Awesome! Glad you're looking to do something more meaningful than peak throughput. It's kind of like the average FPS of networking, in that it gets a lot of attention but isn't the most useful number.
No one design choice will ever appeal to everyone. And a chameleonic or customizable look hasn't been done yet, so that comment really brings nothing to the discussion. It's ok to point out fugly board, so the manufacturer knows not to do that again, but that's far from the case here.
1. It would have been nice to get an explanation in the first page of what the heck a U.2 port is 2. Motherboard / CPU are swapped in the "Manual overclocking results" graph on page 1
Can you test with a better CPU cooler? All of your X299 overclocking results are thermally limited. This doesn't show the board limits, just the coolers limits.
I see what you are saying. Do understand however, in the vast majority of cases, users will be thermally limited by the CPU before the board regardless.
The problem comes with how effective, or not, adding more radiator really is considering how effective the interior TIM is. The test CPU (the new one) was still thermally limited with a 3x120 custom loop (CPU only) and a better block (Kryos NEXT). IIRC, I was able to run around 100 more MHz out of that than the Corsair AIO used in the test system. In order to reap those benefits fully, we would need to delid the CPU and go a lot bigger on the radiator before most boards would stop the overclock. With delidding, we are really getting into a world where not many users would do it unless they are benching competitively which these would not be the weapon of choice in the first place. These are '24/7' overclocks with reasonable cooling solutions and warrantied CPUs.
USB type C motherboard headers should be standard equipment by now. I don't know why they would put 2 U.2 connectors on this motherboard but not a single USB type C header.
My last motherboard was an EVGA x99 FTW K and it was a really nice motherboard. I liked the layout and the 2 slot spacing between GPUs. I am using an asrock z370 professional gaming i7 now and it only has single slot spacing between GPUs. There was definitely a noticeable increase in temperature going from 2 slot spacing to 1 slot spacing with SLI 1080 TI's. About 5-10 C. My only complaint with the x99 FTW K, besides using Killer networking, was that EVGA basically makes no motherboard software. While it doesn't see a lot of use, I like having utilities like fan curve and overclocking control. I know I can use things like speed fan and Intel extreme tuning utility...and I did, however, I was a bit let down by EVGAs lack of in house software.
U.2 is crap, while it's good for NVMe 2.5" SSD drives (well, it's the only solution now). but I really hate how bulky it is, and the fact that the drive still need dedicated power pins.
For any new technology for 2.5" & 3.5" SSD's ( SATA or NVMe ) I wish the cable to be small, compact, not so thick or hard cables, preferably reversible and can carry a minimum amount of power so a regular SSD can be powered also by the same cable. any more advance drive can have a separate power.
Hi, could you please highlight the point at which an extra long screw is required. Also, list the specification of the required screw. Also , from the photographs is seems that the heat pipe from the power delivery is impinging on the 1 st memory slot. Could add a photo to clarify that?
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
23 Comments
Back to Article
jordanclock - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
Any chance we could see comparison numbers on the Intel and Killer NICs?Flunk - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
There is almost no difference, type "intel vs killer nic" into Google. It's been done to death.jordanclock - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
By that logic, they shouldn't bother including half their benchmarks for motherboards because they are almost always to same for a given chipset.My interest is in this particular motherboards implementation of the dual NICs.
Ian Cutress - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
Aside from doing a peak throughput test, we're looking into doing something more substantial for NIC testing. Still a WIPjordanclock - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
Awesome! Glad you're looking to do something more meaningful than peak throughput. It's kind of like the average FPS of networking, in that it gets a lot of attention but isn't the most useful number.ImSpartacus - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
Whew, I'm glad there's finally a mobo with two u.2 ports.It's so annoying to have all of these u.2 drives without the ability to use more than one at a time!
bug77 - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
Ha, I was just thinking the same thing when I read the article :PYuriman - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
Maybe it's just me, but I find those heatsinks pretty ugly.JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
It's supposed to align with their For The Win 3 (FTW3) series video cards styling.http://hexus.net/media/uploaded/2017/5/9656d308-25...
It's no different than MSI doing a similar red/black dragon scheme that they've done with their video cards to their motherboards.
bug77 - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
I find this type of comment pretty useless.No one design choice will ever appeal to everyone. And a chameleonic or customizable look hasn't been done yet, so that comment really brings nothing to the discussion.
It's ok to point out fugly board, so the manufacturer knows not to do that again, but that's far from the case here.
EricZBA - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
1. It would have been nice to get an explanation in the first page of what the heck a U.2 port is2. Motherboard / CPU are swapped in the "Manual overclocking results" graph on page 1
Joe Shields - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
Eric,Sorry about that. Here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.2
Thanks for the correction on the results.
JackNSally - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
Can you test with a better CPU cooler? All of your X299 overclocking results are thermally limited. This doesn't show the board limits, just the coolers limits.Joe Shields - Monday, January 29, 2018 - link
I see what you are saying. Do understand however, in the vast majority of cases, users will be thermally limited by the CPU before the board regardless.The problem comes with how effective, or not, adding more radiator really is considering how effective the interior TIM is. The test CPU (the new one) was still thermally limited with a 3x120 custom loop (CPU only) and a better block (Kryos NEXT). IIRC, I was able to run around 100 more MHz out of that than the Corsair AIO used in the test system. In order to reap those benefits fully, we would need to delid the CPU and go a lot bigger on the radiator before most boards would stop the overclock. With delidding, we are really getting into a world where not many users would do it unless they are benching competitively which these would not be the weapon of choice in the first place. These are '24/7' overclocks with reasonable cooling solutions and warrantied CPUs.
bug77 - Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - link
Maybe add a paragraph summarizing all that to reviews, then?oRAirwolf - Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - link
USB type C motherboard headers should be standard equipment by now. I don't know why they would put 2 U.2 connectors on this motherboard but not a single USB type C header.My last motherboard was an EVGA x99 FTW K and it was a really nice motherboard. I liked the layout and the 2 slot spacing between GPUs. I am using an asrock z370 professional gaming i7 now and it only has single slot spacing between GPUs. There was definitely a noticeable increase in temperature going from 2 slot spacing to 1 slot spacing with SLI 1080 TI's. About 5-10 C. My only complaint with the x99 FTW K, besides using Killer networking, was that EVGA basically makes no motherboard software. While it doesn't see a lot of use, I like having utilities like fan curve and overclocking control. I know I can use things like speed fan and Intel extreme tuning utility...and I did, however, I was a bit let down by EVGAs lack of in house software.
Xajel - Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - link
U.2 is crap, while it's good for NVMe 2.5" SSD drives (well, it's the only solution now). but I really hate how bulky it is, and the fact that the drive still need dedicated power pins.For any new technology for 2.5" & 3.5" SSD's ( SATA or NVMe ) I wish the cable to be small, compact, not so thick or hard cables, preferably reversible and can carry a minimum amount of power so a regular SSD can be powered also by the same cable. any more advance drive can have a separate power.
Drazick - Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - link
At last real support for 2.5" drives with NVME.The M.2 solution is good for laptops.
For desktop we need something better with less heat issues.
drajitshnew - Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - link
Hi, could you please highlight the point at which an extra long screw is required. Also, list the specification of the required screw.Also , from the photographs is seems that the heat pipe from the power delivery is impinging on the 1 st memory slot. Could add a photo to clarify that?
drajitshnew - Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - link
hi, it seems with the listed config for the 44 lane CPU it requires 60 lanes?!x16/x8/x8/x16=48 lanes and m2=4+ 2*U2=8, Could you clarify that?
The_Assimilator - Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - link
Good job on explaining what the "1 x Vertical M.2 Key E slot" at the rear of the board is used for.quanta - Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - link
U.2? Why name a port after a rock band? I wonder if their lawyers are already preparing for a lawsuit...Notgiven - Tuesday, March 6, 2018 - link
The link to "ASRock X299 Professional Gaming i9 Review" is bad