ASRock’s X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 looks a lot like your average ITX motherboard, but if you peer closer, you’re bound to spot something very special. That’s right – this happens to be the first AMD motherboard to come equipped with a Thunderbolt port that’s been certified by Intel.
Powered by Thunderbolt 3 technology, the USB Type-C port offers data transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps. That’s four times faster than USB 3.1 (10 Gbps), and eight times faster than USB 3.0 (5 Gbps).
The port also delivers an impressive amount of video bandwidth, enough to stream HD and 4K UHD videos to multiple display devices simultaneously via DisplayPort (up to six devices can be daisy-chained). It’s effectively four times better than HDMI 1.4.
Thunderbolt aside, this motherboard includes another Intel-related quirk: LGA 115X mounting holes for the CPU cooler. There aren’t AM4 retention brackets, so users will have to opt for something like the Noctua NH-C14S or NH-L9i (both of these are on the compatibility list).
One more thing worth mentioning is ECC memory support. ASRock’s X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 officially supports DDR4 ECC un-buffered memory modules, making it an especially good candidate for small server builds.
The board is retailing for around $220.
- Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzenâ„¢ 2000 and 3000 Series processors
- Intel® Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax (2.4Gbps) + BT 5.0
- Intel® Gigabit LAN
- Supports DDR4 4533+ (OC)
- 1 PCIe 4.0 x16
- 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec)
- Supports Creative Sound Blasterâ„¢ Cinema 5
- 4 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4)
- 3 USB 3.2 Gen2 (2 Rear Type A), 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 (2 Front, 2 Rear)
- 1 Thunderboltâ„¢ 3 Type-C
- ASRock Polychrome SYNC