Gigabyte, a new motherboard could expand the Threadripper Pro market

When AMD unveiled its Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000WX series processors and WRX80 chipset last July, the company said the platform would only be available from select workstation vendors. Officially, AMD's position hasn't changed and Threadripper Pro CPUs remain confined to professional workstations, but Gigabyte has made a motherboard that will likely pave the way for a wider audience. A promotional image of Gigabyte's WRX80-SU8 motherboard was posted by colleagues at VideoCardz, which could mean that the product is about to be launched or is in the final stages of its development.

The product is called WRX80 SU8 IPMI Server Motherboard and features a server form factor (most likely EATX) and integrates a baseboard management controller (BMC). Additionally, the card supports all AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000WX series processors with sWRX8 form factor up to 64-core Pro 3995WX. The platform has eight memory slots to utilize Threadripper Pro's main feature: eight-channel memory support.

The motherboard has eight PCIe 4.0 x16 slots (not all always support 16 lanes), at least two M.2-2280 slot for SSD and SAS / SATA ports. Gigabyte's WRX80 SU8 also has two 10GbE connectors, two GbE ports for management, several USB Type-A connectors, at least one video output (for BMC), and a 7.1-channel audio subsystem, which indicates that the product is intended to both servers and workstations.

Read also: Official AMD Threadripper PRO, up to 128 threads of pure power dedicated to professionals

AMD's Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000WX series CPUs do not support overclocking, which makes them a little less attractive to some of the public. But at the same time the ability to reach a maximum of 2TB of eight-channel DDR4-3200 memory makes the processors very attractive to professionals.

AMD currently only sells Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3000WX series CPUs to select manufacturers of workstations. Given the combination of server and workstation functionality that the Gigabyte WRX80 SU8 motherboard possesses, it can be aimed at both workstation and small server manufacturers. It is therefore likely that AMD could start selling its Ryzen Threadripper Pro to distributors and, ultimately, to end users as well. Unless, of course, the platform has not been designed for a specific customer with certain requirements.

If you are looking for a good motherboard for your new configuration based on AMD Ryzen processors, you can find the Gigabyte X570 on Amazon AORUS ELITE at an attractive price.