Trx40 aorus master review in Spanish (full analysis)

2019 is an incredible year when it comes to presentations, and it still brings us two main highlights such as the new Threadripper 3000 along with the TRX40 boards and the 10th generation Intel X and XE processors. But today we will review the TRX40 AORUS MASTER, the second most powerful Gigabyte board for AMD's new enthusiastic platform. A board that does not reach the EXTREME level in connectivity, but that has the same VRM of 16 + 3 real phases.

It also supports exactly the same capacity and RAM speed, includes 5 Gbps LAN and Wi-FI 6 connectivity and the same dual-card sound solution. You can not miss the 4 PCIe 4.0 and in this case 3 m.2 NVMe slots which is not bad. All this and much more will be covered in this in-depth analysis, so let's get started!

Before we continue, we thank AORUS for their trust in us by giving us this impressive plate to do our analysis.

TRX40 AORUS MASTER technical characteristics

Unboxing

The presentation of this TRX40 AORUS MASTER is not different from the rest of the models, as it is a rigid cardboard box with the entire exterior area exquisitely decorated with the AORUS logo and behind the main characteristics of the plate in question.

Inside, we have a distribution on two floors, a lower one for the accessories of the plate and in the upper area a mold where the plate is placed with a tray-shaped plastic protector.

Inside this bundle we will have the following elements:

• Motherboard TRX40 AORUS MASTER Support CD User manual and installation guide 4x SATA 6 Gbps cables Wi-Fi antenna G2x connector adapters for RGB LED strips Noise sensor 2x temperature thermistors Screws to install M.2 Velcro strips for cables

Exterior design and features

The TRX40 AORUS MASTER is the second most powerful AORUS motherboard for this new platform, and when it comes to design it is obviously one step behind the EXTREME version in its visible face.

And it is that we have a less covered surface in general, for example, the protector on the right side that covers all the ports is lost. It is also a slightly narrower board in standard E-ATX format at 325mm high and 269mm wide. This makes the space for M.2 look a little smaller, being in this case 3 slots and not 4 as in the top range version. In this area we can see a semi-integral heatsink that covers the entire chipset and the three storage slots, two between the PCIe slots and the third just below the chipset.

Obviously we have active cooling on the chipset side, through a turbine-type fan already used in other solutions on the AMD platform. Where we do have practically the same cooling as the EXTREME is in the VRM, since ultimately, it is exactly the same. 16 + 3 phases protected by a finned passive heatsink that extends to the I / O panel EMI protector through an 8mm heatpipe and a second finned block. Illumination is also greatly reduced to just one area on this RGB Fusion 2.0 compatible shield .

The heatpipe continues towards the sound card area which is also protected by an aluminum plate. Absolutely all the main expansion slots are steel reinforced, and the reset and power button stays right next to the DIMM slots. Note that the TRX40 AORUS MASTER has the ATX power connector and SATA at 90 degrees to improve connections within the chassis.

If we turn it around, we can see that this plate also mounts a cover made of metal and NanoCarbono that practically occupies the whole except the backplate of the socket. This material provides rigidity to the set, and above all protection against electrostatic discharges during handling or poor insulation.

VRM and power phases

The new Threadrippers are very powerful processors, that despite their 7nm transistors, we have consumption of around 400W in the 24C / 48T configuration of the 3960X, this being the "least powerful". That is why the TRX40 AORUS MASTER installs exactly the same VRM as the EXTREME version, with no less than 16 + 3 power phases, something never seen on desktop boards.

As it can be deduced from its configuration, 16 phases will be dedicated to the V_Core or CPU voltage, while another three are in charge of the SoC, that is, the 8 DDR4 DIMM slots. All these phases are real, so they do not have any type of duplicator as a previous stage. Will the other manufacturers do the same? This entire system is managed by an Infineon XDPE132G5C digital PWM controller, capable of managing the entire power amp system on its own.

This power stage has 16 Infineon TDA21472 MOSFETS of 70A each, representing a total of 1, 330 A of intensity for the power supply. This colossal capacity will work at an input voltage of between 4.25 and 16V, transforming it into an output of between 0.25 to 5.5V for CPU and SoC. We have seen during tests of the 3960X that these CPUs require a fairly high voltage of 1.5V at full power, surprising to say the least as 7nm transistors.

Along with these MOSFETS we have 16 70 A shocks and high quality solid capacitors for the maximum possible stability of the direct current signal. The system comes complete with two solid 8-pin CPU connectors each. It is important to know that a third 6-pin PCIe connector has not been used for this model and the Molex that uses the Extreme to support the PCIe slots. In any case, the overclocking capacity has proven to be practically traced to EXTREME

Socket, chipset and RAM memory

As its name suggests, the TRX40 AORUS MASTER arrives to meet the needs of the new 3rd generation AMD Threadripper platform, where we currently have the 3960X and 3970X models.

It should be clear to us that this platform is incompatible with the rest of the 1st and 2nd generation Threadripper, which has caused discontent for many users for having to spend even more money if they want to update the enthusiastic AMD platform. In any case, the AMD LGA sTRX4 socket is physically the same as the TR4, with its 4096 contacts. The upgrade comes from the inside to support the 64 PCIe 4.0 lanes of these CPUs and the 8 lane PCIe 4.0 CPU-to-CPU communication interface instead of 4.

RAM capacity definitely increases to 256GB DDR4 thanks to 8 Quad Channel-capable 288-pin DIMM slots. The CPU natively supports 3200 MHz memory, but this does not mean that we can install modules up to 4400 MHz thanks to the support of XMP profiles. It is also not new that AMD recommends memories of up to 3600 MHz maximum for its Ryzen, and the same will surely happen here.

This chipset is also released, with the name AMD TRX40, although 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, dividing it between M.2 slots, SATA ports and of course high-speed connectivity for USB 3.2 peripherals. In summary, the architecture of this new chipset makes it support 8 USB 3.2 Gen2 and 4 2.0 ports along with 4 SATA 6 Gbps ports. In addition to this, it has 8 PCIe 4.0 lanes for general purpose and a double Pick One to expand up to 4 SATA ports or one or two 1 × 4 or 2 × 2 PCIe lines.

Throughout the analysis we will cite how these lanes are occupied, although we leave above the architectural scheme of this plate provided by the manufacturer in its instruction manual.

Storage and PCIe slots

We continue with the analysis of the TRX40 AORUS MASTER now seeing how its high-speed expansion slots are distributed.

Regarding slots, we have a total of 4 PCIe 4.0 in x16 format and 1 PCIe 4.0 x1 slots. All of them except the smallest, have steel reinforcement to support the heaviest GPUs on the market. Especially oriented for parallel multiGPU configurations, since this board supports AMD CrossFireX 2 and 3-way and also Nvidia Quad-GPU SLI 2 and 3-way. It is normal that we are a little limited because it is the MASTER model and not EXTREME.

Let's describe the operation of these 5 slots:

• 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) 1 PCIe slot will work at x1 and will be connected to the chipset

As for storage, AORUS has installed a total of 8 6Gbps SATA III ports and 3 PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA compliant M.2 slots on this board. This represents a small reduction in both cases, since for example ASMedia chip has not been used to expand the SATA capacity to 10, instead we have that PCIe x1 slot that occupies said PCIe lane, which we see as correct.

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

• The 1st M.2 (M2M) slot supports sizes 2260, 2280 and 22110 and is connected to the CPU with 4 lanes. The 2nd M.2 slot (M2Q) supports only size 2280 and is connected to the CPU with 4 lanes. And the 3rd M.2 (M2P) slot is connected to the chipset and supports size 2280. The 8 SATAs are also connected to the chipset and do not share a bus with anything else.

This completes the 56 PCIe 4.0 lanes of the CPU and part of the capacity of the chipset. We have the advantage of not having slots connected in shared buses, so everything we connect will go at the highest possible speed. In all cases we have support for RAID 0, 1 and 10 configurations, together with AMD Store MI to improve growth.

Dual sound card and Wi-Fi 6

Without a doubt Wi-Fi 6 is practically a standard already on the high-performance boards of most manufacturers, and this TRX40 AORUS MASTER is no exception. But in addition, a double sound card has been chosen , thus providing more quality in both the front and rear connection.

For wired network connectivity we find a double configuration. Firstly, an Aquantia AQC111C chip allows a connection of up to 5 Gbps as bandwidth. A second Intel I219-v chip keeps the leftovers through another 100/1000 Mbps RJ-45. Both elements will be connected to the chipset, each on a different PCIe lane. Another lane of the TRX40 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.

As we have already said, we have a double sound card, thus separating the front connector and the rear ports. For the first case, we have a Realtek ALC4050H codec together with an ESS SABER9218 DAC specially dedicated to connecting high-performance headphones with up to 600 Ω impedance. For the rear ports, the same Realtek ALC4050H codec has been used together with the Realtek ALC1220-VB that provides high definition audio and a 7.1 channel capable system.

I / O ports and internal connections

We come to the end of the technical analysis with the corresponding ports for internal and external peripherals of the TRX40 AORUS MASTER.

Starting with the I / O panel we have:

• Button for Q-Flash Plus Clear CMOS button 2x Wi-Fi antenna outputs USB Type-C 3.2 Gen25x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (red) 2x USB 2.0 (black) 2x RJ-455x 3.5mm jack for audio S / PDIF port

We see that in this model it does still make an appearance USB 2.0 ports, reducing the count of 3.2 Gen2 ports to 6. This is perfectly understandable due to the fact that it does not have an ASMedia chip that takes care of those two extras that EXTREME does. In the same way we can see that we can update the BIOS via USB thanks to the support of AORUS Q-Flash.

And continuing with the internal ports we have:

• 8x headers for fans and cooling pumps 2x LED headers (2 Addressable RGB and 2 RGB) Front Audio 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C2x USB 3.2 Gen12x USB 2.0TPM Header for noise sensor 2x Headers for temperature sensors Gigabyte card connector Points to measure voltage

In this case the USB 3.2 headers are reduced to Gen1 except for the USB Type-C, while we have double USB 2.0 headers. We also have the corresponding debug LED to monitor BIOS codes and access buttons for BIOS and board control. All externally allowable sensors (noise and temperature) come in the purchase bundle. The latter will come from fable to integrate them into the ecosystem of Gigabyte / ORUS programs, with BIOS, APP Center, Easy Tune and System Information Viewer.

The distribution of lanes for these connectors and the previous ones is as follows:

• CPU: 4 USB 3.2 Gen2 connected to the rear panel Chipset: the rest of the ports, with the 2 available USB-C, the remaining USB-A, USB 3.2 Gen1 headers and USB 2.0.

testing bench

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	AMD Threadripper 3960X
Base plate:	TRX40 AORUS MASTER
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

Aorus BIOS improves for every update they release, is it like good wine? We liked it as much as the Xtreme version. It brings us a multitude of options and possibilities to get the most out of each of our components.

Activating the AMP profile is really easy and with just two clicks it is already operational. We can also overclock the processor, monitor temperatures, control fans, flash BIOS quickly and a long etcetera… What all high-end BIOS offers today. Chapó!

Software and overclocking

Aorus has a great set of applications. The first is Engine that allows us to synchronize and overclock our graphics card and if we need, we can also configure the NVLink bridge if you have two Nvidia graphics cards.

Although the most interesting is the APP RGB Fusion. With this application we can customize up to five independent RGB zones of our motherboard. If we have any component compatible with Aorus RGB, in our case the Royal X memories, we can merge it and make the most of it with different effects.

The truth is that Aorus is doing things very well and this cooling system seems to us all to be true. It is true that it is not at the level of the TRX40 Aorus Extreme, but as we see the results are impressive. We obtain with our thermal camera less than 40 ºC in the most critical areas of its VRM. We are increasingly liking this manufacturer.

Regarding overclocking, we get 4400 MHz with 1.49v on the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X that we have analyzed. It was only a test, since we believe that the strength of the processor is found in the 4300 MHz and 1.39v. With this 200 MHz rise we get some extra dots in Cinebench R20. What a bug!

Final words and conclusion about TRX40 AORUS MASTER

The time has come to value the RTX40 Aorus Master and we can only comment on them very good things. It features an extraordinary 16 + 3 phase VRM power system, an efficient cooling system, outstanding performance and a host of internal and rear connections.

In our tests we have been able to raise the Ryzen Threadripper 3960X to 4.4 GHz with little effort. It is true that the Xtreme has fine-tuned the processor for us, but this Master has had no problems getting the most out of it with a somewhat higher voltage (1.49v).

We also really liked the incorporation of Wifi 6 connectivity and a 5 Gigabit LAN connection. With this combo we are up to date in connectivity, although we would have liked to see a 10 Gigabit connection , but hey, not everything can be had in this life?

In short, we are in front of some of the best motherboards on the market and that will be in this list soon. Its price will fluctuate 615 euros, we believe that it is worth every euro we spend on it, and that it has nothing to envy to superior models.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ PREMIUM COMPONENTS AND FINISHES	- PRICE IS HIGH
+ TUNED BIOS	- WE MISSING 10 GIGABIT CONNECTIVITY
+ EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE AND CAPABILITY OF OVERCLOCK
+ WIFI AND LAN 5 GIGABIT
+ IMPROVED SOUND

The Professional Review team awards him the platinum medal:

TRX40 AORUS MASTER

COMPONENTS - 96%

REFRIGERATION - 90%

BIOS - 90%

EXTRAS - 90%

PRICE - 88%

91%