GigabyteTRX40 DESIGNARE (sTRX/AMD/TRX40/Direct 16+3 Phase VRM/Fins-Array Heatsink/Gen 4 AIC with 4 Extra M.2/ XL-ATX/Motherboard)

I was looking for a great board for my Ryzen Threadripper 3960x and it appears that those are not so much easily found. I had seen some recommendations for it on pcpartpicker so I decided I'd splurge and it was fully compatible with all my other parts.The installation was a breeze, it looks good and works great so far.

Content creators are drawn to Threadrippers and Thunderbolt 3. The TRX40 Designare is the only "officially supported" choice at present for that combination (the Aorus TRX40 Master and Aorus TRX40 Xtreme have a TB header on the mobo ... but are not "officially supported"). Level1Tech as of Dec 2019 reported TB3 DCH drivers were messed up ... but my new build (3970X, TRX40 Designare, WD SN850 storage, 128GB G.Skill Trident Neo Z DDR4-3600, GB RTX 3090 Turbo, Noctua air, beQuiet Platinum 1200) came together with only a minor hiccup (the RTX did not like looking at a DP panel through an HDMI to DP adapter, so I went all HDMI). Once the panel/cable issue was resolved, mobo booted to UEFI and accepted XMP 1 (XMP1 bumped the DIMMs from 2600 to 3600). Win10 x64 installed in one minute flat (the getting ready part.... longer). Moved the rig from bench to case with only Win10 installed, disconnected internet, and loaded drivers from the GB DVD (did not load RGB Fusion and other frills ... not a glamor gaming rig). Connected to internet, and several updates installed, including Intel DCH drivers for the Titan Ridge. Plugged in a 2TB M.2 TB3 external drive, accepted the connection to the drive in the TB control center, and got full TB3 speed (short cable). Installed Resolve 17 Studio beta, and render times are multiples faster than using our x570 build (ASRock X570 Creator, 3950X, 128GB RAM, Resolve 16 Studio, AMD 5700xt). For PCIE slots, RTX nearest CPU, then Titan Ridge (x8) if space allows, otherwise in the bottom x8 PCIE slot, then quad M.2 expansion card (x16). Here's a welcome surprise: the GB UEFI automatically bifurcates (quadfurcates?) into 4 x4 lanes the x16 slot the quad M.2 card is in! The first boot after you put a loaded AIC in an x16 slot the rig boots to UEFI with a popup about a change ... simply accept and proceed, it then reboots to Win10.). If the quad M.2 AIC is installed but has no M.2 SSDs installed, the UEFI ignores the quad M.2 AIC.UPDATE: Davinci Resolve 17 Studio BRAW Speed Test reports the 3970X build will run 8K video at 93 fps, and all boxes in the performance matrix are checked green. My 6K source (BMD PCC 6K) content produces no stutters when working in 6K. According to AMD, a 3990X CPU boosts the Cinebench 20 score by 40% compared to the 3970X... but at 100% additional cost ($4000 vs. $2000 MSRP), so we're staying with the 3970X.

Got this M/B because it was the only option for Threadripper 3960X CPU and Thunderbolt 3. The board comes with a Titan Ridge TB3 card and (very important) has a TB header on the board. Thunderbolt is very tricky to get set up with Windows, but I got this one working with my RME audio interface after about 40 minutes of setting adjustments and reading. Worth the effort because TB is SO FAST!I have 25TB of storage attached to it with room for lots more. Board is very heavy, thick and strong and unlikely to break. Everything worked right away on first boot. This board has LOTS of gazintas and gozoutas and if you need them, this is the bomb. $700 is a lot of scratch, but you do get what you pay for. I highly recommend this board if this is what you need.

Gigabyte Tool/app will give BSOD at first Boot or just randomly.Both times of the BSOD, the item that showed up as the culprit was listed as "gdrv.sys"after contacting Support they finally replied; "Did you installed any of our software? If so, did you tried removing App Center along with all software under them to testing if the error message still exhibit?"So, if I remove it by uninstalling it (APP Center/ RGB Fusion), Gigabyte Tech Support seems to be saying that this in-turn will also remove that "gdrv.sys" file. And then, of course, to check and see if that "fixed" the problem (No more BSOD's).Not that I want my system bloated with unnecessary software - including Gigabyte's - but the APP Center with RGB Fusion is what allows me to customize the multicolored lights on my motherboard. I can control them somewhat in the BIOS, but the RGB Fusion software tool allows for much more precise inventive customization.

This is a great motherboard. Be sure to use the Q-Flash feature to flash to the lastest BIOS. I had to do this so the MB would recognize the Patriot memory I'm using. After that everything went very smooth.