# ASUS ROG STRIX X99 Gaming Motherboard Review



## rakesh_sharma23 (Jun 7, 2016)

*ASUS ROG STRIX X99 Gaming Motherboard Review*







Welcome to the re-birth of Intel X99 chipset, where every motherboard manufacturer is re-designing their old X99 board for the Intel’s upcoming Broadwell-E CPU. And we are happy to say that with the great support from ASUS India, we not only got the first on experience to see the performance of new Intel Broadwell-E chip and ASUS’s first STRIX line of motherboard, the ASUS ROG STIX X99 Gaming Motherboard, but we also got our hand dirty with Extreme Overclocking the Broadwell-E CPU on this X99 STRIX board way up to 5GHz using our custom made Single stage Phase Changer Cooling at -32C. 

Beside the extreme OC capability and stability of ASUS ROG STRIX X99 Gaming Motherboard, the feature we liked the most is the Aura RGB illumination with great colour customization for everyone. 

Now let’s see what ASUS ROG STRIX X99 board have for us.

*Features*

Intel&#174; Core&#8482; i7 X-Series processors on LGA 2011-v3 socket
Quad-channel DDR4 3333 (OC) support
OC Socket, 5-Way Optimization and second-generation T-Topology: Easy and stable overclocking
Aura RGB illumination, Aura 4-pin RGB-strip header and customizable color decals: True gaming aesthetics
SupremeFX and Sonic Radar II: Flawless audio with stealthy, game-dominating overlay
Top-speed protected networking: Intel Gigabit Ethernet, LANGuard and GameFirst technology
Gamer's Guardian: SafeSlot and smart DIY features
Ultra-speedy transfers for faster gaming: 2x2 802.11ac MU-MIMO Wi-Fi, U.2 and M.2, USB 3.1 Type A+C, RAMCache






AURA LIGHTING CONTROL  - Customize your own favorite LED effects with Aura, the intuitive lighting-control software, to cast a stunning multi-color glow across your build via the motherboard's powerful built-in RGB LEDs or attached RGB strips via the onboard 4-pin header, or both  and in perfect synchronization! Fire up Aura and then enjoy the creative freedom of 10 different lighting schemes. You're even able to sync your lighting style with the ever-growing portfolio of Aura-capable gear, and mix and match your Aura effects with the included color decals! 





AURA 4-PIN RGB-STRIP -  Forget the faff of external RGB controllers! With Aura RGB Strip header, it's quick and easy to cast brilliant colors across your rig and room: Just slide standard 12V RGB strips onto the 4-pin Aura RGB-strip headers, then weave your lighting any way you like.
*The Aura RGB-strip header supports standard 5050 RGB LED strips with a maximum power rating of 2A (12V). For maximum brightness, strip length should not exceed 2m.
*One extension cable is included. RGB LED strip need to be purchased separately. 





SUPREMEFX - SHIELDED AUDIO, SUPERIOR SOUND - SupremeFX technology delivers high-fidelity, near-lossless audio no matter how frantic your game becomes. The purity and stability of the remarkable 115dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is assured, with a shielded design, electromagnetic-interference (EMI) cover and voltage-protected 5V power supply. Supreme FX's superior components, including the trusted Realtek ALC1150 codec, maximize acoustic performance and eliminate interference – so you hear only the very best from your gaming headset or speakers!





Unique Cache Bus Voltage Adjustment - The cache bus links areas such as CPU cores, DDR4 memory controllers, system agent and the shared L3 cache — so it's a critical interconnect for the whole CPU subsystem. A higher cache-bus frequency directly accelerates subsystem performance, so ASUS OC Socket exclusively provides an adjustable cache-bus voltage to reach higher cache bus frequencies.





FANXpert4 - Advanced fan and water-pump controls for ultimate cooling and quietness. The latest ASUS X99 motherboards feature the most advanced cooling capability to date, controllable from both Fan Xpert 4 and UEFI.





Patent pending SafeSlot - Protect Your Graphics Card Investment - SafeSlot is the PCIe slot reinvented by ASUS and engineered to provide superior retention and shearing resistance. Manufactured in a single step using a new Insert-molding process integrates the slot with the fortifying metal for an inherently stronger slot, which is then firmly anchored to the PCB through additional solder points. 





Beyond VR Ready - ROG Strix X99 Gaming isn't just VR Ready — it goes way beyond! The ASUS ROG Beyond VR Ready marque means that ROG Strix X99 Gaming has been tested with loads of class-leading components to ensure that your productivity, gaming and entertainment needs are tuned for maximum performance after you've taken off the headset. ASUS Beyond VR Ready opens up a new way to configure and build your dream system with total confidence.  





*Specifications* 





*Package*
Board comes in a nice black cardboard box with model number, image of the board and details about supporting technology and features.













*Inside the box*
ASUS ROG STRIX X99 GAMING comes with very nice set of accessories.





*Looks*
Board made with a black PCB of size ATX (30.5 X 24.4 cm). A black STRIX plastic shield covers the back I/O connectors and audio section. The angular shape and lines give the heatsinks and whole board a rich gaming theme.









*Layout*
Detailed layout of board.





1. ASUS custom LGA 2011-V3 socket (OC Socket)





2. ASUS ROG Strix X99 Gaming is equipped with eight DIMM DDR4 memory slots supporting max. 128GB at 2133MHz in normal and up to 3333MHz when OC.





3. ATX Power connector (24-pin EATXPWR)





4. ATX CPU Power Connector 8-pin and 4-pin ATX12V_2x4.





5. Back I/O Ports 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s), 1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s), 1 x USB 3.1 (red)Type-A, 1 x USB 3.1 (black)Type-C, 4 x USB 3.0 (blue), 4 x USB 2.0 (one port can be switched to USB BIOS Flashback), 5 x Audio jack(s), 1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button(s), 1 x ASUS Wi-Fi GO! module (Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth v4.0





6. 7. 10.1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin), 1 x CPU OPT Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin), 4 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (4 x 4 -pin)





8.MemOK! Button when pressed automatically pick up the necessary parameters of the memory for a successful system boot.





9.  M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (Support PCIE SSD only)





11.  U.2 port, support PCIe 3.0 x4 NVM Express storage and 1 x SATA Express port, Compatible with 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports, 8 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)





12.  13.2 x USB 3.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 4 USB 3.0 port(s) (19-pin)





14.  System Front panel(s) (Q-Connector)  , Thunderbolt header, EZ XMP switch, Thermal sensor connector and 1 x 5-pin EXT_FAN(Extension Fan) connector 





15.  USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 4 USB 2.0 port(s), ROG extension (ROG_EXT) header





16.  14-1 pin TPM connector, Reset button, Power-on button and ASUS Q-Code display 





17.   Aura RGB Strip Header





18.  Front panel Audio connector and COM port header 





19. Expansion Slots - 3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 ( x16, x16/x16, x8/x16/x8 mode with 40-LANE CPU; x16, x16/x8, x8/x8/x8 mode with 28-LANE CPU), 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode), 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 *1 





*Removing Heat-sinks*
Heatsinks are made up of dense aluminum with thermal pad installed, giving great passive cooling to VRM MOSFETs and x99 chipset. Along with STRIX I/O shield with LED PCB mounted under.













*Component Layout*
Let’s now see what all components ASUS have planned for this board.









1. 2. Digital 8-phase CPU Power VRM Section controlled with ASP1257 controller with International Rectifiers IR3535M Integrated PowIRstage is a synchronous buck gate driver IC with co-packed control and synchronous MOSFETs and Schottky diode with up to 60A of output current capability each, 60A Ferrite Chokes, and 10K Black Metallic Capacitors.









3. 4. Two separate DRAM Power section using pair of 97374 Ti MOSFETs and PWM controller is DIGI + VRM ASP1250 chip





5.  GB LAN-controller is Intel WGI218V 





6.  USB 3.1 Gen 2 support with ASMedia ASM1142 chip





7. ASUS WCBN808A Wi-Fi Go card.





8.  THA 1601 controller used to switch buses for M.2 slot.





9. Two ASmedia ASM1480 chips switching  PCI-e lanes between M.2 and U.2 port.





10. Intel X99 Express Chipset.





11. 12. 13. Asmedia ASM1480 PCIe bus switch chips  and UEFI BIOS is stored in a Winbond 25Q128fV  128MB 8-Pin DIP Package chip, installed in a DIP socket 8-Pin for easy user replacement. 





14. Asmedia ASM1074, the four downstream ports USB3.0 HUB Controller 





15. Multi I/O capabilities are based on NUVOTON NCT6791D chip which controls the operation of the system fans, as well as provides the monitors.





16. ASUS ROG Strix X99 Gaming audio subsystem is based on Realtek ALC1150 that supports 2/4/5.1/7.1 sound systems with 115dB Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) playback (DAC) quality and 104dB SNR recording (ADC) quality.
A semi-transparent line on motherboard separates the whole audio section from the rest of the board in order to minimize interference. Audio section is having premium Nichicon Gold Capacitors for audio filtration. In addition ASUS used TI R4580I Op-amp for rear audio amplification. 





RightMark Audio Analyzer (RMAA) suite is used for testing test ASUS ROG Strix X99 Gaming audio against Asus Xonar DX Sound card. You can see clearly the difference between Noise level, dynamic rang and Total harmonic distortion percentage produced by on-board audio.
RMAA Asus Xonar DX





RMAA ASUS Audio 





18. ICS P7129 used for COM Port communication.





19. 20. ASUS ROG Strix X99 Gaming uses two custom TPC chips 





*Testing*

 CPU - Intel Core i7 6900K 
 Board -  ASUS ROG Strix X99 Gaming 
 RAM - 4 X 4GB Corsair DDR4  
 SSD - Kingston SV300 120GB
 Cooler - CM Nepton 240M 
 GFX -  ASUS STRIX GTX 950
 PSU - Corsair RM650x
 Display - Acer S220HQL 
 OS -  Windows 10 






























*BIOS*









































*Bundled Softwares*













































*Benchmarks* 





















*Overclocking*









*Extreme Overclocking*













*Power Consumption*
Wattage reading as per displayed by APC Pro 1000VA (Model no. BR1000G-IN) UPS.





*Pros*

 Full black PCB with great looks 
 Great performance and stability
 RGB LED on board and External RGB LED Support. 
 2x2 Dual Band WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
 Great Overclocking

*Cons*

 With AURA software, implementing white, yellow and red colour was very difficult and are not getting reflected perfectly on RGB LED ....   a Software / firmware update will resolve the issue. 

*Conclusion*
Asus have always impressed me with the build quality and design of their products and same goes true with ASUS ROG STRIX X99 Gaming Motherboard.  With the new Broadwell-E CPU this board was solid stable and gave a great overclocking headroom. With AIO cooling solution we were able to OC Core i7 6900K CPU up to 4.4GHz and when going extreme OC with our custom Single stage Phase change at -32C we maxed out up to 5GHz.

Being a modder, I really like how ASUS has incorporated the RGB LED support On-board as well as via external RGB LED strip, on to this board, giving everyone an option to customize their case colour lighting. 

Finally, considering its looks, design, features and Overclocking capabilities, we found ASUS ROG STRIX X99 Gaming motherboard a real impressive beast. ASUS really managed to make a STRIX motherboard capable to catch the attention in the enthusiasts, gamers and modders.

*Manufacturers Info*
Site Link 

Source / More info 

Thanks.


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## erixx (Jun 23, 2016)

Great review! One Q: did you test RAM overclocking or only ran it at stock looking exclusively for CPU overclocking?


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## rakesh_sharma23 (Jun 23, 2016)

erixx said:


> Great review! One Q: did you test RAM overclocking or only ran it at stock looking exclusively for CPU overclocking?


 Thanks .. just CPU OC for now..  But some GSkill kits are on the way .. will try to update more.


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## RejZoR (Jun 26, 2016)

Anyone managed to get ASUS Sonic Studio II from Strix series to work on other ASUS boards with ALC1150 audio chipset? I've managed to insztall it but none of the settings actually did anything. I want to test how this feature works to see if Strix soundcards are worth it...


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## basco (Jun 26, 2016)

thx for your review!
i think this is same mobo layout as asus x99 A-II and that is 30.- cheaper in my place.
difference is supreme fx + wifi? oh i forgot the rgb lightning.
so if you dont need that make your choice


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## xkm1948 (Jun 26, 2016)

1.364V. BWE sure love plenty of vcore.


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## qurotro (Jun 28, 2016)

nice review!! I'm planning to get this motherboard too!
I just simply like how it looks of this motherboard. 
My question is if the RGB light can be turned off in the BIOS setup?


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## DarthBaggins (Sep 12, 2016)

qurotro said:


> nice review!! I'm planning to get this motherboard too!
> I just simply like how it looks of this motherboard.
> My question is if the RGB light can be turned off in the BIOS setup?


Yes it can be turned off in the BiOS and in Aura software in the OS


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## Precurser (Sep 14, 2016)

Hello,
Just bought the this mobo because of the fantastic review. I went with the Corsair RM750x  PSU thinking that it might need a little more juice.
When I was hooking everything up I ran into a problem. I have cables for the 24pin EATXPWR the 8pin EATX12v 
but have no more cables to power up the 4 pin EATX12v-2 connector. Just the PCI express cables and the drive cables.

Does anyone know what I'm missing.


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## FR@NK (Sep 14, 2016)

Precurser said:


> I have cables for the 24pin EATXPWR the 8pin EATX12v
> but have no more cables to power up the 4 pin EATX12v-2 connector.



Just use the 8pin.


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## Precurser (Sep 14, 2016)

FR@NK said:


> Just use the 8pin.



So I just leave the 4pin connector unused? Isn't that a risky?


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## rakesh_sharma23 (Sep 14, 2016)

Precurser said:


> So I just leave the 4pin connector unused? Isn't that a risky?


 No not at all.. In the review I am using only 8 Pin cpu power connector.. Use the extra 4-pin connector, when you do extreme OC and need to feed extra Amps for stable power to the CPU


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## cadaveca (Sep 14, 2016)

rakesh_sharma23 said:


> No not at all.. In the review I am using only 8 Pin cpu power connector.. Use the extra 4-pin connector, when you do extreme OC and need to feed extra Amps for stable power to the CPU


it's not just for extreme OC. Some PSUs have limitations as to how much power each cable can handle(20A), and the board having additional plug allows this to be overcome. 20A x 12V =240W, which is actually quite low for X99 OC.

review is good, but pics of different sizes are annoying. Your benchmarks also don't compare this product to any other for the most part.

ASUS has only sent 1 boards in the past year+ for review to me (and a second showed up on my doorstep that I reviewed anyway), so only way we will see them here is you I guess. ROFL. Keep 'em coming!


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