ROG’S ZENITH EXTREME MOTHERBOARD FOR AMD’S RYZEN THREADRIPPER CPU

Hello my name is Ilias and today we are going to take a look on the new ROG motherboards for AMD's Ryzen Threadripper cpus .

If you like the look of AMD’s Ryzen processor, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The new Ryzen Threadripper raises the
stakes across the board. It’s basically a double-barreled desktop Ryzen shotgun, with up to 16 cores and 32 threads based
on the new Zen microarchitecture. The beastly processing power is balanced by more memory bandwidth via quad DDR4
channels, and it’s backed by up to a whopping 64 PCIe 3.0 lanes for multiple graphics cards and ultra-fast NVMe SSDs.
ROG has a storied history with AMD’s high-end desktop platforms; the dedicated gaming division at ASUS started
more than a decade ago with the original Crosshair motherboard for Athlon 64 FX CPUs. So they couldn’t let Threadripper
and its accompanying X399 chipsets pass without developing a similarly muscular motherboard to mark the occasion.

This is the ROG Zenith Extreme that debuted at Computex 2017:

Comprehensive cooling for liquid and air

Designed to propel high-end AMD desktops to the next level, the Zenith starts by optimizing everything around the CPU and
its beefy, server-style TR4 socket. The board uses the same power solution as the Rampage VI Extreme based on Intel’s
competing X299 platform for Skylake-X and friends. This incarnation adds cooling for serious overclocking with a finned VRM
heatsink and fan tucked under the I/O shield. The fan only comes on when demand dictates, making it stealthy for day-to-
day use.
Cooling improvements extend to liquid loops with a special header capable of monitoring leaks, flow rates, and
temperatures in compatible water blocks. You also get standard headers for off-the-shelf pumps, flow meters, and all-in-one
water coolers. These are complemented by a comprehensive assortment of fan headers and accompanying enhancements,
like auto-detection for 3-pin DC and 4-pin PWM fans, and calibration routines that tune RPM curves based on the individual
properties of each one.
The proverbial “Cool and Quiet” mantra got its start with the old Athlon 64, and they really taken the theme to heart. Our
motherboard fan controls constantly evolve to give you smarter cooling with quieter acoustics. Recent additions include
adjustable hysteresis, which controls how quickly or slowly fans react to brief bursts in activity; and grouping, which lets
you bind multiple temperature sensors to a single fan so it can react intelligently to a wide range of workloads. The addition
of GPU temperature sensing for compatible graphics cards lets you tailor your cooling specifically for gaming loads that
heat up the GPU more than any other component. This capability is especially important considering the Zenith Extreme
can hold up to four graphics cards in its structurally reinforced SafeSlots.
The new breed of insanely quick M.2-based NVMe SSDs can overheat when they’re pushed to the limit for sustained periods,
which is the last time you want to suffer slowdowns. To help maintain performance under pressure, the Zenith applies
cooling to storage as well. Drives in the onboard slot are covered by the substantial chipset heatsink. Two more slots are
available in an included DIMM.2 card that stands up drives next to the memory slots. This placement puts SSDs in the path
of typical chassis airflow, and the module has mounts for fans up to 60 mm if you want direct cooling.

Take Threadripper to the edge and beyond

Overclocking at the highest levels requires sub-zero cooling with exotic substances. Free pouring liquid nitrogen as smoke billows may not be practical for everyday desktops, but it helps us learn the limitations of the platform and how to get the most out of it. The Zenith Extreme is equipped with several enhancements for life on the ragged edge, including special operating modes for LN2 and multimeter probing points for voltage monitoring. They already used the board to push the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X to 5.37GHz across all 16 cores and 32 threads. That config was stable enough to generate an impressive Cinebench R15 score of 4514. As of August 10, the Zenith Extreme has claimed the top spot on the Threadripper leaderboards with Hardware First Place (HFP) scores across seven benchmarks and a Global First Place (GFP) in GPUPI for CPU -1B.

All the scores are listed below

Benchmark____________Type____________Score____________CPU frequency

Cinebench R11.5_______HFP_____________50.37_____________5317MHz

Cinebench R15________HFP_____________4514______________5370MHz

HWBOT Prime_________HFP____________9810.08____________5507MHz

HWBOT x265 - 1080p____HFP_____________84.97_____________5303MHz

HWBOT x265 - 4K_______HFP_____________22.43_____________5288MHz

Geekbench3 - multi_____HFP_____________79144____________5236MHz

GPUPI for CPU - 1B______GFP________1min 5sec 981ms_______5446MHz

wPrime 1024M_________HFP__________39sec 358ms_________5317MHz

There are still plenty of options if your overclocking tastes are more conventional. With a single click, its 5-Way Optimization software automatically overclocks the CPU and tunes the cooling based on the unique characteristics of your individual setup. In internal testing with liquid cooling, the auto-tuner successfully cranked a 1950X up to 3.925GHz for all cores, a substantial increase over the 3.4GHz default. Manual tuning coaxed another 100MHz from the chip, pushing the peak clock to 4.125GHz. These results highlight just how good our automated overclocking intelligence is at getting close to the limits of a chip.

ROG rises to the occasion

AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper is a lot of CPU, and the ROG Zenith Extreme brings a lot of motherboard to match.

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