Here you go. Possible use cases: a) customers who want to show off, and build smallest and yet the most powerful machine available, b) workstation build with extremely small footprint, enough to put it beside monitor, not under the desk, c) as second motherboard in dual-system build, for handling storage and other background tasks (stream capture? And I'm not talking about video only), d) high density computing, without going full-server grade, e) backup system for a full-fledged workstation, with offline computing/rendering capability (main system offline, I mean).
I'd love to see this board with single 10G controller!
Best case.. this is perfect for those who want a portable gaming desktop. but do not want to build a separate system for high core count computing. For example you can put this into a Dan's A4-SFX case (7 liters), have 64 GB Ram, 18 core, all the storage you need and still have a full 1080ti or above in it. Again all in a 7 liter case. Until now this form factor always had to deal with storage or ram or port compromises, with this no more.
I have a dynatron r30 low profile cooler on a 160watt xeon 2696 v4 cpu. It works well. There are a few options. Also you can go with aio which the case allows. Though i wished someone released a quad memory slot motherboard in a micro atx form factor, which you still donot get.
One thing that's always confused me -- M.2 and, before that, SATA SSDs regularly go on the back of the mobo for ITX (and sometimes mATX and ATX as well). Why couldn't laptop RAM go back there? You could put 2 back there and 2 on the front, among other arrangements.
A single-sided m.2 drive and its mounting hardware fit within the existing standoff clearance specifications. A SODIMM slot (even a 'low profile' one) does not. This means that by placing the SODIMM slots on the rear, your motherboard is now incompatible with existing cases and neds a custom case. And at that point, you may as well go Full Custom anyway (e.g. ASRock's Mini-STX boards).
I have the previous X99 model of this board. It is the perfect board for my media server needs. I have an M.2 NVME SSD as the boot drive and 3 pairs of hard drives in RAID-1 for data storage. I'm currently running a 6-core i7 and have the option to upgrade to a much higher core count Xeon if I need more processing power down the line. This one system runs both my NAS and Plex server in a Fractal Node 304 which is basically the size of a shoe box. It's impressively dense given the amount of storage and compute power I have in that one small case.
Like it's predecessors for the last two LGA2011 sockets it's for someone who wants a crapton of CPU power in a small box but doesn't need multiple GPUs.
This's ASRock's 3rd iteration of the concept, so there're clearly enough people who find the idea attractive for them to keep making them. At the same time the fact that no one else has made a similar product suggests that the niche is small enough that only getting half of the totals sales wouldn't be enough to cover R&D.
This is the single best solution for those of us, who only need as much CPU-power as possible, but could actually live with only an integrated graphic solution.
I'm using an i7-5775C without a dedicated graphics card for example, as I only need the CPU for my workloads.
I am using two of ASRock Rack's mini-ITX Xeon motherboards as servers used in offsite locations. The smaller form-factor is much easier to transport & setup (especially with two in a HA setup), and it still has the horsepower to run my custom program & database svr.
@shabby: software development, when you must often work out of town. Personally, with 50-odd projects to build, and even more third-party dependencies (some very large, think pixar usd), I cannot have enough cores. Nevermind that the software in question is a renderer, so a board like this (currently using the x99e-itx/ac with a 2697v3) with a tiny p1000 for cuda, along with a pok3r keyboard and an asus usb display in the backpack... and life is pretty good.
Feels like putting a Hellcat engine into a mini (the old school one as in the original Italian Job not those newer ones...) Good luck to you out there who can use this beast of a board.
With such a big socket, it is great to see Asrock being able to cram it into an ITX form and yet still retaining so much features. But like some pointed out, it makes no sense to install a 18 core oven in an ITX form factor or even in an ITX case which will not be able to take the heat.
There are cases like Ncase M1 for example that might not be the absolute smallest, but can take a 240mm AIO no problem (or even a custom loop if you're determined) and are still way smaller than any typical build. Also, some people like to build crazy machines just for the heck of it. Custom loop watercooling does not make sense from practical POV most of the time, but there are still many companies making watercooling parts. I really applaud ASRock for this board. This might not make sense to most people, but to some it will and those people are gonna love what they get.
Asus launches its AM4 ITX boards a full half year after the platform launces, cites "ITX design is difficult!"
ASrock launces X299 ITX board within weeks of platform launch. Physically larger socket, more pins and thus more traces, double the memory channels, 3x the m.2 slots, >2x the power delivery requirements. STILL matches Asus' boards in terms of both internal and external I/O, even beating it in terms of audio. The board looks to be entirely reworked compared to previous generations, so little to no advantage from iterative design.
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shabby - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
This board makes zero sense, can someone point out some actual use cases where it does seeing the monstrous coming solution it needs?Vatharian - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
Here you go. Possible use cases: a) customers who want to show off, and build smallest and yet the most powerful machine available, b) workstation build with extremely small footprint, enough to put it beside monitor, not under the desk, c) as second motherboard in dual-system build, for handling storage and other background tasks (stream capture? And I'm not talking about video only), d) high density computing, without going full-server grade, e) backup system for a full-fledged workstation, with offline computing/rendering capability (main system offline, I mean).I'd love to see this board with single 10G controller!
sharath.naik - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
Best case.. this is perfect for those who want a portable gaming desktop. but do not want to build a separate system for high core count computing. For example you can put this into a Dan's A4-SFX case (7 liters), have 64 GB Ram, 18 core, all the storage you need and still have a full 1080ti or above in it. Again all in a 7 liter case. Until now this form factor always had to deal with storage or ram or port compromises, with this no more.shabby - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
And which cooler will fit in that case to cool down that 200 watt cpu?sharath.naik - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
I have a dynatron r30 low profile cooler on a 160watt xeon 2696 v4 cpu. It works well. There are a few options. Also you can go with aio which the case allows.Though i wished someone released a quad memory slot motherboard in a micro atx form factor, which you still donot get.
lmcd - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
One thing that's always confused me -- M.2 and, before that, SATA SSDs regularly go on the back of the mobo for ITX (and sometimes mATX and ATX as well). Why couldn't laptop RAM go back there? You could put 2 back there and 2 on the front, among other arrangements.edzieba - Sunday, October 22, 2017 - link
"Why couldn't laptop RAM go back there? "A single-sided m.2 drive and its mounting hardware fit within the existing standoff clearance specifications. A SODIMM slot (even a 'low profile' one) does not. This means that by placing the SODIMM slots on the rear, your motherboard is now incompatible with existing cases and neds a custom case. And at that point, you may as well go Full Custom anyway (e.g. ASRock's Mini-STX boards).
WithoutWeakness - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
I have the previous X99 model of this board. It is the perfect board for my media server needs. I have an M.2 NVME SSD as the boot drive and 3 pairs of hard drives in RAID-1 for data storage. I'm currently running a 6-core i7 and have the option to upgrade to a much higher core count Xeon if I need more processing power down the line. This one system runs both my NAS and Plex server in a Fractal Node 304 which is basically the size of a shoe box. It's impressively dense given the amount of storage and compute power I have in that one small case.quorm - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Couldn't you easily run a nas and Plex on an i3 or lower?lmcd - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Real-time encoding needs vary per client devices. Sometimes the source might be taxing as well.Lukart - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
I have some clients with offices that only use small factor cases which means this fits them perfectly.lazarpandar - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
I agree, absurd. There are exactly zero use-cases for this thing.damianrobertjones - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Which has been proven wrong above your post. Maybe someone just likes it.DanNeely - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
Like it's predecessors for the last two LGA2011 sockets it's for someone who wants a crapton of CPU power in a small box but doesn't need multiple GPUs.This's ASRock's 3rd iteration of the concept, so there're clearly enough people who find the idea attractive for them to keep making them. At the same time the fact that no one else has made a similar product suggests that the niche is small enough that only getting half of the totals sales wouldn't be enough to cover R&D.
jrs77 - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
Small form factor workstation.This is the single best solution for those of us, who only need as much CPU-power as possible, but could actually live with only an integrated graphic solution.
I'm using an i7-5775C without a dedicated graphics card for example, as I only need the CPU for my workloads.
QinX - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
Intel's HEDT platform doesn't have an iGPU, so that PCIe slot will have to have a GPU in it. Unless you go with bifurcation to split the lanes.jrs77 - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
I know that. It was just to clarify the idea of this board.Throw a single slot low-profile GPU on there and we're done without making the case any bigger.
29a - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
The board being sold out seems to disagree with your conclusion.romrunning - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
I am using two of ASRock Rack's mini-ITX Xeon motherboards as servers used in offsite locations. The smaller form-factor is much easier to transport & setup (especially with two in a HA setup), and it still has the horsepower to run my custom program & database svr.So this is an actual-use case for you.
0x90 - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - link
@shabby: software development, when you must often work out of town. Personally, with 50-odd projects to build, and even more third-party dependencies (some very large, think pixar usd), I cannot have enough cores. Nevermind that the software in question is a renderer, so a board like this (currently using the x99e-itx/ac with a 2697v3) with a tiny p1000 for cuda, along with a pok3r keyboard and an asus usb display in the backpack... and life is pretty good.WatcherCK - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
Feels like putting a Hellcat engine into a mini (the old school one as in the original Italian Job not those newer ones...) Good luck to you out there who can use this beast of a board.jwcalla - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
$400 for a motherboard that doesn't support ECC RAM. Gotta love Intel.watzupken - Thursday, October 19, 2017 - link
With such a big socket, it is great to see Asrock being able to cram it into an ITX form and yet still retaining so much features. But like some pointed out, it makes no sense to install a 18 core oven in an ITX form factor or even in an ITX case which will not be able to take the heat.Barilla - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
There are cases like Ncase M1 for example that might not be the absolute smallest, but can take a 240mm AIO no problem (or even a custom loop if you're determined) and are still way smaller than any typical build.Also, some people like to build crazy machines just for the heck of it. Custom loop watercooling does not make sense from practical POV most of the time, but there are still many companies making watercooling parts.
I really applaud ASRock for this board. This might not make sense to most people, but to some it will and those people are gonna love what they get.
prateekprakash - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Are the m.2 slots connected to the CPU PCie lanes directly?extide - Monday, October 23, 2017 - link
I would hope so, as there is only one PCIe slot on there so you have CPU lanes to spare pretty much.Valantar - Friday, October 20, 2017 - link
Asus launches its AM4 ITX boards a full half year after the platform launces, cites "ITX design is difficult!"ASrock launces X299 ITX board within weeks of platform launch. Physically larger socket, more pins and thus more traces, double the memory channels, 3x the m.2 slots, >2x the power delivery requirements. STILL matches Asus' boards in terms of both internal and external I/O, even beating it in terms of audio. The board looks to be entirely reworked compared to previous generations, so little to no advantage from iterative design.
I think we have a winner.