The MSI Creator TRX40 Motherboard Review: The $700 Flagship for Threadripper

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.

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.

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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