This is very short and on point guide for selecting ATX board for your Threadripper build.
X399 chipset diagram
If you look at this you will see how mighty is CPU, but how shitty is ASMedia made chipset.
In reality it is same features and restrictions chipset as consumer X370 one.
In reality we can have exactly same die used for A320/B350/X370/X399 chipsets.
Comparison of TR2 platform to consumer, Ryzen one
Added Newegg actual prices and links.
Added SATA ports info.
Server MB
Not - as soon as designers are gone they suddenly know how heatsinks must look like.
One thing to remember - overheating in videos below mostly come not due to bad specific heatsinks, but due to VRM design where most heat goes into board side, not heatsinks :-) And overclocking 32 core CPU just crosses the line as board can't dissipate so much heat.
Added X399 Aorus Pro and ASRock X399 Phantom Gaming 6 - recent fall 2018 cheapened MBs.
PCIe x16 Slots placement
Such is limiting your options, as requires 1x slot card or GPU to not block nearby slot.
Better option:
ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha
Added to our list also.
All manufacturers finished, except BIOS/Overclocking features.
Finished VRM and cooling parts.
MSI
Gigabyte
ASUS
ASRock
List of all x399 ATX sized motherboards
Red - something not good or missing feature.
Blue means - ok or average.
Teal - above average.
Green - really good for us.
Reserved.
Temperatures
Lot of X399 boards run extremely hot if you use overclocking and even if it is just 32 core CPU without it.
Main reason for this is simpler and cheaper VRM and also bad heatsinks being just slab of aluminium made be designer without any fine fins.
Heatsink designs
In present day it is usually designers who make heatsinks even for HEDT motherboards.
They are made for looks, and not to be efficient in their real function.
Bad one (MSI)
Better one (ASRock boards)
Almost good (ASUS boards)
Really nice (Aorus X399 Extreme)
DDR4 DRAM
Will add selecting guide soon.
Processors we are looking for
Ryzen Threadripper, original Zen series
All three models above have:
Ryzen Threadripper, Zen+ series
All three models above have:
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