GIGABYTE showed off the C422-WS, a socket LGA2066 motherboard which supports both client Core i5/i7/i9 X-series and enterprise Xeon Gold and Xeon Platinum processors compatible with socket R4 (a variation of LGA2066). The board supports up to 128 GB of quad-channel memory on Core X processors, and up to 512 GB of DDR4 LRDIMM memory on Xeon chips. It is based on the Intel C422 chipset. The board draws power from 24-pin ATX, two 8-pin EPS, and 6-pin PCIe power connectors. Expansion slots include seven PCI-Express 3.0 x16, of which four are wired to the socket. Storage includes a mix of M.2, U.2, SATA-Express. Networking includes a 10 GbE interface, and a second 1 GbE, both driven by Intel-made controllers. 8-channel HD audio makes for the rest of it.

MSI showed off three of its premium-segment socket LGA2066 motherboards, the X299 Gaming Pro Carbon, X299 Gaming M7, X299 SLI Plus, and X299 Tomahawk. All four boards are based on a common PCB, with subtle variations to the designs of the PCH/VRM heatsinks, I/O shroud, and PCB paintjobs, besides some included accessories. Kudos to MSI engineers for minimizing R&D costs, let's just hope that these boards are priced within 10 percent of each other.

The board draws power from 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and 4-pin ATX (on some of the higher-end models). A 9-phase VRM conditions power for the CPU. Eight DDR4 DIMM slots, and four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots are wired to the CPU. Three 32 Gb/s M.2 and one 32 Gb/s U.2 are common across all boards. Also common here is the Audio Boost IV onboard audio solution, with a 120 dBA SNR CODEC, audio-grade capacitors, and OPAMP. Some of the models feature just the one GbE interface driven by i219-V controller, some feature two; and some of the higher-end models such as the Gaming M7 and Gaming Pro Carbon even feature Killer 802.11ac+BT4.1 WLAN cards. The higher-end boards also feature a bigger spread of RGB LEDs. Pricing-wise, one can expect the X299 SLI Plus to be the cheapest, followed by the X299 Tomahawk, X299 Gaming Pro Carbon, and the X299 Gaming M7. We wonder why.

Here's the first picture of MSI's flagship socket LGA2066 motherboard, the MSI X299 XPower Gaming AC. It features a polarizing silvery/white design, which you'll either love or hate. Built in the ATX form-factor (well, midway between ATX and E-ATX), the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 4-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and an optional 4-pin Molex. A 14-phase VRM conditions it for the CPU, which is wired to eight DDR4 DIMM slots, and four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC/x16/NC or x16/NC/x8/x8 or x8/x8/x8/x8).

Can you imagine five M.2 SSDs in your rig? MSI can, and besides three 32 Gb/s M.2 slots on the board (two 110 mm and one 80 mm), an included PCIe 3.0 x8 riser card gives you two additional 110 mm 32 Gb/s slots. Other storage options include a 32 Gb/s U.2 port, and ten SATA 6 Gb/s. The board supports NVMe RAID and Optane. Networking is care of two Intel i219-V driven GbE interfaces, and an Intel-driven 802.11ac WLAN with Bluetooth 4.1 connection. MSI Mystic Light RGB software marshals not just a splattering of RGB LEDs all over the board, but also an "art in motion" LED ornament on the PCH heatsink.

ASUS returned to its extremely durable TUF (The Ultimate Force) line of motherboards with the TUF X299 Mark 2. You'll notice that it dropped the "Sabertooth" moniker. This LGA2066 motherboard covers all the feature-set checkboxes of a premium motherboard plus the military-grade durability people have come to expect of the TUF series. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 4-pin ATX, and 8-pin EPS power connectors, conditioning it using an 8-phase VRM.

The TUF X299 Mark 2 features eight DDR4 DIMM slots, three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/x16/NC or x16/x8/x8), an open-ended x4, and two x1 slots completing the expansion area. Storage features include two 32 Gb/s M.2 slots (of which one is perpendicular), and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports (one each type-A and type-C), and eight USB 3.0. 8-channel HD audio driven by a Realtek ALC1220A CODEC, and a single gigabit Ethernet connection, powered by Intel i219-V make for the rest of it.

ASRock did it! Finally, there's an Intel HEDT platform motherboard with full quad-channel DDR4 memory. The new X299E-ITX/ac is for those who need up to 18 CPU cores and up to 64 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory in their SFF machines for reasons. The board manages its limited PCB real-estate by going vertical. It features two riser cards, one with a few onboard controllers, and a pair of 32 Gb/s M.2 slots), and the other riser with SATA 6 Gb/s ports, a third M.2 slot, and the headers such as USB 3.1. The board draws power from 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it for the LGA2066 CPU using a 7-phase VRM. The lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 3.0 x16, memory is handled by four DDR4 SO-DIMM slots. Connectivity includes two Intel I219-V driven gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 802.11ac WLAN, and Bluetooth 4.1.

BIOSTAR has consistently improved its motherboard product design back to the standards of its TPower glory-days, and unveiled this stunning looking flagship LGA2066 motherboard, the Racing X299GT9. Built in the E-ATX form-factor, the board features a well-spaced out layout, and draws power from a pair of 8-pin EPS power connectors, and a 6-pin PCIe, besides 24-pin ATX. It conditions it for the CPU with a 14-phase VRM. The CPU is wired to eight DDR4 DIMM slots, and seven PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/x16/x8/x4/x4/x4/x4).

Storage connectivity on the BIOSTAR Racing X299GT9 includes two 32 Gb/s M.2 slots (stacked), two 32 Gb/s U.2 ports, and four SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Connectivity includes a 10 GbE connection driven by Intel X550AT processor), a second 1 GbE driven by Intel i219-V, USB connectivity includes two 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 ports (one each type-A and type-C), and six 5 Gb/s USB 3.0. The onboard audio features a Hi-Fi circuit. The board is peppered with RGB LEDs and additional headers.

ASUS showed off its PRIME X299-A socket LGA2066 motherboard. The PRIME series consists of ASUS' mainline motherboards, and a consistent product design theme follows through the entire lineup. We reckon that the PRIME X299-A will be the "entry-level" socket LGA2066 offering by ASUS, topped by the PRIME X299-PRO and PRIME X299-Deluxe. Built in the ATX form-factor, the board draws power from 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and a 4-pin ATX power connector. It uses a simple 8-phase VRM to condition power for the CPU. The LGA2066 socket is wired to eight DDR4 DIMM slots, in addition to three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/x16/NC or x16/x8/x8). Two close-ended PCI-Express 3.0 x4 and an x1 slot make for the rest of the expansion.

Storage connectivity includes two 32 Gb/s M.2 slots (one 80 mm and the other 110 mm), and eight SATA 6 Gb/s. There's just the one gigabit Ethernet interface driven by an Intel I219-V controller, and an onboard audio solution featuring Realtek ALC1220 (120 dBA SNR) CODEC, audio-grade capacitors, and ground-layer isolation. This board could be priced around the $200 mark.

Here's the first picture of the GIGABYTE X299 Aorus Gaming 9 motherboard, a TechPowerUp-exclusive. This socket LGA2066 motherboard is ready for upcoming Core i7 "Kaby Lake-X" 4-core, and "Skylake-X" 6-core, 8-core, 10-core, and 12-core processors. Based on Intel X299 Express chipset, this board draws power from two 8-pin EPS power connectors, besides 24-pin ATX. This could become the norm with X299 motherboards. There could either be a second 8-pin EPS or a second 4-pin ATX connector. A 12-phase VRM conditions power.

The LGA2066 socket is wired to four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, which can be configured as electrical x8/x8/x8/x8 or x16/NC/x16/NC or x16/NC/x8/x8 with "Skylake-X" 10-core and 12-core chips; or x8/NC/x8/x4 or x16/NC/NC/x4 with "Kaby Lake-X" quad-core and "Skylake-X" 6-core and 8-core chips. The 5th x16 slot is electrical x4 and wired to the PCH. There are plenty of storage options, including two 32 Gb/s M.2 (up to 80 mm) slots, a 32 Gb/s M.2 (up to 110 mm) slot, with native NVMe RAID and Optane support; and eight SATA 6 Gb/s. The board features ASMedia ASM3142 USB 3.1 controller with type-A and type-C ports on the rear panel, as well as additional ports through headers.

MSI posted its third teaser pic for one of its upcoming socket LGA2066 motherboards, which is likely the X299 Gaming Pro. Designed for Core i7 "Kaby Lake-X" and Core i9 "Skylake-X" processors, the board appears to feature eight DDR4 DIMM slots (four slots on the left side of the socket). The teaser also gives us a glance of the LGA2066 socket, which could feature a similar retention mechanism to the current LGA2011v3 socket, even if the cooler support isn't consistent, given that some cooler manufacturers such as Noctua are already giving away LGA2066 brackets. The teaser pic also reveals two CPU power inputs, an 8-pin EPS and 4-pin ATX. This is unusual for a "mid-range" brand extension such as Gaming Pro, unless some of the Core i9 "Skylake-X" chips really do have >140W TDPs that demand more power inputs than your run of the mill single 8-pin EPS.

Intel is reportedly giving final touches to a new line of high-end desktop processors under the Core i9 brand extension. Until now, the company used the Core i7 brand extension broadly, to cover both the top-end parts of the mainstream-desktop (LGA115x) segment, and the high-end desktop (HEDT) segment, consisting of the LGA1366 and LGA2011-series sockets. With the advent of the new LGA2066 socket, Intel will be launching two distinct kinds of products - the Core i7 "Kaby Lake-X" quad-core series; and the Core i9 "Skylake-X" 6-core, 8-core, 10-core, and 12-core processors.

The Core i7 "Kaby Lake-X" will include the much talked about Core i7-7740K and i7-7640K quad-core processors (there's no Core i5 Kaby Lake-X). These chips will feature up to 1 MB of dedicated L2 cache per core, which is four times that of the existing i7-7700K chip. The i7-7740K features 8 MB of shared L2 cache; while the i7-7640K features just 6 MB. Interestingly, the i7-7640K also happens to lack HyperThreading, while the i7-7740K features it. The i7-7740K will ship with higher clock speeds than the i7-7700K, with 4.30 GHz core, and 4.50 GHz Turbo Boost. The i7-7640K features 4.00 GHz core, with 4.20 GHz Turbo Boost. The Core i9 series is a whole different beast.

Intel's immediate answer to AMD's Ryzen challenge, the Core i7-7740K processor and "Basin Falls" platform, could launch on the 12th of June, 2017. Intel is the main sponsor of the PC Gaming Show hosted by PC Gamer magazine, in the backdrop of E3-2017, and we expect it to launch its first product, the Core i7-7740K on the occasion. Intel could announce retail availability of the chips immediately after. The Core i7-7740K launch will be accompanied by a more cost-effective Core i5-7640K, and the X299 Express chipset. Motherboard vendors could announce their first waves of socket LGA2066 motherboards based on this chipset.

Built on the 14 nm "Kaby Lake-X" silicon, the Core i7-7740K is a quad-core processor featuring higher clock speeds than the current i7-7700K. It features a dual-channel integrated memory controller, and lacks integrated graphics. It could feature a 28-lane PCI-Express gen 3.0 root-complex. The only ace up its sleeve is the X299 platform itself, which could be ready for bigger six-, eight-, and ten-core processors with more PCIe lane budgets.

Noctua today announced that it will continue its tradition of supplying customers with its premium-class SecuFirm2 mounting kits for novel platforms free of charge. While most current Noctua heatsinks support the new LGA2066 socket of Intel's 'Basin Falls' X299 platform for 'Skylake-X' and 'Kaby Lake-X' CPUs out of the box, older models can be upgraded with the NM-I2011 or NM-i20xx kits at no additional cost.

"We're determined to provide the best possible support to our customers and, over the years, we've sent many thousands of mounting kits free of charge to users who wanted to upgrade to new platforms", says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "With Skylake-X just around the corner, we're pleased to announce that we'll extend this offer for LGA2066. Owners of older Noctua retail heatsinks that don't support LGA2011/LGA2066 out of the box will be able to upgrade to the new socket free of charge!"

Intel's next-generation HEDT processor platform, based on the "Kaby Lake" micro-architecture, is the 7th generation Core i7 "Kaby Lake-X" family. The platform is based on the new LGA2066 CPU socket, and a new motherboard chipset, the Intel X299 Express. The platform builds on the strengths of the Intel HEDT (high-end desktop) market-segment, in offering double the memory bandwidth and PCIe lanes as the LGA1151 mainline desktop platform, and succeeds the current Core "Broadwell-E" family processors that run on socket LGA2011v3 motherboards, with Intel X99 Express chipsets.

The first chip on the X299 platform isn't a meaty two-figure core-count chip, but the 4-core Intel Core i7-7740K. This chip lacks an integrated graphics core. Its TDP has been increased to 112W from 91W of the i7-7700K. Someone with access to an i7-7740K sample paired it with an ASRock X299 Fatal1ty Gaming i7 motherboard, and posted SiSoft SANDRA processor arithmetic and multimedia performance scores of the chip. The chip performs close to the Ryzen 5 1600X six-core chip, but falls short of the Ryzen 7 1800X.