Thursday, April 30th 2015
GIGABYTE Rolls Out the X99-SLI Motherboard
Trying to squeeze revenues from the high-end desktop (HEDT) market to its last drop by saturating it with as many catchy-named models as possible, GIGABYTE launched the X99-SLI socket LGA2011v3 motherboard. This board will likely be priced between $199 and $249, and will compete against the likes of ASUS X99-A and MSI X99S Gaming 7, enabling it to make the most out of the crucial pre-Summer sales season. Built in the standard ATX form-factor, the X99-SLI offers a feature-set that's nearly identical to the company's X99-UD4. It's not a rebrand, because the PCB is different between the two. The X99-SLI could end up being cheaper.
The X99-SLI draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, with an optional 4-pin Molex input to stabilize multiple graphics cards that rely on the PCI-Express slot for power. Power to the CPU is conditioned by a 6-phase VRM. The CPU is wired to eight DDR4 DIMM slots, four on either sides, and four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC/x16/NC or x16/NC/x8/x8 or x8/x8/x8/x8 on i7-5930K and i7-5960X; x16/NC/x4 or x8/x8/x4 on i7-5820K), supporting 4-way SLI and CrossFireX. The board supports DDR4-3333 MHz with overclocking.Storage connectivity on the X99-SLI includes an M.2 slot (PCIe 2.0 x2 / SATA 6 Gb/s), a SATA-Express 10 Gb/s port, and a total of ten SATA 6 Gb/s ports, from which six can be used to build RAID arrays, while the other four only run in AHCI mode (a chipset limitation). Modern connectivity includes eight USB 3.0 ports (six on the rear panel, two by headers), a single gigabit Ethernet connection driven by an Intel-made controller, and GIGABYTE's AMP-Up audio solution that combines a 115 dBA SNR Realtek ALC1150 codec with audio-grade capacitors, a headphones amp, audio-grade electrolytic capacitors, and ground-layer isolation.
The X99-SLI draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, with an optional 4-pin Molex input to stabilize multiple graphics cards that rely on the PCI-Express slot for power. Power to the CPU is conditioned by a 6-phase VRM. The CPU is wired to eight DDR4 DIMM slots, four on either sides, and four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC/x16/NC or x16/NC/x8/x8 or x8/x8/x8/x8 on i7-5930K and i7-5960X; x16/NC/x4 or x8/x8/x4 on i7-5820K), supporting 4-way SLI and CrossFireX. The board supports DDR4-3333 MHz with overclocking.Storage connectivity on the X99-SLI includes an M.2 slot (PCIe 2.0 x2 / SATA 6 Gb/s), a SATA-Express 10 Gb/s port, and a total of ten SATA 6 Gb/s ports, from which six can be used to build RAID arrays, while the other four only run in AHCI mode (a chipset limitation). Modern connectivity includes eight USB 3.0 ports (six on the rear panel, two by headers), a single gigabit Ethernet connection driven by an Intel-made controller, and GIGABYTE's AMP-Up audio solution that combines a 115 dBA SNR Realtek ALC1150 codec with audio-grade capacitors, a headphones amp, audio-grade electrolytic capacitors, and ground-layer isolation.