ASRock TRX40 Taichi Motherboard Review

Features and Specifications

Features

Supports 3^rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Processors
16 Power Phase Design, 90A Dr. MOS & Power Choke
XXL Aluminum Alloy Heatsink & Heatpipe Design
Supports DDR4 4666+(OC)
3 PCIe 4.0 x16, 1 PCIe 4.0 x1
NVIDIA^® NVLINK™, 3-Way SLI™, AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™
8 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4 & SATA3), 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4)
1 Rear USB 3.2 Gen2 x2 20Gb/s Type-C
3 USB 3.2 Gen2 (1 Front Type-C, 2 Rear)
8 USB 3.2 Gen1 (4 Front, 4 Rear)
7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC4050H+ALC1220), Supports Purity Sound™ 4 & DTS Connect
Realtek 2.5G LAN, Intel^® Gigabit LAN
Intel^® Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax (2.4Gbps) + BT 5.0

XXL ALUMINUM ALLOY HEATSINK & COOLING FAN

Extra-large aluminum alloy heatsink with cooling fan is able to effectively take away heat from the MOSFET, giving better performance and OC capability.

EBR Fan

The longer lifespan EBR bearing fan were used to ensure the best durability. Compares with normal sleeve bearing fan, EBR bearing fan has lifespan up to 50,000 hours, equivalent to 5.7 years of working under full speed.

Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax

Welcome to the new Wi-Fi standard! ASRock’s motherboard equipped with next generation Intel^® Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax adapter. The speed will be working up to 2.4Gbps and it will also natively operate with both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz simultaneously. Significant improvement in bi-directional MU-MIMO support is another attractive feature as well.

Dual Hyper M.2 For SSD

Supports the next generation PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSDs, it is capable of perform twice the speed compared to previous 3rd generation, giving a lightning fast data transferring experience.

HYPER QUAD M.2 CARD

Extreme gamers and PC enthusiasts can never have too much high-speed storage devices to support their gaming cravings. The TRX40 Taichi comes bundled with m.2 cards which supports an additional 4 more PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe M.2 storage. It offers premium cooling solutions to ensure SSD’s always perform at its best.

STEEL SLOT WITH NEW-GEN PCI EXPRESS 4.0

The next generation PCI Express 4.0 is capable of performing twice the speed compared to previous 3rd generation. ASRock’s exclusive Steel Slot with extra anchor points are revolutionary added to ensure signal stability and also making sure heavy graphics cards to be well-installed in the PCI-E slot safely.

Server-Grade Low-Loss PCB

The server grade PCB prevents PCB bending and improves signal integrity, giving higher PCIe 4.0 and memory performance as well as system stability, giving a reliable and long-lasting system without any compromise.

Dr. MOS

Dr.MOS is the integrated power stage solution which is optimized for synchronous buck-set down voltage applications! Intelligently delivering higher current and driving up to 90A continuous current for each phase, thus providing improved thermal result and superior performance.
See more details.

16 POWER PHASE DESIGN

Featuring sturdy components and completely smooth power delivery to the CPU. Plus, it offers unmatched overclocking capabilities and enhanced performance with the lowest temperature for advanced gamers as well.

Separated CPU Power Connector Design

Unlike traditional dual CPU power connectors which are located closely together at the same side, ASRock separates them to either side of motherboard in order to create wider trace for CPU VRM. This design brings better power delivery efficiency and lower temperature, thus improving system stability and increasing overclocking potential.

Metal Backplate with Thermal Pad

Strengthens the motherboard to prevent bending caused by heavy coolers or graphics cards with better airflow and enhanced stability. In addition, in the high temperature area on the back of the VRM, we use a thermal pad to fit the metal backplate, which can further transfer heat to the backplate, making the VRM cooler.

USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C

The latest USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C delivers up to 20 Gbps data transfer rate which is 2x as fast as previous generation, providing a blazing fast data transfer interface with reversible USB Type-C design that fits the connector either way.

RULE YOUR OWN LIGHTING WAY – POLYCHROME RGB

ASRock motherboards deliver stunning performance and superior aesthetics to rule your own colorful lighting way! ASRock offers a very comprehensive control to perform the built-in RGB LEDs or the connected LED strips, CPU fans, coolers, chassis and any RGB devices smoothly. Devices can be synchronized across the Polychrome RGB Sync-certified accessories as well.

Specifications

Unique Feature

ASRock USB 3.2 Gen2
– ASRock Front Panel Type C USB 3.2 Gen2 Header (10 Gb/s)
– ASRock USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type C Port (20 Gb/s)
– ASRock USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s)
ASRock Super Alloy
– XXL Aluminum Alloy Heatsink
– Premium 90A Power Choke
– 90A Dr.MOS
– Premium Memory Alloy Choke (Reduces 70% core loss compared to iron powder choke)
– Combo Caps (Nichicon 12K Black Caps)
– Nichicon 12K Black Caps (100% Japan made high quality conductive polymer capacitors)
– Matte Black PCB
– High Density Glass Fabric PCB
– 8 Layer PCB
– 2oz Copper PCB
2.5G LAN
Intel^® 802.11ax WiFi
ASRock Steel Slot Gen4
ASRock Full Coverage M.2 Heatsink
ASRock Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4x4 & SATA3)
ASRock Ultra USB Power
ASRock Full Spike Protection (for all USB, Audio, LAN Ports)
ASRock Live Update & APP Shop
CPU

– Supports AMD Socket sTRX4
– Intersil Digital PWM
– 16 Power Phase design
– Supports ASRock Hyper BCLK Engine II
Chipset

– AMD TRX40
Memory

– Quad Channel DDR4 Memory Technology
– 8 x DDR4 DIMM Slots
– Supports DDR4 4666(OC)+ / 4600(OC) / 4533(OC) / 4466(OC) / 4400(OC) / 4333(OC) / 4266(OC) / 4200(OC) / 4133(OC) / 4000(OC) / 3866(OC) / 3800(OC) / 3733(OC) / 3600(OC) / 3466(OC) / 3200 / 2933 / 2667 / 2400 / 2133 ECC & non-ECC, un-buffered memory (U-DIMM)
– Max. capacity of system memory: 256GB
– 15μ Gold Contact in DIMM Slots
BIOS

– 128Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with GUI support
– Supports “Plug and Play”
– ACPI 5.1 compliance wake up events
– Supports jumperfree
– SMBIOS 2.3 support
– CPU, CPU VDDCR_SOC, DRAM, VPPM, PREM VDD_CLDO, PERM VDDCR_SOC, +1.8V, VDDP Voltage Multi-adjustment
Graphics

– n/a
Audio

– 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC4050H+ALC1220)
– Premium Blu-ray Audio support
– Supports Surge Protection
– Supports Purity Sound™ 4
– Nichicon Fine Gold Series Audio Caps
– NE5532 Premium Headset Amplifier for Front Panel Audio Connector (Supports up to 600 Ohm headsets)
– Pure Power-In
– Direct Drive Technology
– PCB isolate shielding
– Impedance Sensing on Rear Out port
– Individual PCB Layers for R/L Audio Channel
– Gold Audio Jacks
– 15μ Gold Audio Connector
– Supports DTS Connect
LAN

1 x 2.5 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000/2500 Mb/s (Dragon RTL8125AG):
– Supports Dragon 2.5G LAN Software
– Smart Auto Adjust Bandwidth Control
– Visual User Friendly UI
– Visual Network Usage Statistics
– Optimized Default Setting for Game, Browser, and Streaming Modes
– User Customized Priority Control
– Supports Wake-On-LAN
– Supports Lightning/ESD Protection
– Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az
– Supports PXE
1 x Intel^® Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s (1 x Intel^® I211AT):
– Supports Wake-On-LAN
– Supports Lightning/ESD Protection
– Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az
– Supports PXE
Wireless LAN

– Intel^® 802.11ax WiFi Module
– Supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ax
– Supports Dual-Band (2.4/5 GHz)
– Supports WiFi6 802.11ax (2.4Gbps)
– 2 antennas to support 2 (Transmit) x 2 (Receive) diversity technology
– Supports Bluetooth 5.0 + High speed class II
– Supports MU-MIMO
Slots

– 3 x PCI Express 4.0 x16 Slots (PCIE1/PCIE3/PCIE4: single at x16 (PCIE1); dual at x16 (PCIE1) / x16 (PCIE3); triple at x16 (PCIE1) / x16 (PCIE3) / x16 (PCIE4)*
– 1 x PCI Express 4.0 x1 Slot
– Supports AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™
– Supports NVIDIA^® 3-Way SLI™ and SLI™
– Supports NVIDIA^® NVLink™ with dual NVIDIA^® GeForce RTX series graphics cards**
– 1 x M.2 Socket (Key E) with the bundled WiFi-802.11ax module
– 15μ Gold Contact in VGA PCIe Slots (PCIE1, PCIE3 and PCIE4)

*Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks

**NVIDIA^® NVLink™ Bridge does not come with the package. Please purchase it from NVIDIA^® if necessary.
Storage

– 8 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
– 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M Key type 2260/2280 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s)*
– 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_2), supports M Key type 2260/2280/22110 M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s)

*Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks
Connector

– 1 x Power LED and Speaker Header
– 2 x RGB LED Headers*
– 2 x Addressable LED Headers**
– 1 x CPU Fan Connector (4-pin)***
– 1 x CPU/Water Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)****
– 3 x Chassis/Water Pump Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)*****
– 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
– 2 x 8 pin 12V Power Connectors (Hi-Density Power Connector)
– 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector (15μ Gold Audio Connector)
– 1 x USB 2.0 Header (Supports 2 USB 2.0 ports) (Supports ESD Protection)
– 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Headers (Support 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports) (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x Front Panel Type C USB 3.2 Gen2 Header (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x Dr. Debug with LED
– 1 x Power Button with LED
– 1 x Reset Button with LED
– 1 x Clear CMOS Button

*Support in total up to 12V/3A, 36W LED Strip

**Support in total up to 5V/3A, 15W LED Strip

***The CPU Fan Connector supports the CPU fan of maximum 1A (12W) fan power.

****The CPU/Water Pump Fan supports the water cooler fan of maximum 2A (24W) fan power.

*****The Chassis/Water Pump Fan supports the water cooler fan of maximum 2A (24W) fan power.
CPU_FAN2/WP, CHA_FAN1/WP, CHA_FAN2/WP and CHA_FAN3/WP can auto detect if 3-pin or 4-pin fan is in use.
Rear Panel I/O

– 2 x Antenna Ports (on I/O Panel Shield)
– 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
– 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
– 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Ports (10 Gb/s) (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type C Port (20 Gb/s) (Supports ESD Protection)
– 4 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Ports (Supports ESD Protection)*
– 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
– 1 x BIOS Flashback Button
– HD Audio Jacks: Rear Speaker / Central / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone (Gold Audio Jacks)

*Ultra USB Power is supported on USB3_1_2 ports.
ACPI wake-up function is not supported on USB3_1_2 ports.
Software and UEFI

Software
– ASRock Motherboard Utility (A-Tuning)
– ASRock Dragon 2.5G LAN Software
– ASRock Polychrome SYNC*
UEFI
– ASRock Full HD UEFI
– ASRock Instant Flash

*These utilities can be downloaded from ASRock Live Update & APP Shop.
Support CD

– Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version), Google Chrome Browser and Toolbar
Accessories

– Quick Installation Guide, Support CD
– 4 x SATA Data Cables
– 1 x ASRock SLI_HB_Bridge_2S Card
– 1 x ASRock HYPER QUAD M.2 CARD
– 1 x ASRock WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antenna
– 1 x ASRock Screwdriver
– 6 x Screws for M.2 Sockets
– 2 x Standoffs for M.2 Sockets
Hardware Monitor

– Temperature Sensing: CPU, CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/Water Pump Fans
– Fan Tachometer: CPU, CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/Water Pump Fans
– Quiet Fan (Auto adjust chassis fan speed by CPU temperature): CPU, CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/Water Pump Fans
– Fan Multi-Speed Control: CPU, CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/Water Pump Fans
– Voltage monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore, CPU VDDCR_SOC, DRAM, VPPM, PREM VDDCR_SOC, +1.8V
Form Factor

– ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
– 8 Layer PCB
– 2oz Copper PCB

More information on ASRock’s website.