Best Motherboard For Threadripper ( Buying Guide )

If you are lucky and have an AMD Ryzen Threadripper CPU or are planning to get one but don’t know what motherboard to choose, you came to the right place! Getting the best motherboard for Threadripper for you is important because you have to look for the features that you need for your usage scenario.

Unfortunately, just like your Threadripper CPU, TRX40 motherboards are very expensive. You can expect to pay at least $500 for a good motherboard, but it may cost significantly more for the best motherboard for Threadripper. So, by reading this, you will learn about the best motherboard for Threadripper for you and what features you can expect from each board. Let’s get started!

Top 5 Best Motherboard for Threadripper

1. Asus ROG II Zenith Extreme Alpha TRX40

Let’s start the list with what is the most well-rounded motherboard when it comes to features. Everyone knows that Asus makes amazing motherboards, so this may be the best motherboard for Threadripper. The “ROG” in the name of the motherboard is actually Asus’ gaming division called “Republic of Gamers“.

So, you can expect this motherboard to have some gorgeous RGB lights with the ROG logo clearly visible, and even an OLED display. But even if you are not a gamer and do not care about the RGB, this is still one of the best TRX40 motherboards out there, especially if you care about futureproofing. 

You get 8 SATA 6 GB/s slots and you can install up to 5 PCIe 4.0 M.2 drives. That means a lot of storage options! And since you will probably connect this motherboard to a wider LAN, it is good to know that there is the Aquantia AQC-107C 10G chipset that supports up to 10 Gbps via LAN.

You also get Wi-Fi up to 2.4 Gbps and Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity. In addition to all that, you get support for quad-channel ECC memory of up to 256 GB DDR4 with Asus OptiMem III technology that allows the RAM to run at higher frequencies and lower voltage.

And don’t forget the 21 USB ports at the back I/O! All in all, this is an amazing motherboard with pretty much everything you could possibly need. It is well-built and also has impressive active cooling to keep everything frosty.

2. Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Xtreme

Another popular motherboard manufacturer, Gigabyte has its own high-end lineup – their Aorus products. The Aorus Xtreme is an XL-ATX motherboard, so it will take up a lot of space and you will need a huge case for it. But that’s a small price to pay to have an amazing motherboard like this one.

The RGB and overall design are a bit tuned down if you compare it to some other motherboards from this list, but it certainly looks nice. You also get 10 Gbps LAN ports on this board as well as 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band WiFi, and of course, Bluetooth 5.0.

The 16+3  Infineon Digital 70A Power Stage VRMs will do a great job at powering your Threadripper but bear in mind that this motherboard alone is rated for 130W, so get a decent PSU for it.

Gigabyte claims that the Aorus Xtreme has a Hi-Fi audio system, and ultra-durable PCIe and RAM slots, which is a nice bonus. You get 4 PCIe 4.0 slots, 4 M.2 slots, Quad-channel 8 DIMMs, tons of RGB customization, and the list goes on. The only potential downside is the lackluster rear I/O. At least you get 10 SATA 6 GB/s ports.

And of course, Gigabyte] has created excellent and robust cooling with aluminum and copper coated heatsinks, heatpipes, thick thermal pads, a silent fan, and the list goes on. Gigabyte calls it “Thermal reactive armor”, which is frankly a very cool name.

All in all, it is a great board that trades blows with the Asus ROG II Zenith Extreme Alpha TRX40 board for the title of the best motherboard for Threadripper. Either way, you simply can’t go wrong with your choice.

3. ASRock TRX40 Taichi

Here is the most unique motherboard on this list. The ASRock TRX40 Taichi features a unique design inspired by clockworks, so it is the perfect choice for a steampunk-themed build. And the RGB looks simply incredible with all that clockwork! If you like the design, it may be the best motherboard for Threadripper for you.

One of the most important things that you have to consider when buying a motherboard is the PCIe x16 layout. The ASRock TRX40 Taichi may be the only motherboard that offers support for 3 full-sized PCIe x16 4.0 slots. The space between the slots is great, which means that you can install three graphics cards with beefy coolers without too many problems.

That makes this motherboard a great choice for a multi-GPU setup, provided that you want to go with three rather than four graphics cards.

You also get a 16-phase VRM setup with 90A MOSFETs that are kept cool under the heatsink. On the flip side, the rear I/O is not that great and you do not even get 10G LAN. Instead, you get Dual Dragon 2.5 GBE LAN. If you care about that, you may want to skip this motherboard. It does have WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0, though.

We once again see support for Quad-channel ECC memory with 8 slots available in total, so that won’t be an issue. And you get 8 SATA 6 GB/s slots and 2 M.2 slots. But don’t worry. If you need more storage, you can use the bundled M.2 card to further expand storage.

And the Realtek onboard audio chipset is decent too because it supports Purity Sound and DTS Connect.

4. MSI TRX40 Creator

It’s hard to make a list of great motherboards without mentioning an MSI product. They make high-quality and well-rounded motherboards and the TRX40 Creator is not an exception. You can put an AMD Threadripper 3990X into the Creator and you won’t be disappointed for sure.

It is important to mention that the MSI TRX40 Creator has 16+3 phases 70A digital power VRM design that won’t have any problems with powering your powerful CPU. And all these VRMs are cooled by an extended heatsink so that your CPU will have all the power it needs even during heavy workloads.

The MSI TRX40 Creator has a 10 Gbps LAN chipset, Intel Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth. And you get 6 SATA ports as well as 3 M.2 sockets. It may not have the most slots on the list, but you can use the bundled M.2 XPANDER-AERO GEN4 card that adds four additional Lightning Gen 4 M.2 slots.

When it comes to the overall design, it is surprisingly simple. There is some cool RGB on the part where the I/O is and you have a chipset fan to keep everything cool, but it is not covered by anything, so dust may be a problem in the future.

Overall, there aren’t many details on the board except for the cool triangles all over the board. So if you are not into the gaming esthetic but still like RGB, you will like this board.

5. Gigabyte TRX40 Designare

Here is another motherboard from Gigabyte that may not be the best motherboard for Threadripper available, but it is hard to argue against it when you compare its price to its bigger brother, the TRX40 Aorus Xtreme.

The main feature that makes the Gigabyte TRX40 Designare unique is the Thunderbolt header. There is a bundled 40 GB/s add-in card that Gigabyte calls “GC-Titan Ridge”, which is frankly a cool name. You can connect up to three Thunderbolt devices without the need for any hubs, switches, or other external devices. And you even get quick charging on the ports.

You get a 16+3 VRM solution with 70A power and great cooling for the VRMs as well as the chipset and other components. The motherboard chipset fan has fins so dust should not be a major problem. Also, you get four M.2 slots with thermal guards so that your NVMe SSDs stay cool.

The only problematic part is the PCIe slots. You get two PCIe x16 running at x16, two PCIe x16 running at x8, and a PCIe x1 slot. As you can see, you do not have a PCIe x4 slot for the add-in card, so you will have to use one of the x16 slots. That means you only get 3 PCIe x16 slots as a result of that.

As far as connectivity is concerned, you get two Intel GbE LAN chips that do not support 10 Gbps LAN like some other motherboards from the list. But you do get Bluetooth 5.0 and Dual-Band Wi-Fi.

But if you do not care too much about that, then this is the best motherboard for Threadripper if you need Thunderbolt and want to save some money too. By the way, the design is pretty cool too, but it does not have a ton of RGB.

 Benefits of Threadripper Motherboards

Now that you know how to choose the best motherboard for Threadripper, let’s talk about why you bought or want to buy the CPU in the first place. AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors are very powerful and have a huge core and thread count, as the name would suggest.

Threadripper motherboards typically have support for quad-channel memory. And it is no surprise to see that quad-channel can be significantly faster than dual-channel memory in some instances. Of course, you won’t see a difference in games and everyday programs, but heavy workloads will certainly benefit from it.

You also get support for triple and quad graphics card setups with TRX40 motherboards, which is awesome for people who need a ton of graphical rendering power. So, if you plan to hook up a bunch of Nvidia Quadro professional graphics cards, the TRX40 platform is your best bet.

And of course, all those graphics cards will need a lot of bandwidth, which is why you get a ton of dedicated PCIe 4.0 lanes to make use of all that GPU power. Related to that are M.2 NVMe SSDs that can benefit a lot from the new PCIe generation.

And since your Threadripper CPU is going to be hungry for power, it will need high-quality VRMs to power it. Pretty much every TRX40 motherboard has excellent VRM quality and a dedicated heatsink for them to keep them cool and to make sure that your system won’t crash.

Conclusion

If you got an AMD Ryzen Threadripper CPU or want to buy one for your workstation PC, you will need a motherboard. Thankfully, there are a ton of TRX40 motherboards out there with different feature sets that cater to all buyers and their needs.

Some TRX40 motherboards have an incredible and unique design filled with clockwork art, others have support for Thunderbolt. Thankfully, pretty much all of the boards above are extremely well-built and have great VRMs, so that shouldn’t be a major concern for you.

If you care about things like 10 Gbps LAN, make sure that the motherboard you are getting has it. Also, make sure that you have enough M.2 slots and SATA ports to accommodate all your storage hardware because that is often overlooked.

Remember that just like the Threadripper CPU, the motherboards for it are very expensive and have tons of features. So, try to get a motherboard that will last you a long time just like the CPU will.