GIGABYTE Shows off Three Upcoming X99 Motherboards

btarunr · Apr 25, 2016

At its PAX East booth, GIGABYTE showed off three of its upcoming socket LGA2011v3 motherboards, which it plans to launch alongside Intel's Core i7 "Broadwell-E" processors. The three include the X99-Designare EX, the X99 Phoenix SLI G1, and the X99 Ultra Gaming (pictured in that order). The running theme on these boards, apart from their design-language that's similar to GIGABYTE's Z170-series motherboards, is 32 Gb/s M.2 slots, even U.2 slots in some cases, reinforced PCIe - and in some cases even memory - slots, and USB 3.1, besides out of the box support for the latest CPUs.

The X99-Designare EX features five PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, from which three can function at x16 speed and two U.2 ports. GIGABYTE is probably betting on NVMe SSDs with U.2 connectors heavily. The X99 Phoenix SLI G1 appears to be a slightly more toned down board in terms of features. It features just four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, wireless networking, and just one U.2 connector. Unlike the Designare, which is slotted in the company's mainline Ultra Durable lineup, this board is the company's new G1 Gaming offering for this platform. Then there's the X99 Ultra Gaming. This board is based on the same PCB as the X99 Phoenix SLI G1, lacks wireless networking, but features reinforced memory slots. The three boards could launch alongside Intel's new CPUs.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

GhostRyder · Apr 25, 2016

Hmm, some decent looking boards. All with different color schemes, I can appreciate the different choices for those wanting something different.

Breit · Apr 25, 2016

What's up with these "reinforced slots"? What benefit does that even have? MSI is doing this also in their latest boards...

EarthDog · Apr 25, 2016

I can see their point on the GPU slots, but not the memory!!!!!

Kursah · Apr 25, 2016

Black and orange reminds me of my DFI LanParty P35-T2RS - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136043

That was one of my favorite Core2 OC boards. Now if I only needed an X99 board...or rather had the budget for an X99 build...

Caring1 · Apr 25, 2016

Breit said:
What's up with these "reinforced slots"? What benefit does that even have? MSI is doing this also in their latest boards...

It's got me wondering if there were issues with traces to the slots caused by CPU coolers or some other fault they are rectifying.

Breit · Apr 25, 2016

Caring1 said:
It's got me wondering if there were issues with traces to the slots caused by CPU coolers or some other fault they are rectifying.

You mean thats something like an EMI shield? I really doubt they have EMI issues that these metal-covers over the slot could prevent.

In the end this might only be a (not so nice looking) visual gimmick after all...

Caring1 · Apr 25, 2016

Not for EMI, but to strengthen the slots to prevent flex.
Most likely it is just a visual gimmick to look fancy, looking under the board should show if they are really reinforced.

EarthDog · Apr 25, 2016

They typically are... if only at the ends, but boards that have them do show different, more/better, soldering.

dj-electric · Apr 25, 2016

Its nice seeing an actual practical slot layout. 3way card configs are now less common than ever before, and although possible on this layout, i really like the 2way spacing.

TheLostSwede · Apr 25, 2016

Breit said:
What's up with these "reinforced slots"? What benefit does that even have? MSI is doing this also in their latest boards...

It's supposed to be for people that carry their systems around to lan parties etc. so the slots aren't cracked or torn off the board due to the weight of the graphics card, if you're unlucky and drop your case.

AsRock · Apr 25, 2016

Wow would have to take all that plastic off, getting more like toys.

JoePesci · Apr 25, 2016

They are all 3 ATX? Nice.

No more random width somewhere in between ATX and E-ATX?

oversampling · Apr 26, 2016

JoePesci said:
They are all 3 ATX? Nice...

It looks like the Designare is EATX ...

PP Mguire · Apr 26, 2016

Any news from other manufacturers I'd actually purchase from? Curious what their refresh boards are.

Briguy2004 · Apr 26, 2016

Breit said:
You mean thats something like an EMI shield? I really doubt they have EMI issues that these metal-covers over the slot could prevent.

In the end this might only be a (not so nice looking) visual gimmick after all...

These are basically to reinforce the slot from experiencing any flex from heavy graphics cards that aren't really secured or supported by the case. Heavy/unsecured graphics cards can cause more flex on the board as it heats up, (Think of the 360 RRoD issue with the flex brackets holding the heat sinks) causing way more issues down the line. In the end its cheaper for the MB MFR in this case Gigabyte, to spend the extra $0.10 to possibly prevent more calls to their RMA # and wasted labor in their RMA department on these kinds of issues. This gives the slot that extra reinforcement to (Hopefully) prevent any damage occurring to the slots or the rest of the board.

Its really to prevent anything like the below happening.

Breit · May 31, 2016

Well, OK I see where you are going. Crazy, never seen anything like this... :eek:

I guess in this case the owner of this board is to blame for not mounting his card properly. This probably would've never been accepted for RMA.

Briguy2004 · May 31, 2016

Breit said:
Well, OK I see where you are going. Crazy, never seen anything like this...
I guess in this case the owner of this board is to blame for not mounting his card properly. This probably would've never been accepted for RMA.

Gigabyte is actually very lenient when it comes to RMA's. It's ASUS and MSI that are pretty stingy when it comes to RMA service. Also, it really depends on the rep and how they're feeling that day too.

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	SnowFire / The Reinforcer
Processor	i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2
Motherboard	Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720)
Cooling	RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock
Memory	Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb
Video Card(s)	GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector)
Storage	Samsung 970 1tb NVME and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5
Display(s)	Acer XG270HU, Samsung G7 Odyssey (1440p 240hz)
Case	Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case
Audio Device(s)	Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply	Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Logitech G19S
Software	Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016

System Name	Blackbird
Processor	AMD Threadripper 3960X 24-core
Motherboard	Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master
Cooling	Full custom-loop water cooling, mostly Aqua Computer and EKWB stuff!
Memory	4x 16GB G.Skill Trident-Z RGB @3733-CL14
Video Card(s)	Nvidia RTX 3090 FE
Storage	Samsung 950PRO 512GB, Crusial P5 2TB, Samsung 850PRO 1TB
Display(s)	LG 38GN950-B 38" IPS TFT, Dell U3011 30" IPS TFT
Case	CaseLabs TH10A
Audio Device(s)	Edifier S1000DB
Power Supply	ASUS ROG Thor 1200W (SeaSonic)
Mouse	Logitech MX Master
Keyboard	SteelSeries Apex M800
Software	MS Windows 10 Pro for Workstation
Benchmark Scores	A lot.

System Name	Kursah's Gaming Rig 2018 (2022 Upgrade) - Ryzen+ Edition \| Gaming Laptop (Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 2022)
Processor	R7 5800X @ Stock \| i7 12700H @ Stock
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming BIOS 6203\| Legion 5i Pro NM-E231
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S Push-Pull + NT-H1 \| Stock Cooling
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32GB (2x16) DDR4 4000 @ 3600 18-20-20-42 1.35v \| 32GB DDR5 4800 (2x16)
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 4070 JetStream 12GB \| CPU-based Intel Iris XE + RTX 3070 8GB 150W
Storage	4TB SP UD90 NVME, 960GB SATA SSD, 2TB HDD \| 1TB Samsung OEM NVME SSD + 4TB Crucial P3 Plus NVME SSD
Display(s)	Acer 28" 4K VG280K x2 \| 16" 2560x1600 built-in
Case	Corsair 600C - Stock Fans on Low \| Stock Metal/Plastic
Audio Device(s)	Aune T1 mk1 > AKG K553 Pro + JVC HA-RX 700 (Equalizer APO + PeaceUI) \| Bluetooth Earbuds (BX29)
Power Supply	EVGA 750G2 Modular + APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 \| 300W OEM (heavy use) or Lenovo Legion C135W GAN (light)
Mouse	Logitech G502 \| Logitech M330
Keyboard	HyperX Alloy Core RGB \| Built in Keyboard (Lenovo laptop KB FTW)
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 \| Windows 11 Home x64

System Name	Black Box
Processor	Intel Xeon E3-1260L v5
Motherboard	MSI E3 KRAIT Gaming v5
Cooling	Tt tower + 120mm Tt fan
Memory	G.Skill 16GB 3600 C18
Video Card(s)	Asus GTX 970 Mini
Storage	Kingston A2000 512Gb NVME
Display(s)	AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
Case	Corsair 450D High Air Flow.
Audio Device(s)	No need.
Power Supply	FSP Aurum 650W
Mouse	Yes
Keyboard	Of course
Software	W10 Pro 64 bit

GIGABYTE Shows off Three Upcoming X99 Motherboards

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

GhostRyder

Breit

EarthDog

Kursah

Super Moderator

Caring1

Breit

Caring1

EarthDog

dj-electric

TheLostSwede

News Editor

AsRock

TPU addict

JoePesci

New Member

oversampling

New Member

PP Mguire

Briguy2004

New Member

Breit

Briguy2004

New Member

System Name	Overlord Mk MLI
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets
Memory	32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68
Video Card(s)	Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS
Storage	1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000
Display(s)	Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz
Case	Fractal Design Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s)	Corsair Virtuoso SE
Power Supply	be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W
Mouse	Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard	Corsair K70 Max
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	https://valid.x86.fr/5za05v

Processor	AMD 3900X \ AMD 7700X
Motherboard	ASRock AM4 X570 Pro 4 \ ASUS X670Xe TUF
Cooling	D15
Memory	Patriot 2x16GB PVS432G320C6K \ G.Skill Flare X5 F5-6000J3238F 2x16GB
Video Card(s)	eVga GTX1060 SSC \ XFX RX 6950XT RX-695XATBD9
Storage	Sammy 860, MX500, Sabrent Rocket 4 Sammy Evo 980 \ 1xSabrent Rocket 4+, Sammy 2x990 Pro
Display(s)	Samsung 1080P \ LG 43UN700
Case	Fractal Design Pop Air 2x140mm fans from Torrent \ Fractal Design Torrent 2 SilverStone FHP141x2
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha RX-V677 \ Yamaha CX-830+Yamaha MX-630 Infinity RS4000\Paradigm P Studio 20, Blue Yeti
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime TX-750 \ Corsair RM1000X Shift
Mouse	Steelseries Sensei wireless \ Steelseries Sensei wireless
Keyboard	Logitech K120 \ Wooting Two HE
Benchmark Scores	Meh benchmarks.

System Name	Univac SLI Edition
Processor	Intel Xeon 1650 V3 @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard	eVGA X99 FTW K
Cooling	EK Supremacy EVO, Swiftech MCP50x, Alphacool NeXXos UT60 360, Black Ice GTX 360
Memory	2x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz
Video Card(s)	Nvidia Titan X Tri-SLI w/ EK Blocks
Storage	HyperX Predator 240GB PCI-E, Samsung 850 Pro 512GB
Display(s)	Dell UltraSharp 34" Ultra-Wide (U3415W) / (Samsung 48" Curved 4k)
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Acrylic Edition
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster Z
Power Supply	Thermaltake 1350watt Toughpower Modular
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	CODE 10 keyless MX Clears
Software	Windows 10 Pro