ASRock MB TRX40 Creator AMD Ryzen Threadripper sTRX4 TRX40 Max256GB DR4 ATX

This should be called 3D creator because it’s a good tool for 3D rendering. You can use four water blocked 3090s in the right sized case.

Powerful enough for monster threadripper builds. Cheapest TRX40 motherboard on the market. Debg codes helped me figure out CPU pressure issues

Bought it Aug 16 2020 because I was starting class on visual effects using Houdini and my old rig couldn't handle the sims. I purchased a AMD 3960 Threadripper, 64GB ram, and the Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro TR4 cooler.The Motherboard idled initially around 46 -56c, then when I loaded up Houdini to do class on 3D modeling it would jump up to the mid 6o's! That is not even trying to render anything.It would jump up in temp when I got online using Mozilla, watching youtube, or using slack for school.So I figure maybe I didn't use enough Thermal Paste (Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut)? I ordered a "better" solution recommended for threadrippers (Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal), reinstalled the cooler and it was hotter! So I went back to the original thermal paste.After a couple of weeks of freaking out and a lot of back and forth with Be Quiet, they sent me a new cooler, and it STILL Ran hot with the NEW cooler!I even had a IT friend helping me with the install to make sure I was doing it right and used the thermal paste he uses (Arctic Silver 5) on servers (which also run hot) and it was idling mid 50's (55c = 131f).So I pulled out my custom water cooling system from my old computer and I'm currently running five fans for intake (three in front blowing through the 360 radiator, two blowing in from the top through a 240 radiator, all 120mm 1800 rpm max) and three exhausting (two 120mm blowing down and out the sides, one 120mm backwards, all three 1600rpm max) in my Lian Li 2 Mesh case (Great case btw!).All eight fans, two radiators and my EKWB Velocity waterblock still can't keep this damn board cool! And yes I got help once more from IT friend with the waterblock/thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5) application just to be sure!I attempted one render of a very basic model for class and it ran mid 70's to 84c during a five min render! AMD says the CPU maximum heat threshold is 95c (203f)!If I put the computer in energy saver mode, it will get down to the mid 40's or low 100's Fahrenheit during idle, which is ridiculous! It's not doing ANYTHING! No internet, no programs, sitting.... IDLE!I bought this motherboard to be a workstation and do 3D graphics! I bought it for all the PCI express lanes, haven't even put a decent GPU in it yet!How hot is it gonna run when I do eventually buy two GPU's and run a "REAL" render?!I've written ASROCK twice now, once in the beginning, they recommended I look at my cooling solution first (Thank You Be Quiet!) and last month (have not heard anything back yet). It's now past the return or exchange window. SO now I'm screwed!BUYER BE AWARE!I wish I new before buying this board!

1st off, I did not purchase this board on Amazon, but felt I needed to add some information that is not widely available on the internet. In the latest (beta as of date of this review 6/28/2021) bios revision this board DOES support PCIe port bifurcation on both the 16x and 8x slots. Also, the board DOES have bios settings for Thunderbolt even though it is not documented anywhere. Just thought I would help anyone looking into this board. So far, it has been a rock solid performer and my only complaint is that the UEFI bios settings screen is cryptic and difficult to negotiate, but has all the features you would want to find.