Tuesday, May 28th 2019

ASRock Unveils X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 Motherboard
ASRock is ready with its own mini-ITX motherboard based on the AMD X570 chipset, the X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3. This tiny powerhouse one-ups other mini-ITX motherboards in its category by offering 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 connectivity over USB type-C, in addition to USB 3.2. This Thunderbolt port also includes a DP pass-through from your discrete graphics card.
Expansion includes one PCI-Express 4.0 x16. Storage connectivity includes one M.2-2280 with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps connectivity; and four SATA 6 Gbps ports. Networking options include 2.4 Gbps 802.11ax WLAN, Bluetooth 5.0, and 1 GbE driven by Intel i211-AT. The board pulls power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it for the SoC with a 6+2 phase VRM. A chunky fan-heatsink cools the chipset, shedding some of its heat to the enlarged VRM heatsink cloaked under the I/O shroud.
Expansion includes one PCI-Express 4.0 x16. Storage connectivity includes one M.2-2280 with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps connectivity; and four SATA 6 Gbps ports. Networking options include 2.4 Gbps 802.11ax WLAN, Bluetooth 5.0, and 1 GbE driven by Intel i211-AT. The board pulls power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it for the SoC with a 6+2 phase VRM. A chunky fan-heatsink cools the chipset, shedding some of its heat to the enlarged VRM heatsink cloaked under the I/O shroud.
22 Comments on ASRock Unveils X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX TB3 Motherboard
So what do you think will stop Apple from dual sourcing CPU's from AMD also?
2nd thought: "Only one m.2? DAMN."
3rd thought: "I don't have Intel-style mounting hardware for my water block. Moving on ..."
Still, these ITX (and DTX) X570 boards will be fighting it out over my money in a little while. It has TB3 and dual USB 3.2. Get a hub if you need more ports - it definitely has the bandwidth to support one. I agree that 4+1 ports is on the low side, but I currently only use three myself: One for my monitor's built-in hub (which has the keyboard and mouse attached), one for my USB DAC+amp, one for my Xbox controller receiver. Along with front panel USB, that should be enough for most people - and beyond KB+M and audio gear, there isn't much that is in any way harmed by the slight added latency of a hub. Still, I wouldn't mind them ditching that PS/2 port for another couple of type-As, though.
I hate AM4 exclusive heatsink mounters.
Year 2011 - 12 USB on the back panel (Asus P8P67 Deluxe)
Year 2019 - 5-7 USB for most high end motherboards
How can we call it 'advancement'?
At the time Intel presumably used the requirement / prerequisite for Intel IGPU for Thunderbolt to nix the project.
However, in the case of Apple with respect to AMD CPU's and GPU's in the short term Apple could certainly start using AMD processors. Theoretically Apple could also just buy AMD outright since Apple likes to design their own hardware and such a purchase would make that technically true of x86 / x64 assuming the license for such manufacture / design is transferable in the event of a buyout.
Then Apple could opt to stop selling AMD CPU's and GPU's to the public and use them exclusively for their Apple computers,.....
Or they could have developed costume CPU like Sony and MS do that only Mac will use.
Perhaps in 1 year+ from now.
Besides, Zen+ still loses to Intel on idle power consumption.
Yeah, not ideal, but at least silent.
Still, most X570 boards (except this ITX one) seem to be getting at least two fullfat m.2 slots, so I'm looking forward to putting a second nvme ssd in my pc without using an adapter!