For a bit more Threadripping ASUS will release the ROG’s Strix X399-E Gaming motherboard. The X399 board is armed with Gigabit Ethernet jacks, eight DIMM slots and 802.11AC Wireless LAN. It should eb prioces better than the Zenith. To improve thermal dissipation for the VRMs, the Strix X399-E Gaming pipes heat to a finned radiator and fan discreetly tucked under the I/O shield.
Cooling is managed by our critically acclaimed FanXpert intelligence. Rather than restricting each fan’s response to input from a single temperature sensor, the latest incarnation lets you associate individual fans with multiple sensors, including the GPU diode on compatible graphics cards and the wired probe included with the motherboard. This allows FanXpert to react to a diverse range of loads, whether you’re hammering the CPU with complex rendering or pushing the GPU with binge gaming.
The motherboard power circuitry responsible for satiating Threadripper’s 180W TDP needs special attention. Cooling considerations also improve the prospects for M.2 SSDs prone to thermally induced throttling under heavy sustained loads. The primary M.2 slot sits under the chipset heatsink, while the secondary one mounts drives vertically in the path of airflow around the memory slots. If you want to avoid M.2 drives entirely or augment them with an additional NVMe goodness, the Strix’s U.2 port connects to 2.5” SSDs that have their own heatsinks and fit into chassis drive bays.
The auto-tuner is highly configurable, enabling experienced enthusiasts to experiment without the tedium of trial and error. A full slate of manual tweaking options rounds out the package, making the Strix X399-E Gaming ideal for pretty much everything but sub-zero adventures with liquid nitrogen.
The CPU’s mother lode of PCI Express lanes is shared between high-speed interfaces for SSDs and PCIe x16 slots for graphics. Multiple high-end GPUs are required for truly cutting-edge gaming and VR experiences, so the Strix takes up to three double-wide cards in SLI or CrossFireX. SafeSlot protects your investment by reinforcing the main graphics slots against damage from increasingly heavy GPU coolers.
With so much bandwidth inside the platform, we had to give the X399-E robust connectivity for reaching outside the box. The board’s Intel Gigabit networking controller delivers a reliable wired link for competitive play, while its 2×2 802.11ac Wi-Fi offers wireless convenience right out of the box. For external devices, USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports provide 10Gbps links in Type-A, Type-C, and front-panel flavors. Add eight USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, and there’s enough room for an army of gaming peripherals and VR accessories.
Designed to be shown, the Strix X399-E Gaming layers highly customizable Aura lighting over a stylish foundation that matches a wide range of other components. Diffused RGB LEDs illuminate multiple onboard zones and combine with headers for both conventional and addressable strips to extend a personalized glow across your entire system. Addressable strips allow control over each LED individually, opening the door to advanced effects and exciting possibilities for chassis, fans, and other devices.
To satisfy all your senses, the onboard audio is upgraded to the latest generation of SupremeFX. This iteration has tweaks to improve recording quality, so your voice comes through loud and clear when broadcasting to an audience and discussing strategy with teammates. The newest version of our Sonic Studio software also makes it easier to direct audio streams to different devices; you can assign game audio to headphones, music to speakers, and video to an auxiliary display with just a few clicks.
The price is currently unknown, but X399-E STRIX is expected to be available somewhere between August and September.
