EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is releasing a new Socket TR4 based monoblock made for several ASRock X399 motherboards. The EK-FB ASRock X399 RGB Monoblock has an integrated 4-pin RGB LED strips which make them compatible with ASRock RGB LED, thus offering a full lighting customization experience!

EK-FB ASRock X399 RGB Monoblock
This is a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for three ASRock AMD X399 Chipset based motherboards that support AMD Socket TR4 AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. This monoblock is compatible with the following ASRock motherboards:

• ASRock X399 Taichi
• ASRock X399M Taichi
• ASRock Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is releasing a new Socket TR4 based monoblock made for several MSI X399 motherboards. The EK-FB MSI X399 Gaming RGB Monoblock has an integrated 4-pin RGB LED strip which makes it compatible with MSI Mystic Light, thus offering a full lighting customization experience.

This is a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for two MSI AMD X399 Chipset based motherboards that support AMD Socket TR4 AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. This monoblock is compatible with the following MSI motherboards:

• MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
• MSI X399 SLI Plus

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is releasing a new Socket TR4 based monoblock made for several GIGABYTE X399 motherboards. The EK-FB GA X399 GAMING RGB Monoblock has an integrated 3-pin RGB Digital LED strip which makes it compatible with GIGABYTE Fusion, thus offering a full lighting customization experience.

This is a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for two GIGABYTE AMD X399 Chipset based motherboards that support AMD Socket TR4 AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. This monoblock is compatible with the following GIGABYTE motherboards:

• GIGABYTE X399 Aorus Gaming 7 (rev.1.0)
• GIGABYTE X399 Designare EX (rev.1.0)

EK Water Blocks (EKWB) did not have the greatest end to 2017, losing key members of their top management, some of whom found employment with CORSAIRas we later found out. The performance of their CPU water block for AMD Ryzen Threadripper CPUs was also a matter of great debate among enthusiasts, with the cold plate having machined microfins that occupied an area smaller than that occupied by the CPU dies themselves. A few tests from end users and the media alike pointed towards disappointing thermal dissipation relative to the competition and, even though EKWB insisted that the block was good enough, the bad press likely was enough to convince them otherwise.

In a public apology published as a press release on their website, EKWB today even conceded that they did not give their best for the product as it is and laid down some plans to make it right. It begins with a redesign of the cold plate, which affects current and future products alike, as well as doing right to the customers who purchased the previous design of the CPU block as well. Click on the story to know more.

So, maybe it isn't really working - but at least the system boots up all the way to the BIOS memory checks, where it then stops emitting life signs. Der8auer went through a sort of blind process to discover that there is a particular ID pin on EPYC that when covered, allows the CPU to be booted up by a X399 motherboard (in this case, an ASUS X399 Zenith Extreme). ID pins are nothing new, and basically tell sockets whether or not they should be powering up a particular CPU.

So what exactly does this mean? Nothing much - only that the sockets and pinouts are the same. The approach towards detecting the ID pin was a crude, brute force one, appending a piece of electrical tape to different parts of the CPU, narrowing down the search for a single pin. When this particular pin was covered, standby power finally kept on, and the motherboard ran through some initial boot steps until stopping at the D0 memory boot code. Der8auer thinks that a "simple" BIOS switch on this TR4 motherboard to an EPYC motherboard's BIOS would suffice to get the EPYC CPU running on this Threadripper motherboard. Check out the full video after the break.

AMD at CES shed some light on its 2018 roadmap, while taking the opportunity to further shed some light on its graphics and CPU projects up to 2020. Part of their 2018 roadmap was the company's already announced, across the board price-cuts for their first generation Ryzen processors. This move aims to increase competitiveness of its CPU offerings against rival Intel - thus taking advantage of the blue giant's currently weakened position due to the exploit saga we've been covering. This move should also enable inventory clearings of first-gen Ryzen processors - soon to be supplanted by the new Zen+ 12 nm offerings, which are expected to receive a 10% boost to power efficiency from the process shrink alone, while also including some specific improvements in optimizing their performance per watt profile. These are further bound to see their market introduction in March, and are already in the process of sampling.

On the CPU side, AMD's 2018 roadmap further points towards a Threadripper and Ryzen Pro refresh in the 2H 2018, likely in the same vein as their consumer CPUs that we just talked about. On the graphics side of their 2018 roadmap, AMD focused user's attention in the introduction of premium Vega offerings in the mobile space (with HBM2 memory integration on interposer, as well), which should enable the company to compete against NVIDIA in the discrete graphics space for mobile computers. Another very interesting tidbit announced by AMD is that they would be skipping the 12 nm process for their graphics products entirely; the company announced that it will begin sampling of 7 nm Vega products to its partners, but only on the Instinct product line of machine learning accelerators. We consumers will likely have to wait a little while longer until we see some 7 nm graphics cards from AMD.

Following its Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G socket AM4 APU announcement, AMD announced price cuts for its Ryzen family of processors, across the board. These are official price cuts, and not seasonal retailer discounts. The price cuts have been made in a bid to make its existing socket AM4 Ryzen processors more competitive against 8th generation Intel Core "Coffee Lake" processors.

Among the notable changes, are bringing the entire Ryzen 7-series lineup under the $350-mark, with the 1800X being priced at $349, the 1700X at $309, and the 1700 non-X at $299. These changes make the three competitive against the Core i7-8700K (which is scraping the $400-mark in many places), and the i7-8700 non-K (around $330). The Ryzen 5-series six-core parts also receive much-needed price-cuts to make them competitive against the Core i5 six-core SKUs, such as the i5-8600K and i5-8400. There are marginal changes in the Ryzen 3 series and Ryzen Threadripper series. All price cuts are tabled below.

ASRock today unveiled the industry's first micro-ATX form-factor motherboard for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors, the X399M Taichi. The board supports a full-featured Threadripper HEDT build. Drawing power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, it uses an 8-phase VRM to power the CPU. MOSFETs of this VRM vent heat onto both a smaller primary heatsink, and a larger secondary heatsink, via a heat-pipe. The TR4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting quad-channel DDR4 memory; and three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (from which at least two run at full x16 bandwidth at all times).

Storage connectivity on the ASRock X399M Taichi includes three 32 Gb/s M.2 slots, one 32 Gb/s U.2 port, and eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Networking connectivity includes 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.x WLAN, and two 1 GbE interfaces. USB connectivity includes eight USB 3.0 and two USB 3.1 (including a type-C) ports on the rear panel, and four USB 3.0 ports via headers. ASRock deployed its highest-grade onboard audio solution, which takes advantage of a 120 dBA SNR CODEC, audio-grade capacitors, and ground-layer isolation. The company will showcase this board at the 2018 International CES.

WaterCool announced retail availability of HeatKiller IV water-blocks for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. Designed for AMD sockets TR4 and SP3r2, with micro-fin lattices at just the right places to effectively cool the active dies of the Threadripper MCM, the block comes in four variants - Pure Copper, Copper-Nickel, Acryl-Nickel Black, and Acryl-Nickel Red. The Pure Copper variant combines an exposed copper main block with a copper top; the Nickel-Copper variant is nearly identical to this, except the block and top are nickel-plated; the Acryl-Nickel Black combines a nickel-plated copper main block with an acrylic top that's been framed by black anodized aluminium, while the Acryl-Nickel Red is its twin with a red colored frame.

The Pure Copper and Copper-Nickel variants boast of a staggering 1 kg weight (that's a lot for a water-block). The acrylic variants are a little over half the weight. Besides being see-through, the Acrylic variants are studded with RGB LED strips that have a standard 4-pin RGB header. All variants measure 118 mm x 78 mm x 18 mm, and feature standardized G 1/4-inch ports (fittings not included). There's a healthy 25 mm gap between the two ports so you can dabble with some of the fancier fittings in the market. The Pure Copper variant is priced at 89.95€, while the Nickel-Copper, Acryl-Nickel Black, and Acryl-Nickel Red are priced at 99.95€ (prices include taxes).

Enermax today introduced its third entry to its Liqtech TR4 series all-in-one liquid CPU coolers tailor-made for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors, the Liqtech TR4 280. As its name suggests, the cooler features a 280 mm x 140 mm radiator, and includes two 140 mm fans. This model offers a middle-ground between the Liqtech TR4 240 and the largest Liqtech TR4 360. Enermax has also re-tuned its pump for higher coolant pressure. It is rated by its makers to handle thermal loads of up to 500W.

Like its other siblings, the Enermax Liqtech TR4 280 features a large pump-block base that offers 100% coverage of the Ryzen Threadripper integrated-heatspreader, and comes with factory-fitted retention modules for AMD TR4 and SP3r2 sockets (you can also use it on EPYC). The included T.B. Pressure 140 mm fans spin between 500 to 1,500 RPM, pushing up to 80.71 CFM of air, with a noise-output of up to 28 dBA, each. The radiator is 28 mm thick, and is made of aluminium. Available soon, the cooler is expected to be priced around USD $100.

EK-MLC Phoenix is a Modular Liquid Cooling line of products and the next generation of improved All-In-One water cooling solutions. It is a new lineup of pre-filled products for liquid cooling, the 2nd generation of improved EK All-In-One products. Created for the market segment of customers who are unwilling to assemble a full custom loop or don't have enough time for maintenance of their PCs, but still insist on a high-end cooling solution. The most important feature of EK-MLC is the modular design and the ability to add multiple pre-filled water blocks in any order.

Modular Liquid Cooling line of products is designed around Quick Disconnect Couplings and it brings a modular approach to connecting and expanding the loop, giving you the freedom to decide which components you want to cool down. CPU cooling module and GPU cooling module can be connected to the radiator core module in any order, separately or together.

Watercool started development on their waterblocks for AMD Threadripper processors back in August. The brand made an announcement today on their Facebook stating that waterblocks are ready to come out of the oven. The Heatkiller IV waterblocks will come in three variants: copper, nickel, and nickel/black. All three models are available for preorder tomorrow. If you're quick enough to pull the trigger, you can also net yourself a nice 10% preorder discount. According to Watercool, the copper model ships on November 10th, while the other two remaining nickel models will start shipping on November 24th.

The full copper model is a waterblock aimed at copper lovers. It comes with an unique, huge Threadripper cooling plate made entirely of copper. The massive top is milled out of one solid block of copper. On the other hand, the nickel block caters to those who prefer a more glossy look. Both the huge cold plater and top are milled out of solid copper; then consequently nickel plated. Lastly, Watercool calls the nickel/black model the jack of all trades. The copper cold plate is nickel plated, while the top is manufactured from acrylic (Plexiglas GS) and comes with a black anodized aluminum cover. RGB lighting is present thanks to the preinstalled RGB LED strip which connects to the RGB LED headers on X399 motherboards through a black, paracord sleeved cable.

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer proves its market leadership once again by releasing the world's first Socket TR4 based monoblock made for several ASUS X399 motherboards. The EK-FB ASUS ROG ZE RGB Monoblock has an integrated 4-pin Digital RGB LED strip which makes it compatible with ASUS Aura Sync, thus offering a full lighting customization experience.

Designed and engineered in cooperation with ASUS, this monoblock uses award-winning EK-Supremacy EVO cooling engine to ensure best possible CPU cooling. This water block directly cools AMD Socket TR4 type CPU, as well as the power regulation (MOSFET) module. Liquid flows directly over all critical areas, providing the enthusiasts with a great solution for high and stable overclocks. Using such a monoblock gets rid of the small fan that can be found on some X399 motherboards, hidden under the I/O cover.

Swiftech introduced a limited-edition variant of its Apogee SKF series CPU water blocks, the Apogee SKF-TR4, which is designed for AMD Ryzen Threadripper HEDT processors. The blocks come with an elongation for better coverage of the large Ryzen Threadripper integrated heatspreader (IHS). The copper blocks are longer than the original SKF Heirloom series blocks, and feature more micro-fins, translating into 30 percent more surface-area for heat-dissipation to the coolant. The blocks also feature a coolant fitting positioning such that the inlets and outlets are directly above the two active dies of the Threadripper multi-chip module (MCM). The factory-fitted retention module only supports AMD socket TR4/SP3r2 motherboards. The block is priced at USD $107.95.

MSI, the world leading motherboard manufacturer, is pleased to announce the availability of a new motherboard: X399 SLI PLUS. Perfect for content creators who are looking for a great performer with plenty of connectivity options, MSI's new X399 SLI PLUS is an optimized workstation motherboard, built for designers. Featuring heavy plated heatsinks, Military Class V components and numerous unique and patented performance enhancing features, this motherboard is the best choice for professionals looking for speed and stability.

Using a full black color scheme, the new X399 SLI PLUS enters the next generation PRO Series design concept by adding Mystic Light RGB to personalize any workstation. Lightning USB 3.1 Gen2 extends data transfer bandwidth options to provide the best USB 3.1 performance. M.2 Shield v2 helps stabilize fast SSD data signals and prevents throttling for the best M.2 SSD performance. STEEL ARMOR slots prevent PCI-E slots from sustaining damage by heavy graphics cards. Each feature on SLI PLUS has been designed and tested to achieve the highest quality standards and are geared for longevity and best performance. More performance-related features on the new X399 SLI PLUS are: DDR4 Boost, Turbo M.2 with RAID support, Audio Boost, X-Boost, Network Manager and many more.

Be Quiet!, the market leader in PC power supplies in Germany for eleven consecutive years, introduces new Silent Loop All-in-One water cooler mounting kits designed for AMD's high-end TR4 desktop socket and Ryzen Threadripper processors.

With radiator sizes including 120 mm, 240 mm, 280 mm and 360 mm, be quiet!'s Silent Loop offers a premium choice for high-end system builders focusing on whisper-quiet systems and power-users who want to squeeze every bit of performance out of their overclocked CPU. All metal parts from Silent Loop's cooling block to radiator and fittings are made out of copper, guaranteeing durability and preventing electrochemical corrosion when exposed to liquids. Furthermore the cooling block's large, square cooling area is a great fit for Ryzen Threadripper.

AMD has delivered on its teased promise, and today introduced a software-driven NVMe RAID driver that enables users to, you guessed it, create bootable NVMe arrays on their X399, Threadripper platform. The new solution demands that users download the appropriate drivers from AMD (follow the source links), and that you backup and dismantle your puny SATA RAID - note that you won't be able to use dual SATA and NVMe RAID on your platform. Any X399 motherboard will support this, there are no restrictions on the models of the NVMe drives, but your OS will have to be Windows 10 (build 1703).

The installation can be done via BIOS (which depends on manufacturer's BIOS releases and QA schedules - or via software with AMD's own RAIDXpert2 software. You can also opt for either of three RAID modes: RAID0 (striping), RAID1 (mirroring), and RAID10 (striping with mirroring). RAID10, by design, requires four or six NVMe devices. AMD is quoting scaling values that are close to 100% for RAID read scaling, and somewhere around 90% write scaling with up to 6 NVMe drives (1-6x Samsung 960 Pro NVMe SSD with 512 GB each). That amounts to almost 21.2 GB/s read, and 11.53 GB/s writes for a 6x NVMe SSD RAID. If you want the ultimate storage system performance for us mortal consumers, now you know where you can get it.

MSI's next outing for the X399 platform seems to be the X399 SLI Plus. A downgrade from the company's X399 Gaming Pro Carbon, the X399 SLI Plus keeps all of the required features, and does away with some of the unneeded extras that are ever more creeping towards motherboards.

Specifically, the SLI Plus does away with the metallic RAM reinforcements and lowers the number of reinforced PCIe x16 slots to just two - by a wide margin, the most common configuration for the dwindling SLI or CrossFire crowds. It also sheds one extra PCIe x16 port - the Gaming Pro Carbon features 5 such ports, but the SLI Plus makes do with "only" 4, adding an extra PCIe x1 to the mix. It still features the same 3x M.2 ports, although MSI's M.2 Shield only makes its appearance on one of them, again, contrary to the Gaming Pro Carbon, which uses MSI's M.2 Shield in all three of them. All in all, it seems MSI's X399 SLI Plus motherboard does away with the extra frills, making clever cuts while keeping most of the functionality. Expect this motherboard to come in at a lower price bracket than the Gaming Pro Carbon.

GIGABYTE formally launched its flagship socket TR4 motherboard for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors, the X399 Designare EX. Positioned slightly above the company's current (and only) offering for this platform, the Aorus X399 Gaming 7, the new Designare EX is based on the same PCB, and a nearly-identical feature-set, except for cosmetic changes, such as its silver-metallic color-scheme dominating the VRM and chipset heatsinks, the M.2 SSD heatspreaders, the I/O shroud and integrated shield, and a back-plate covering most of the reverse side.

Built in the ATX form-factor, the X399 Designare EX draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and 4-pin ATX, conditioning it for the CPU using an 8-phase VRM with "server-grade" chokes, and a VRM heatsink that offloads its heat onto a second heatsink via a heat-pipe. Expansion slots include five PCI-Express 3.0 x16, all of which are wired to the CPU. Storage connectivity includes three 32 Gb/s M.2 slots, and eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, from which four are directly wired to the CPU.

When AMD launched its Ryzen Threadripper HEDT platform, they forgot one crucial feature - NVMe RAID support. They realized their fault and promised a BIOS and driver update on September 25 that would allow users to boot from a NVMe RAID. Der8auer, overclocker extraordinaire, got first dibs on the BIOS update and uploaded a Youtube video to show us the performance numbers from a RAID array of eight NVMe SSDs. Unfortunately, he took down the video, but not before HardOCP could grab some screenshots of his feat.

As we can see from the screenshots, Der8auer created his RAID array on an ASUS X399 motherboard. Since the UEFI interface has ROG markings all over it, he probably used a ROG Zenith Extreme. With the help of two ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 cards, Der8auer was able to install his eight Samsung 960 PRO/EVO SSDs. Although we cannot distinguish the model clearly, the performance is simply spectacular. IOmeter measured a transfer speed of 28375.84 MB/s.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, announces a new lineup of Trident Z RGB DDR4 memory kits with enhanced compatibility on the latest AMD platforms. Specifically designed for AMD Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper platforms, now there are vibrant options up to the popular DDR4-3200MHz CL14 or the massive 128GB (8x16GB) kits at up to 2933MHz. For a full range of memory kit capacity options, the new Trident Z RGB memory kit models are available at DDR4-2400MHz in 2-, 4-, and 8-module kit configurations with 8GB and 16GB modules, which allows for 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB memory kits for your AMD system.

AMD currently has two platform offerings, where Ryzen supports dual-channel with 2 or 4 memory modules and Threadripper supports quad-channel memory with 4 or 8 memory modules. To give a boost in memory performance to AMD number-crunching workstations and high-end graphic rendering systems, G.SKILL offers several selections for each AMD platform, including memory speeds of up to DDR4-2933MHz or ultra-high capacity at 128GB (8x16GB).

The X399 Designare EX, to which we were privy to a sneak peek already, stands to be Gigabyte's flagship X399 motherboard for AMD's Threadripper platform. Gigabyte, however, seem to have taken a little too much inspiration from their own AORUS X399 Gaming 7, since even the PCB color has been appropriated form that board. Changes are mostly aesthetic: black heatsinks have turned silver, with some added bluish bling that would make any Halo fan smile, and the backplate has a premium feel to it. Overall, I quite like the design accents in this board, though again, this seems to be a case of a slight redressing of an already existing product - with an accompanying increase to its price-tag. If the AORUS Gaming 7 retails for $389, you should see this one crossing the $400 threshold easily.

Aqua Computer rolled out the cuplex kryos NEXT TR4, a variant of their cuplex kryos NEXT flagship CPU water block with support for AMD socket TR4, designed for Ryzen Threadripper HEDT processors. Available in all the variants the cuplex kryos NEXT normally comes in, we have options with a copper, nickel-plated copper, and even silver cold plate variants with POM acetal, acrylic, and metal tops. The blocks feature a dense copper micro-fin lattice with 200 μm spacing between fins, standard G 1/4 threading. These new blocks come with factory-fitted socket TR4 retention modules, and include a tube of Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal compound. Available now, the exposed-copper cold plate variant is priced at 59.90€, and the nickel-plated copper variant at 64.90€ with other variants priced as can be seen on the Aqua Computer web shop. Aqua Computer also mentioned that given the lack of sales of the X399 platform, they are not looking into making a new design to match the larger CPU IHS at this time.

Much has been said regarding AMD's Threadripper CPUs, particularly when it comes to how they are manufactured. At first, we thought Threadripper was actually EPYC in disguise, due it having what appeared to be four full-fledged 8-core modules - the same design as AMD's server-bound 32-core EPYC chips. The presence of gold-plating under all four dies seemed to confirm that these were in fact four full Threadripper dies, instead of two dies and two spacers (as AMD's statements led us to believe) for even IHS pressure on the four dies, instead of the uneven pressure that would result from the chip only having two physical dies present.

PC enthusiast Der8auer, with access to a Ryzen Threadripper processor, took it completely apart for science. It won't be the first time that a Threadripper HEDT processor was de-lidded (its integrated heatspreader removed), revealing that it has four "Zeppelin" 8-core dies, making it practically identical to AMD's 32-core Epyc processors; however, it's the first time that someone completely removed the dies from the package.

Ryzen Threadripper processors are built by completely disabling two out of four "Zeppelin" dies on an Epyc multi-chip module (MCM). Two diagonally opposite dies are disabled. The disabled dies can't be reenabled, at least not on an X399 chipset motherboard, as the Threadripper HEDT platform lacks DRAM, PCIe, and possibly even power wiring for the disabled dies.