ASUS Unveils ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha Motherboard: Improved CPU VRM

erek

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Messages
10,785
Hooking it up? Seems extreme

"ASUS updated its AMD socket sTRX4 motherboard series with the new ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha, a slight step-up from the original ROG Zenith II Extreme that debuted with AMD's 3rd gen Ryzen Threadripper family. Although ASUS' entire sTRX4 motherboard lineup will support the upcoming 64-core Threadripper 3990X, the new Extreme Alpha is better designed for overclocking it. The new board looks visually identical to the original ROG Zenith II Extreme, and has an almost-identical feature-set, with the only difference being the CPU VRM solution. The new ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha implements a 16-phase CPU VRM with Infineon TDA21490 power-stages replacing the TDA21472 power-stages on the original ROG Zenith II Extreme (possibly increase output current or I-out from 70 A to 90 A). This could marginally increase the product price. The rest of the feature-set is identical."

m9KgCiG49Yk1zhEM.jpg


https://www.techpowerup.com/263216/...ii-extreme-alpha-motherboard-improved-cpu-vrm
 
Seems kind of weird they're coming out with another revision so soon. Considering TRX40 boards have only been out for a little over a month. Would be kind of annoyed if I bought the original one.
 
Do Ryzen even have much OC headroom though? Aren't they all pretty much at their limits from the factory? If so, this board seems pointless.
 
Do Ryzen even have much OC headroom though? Aren't they all pretty much at their limits from the factory? If so, this board seems pointless.

Nothing pointless about this board at all, although I would prefer an Asrock board myself. Matching this board with a 3970x and 128GB of DDR4 3600 speed ram would be incredible. (Totally unneeded and a waste of money for me but, not a waste as in not worth it, just not needed and would never make use of it. :D )
 
Needs block on vrm!!!

It doesn't need a block. This board is a reaction to Giga's Aorus Xtreme which a stupidly overbuilt 16 phase board. The Xtreme didn't need a vrm block either. This board reallys needs a gen4 Hyper card bundled with it and proper quad slot spacing to beat the Aorus Xtreme. I do like its dual usb3 gen2 ports.
 
It doesn't need a block. This board is a reaction to Giga's Aorus Xtreme which a stupidly overbuilt 16 phase board. The Xtreme didn't need a vrm block either. This board reallys needs a gen4 Hyper card bundled with it and proper quad slot spacing to beat the Aorus Xtreme. I do like its dual usb3 gen2 ports.


Needs block.

If I'm gonna OC my 64core beast, it will have all the blocks. ALL OF THEM.
 
It doesn't need a block. This board is a reaction to Giga's Aorus Xtreme which a stupidly overbuilt 16 phase board. The Xtreme didn't need a vrm block either. This board reallys needs a gen4 Hyper card bundled with it and proper quad slot spacing to beat the Aorus Xtreme. I do like its dual usb3 gen2 ports.

There is a reason to use 16 phase. COOLER

"ASUS ROG Zenith II Extremes power delivery cooling to be very effective, and in terms of the competition, is around 10°c cooler than the MSI Creator TRX40"
 
ROG boards have always served me well; I've used them for all my main rigs for over a decade. More often than not they, especially the highest-end variants, seem to be "the" enthusiast board choice though competition has been getting closer in recent generations. This "Alpha" update was particularly swift compared to past times when they'd wait a year or two, but it likely means that Asus thought the improvement significant enough to justify; overall the board looks pretty impressive and I'm unsure if there's anything (some have discussed the Aorus being the reason for this variant ) equal or better. I'm sure it will cost a fortune, but anyone buying a Zen 2 Threadripper is not likely to be worried about cost!

I am curious about overclocking potential for Zen2 Threadripper though, under high end AIO's and/or custom liquid cooling. Some have suggested that OCing won't get you very far with even the 24 or 32 core chips, much less a 64. I am curious if al l these increased VRMs and OC focused features for The Zenith II Alpha can really be put to use? Then again, the Ryzen 3950X could be OC'd to better single and/or all core clock speeds than fewer-cored chips so perhaps there's some sort of potential with Threadripper as well.

In any event, if Asus ROG's past offerings are anything to go by, especially on HEDT , this should be a monster of a board.
 
Back
Top