AMD WRX80 Threadripper PRO Platform Breaks From OEM Shackles, ASUS WS WRX80 SAGE Spotted

[btarunr]

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3000 PRO line of ultra high-end processors with 8-channel DDR4 memory and 128-lane PCI-Express were a bit of a nothingburger for the DIY PC community as AMD made it exclusive to Lenovo for its ThinkStation P620 pre-built workstations. The hope for Threadripper PRO hitting the DIY scene increased in December 2020, with GIGABYTE unveiling a the WRX80 SU8, a motherboard sold in the open market, albeit designed mainly for servers and not workstations that are loaded with I/O. ASUS is about to change this.

Here's the first picture of the ASUS WS WRX80 SAGE, a no-holes-barred workstation motherboard based on the AMD WRX80 chipset, supporting Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3000 series processors. This board wires out each of the processor's eight memory channels to its own DIMM slot (1 DIMM per channel), and spreads the processor's lavish PCIe 4.0 lane budget among seven PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slots, three onboard (and possibly four by AIC) M.2 NVMe slots, a pair of U.2 NVMe slots, and I/O that very likely includes a pair of 10 GbE connections. Getting the board is the easy part. You'll need to hunt down a Ryzen Threadripper PRO sWRX80 processor, and a PSU that can feed the board's three 8-pin EPS, and two 6-pin PCIe, besides the 24-pin ATX.



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[dgianstefani]

nut

 

[bob3002]

So what's the real differentiating factor between Threadripper Pro and Epyc at this point?

8-channel memory and 128 PCIe lanes were the differentiating factor between regular Threadripper (4 ch RAM, 64 PCIe lanes) and Epyc before, if I remember correctly. Why not just get an Epyc workstation?

I feel like I'm missing something.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

and a PSU that can feed the board's three 8-pin EPS, and two 6-pin PCIe, besides the 24-pin ATX.

do they make larger than 2kw PSUs for this kind of thing?

 

[owen10578]

So what's the real differentiating factor between Threadripper Pro and Epyc at this point?

8-channel memory and 128 PCIe lanes were the differentiating factor between regular Threadripper (4 ch RAM, 64 PCIe lanes) and Epyc before, if I remember correctly. Why not just get an Epyc workstation?

I feel like I'm missing something.

They're lower clocked and are more expensive? Also Epyc is more useful with being able to use more than one CPU per motherboard.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

So what's the real differentiating factor between Threadripper Pro and Epyc at this point?

8-channel memory and 128 PCIe lanes were the differentiating factor between regular Threadripper (4 ch RAM, 64 PCIe lanes) and Epyc before, if I remember correctly. Why not just get an Epyc workstation?

I feel like I'm missing something.

a few thousand dollars to start with.

 

[Aldain]

So what's the real differentiating factor between Threadripper Pro and Epyc at this point?

8-channel memory and 128 PCIe lanes were the differentiating factor between regular Threadripper (4 ch RAM, 64 PCIe lanes) and Epyc before, if I remember correctly. Why not just get an Epyc workstation?

I feel like I'm missing something.

You are missing

24 hour seven days a week one the ground technical support
You are missing the fact that EPYC can not have almost ANY downtime
You are missing the fact that EPYC needs to be 99.999 percent UP..

 

[Chrispy_]

So what's the real differentiating factor between Threadripper Pro and Epyc at this point?

8-channel memory and 128 PCIe lanes were the differentiating factor between regular Threadripper (4 ch RAM, 64 PCIe lanes) and Epyc before, if I remember correctly. Why not just get an Epyc workstation?

I feel like I'm missing something.

EPYC is basically designed for 2P servers (dual-socket use).

Sure, you can buy a 1P EPYC if you don't need all the cores. They're pretty much just Threadrippers tuned for the efficiency sweet spot instead of the performance sweet spot. Also, TR4 and SP3 sockets are incompatible, so if you want to use the features of a server board, you can't just buy a Threadripper.

In terms of pricing, there's almost no difference. List pricing for the EPYC 7702P is within 10% of the list pricing for a 3990X - both 64C single-socket Zen2.

 

[claylomax]

do they make larger than 2kw PSUs for this kind of thing?

You use two psu's for builds that need that kind of power.

 

[ebivan]

What are these things?

 

[Aquinus]

What are these things?
View attachment 183540

I believe those are PCIe clock buffers.

 

[Chrispy_]

I believe those are PCIe clock buffers.

So they store time, like a flux capacitor? Neat!

 

[efikkan]

Nice motherboard.

I only wish it didn't have that chipset fan.

 

[repman244]

God damn, that's a good looking board with proper features and PCI-E lanes.
These kind of boards should of been made for TR from the start!

 

[Arc1t3ct]

This board is beautiful!!

 

[InVasMani]

Nice motherboard.

I only wish it didn't have that chipset fan.

There are two actually the VRM has one tucked in there as well.

 

[Aquinus]

So they store time, like a flux capacitor? Neat!

I love the reference.

In all seriousness, if they are buffers, they maintain the stability of whatever signals are going through them, be it the PCIe clock alone or any of the data lines. All signals degrade the further they travel which gets worse at higher frequencies and there may be crosstalk between the lanes, so this might be to buffer the signals to the slots furthest away from the CPU to prevent errors and maintain signal integrity. I've seen these on most motherboards with a lot of PCIe lanes.

 

[Chrispy_]

Nice motherboard.

I only wish it didn't have that chipset fan.

Al least AMD chipset fans never spin up as long as your case has reasonable airflow over the chipset heatsink.
I'd still just prefer a much bigger heatsink.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Dat's one chunkeh boi

 

[mechtech]

So they store time, like a flux capacitor? Neat!

Be carefull when approaching 88 mph!!!

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

You use two psu's for builds that need that kind of power.

fully aware of that.

 

[tripleclicker]

"Here's the first picture of the ASUS WS WRX80 SAGE, a no-holes-barred workstation..."

...no-holds-barred...

I'm just nitpicking.

 

[Caring1]

...no-holds-barred...

I'm just nitpicking.

No holes barred sounds like a gay night club

 

[Chrispy_]

This board is beautiful!!

My only nit-pick would be to get rid of the mesh over the heatsinks. It serves no functional purpose and will probably hinder cooling by reducing airflow over the fins.

The reason this board is beautiful is because it's naked engineering, all function, no gimmicks - and the mesh cover is just about the only thing that isn't essential.

 

[Kapone33]

I actually like the way the CPU socket is oriented on this board. It would help with top mounted radiator clearance.