include a response. However, the fan control sectionis
missingfromthemanualtoo,makingthisdecisionlook
likeapermanent move, rather than a part of an earlyEFI.
Performance
Thankfully, the board overclocks well, hitting our usual
maximum 4.3GHz on our Ryzen 9 3900X with a 1.425V
vcore, and coupled with low VRM temperatures we
mentionedearlier.Thisboardshouldbea solidpartnerfor
AMD’sforthcomingRyzen9 3950X.
Intermsofperformance,TheRealBenchsystemscore
satat 303,361 at stock speed, rising to chart-topping(for
X570 boards) 321,266 at 4.3GHz. As usual, however,lightly
threaded tests such as the image editing score fell, thanksto
the peak boost being reduced from 4.6GHz. Performancein
Far Cry 5 was exceptional, though,
with higher minimum frame rates
than any other board, at bothstock
and overclocked speeds.
Power consumption was rather
high, though, being 20W higherthan
the Gigabyte board at stock speed,but
a little lower when overclocked,likely
because we had to enable loadline
calibration on the latter. Audio
performance was also a tad better
than the Gigabyte board, but not by a
margin your ears could discern, with
noise and dynamic range levels of
-108.6dBA and 108.6dBA
respectively.Finally,theM.2speedsusingourPCI-E4 SSD
wereonthemoney,fallingjustshortof5GB/secat
4,996MB/sec,witha 4,258MB/secwritespeed.
Conclusion
WethoughtASRockwasontoa winnerwiththeX570
PhantomGaming-ITX/TB3.It looksfantastic,itsuniquelayout
allowsforsuper-lowVRMtemperaturesandit hasa generally
balancedsetoffeatures.However,thelackofa secondM.2
port,a smallnumberofUSBportsandtheremovaloftheEFI’s
fancontrolsuitemeantherearenumerousfliesinthe
ointment.It’sstillworthconsideringif youwanttobuilda mini
Ryzen9 3950Xsystemlaterthisyear,butfornow,Gigabyte’s
cheaperX570-IAorusProWiFiis a betterbuy.
ANTONYLEATHER
VERDICT
A unique and effective layout with solid performance,
but there are too many shortcomings.
OVERALLSCORE
81 %
PERFORMANCE
33 / 35
FEATURES
26 / 35
VALUE
22 / 30
BENCHMARK RESULTS
Stockspeedmin Stockspeedavg
Overclocked min Overclocked avg
1,920x1,080,Highsettings
FAR CRY 5
0 40 80 120 160
99fps 120fps
ASRock X570PhantomGaming-ITX/TB3 94fps 120fps
Asus Crosshair VIII Impact 92fps 120fps
95fps 120fps
GIMPIMAGEEDITING
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000
ASRock X570PhantomGaming-ITX/TB3 62,30263,012
65,176
Asus Crosshair VIII Impact 66,237
ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3
Asus Crosshair VIII Impact
HANDBRAKE H.264 VIDEO ENCODING
0 250,000 500,000 750,000 1,000,000
788,321 855,064
810,876 821,320
Stockspeed Overclocked
SYSTEMSCORE
0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000
ASRock X570PhantomGaming-ITX/TB3
GigabyteX570-IAorusProWiFi 295,023 308,658
303,361 307,207
HEAVYMULTITASKING
0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000
ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3
Gigabyte X570-I Aorus Pro WiFi
315,616 321,266
290,449
301,591
Stockspeed Overclocked
0 100 200 300 400
ASRock X570PhantomGaming-ITX/TB3 96W 109W
Asus Crosshair VIII Impact 101W 101W
0 100 200 300 400
ASRock X570PhantomGaming-ITX/TB3 262W 308W
Asus Crosshair VIII Impact 249W 300W
TOTAL SYSTEM POWER CONSUMPTION
Idle
Load
PHANTOMOF
THEOPERA
+Excellent
overclocker
+GreatVRMcooling
+Thunderbolt 3
support
THEPHANTOM
MENACE
- NosecondM.2port
- Only four rear
Type-AUSBports - No modern EFI fan
control suite