The MSI Creator TRX40 Motherboard Review: The $700 Flagship for Threadripper
by Gavin Bonshor on February 26, 2020 11:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- MSI
- Ryzen
- TRX40
- Threadripper 3000
- Creator TRX40
- 3970X
- sTRX4
Board Features
At present, the MSI Creator TRX40 motherboard is the top model in its current line-up for AMD's Threadripper 3rd generation processors. Included in the controller set is an Aquantia AQC107 10 gigabit Ethernet controller and an Intel I211-AT gigabit Ethernet controller pairing, with an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface for Wi-Fi and BT 5.0 connectivity. For users looking to use PCIe 4.0 storage, the Creator TRX40 has three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots which also support SATA drives, and each slot includes its own M.2 heatsink. There is also six SATA ports which are controlled by the chipset, and support RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. With TRX40 being a HEDT platform, the board has four full-length PCIe 4.0 slots which operate at x16/x8/x16/x8, and there are eight memory slots supporting up to DDR4-4666 with a maximum capacity of 256 GB in quad-channel memory mode.
| MSI Creator TRX40 EATX Motherboard | |||
| Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
| Product Page | Link | ||
| Price | $700 | ||
| Size | EATX | ||
| CPU Interface | sTRX4 | ||
| Chipset | AMD TRX40 | ||
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Eight DDR4 Supporting 256 GB Quad Channel Up to DDR4-4666 |
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| Video Outputs | N/A | ||
| Network Connectivity | Aquantia AQC107 10 GbE Intel I211-AT 1 GbE Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax |
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| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220 Realtek ALC4050H |
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| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 4 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x16/x8/x16/x8) | ||
| PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | N/A | ||
| Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/10 (TRX40) | ||
| Onboard M.2 | 3 x PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA | ||
| USB 3.2 (20 Gbps) | 1 x Type-C Rear Panel | ||
| USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) | 5 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Front Panel |
||
| USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 4 x Type-A Rear Panel 4 x Type-A Front Panel |
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| USB 2.0 | 4 x Type-A Front Panel | ||
| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 2 x 8pin CPU |
||
| Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x Water Pump (4-pin) 4 x System (4-pin) 3 x Extend (4-pin) |
||
| IO Panel | 4 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-A 5 x USB 3.1 G1 Type-A 1 x USB 3.2 G2 20 G Type-C (ASMedia) 1 x Network RJ45 10 G (Aquantia) 1 x Network RJ45 1 G (Intel) 5 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Output (Realtek) 2 x Intel AX200 Antenna Ports 1 x Flash BIOS Button 1 x Reset CMOS Button |
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In terms of USB support, the MSI Creator TRX40 rear panel includes a single USB 3.2 G2 20 G Type-C port provided via an ASMedia ASM2342 USB controller, with four USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, and five USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports. For expansion, the MSI Creator TRX40 has a front-panel USB 3.1 G2 Type-C header, as well as two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A headers, and two USB 2.0 headers. Also on the rear panel is five 3.5 mm audio jacks and an S/PDIF optical output powered by a Realtek pairing of an ALC1220 and ALC4050 HD audio codec.
Test Bed
As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
| Test Setup | |||
| Processor | AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X, 280W, $1999 32 Cores, 64 Threads, 3.7 GHz (4.5 GHz Turbo) |
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| Motherboard | MSI Creator TRX40 (BIOS v11 - PI1.0.0.2) | ||
| Cooling | Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB 360 | ||
| Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU | ||
| Memory | Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 4x8 GB DDR4-3200 | ||
| Video Card | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming 8G | ||
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
| Case | Open Benchtable BC1.1 (Silver) | ||
| Operating System | Windows 10 1909 | ||
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
| Hardware Providers for CPU and Motherboard Reviews | |||
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Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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42 Comments
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Korguz - Wednesday, February 26, 2020 - link
then i guess this board is not for you :-)FreckledTrout - Wednesday, February 26, 2020 - link
This is how you do motherboard testing. I just read a motherboard review on TomsHardware and it was horrible. They didn't even use probes for checking temps jump a thermal image which we all know can be misleading for actual temperatures especially if VRM's are short. Nice job Gavin!p1esk - Wednesday, February 26, 2020 - link
I don't know, the proper way to test it would be to load it with GPUs, given it's "Creator" model, then run all cards with realistic loads (either compute or video content creation). But for those use cases I'd go with ASRock Creator, since it has 4 GPU slots (so that you can actually install four GPUs in it, unlike this one), and costs $450.Dug - Wednesday, February 26, 2020 - link
Except you know nothing on performance of the board except cpu overclocking.There's absolutely no subsystem testing at all which is very important, such as USB speed tests, multiple hard drives, network, sound, etc. This is what makes or breaks a motherboard. Overclocking is not really the top consideration for people that buy threadrippers.
dan82 - Wednesday, February 26, 2020 - link
I'm currently looking into the parts for a TRX40 machine. I'd like to maximize the number of Type C ports on the front and back, and wow that is quite difficult. Most of the boards (including this one) only have a single port. Same thing with PC cases. Many cases have zero, if you're lucky you'll find one (the only exception is that dubious "Fake Mac Pro Case" on Indiegogo).Either I am the only person to care about these things or motherboard (and PC case builders) are completely blind to see the opportunity.
Pessimist9 - Wednesday, February 26, 2020 - link
Who's willing to spend 700$ on something from MSI? This must be a paid review. MSI is a terrible company with a terrible warranty service. Just recently, I purchased a 2080 TI Seahawk EK X from them. Card was bad. I call customer service, and the guy tells me it's my fault, that it'll take 6 weeks to process the RMA, and if I really cared about reliability, I'd have a duplicate card for redundancy.Attempting some sort of compromise, I suggested MSI place a hold on my card and immediately send me the (refurbished) replacement. Nope. "Sorry, sir; we treat everyone the same."
Alright. So there you have it, everyone. Pay the premium price (1450$) on an MSI product and I hope you've got a spare for redundancy's sake. After all, a real enthusiast would.
^ yep, that's what the rep told me. So... buy a MSI motherboard for 700$?
TheWereCat - Thursday, February 27, 2020 - link
I had bad experience with all brands, so should I stop buying from them and make my own HW?Lord of the Bored - Thursday, February 27, 2020 - link
Yes. Yes, you should. That is the one true way.Droekath - Thursday, February 27, 2020 - link
You having a bad experience makes it a paid review? If MSI was truly as terrible with their product design and manufacturing as you say they were, they would have gone out of business long ago, not become a major player in the market.Your experience is completely valid. There are plenty of people who have bad experiences with plenty of companies. But that doesn't make every single company a terrible company. It just means you had a bad experience with them.
As for your experience, they're required to adhere to internal protocols. They can't automatically treat a customer specially and ignore the protocol for you.
Lord of the Bored - Thursday, February 27, 2020 - link
Well, what did you do to make him say it is your fault? Inquiring minds want to know.