ASRock had its X399 Taichi and Professional Gaming motherboards on display at Computex.
The new motherboards come sporting AMD's new 4094-pin TR4/SP3 socket that spans nearly the entire length of the eight DIMM slots. TR4 is AMD's nomenclature for the consumer-facing ThreadRipper socket, while SP3 denotes the EPYC server socket. As far as we can tell, the sockets are identical and massive. AMD's ThreadRipper will find a new home in the TR4 socket and sports 16C/32T, quad-channel memory support, and up to 64 PCIe lanes.
ASRock, like other vendors, hasn't shared much information on the new X399 motherboards, but we know the Professional Gaming supports four PCIe 3.0 x16 connections, so if your wallet can accommodate it, Nvidia 4-Way SLI and AMD's 4-Way CrossFireX are on the menu. The Professional Gaming also includes three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 sockets and the now-ubiquitous U.2 SSD port.
On the ends of the TR4 socket, we also spot the three large Torx screws that hold the massive ThreadRipper processor snugly in place. Notably, AMD chose to transition from a PGA (Pin Grid Array) design used for Ryzen processors to an LGA (Land Grid Array) for TR4.
The X399 Professional Gaming, like its Taichi counterpart, supports both Wi-Fi and dual LAN.
The large socket squeezes in for space next to the DIMM slots, and the close proximity to the PCIe slots also presents a challenge for large air coolers. We expect water cooling will be the go-to solution for most enthusiasts, but if you go for air cooling, a powerful cooler will certainly be a requirement due to ThreadRipper's purported 180W TDP. Noctua has designed a novel heatsink mounting system that lets you offset the cooler to provide clearance for the PCIe slots. We haven't seen any TR4 water coolers at Computex.
ASRock hasn't released pricing or availability information.
