Stefan Mileschin

With AMD's latest Ryzen Threadripper 3990X 64-core behemoth to be releases on the 7th of February, ASUS has unveiled an updated version of its flagship ROG Zenith II Extreme motherboard. The new ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha model is designed to make the most of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X processor with a newly updated power delivery while keeping the same ROG aesthetic and feature set of the previous model.

At the launch of AMD's TRX40 chipset for the third generation of Ryzen Threadripper 3000 processors, we reviewed the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme motherboard which supports the Threadripper 3990X out of the box, and delivers a high-quality feature set and competitive performance, for an $850 price tag. The ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha retains the same aesthetics, the same feature set, and one would struggle to see the differences on the surface between both models.

The major difference comes on the power delivery, with a solid 16-phase configuration for the CPU with sixteen Infineon TDA21490 90 A power stages. This replaces the previous Infineon TDA21472 power stages which are rated for 70 A, albeit still very high end in the grand scheme of things. It is likely that ASUS is retaining its ASP1405I PWM controller, which is virtually identical to the Infineon IR35201 in terms of specifications.

The inclusion of 90 A power stages over a 70 A variation is likely to allow more current to be deployed, which should help with overclocking. Although this is mainly something extreme overclockers will be interested in, the original ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme model is more than capable of handling the 64-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X processor out of the box. We've also heard some crazy overclocking power numbers on the 3990X, which we're looking forward to verifying.

While the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha is likely to be released around the same time as the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X 64-core processor on February 7th, the official release date for this model is unknown. The original ROG Zenith II Extreme has an MSRP of $850, and we expect the new Alpha version to cost slightly more, but no pricing information has been made available at this time.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15435...odel-for-3990x