING AND BOLD DESIGN

The Professional Review team awards him the gold medal:

ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3

COMPONENTS - 91%

REFRIGERATION - 85%

BIOS - 85%

EXTRAS - 89%

PRICE - 86%

87%