The ASRock X399 Professional Gaming Motherboard Review: 10G For All
by E. Fylladitakis on July 5, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- Gigabyte
- ASRock
- Asus
- 10GBase-T
- ThreadRipper
- X399
ASRock X399 Professional Gaming Board Features
The ASRock X399 Professional Gaming is a motherboard designed to entice gamers and sports a host of features, yet some of these features will be of little to no interest to the motherboard's intended target group. For example, the motherboard has three NICs installed, one of them being AQUANTIA's AQC107 10Gbps, plus an Intel 3168NGW 1×1 AC card. Very few gamers will be interested on having three separate NICs but nearly all of them would prefer a single gaming-specific NIC to be present. ASRock's design choices increased the price tag of the X399 Professional Gaming up to $440, making it one of the most expensive AMD X399 motherboards currently available.
| ASRock Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming | |
| Warranty Period | 3 Years |
| Product Page | Link |
| Price | Link |
| Size | ATX |
| CPU Interface | TR4 / SP3r2 |
| Chipset | AMD X399 |
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Eight DDR4 Supporting 128GB Quad Channel Up to 3600+ MHz |
| Video Outputs | N/A |
| Network Connectivity | 1 × AQUANTIA AQC107 10Gbit 2 x Intel I211-V 1 x Intel AC 3168NGW Wi-Fi |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220A |
| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 4 × PCIe 3.0 (×16 / ×8 / ×16 / ×8) |
| PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 × PCIe 2.0 (×1) |
| Onboard SATA | Eight, RAID 0/1/5/10 |
| Onboard SATA Express | None |
| Onboard M.2 | 3 × PCIe 3.0 (x4) |
| Onboard U.2 | 1 × U.2 Connector (×4) |
| USB 3.1 Gen 2 | 1 × Type-C 1 × Type-A |
| USB 3.1 Gen 1 | 8 × Type-A Rear Panel 4 ×Type-A via headers |
| USB 2.0 | 4 × via headers |
| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 8-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin CPU |
| Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x Pump/Aux (4-pin) 3 x System (4-pin), one supports liquid-cooling pumps |
| IO Panel | 8 x USB 3.0 (USB 3.1 Gen 1) 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C 2 x Network RJ-45 2 x Antenna connectors 1 x Combo PS/2 5 x 3.5 mm Audio Jacks 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port |
In The Box
We get the following:
- Driver Disk
- Quick Installation Guide
- User's manual
- Case Badge
- Four black SATA cables (two straight, two with a 90° connector)
- SLI/Crossfire bridges
- Wireless antennas
- I/O Shield
The bundle of the ASRock X399 Professional Gaming is relatively poor, taking into consideration the retail price of the motherboard, and the focus on gamers. Inside the box, we found a comprehensive manual and a quick installation guide, only four SATA cables, two simple wireless antennas without extension cords, the I/O shield, and three SLI bridges for two/three/four-way SLI configurations. Aside from the low number of SATA cables and the very basic wireless antennas, there were no cable straps, quick connectors, or any other useful accessories that are typically found accompanying top-tier motherboards.
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nagi603 - Thursday, July 5, 2018 - link
Frankly, I'm thrilled with the board. It may bear "gaming" in the name, but that's a misnomer: it's a powerful workstation board with wide-ranging gaming options. And I'm quite thankful for the built-in 10Gbit ethernet when there is only a single PCIe slot for extra cards (besides the 4 16x GPU intended ones).nagi603 - Thursday, July 5, 2018 - link
Also, the fan options on HW montior tab are already like that on my current Z79 board, so I'm not sure if AsRock changed it after that and returned with the X399, or the reviewer is unfamiliar with AsRock motherboards in general.Jorgp2 - Thursday, July 5, 2018 - link
Umm.A PCI-E x1 slot only gives you 8gbps.
Most PCI-E NICs are at least 8x.
nagi603 - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
Yeah, I have a few 2-port intel 540's that are 8x, but Asus has a cheap Aquantia-based NIC (XG-C100C) that runs on a 4x port.nagi603 - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
(Also, yes, I did not think the comment through... yes, you definitely need more than a 1x for a 10G, so you'd have to waste a 16x port for 10G if the board didn't have it integrated)AdrianB1 - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - link
I can live with a 10 Gbps NIC using a 1x PCIe port, jumping from 1 Gbps to ~7.5 Gbps effective transfer rate is a huge improvement for a home user. Also PCIe 4 is coming, it will be more than enough for a 10 Gbps NIC.monglerbongler - Tuesday, July 10, 2018 - link
Can you live with either >>$1,000 for a small port count managed switch, or else ~$300-$600 for a literal 4 or 6 port unmanaged switch?No soho routers with 10g right now. Maybe when broadcom releases some silicon with it built in will we see the usual suspect start to release practical soho routers.
My house is wired. I'm sure most enthusiasts wire their homes. But I would simultaneously argue that most home wiring jobs, even for advanced gamers and semi-professional usage still leverage retail soho routers, either for the NAT/router functionality (eg to get internet access piped to all of the devices), and/or for the wifi. You might use a 2nd router as an access point or some multiport switch to expand the wired functionality.
But are you ready to spend the anywhere from the same to 3x the price of this high priced motherboard to even use the 10G?
If the goal is future proofing, my response is:
wait until the future is here and then just buy a new system with 10g at a lower price/better incorporation.
eek2121 - Thursday, July 5, 2018 - link
While I would like 10 GB Ethernet, the MSI X399 Carbon features a 10+3 VRM design, which can easily push 4.1 GHz or 4.2 GHz depending on the chip. 4.2 GHz passed Prime95 at 1.45V on my chip and 4.1 GHz passed at 1.325. I have even been able to run benchmarks at 4.3 or 4.4 GHz, though Prime95 fails. Also 4.3 and 4.4 GHz required some obscene voltage, which unfortunately degraded my chip slightly.I can't wait to RMA my board ( broken/crushed pins, but they only charge $45 to replace.) Currently I am on an ASUS X399-E and haven't been able to get it past 4.0 GHz. Likely due to the 8+3 VRMs and 8+4 EPS connectors (the MSI was 10+3 and 8+8).
Arbie - Thursday, July 5, 2018 - link
Why, except for a transient bit of fun, would anyone overclock Ryzen? It already clocks itself exceptionally well. If you override those features you're just throwing power away, with no perceptible gain in daily use.halcyon - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
You said it: fun (and curiosity/learning).