I have one - very happy with it and would not hesitate to recommend it - but note there are two version of the Threadripper Taichi.
The 128GB memory capacity version (X399 Taichi) and a 64GB memory limited one (X399M Taichi), which would be quite a bit cheaper.
If you get the chance to ask ASRock, would be nice to see if the X399M has a performance differential to the X399. i.e. is it a good option to get onto the platform for cheap?
The memory slots (4 vs 8) isn't the only differences. X399 Taichi is ATX, while X399M Taichi is mATX. For example the smaller has one less PCIe x16, only 1 instead of 3 m.2 slots, no PCIe x1 (vs 1 on the larger). These are common tradeoffs with mATX (or to a larger extent mini-ITX). Not that it is a limit for me or many others. I'd still go for mini-ITX next time I build a PC.
Actually the mATX Taichi still has 3 M.2, the other two are to the right of the RAM slots. I'm also pretty sure it's using the same VRM as the ATX version, so the only "compromise" of it is half the RAM slots and 1 less PCIe x16 slot.
This may come as a little pedantic but the X399M has one less PCIe x8 slot. It actually has 1 *more* PCIe x16 slot because it's 3*PCIe x16 whereas its big brother is 2*PCIe x16 + 2*PCIe x8
No, there are not "two versions", there is an ATX-format board which is reviewed here, and then there's the mATX X399M. As the different model numbers imply, they are completely different boards.
What do Chinese martial arts, HEDT CPUs, and large metal gears all have in common? Nothing at all! Yet ASRock proves once again that a disjointed mashup rivaling Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by taking a combination so naturally suited to comedy with an altogether too serious fashion can indeed land sales among people inexplicably drawn to such an unusual merger in order to claim ownership over a high core count braggart-box desktop in a world that revolves instead around price-gouging smartphones. Shine on you crazy ASRock diamond. Shine on.
FFS I agree. and the ones t hat have RGB need to have an option to at least disable it. Sometimes you buy the product because of other features (or because some sale makes it cheaper than the non RGB version)
Yeah, I have to say I miss the days when a motherboard attempting to appeal to aesthetics merely had a black PCB instead of green, and perhaps a still relatively hard to see logo painted on as well.
Now they end up looking like cheap toys for children 10 and under. Plastic non-functional action-toy type pieces sticking out, flashing lights, etc.
the Taichi here means Ultimate/Supreme, probably not the best translation but the closest I can think off. The martial arts is actually ‘Taichi chuan’, often shortened TaiChi. I can’t explain the gears, but understand this board meant to be the X399 flagship line from the Taichi name.
The branding failure doesn't take away from the fact that ASRock is offering a competitive product at a reasonable price. If the company's marketing department just needs to lay off the mind-altering, illegal substances.
Yes, all three of them are connected to the CPU. That's what you do when you have 64 PCIe lanes to play with. One of the dies provides X16 + x8 + 2*x4 for 2 M.2 slots and the other provides x16 + x8 + x4(M.2) + x4(to the X399 chip). Plus this board should support PCIe bifurcation so you can have a relatively cheap (just ~$50 because it doesn't require PCIe switch chip) card that allows you to plug 4 NVMe cards into one of the x16 slots so you get 7 NVMes to the CPU!
Is it just me, or are the yellow M.2 attachment points on the bottommost slot (the one closest to the SATA ports) on the *back* of the board as opposed to the front? Have a look at the board pictures on the "Visual Inspection" page to see what I mean.
I'm glad that motherboard manufacturers are finally starting to offer a decent number of USB 3 ports on the back panel, but I'd still like to see at least a couple extra 2.0 ports for slower peripherals (mice and keyboards).
I take issue with this claim: "The concept is technically sound from an engineering point of view but it also could create compatibility problems because several PSUs have both CPU 12V connectors on a single cable, meaning that an extension would be necessary to reach the second connector on the motherboard." No decent PSU released in recent years with multiple EPS12V connectors has had them on the same cable, for the simple reason that the amount of current drawn if both were fully loaded would require wire that's thicker than the 16 or 18 gauge normally used, in order to not be a fire hazard.
Board Features/"In The Box" claims that you get Crossfire bridges with this board, but that's not reflected in the picture, plus bridgeless Crossfire has been a thing for years.
Pretty luxurious of Asrock to include a 4-way SLI bridge, though... even if SLI is dead with RTX.
I think the points just go through the board and the attachment plugs can go on either side, Maybe to store them in transit, or to discourage use of that slot because it gets disabled by the U.2 connector?
I would have liked to see some information about ECC support. Does the board support it officially? Does the Linux kernel report that ECC is enabled if you supply ECC memory (and not if not)?
It does support ECC officially - that's what it says on the site and in the user manual. I have access to a TR machine with Asrock X399 Professional Gaming which is the same board as the Taichi but with a 10G Ethernet chip. The machine is equipped with 4x16GB ECC@2400MHz/s modules from Kingston. There are several BIOS options that seem related to ECC but there's no description of these options in the manual. Anyway, the kernel seems to be aware of the ECC. Here's a snippet from dmesg:
If you are interested in running Linux on TR you should check phoronix.com - they have benchmarks that are much more varied than what they do here. There is something else to note though - the experience has not been flawless for me. I snatched a 1920X at the time the 2990WX was announced a couple of months back for a great price that is no longer available and married it to an Asrock Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming with 4x8GB G.Skill 15-15-15-sth@3000MHz (not the machine from my post above). First of all, it takes ages to boot. That seem to be common for TR builds and is a bit annoying. But what annoys me the most is that the BIOS resets all settings every time you plug, unplug or change any PCIe/NVME device (not sure about the SATA since I rely on NVME entirely). The best approach is to save your settings (there are several save slots) and recall from there. Otherwise it's too much trouble because there are tons of options and most are not documented anywhere. I'm not even talking about overclocking - the machine is a beast even at stock freqs. Also, you'd want to make sure that you run the latest BIOS/AGESA - for example the one the board came with did not allow for 3000MHz - only 2933 and 3066 (among others). The latest AGESA fixed this and my G.Skill which not validated for Ryzen works just fine. However, this latest version has some problem with the latest Linux kernels - for instance I couldn't run the Ubuntu 18.10 installer because of this kernel problem that can only be solved with custom compiled kernel (i.e. not with a boot option IIRC). OTOH, 18.04 runs just fine. I want to experiment with VGA passthrough and I have the hardware but haven't got the time yet. One thing to note is that all four network adapters (2x1G + 10G + WiFi) are in the same IOMMU group. It would have been nice to have the wired adapters in separate groups so I can assign them to different VMs but I think virtio-net will not break too much sweat on such a powerful machine.
Thanks a lot for sharing this Linux experience. Phoenix is indeed a good Foss source but less hardware gifted as Anandtech. As a System programmer, I would enjoy too see benchmarks dealing with Buildroot, FS squashing, cryptography support, big project compilation time and so on Buying such hardware for a total of 1=3 $K claims à lot of details... Regards
I have one of them. It works ok. Has problems running my GSkill TridentZ 3200 CL14 memory at XMP speeds without boosting memory voltage to 1.45v. Also it is a pain in the a$$ when it comes time to try out different settings since the only way to reset cmos is to open the system up and push a tiny little easy to miss button hear the onboard reset & power buttons. An external button like many of the competitors use would have been a real relief from that hassle.
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Atari2600 - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
I have one - very happy with it and would not hesitate to recommend it - but note there are two version of the Threadripper Taichi.The 128GB memory capacity version (X399 Taichi) and a 64GB memory limited one (X399M Taichi), which would be quite a bit cheaper.
If you get the chance to ask ASRock, would be nice to see if the X399M has a performance differential to the X399. i.e. is it a good option to get onto the platform for cheap?
AdditionalPylons - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
The memory slots (4 vs 8) isn't the only differences. X399 Taichi is ATX, while X399M Taichi is mATX. For example the smaller has one less PCIe x16, only 1 instead of 3 m.2 slots, no PCIe x1 (vs 1 on the larger). These are common tradeoffs with mATX (or to a larger extent mini-ITX). Not that it is a limit for me or many others. I'd still go for mini-ITX next time I build a PC.LeadbyFaith21 - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
Actually the mATX Taichi still has 3 M.2, the other two are to the right of the RAM slots. I'm also pretty sure it's using the same VRM as the ATX version, so the only "compromise" of it is half the RAM slots and 1 less PCIe x16 slot.kobblestown - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
This may come as a little pedantic but the X399M has one less PCIe x8 slot. It actually has 1 *more* PCIe x16 slot because it's 3*PCIe x16 whereas its big brother is 2*PCIe x16 + 2*PCIe x8LeadbyFaith21 - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
Yeah, I forgot about lane allocation difference, I was just thinking full length slots.The_Assimilator - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
No, there are not "two versions", there is an ATX-format board which is reviewed here, and then there's the mATX X399M. As the different model numbers imply, they are completely different boards.Atari2600 - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
"two versions of the Threadripper Taichi"What part of that is wrong?
PeachNCream - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
What do Chinese martial arts, HEDT CPUs, and large metal gears all have in common? Nothing at all! Yet ASRock proves once again that a disjointed mashup rivaling Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by taking a combination so naturally suited to comedy with an altogether too serious fashion can indeed land sales among people inexplicably drawn to such an unusual merger in order to claim ownership over a high core count braggart-box desktop in a world that revolves instead around price-gouging smartphones. Shine on you crazy ASRock diamond. Shine on.rav10101 - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
Made my day.Agent Smith - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
Very entertaining postThe_Assimilator - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
At least it isn't covered with tacky, useless, cost-increasing RGB bling.HideOut - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
FFS I agree. and the ones t hat have RGB need to have an option to at least disable it. Sometimes you buy the product because of other features (or because some sale makes it cheaper than the non RGB version)twtech - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
Yeah, I have to say I miss the days when a motherboard attempting to appeal to aesthetics merely had a black PCB instead of green, and perhaps a still relatively hard to see logo painted on as well.Now they end up looking like cheap toys for children 10 and under. Plastic non-functional action-toy type pieces sticking out, flashing lights, etc.
Lord of the Bored - Sunday, October 28, 2018 - link
I remember the period when RED motherboards were the new hotness, and I thought they were just extremely gaudy.If I only knew what the future held...
PEJUman - Sunday, October 28, 2018 - link
the Taichi here means Ultimate/Supreme, probably not the best translation but the closest I can think off. The martial arts is actually ‘Taichi chuan’, often shortened TaiChi. I can’t explain the gears, but understand this board meant to be the X399 flagship line from the Taichi name.PeachNCream - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
The branding failure doesn't take away from the fact that ASRock is offering a competitive product at a reasonable price. If the company's marketing department just needs to lay off the mind-altering, illegal substances.prateekprakash - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
Could you please confirm if the 3 m.2 slots are derived from the cpu or chipset lanes?Atari2600 - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
IIRC at least two of them are direct to CPU.kobblestown - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
Yes, all three of them are connected to the CPU. That's what you do when you have 64 PCIe lanes to play with. One of the dies provides X16 + x8 + 2*x4 for 2 M.2 slots and the other provides x16 + x8 + x4(M.2) + x4(to the X399 chip). Plus this board should support PCIe bifurcation so you can have a relatively cheap (just ~$50 because it doesn't require PCIe switch chip) card that allows you to plug 4 NVMe cards into one of the x16 slots so you get 7 NVMes to the CPU!The_Assimilator - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
Is it just me, or are the yellow M.2 attachment points on the bottommost slot (the one closest to the SATA ports) on the *back* of the board as opposed to the front? Have a look at the board pictures on the "Visual Inspection" page to see what I mean.I'm glad that motherboard manufacturers are finally starting to offer a decent number of USB 3 ports on the back panel, but I'd still like to see at least a couple extra 2.0 ports for slower peripherals (mice and keyboards).
I take issue with this claim: "The concept is technically sound from an engineering point of view but it also could create compatibility problems because several PSUs have both CPU 12V connectors on a single cable, meaning that an extension would be necessary to reach the second connector on the motherboard." No decent PSU released in recent years with multiple EPS12V connectors has had them on the same cable, for the simple reason that the amount of current drawn if both were fully loaded would require wire that's thicker than the 16 or 18 gauge normally used, in order to not be a fire hazard.
The_Assimilator - Friday, October 26, 2018 - link
Board Features/"In The Box" claims that you get Crossfire bridges with this board, but that's not reflected in the picture, plus bridgeless Crossfire has been a thing for years.Pretty luxurious of Asrock to include a 4-way SLI bridge, though... even if SLI is dead with RTX.
GreenReaper - Sunday, October 28, 2018 - link
I think the points just go through the board and the attachment plugs can go on either side, Maybe to store them in transit, or to discourage use of that slot because it gets disabled by the U.2 connector?Maryjohn0192 - Saturday, October 27, 2018 - link
good oneAntonErtl - Saturday, October 27, 2018 - link
I would have liked to see some information about ECC support. Does the board support it officially? Does the Linux kernel report that ECC is enabled if you supply ECC memory (and not if not)?kobblestown - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
It does support ECC officially - that's what it says on the site and in the user manual. I have access to a TR machine with Asrock X399 Professional Gaming which is the same board as the Taichi but with a 10G Ethernet chip. The machine is equipped with 4x16GB ECC@2400MHz/s modules from Kingston. There are several BIOS options that seem related to ECC but there's no description of these options in the manual. Anyway, the kernel seems to be aware of the ECC. Here's a snippet from dmesg:EDAC amd64: Node 0: DRAM ECC enabled.
EDAC amd64: F17h detected (node 0).
EDAC MC: UMC0 chip selects:
EDAC amd64: MC: 0: 0MB 1: 0MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 2: 16383MB 3: 16383MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 4: 0MB 5: 0MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 6: 0MB 7: 0MB
EDAC MC: UMC1 chip selects:
EDAC amd64: MC: 0: 0MB 1: 0MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 2: 16383MB 3: 16383MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 4: 0MB 5: 0MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 6: 0MB 7: 0MB
EDAC amd64: using x8 syndromes.
EDAC amd64: MCT channel count: 2
EDAC MC0: Giving out device to module amd64_edac controller F17h: DEV 0000:00:18.3 (INTERRUPT)
EDAC amd64: Node 1: DRAM ECC enabled.
EDAC amd64: F17h detected (node 1).
EDAC MC: UMC0 chip selects:
EDAC amd64: MC: 0: 0MB 1: 0MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 2: 16383MB 3: 16383MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 4: 0MB 5: 0MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 6: 0MB 7: 0MB
EDAC MC: UMC1 chip selects:
EDAC amd64: MC: 0: 0MB 1: 0MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 2: 16383MB 3: 16383MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 4: 0MB 5: 0MB
EDAC amd64: MC: 6: 0MB 7: 0MB
EDAC amd64: using x8 syndromes.
EDAC amd64: MCT channel count: 2
EDAC MC1: Giving out device to module amd64_edac controller F17h: DEV 0000:00:19.3 (INTERRUPT)
EDAC PCI0: Giving out device to module amd64_edac controller EDAC PCI controller: DEV 0000:00:18.0 (POLLED)
AMD64 EDAC driver v3.5.0
CyrIng - Sunday, October 28, 2018 - link
What about Linux and FreeBSD?Can we have a review of Threadripper motherboards with some Kernel build benchmark for example?
kobblestown - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
If you are interested in running Linux on TR you should check phoronix.com - they have benchmarks that are much more varied than what they do here.There is something else to note though - the experience has not been flawless for me. I snatched a 1920X at the time the 2990WX was announced a couple of months back for a great price that is no longer available and married it to an Asrock Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming with 4x8GB G.Skill 15-15-15-sth@3000MHz (not the machine from my post above). First of all, it takes ages to boot. That seem to be common for TR builds and is a bit annoying. But what annoys me the most is that the BIOS resets all settings every time you plug, unplug or change any PCIe/NVME device (not sure about the SATA since I rely on NVME entirely). The best approach is to save your settings (there are several save slots) and recall from there. Otherwise it's too much trouble because there are tons of options and most are not documented anywhere. I'm not even talking about overclocking - the machine is a beast even at stock freqs.
Also, you'd want to make sure that you run the latest BIOS/AGESA - for example the one the board came with did not allow for 3000MHz - only 2933 and 3066 (among others). The latest AGESA fixed this and my G.Skill which not validated for Ryzen works just fine. However, this latest version has some problem with the latest Linux kernels - for instance I couldn't run the Ubuntu 18.10 installer because of this kernel problem that can only be solved with custom compiled kernel (i.e. not with a boot option IIRC). OTOH, 18.04 runs just fine. I want to experiment with VGA passthrough and I have the hardware but haven't got the time yet. One thing to note is that all four network adapters (2x1G + 10G + WiFi) are in the same IOMMU group. It would have been nice to have the wired adapters in separate groups so I can assign them to different VMs but I think virtio-net will not break too much sweat on such a powerful machine.
CyrIng - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Thanks a lot for sharing this Linux experience.Phoenix is indeed a good Foss source but less hardware gifted as Anandtech.
As a System programmer, I would enjoy too see benchmarks dealing with Buildroot, FS squashing, cryptography support, big project compilation time and so on
Buying such hardware for a total of 1=3 $K claims à lot of details...
Regards
cyberguyz - Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - link
I have one of them. It works ok. Has problems running my GSkill TridentZ 3200 CL14 memory at XMP speeds without boosting memory voltage to 1.45v. Also it is a pain in the a$$ when it comes time to try out different settings since the only way to reset cmos is to open the system up and push a tiny little easy to miss button hear the onboard reset & power buttons. An external button like many of the competitors use would have been a real relief from that hassle.