ASUS offers three new X399 motherboards; promises powerful overclocking features and refined cooling controls

ASUS has just introduced their ROG Zenith Extreme, ROG Strix X399-E Gaming and ASUS Prime X399-A motherboards for enthusiasts and prosumers who demand 16 cores and 32 threads and yet do not want to pay more than $999 for it. Or they might just desire the very pretty boxes AMD Threadrippers come in. Regardless of your reasons for wanting the AMD Ryzen Threadripper CPUs, ASUS is ready for the Socket TR4 processors on the X399 platform.

Starting off with their top-of-the-line ROG Zenith Extreme, ASUS has jam-packed this motherboard with flagship features such as an ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC for sound quality rivaling dedicated sound cards, 802.11ad WiFi module for up to 4600Mbps transfer speeds and a ROG Aerion 10G Ethernet card in the box. There are also four PCIe slots, allowing you to run quad GPU setups in x16/x8/x16/x8 configurations to make full use of the 60 PCIe 3.0 lanes available with all Threadripper CPUs. If you like bling, you will be glad to know that the ROG Zenith Extreme will feature addressable headers for independent control of each individual LED in a LED strip, promising even greater customizability via the ASUS AURA ecosystem. Headers for monitoring coolant flow and temperatures are available on the ROG Zenith Extreme and ROG Strix X399-E Gaming, but the Zenith Extreme sports an extra one reserved for custom monoblocks.

The ASUS Prime X399-A features slightly toned down features across the board, but it is still very impressive with the ability to run three GPUs in x16/x/16/x8 configuration. ASUS also dropped the ESS Sabre DAC here, but a Realtek ALC S1220A audio codec ensures strong audio performance, with an internal audio amplifier to power headphones and speakers. RGB enthusiasts will enjoy ASUS AURA RGB lighting with lighting across the motherboard and also multiple LED headers to illuminate your entire system. The much lauded integrated IO shield found in the ROG Zenith Extreme and ROG Rampage V Extreme Edition 10 is missing here too.

Bandwidth is not a problem on the AMD X399 platform, so ASUS has packed the motherboards with two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports on the back IO panel, with a front panel connector for all the X399 motherboards announced today. For those who don’t mind using the slower USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) standard, you will be getting a whopping 12 of these, 8 on the back IO panel, and 4 mid-board.

Pricing will be announced later, with availability for the ROG Zenith Extreme in mid-August and the ASUS Prime X399-A and ROG Strix X399-E Gaming’s to follow later.

Pokdepinion: Overkill is the name of the game with Threadripper, and ASUS is not afraid to play their hand too.