Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
TechRadar
TechRadar
Wayne Williams

This premium motherboard is eye-wateringly expensive, only works with one type of processor, and may not fit your case – but it's worth remortgaging your house for

ASUS Pro WS WRX90E-SAGE SE.

There are a good number of reasons not to buy ASUS’ new Pro WS WRX90E-SAGE SE high-end motherboard. For starters, it’s expensive. It’s currently available to pre-order for $1,299.99.

The second reason is it’s designed specifically and only for AMD's Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-series of processors (Storm Peak). And lastly, the motherboard comes in an EEB form factor which, while the same dimensions as E-ATX motherboards (12 x 13 inches/30.5 x 33.0 cm), it likely won’t slot into an E-ATX case – the screw holes won’t be in the right place.

That all said, if you have the cash, a suitable case, and a Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-series processor, then this is the motherboard you’ll want.

Power and efficiency

The motherboard’s AMD WRX90 chipset offers serious Pro-grade features and includes up to 148 PCIe 5.0 lanes and up to 2TB of quad-channel DDR5 memory across eight RAM slots.

The Pro WS WRX90E-SAGE SE's VRM comprises (16*2)+3+3+3 power stages (with two 8-pin power connectors for the CPU) for the power and efficiency that top-end Ryzen Threadripper processors demand.

It offers four M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4 slots (two of which can accommodate the longer M.2 22110 format for higher-capacity drives), four SATA III ports, and two SlimSAS connectors to allow users to connect a large number of additional drives for a vast storage array. There are seven expansion slots – six PCIe 5.0 x16 and one PCIe 5.0 x16 (x8 mode). 

The motherboard, which is compatible with both Windows 10 (64-bit only) and Windows 11, doesn’t offer wireless or Bluetooth connectivity, but it does come with two Intel 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports and one Realtek  Gigabit Ethernet port.

There are a variety of USB ports, including two USB4 Type-C ports, six USB Type-A ports (USB 3.1/3.2 Gen 2), and one USB 2.0 port. No Thunderbolt though.

There’s also one VGA port, two mini DisplayPort, and two audio jacks for the Realtek ALC1220P 5.1 audio.

B&H Photo Video is currently accepting preorders for the Pro WS WRX90E-SAGE SE for $1,299.99. The motherboard is expected to be available from January 29, 2024.

More from TechRadar Pro

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.