Asus rog zenith extreme alpha review in spanish (full analysis)

We had a long time without testing an Asus X399 motherboard. On this occasion, they have sent us their new flagship: Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha with 1 6 phases of power, Wi-Fi AD connectivity, 10 Gbps / s network and improved sound card.

Will all these extras be worth it? Will it become the best gaming motherboard for the TR4 platform ? All this and much more in our analysis.

We thank Asus for trusting us with the loan of the product for its analysis:

Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha technical characteristics

Unboxing and design

The Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha It is presented in a robust box and with the particular design that the serious Republig Of Gamer offers us. On the cover we quickly identify the model thanks to its great typography, it also details the main certifications that support this motherboard.

While in the rear area it details the most important main specifications. All with great detail and that comes in handy to stay up to date on this motherboard.

Once we open the box, we will find the following bundle inside:

• Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha 3 SATA cable set ASUS 2T2R2 mobile antennas monitor cable set ROGSLI HB BRIDGE sticker (s) (2-WAY-M) ROG big sticker Q-Connector Screws for M.2DIMM.2 Extension cord for RGB strips up to 80 cmUSB with drivers and software Cup holder ROGExtension cable for LED strips

The Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha is featured with an AMD TR4 socket and paired with the most powerful chipset ever made by AMD: X399. This is compatible with AMD Threadripper processors manufactured in 14 nm first and second generation. As many of you know it is the enthusiastic series of the green giant.

The motherboard has an E-ATX format and its dimensions stand out a bit from the standard we are used to, with measurements of 30.5 cm x 27.7 cm. If all this is combined with a black design with red details it is very beautiful and with very aggressive profiles.

We leave you a view of the back for the most curious readers. To highlight the half armor that improves aesthetics and reinforces the PCB of heavy graphics cards.

As with all high-end motherboards, dissipation is divided into two zones: power phases and one for the X399 chipset. It has a total of 16 power phases supported by Digi + Power Control technology that offers real-time control over voltage drop and energy efficiency adjustments. That is, your processor will have more power than the motherboard can provide and not lose performance.

In the upper area of ​​the power phases Asus has decided to incorporate a 4 cm fan kit as standard to have active dissipation. This is due to the compatibility of 16 and 32 physical core processors on this platform and the need to cool VRMs from minute 0. It seems like a success and they are hardly heard when they are running.

To be more specific, these are activated when the feeding phases reach a temperature of 60 ºC and at a low speed to keep this critical area cool.

To have an efficient power supply, it has a 24-pin ATX connection and two 8-pin EPS connectors each, in this way, Asus, ensures greater stability and the possibility of overclocking.

As expected, we found the integration of 8 sockets for DDR4 RAM in Quad Channel compatible up to 128 GB ECC and Non ECC with frequencies up to 3600 Mhz and the AMP profile. It is clear that it is a platform for years and ideal for mounting a high-performance workstation.

The layout of the PCI Express connections is quite good, since it has four PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots that will allow us to install Multi-GPU: 3 Way configurations of both Nvidia SLI and AMD CrossfireX. While it is additionally complemented by a PCI Express x4 connection ideal for a 4K grabber or a high-end dedicated sound card.

PCI Express x16 slots are reinforced with a metal frame that improves greater retention and transverse resistance.

Regarding high-speed storage, it has two slots for the M.2 NVMe connection integrated into its DIMM.2 slot. This type of technology comes in handy, as it allows both devices to be cooled with a large heatsink and is connected vertically. It also takes advantage of AMD StoreMI and CPU RAID technologies to perform RAID 0.1 and 10 with very good speeds and efficiency.

On the motherboard we do have an M.2 NVME x4 connection under the heatsink that is located on the side of the X399 chipset. As we see, we have multiple options to have high performance SSDs and very good temperatures.

As usual in this range of motherboard, Asus opts for a sound card with improved components: better component interference (EMI), compatibility with headphones with an impedance range of 120 dB, DAC ESS®SABRE9018Q2C, LED lighting and compatible with Sonic Radar III and Studio III software.

Let's not forget that it also incorporates a total of 8 SATA III connections at 6Gbp / s that allows us to have enough conventional SSDs and hard drives. Curiously, in this new version, Asus chooses to eliminate the U.2 connectivity that we already saw in previous models.

Finally, we leave you all the rear connections that it integrates:

• Network (RJ45) Optical S / PDIF out Clear CMOSUSB 3.1 Gen 2 button from Type-CT Three USB 3.1 Gen 2 connections Eight USB 3.1 Gen 1 connections (blue) USB button BIOS FlashbackASUS Wi-Fi GO! module: incorporates Wi-Fi 802.11 AC and Bluetooth v5.05 LED lighting zones Aquantia 10G network card

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	AMD Threadripper 1920X
Base plate:	Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha
Memory:	32GB G.Skill FlareX
Heatsink	Corsair H100i V2
HDD	Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB .
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti.
Power supply	Corsair RM1000X.