Custom PC - UK (2019-12)

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